Page 15 - United States

Rumors swirl about balloons, UFOs as American officials stay quite

Maybe they came from China. Maybe from somewhere farther away. A lot farther away. The downing of four aerial devices by US warplanes has touched off rampant misinformation about the objects, their origin and their purpose, showing how complicated world events and a lack of information can quickly create the perfect conditions for unchecked conjecture and misinformation. The presence of mysterious objects high in the sky doesn't help. There will be an investigation and we will learn more, but until then this story has created a playground for people interested in speculating or stirring the pot for their own reasons," said Jim Ludes, a former national defence analyst who now leads the Pell Center for International Relations at Salve Regina University. In part," Ludes added, "because it feeds into so many narratives about government secrecy. President Joe Biden and other top Washington officials have said little about the repeated shootdowns, which began with a suspected Chinese sp

US seeks a strong partnership with Pakistan on counterterrorism: Official

The US seeks a strong partnership with Pakistan on counterterrorism, the State Department has said, underlining that America looks forward to cooperative efforts to eliminate regional and global terrorists and other security threats. The 2nd round of the US-Pakistan Mid-Level Defence Dialogue is taking place here and will last from Monday to Thursday. The first round was held in Pakistan in January 2021. The Pakistani team is headed by the Chief of General Staff (CGS) Lt Gen Mohammed Saeed. The delegation will interact with their counterparts at the US Defence Department. The CGS heads the second most influential office in the Pakistan Army after the Chief of Army Staff. He is the administrative head of both the intelligence and operational forces of Pakistan. It is an opportunity to continue those discussions and to deepen partnership towards those ends, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at a news conference here on Monday. We seek a strong partnership with .

Imran Khan gives clean chit to US, blames Bajwa for removing him as PM

Khan, who was ousted from his post in April last year, took swipes at Bajwa saying that the former army chief had told the US that PTI Chief is an anti-American

US crackdown aims to push crypto industry back to the fringes of finance

The regulators are effectively building a wall between crypto trading and the banking and securities markets to prevent the types of systemic vulnerabilities that led to the 2008 financial crisis

China, US to participate in first meeting of new debt roundtable on Feb 17

The meeting will be co-chaired by the IMF, the World Bank and India, the current leader of the Group of 20, and comes a week before G20 finance officials are due to gather in Bengaluru

White House defends decision to shoot down 3 unidentified objects

The White House on Monday defended the shootdowns of three unidentified objects in as many days even as it acknowledged that officials had no indication the objects were intended for surveillance in the same manner as the high-altitude Chinese balloon that traversed American airspace earlier this month. The three objects, including one shot down Sunday over Lake Huron, were travelling at such a low altitude as to pose a risk to civilian air traffic, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. While the Biden administration does not yet have evidence that they were equipped for spying purposes or even belonged to China officials have not ruled that out, he said. "These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interests of the American people," Kirby said. The weeks-long succession of objects, starting with a giant white orb first detected over US skies in late January, has puzzled American officials and stirred curiosity around the world. Though t

Pak, US to hold defence talks in Washington to boost security ties

Pakistan and the US are set to hold defence talks in Washington on Monday to explore various options for ramping up bilateral military and security ties, the foreign office here has announced. The talks that would last from Monday to Thursday will be the second round of the Pakistan-US Mid-Level Defence Dialogue after the first round was held in Pakistan in January 2021, it said in a statement on Sunday. "Pakistan's inter-agency delegation, led by the chief of general staff, will comprise senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joint Staff Headquarters and three services headquarters. The US multi-agency team will be represented by the office of the undersecretary of defence, it said. Ties between the two countries have improved recently and the defence talks are kind of its manifestation, it added. The Dawn newspaper reported that US State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet in an interview with the paper emphasised the need to assist Islamabad in fighting terrorist

Aero India 2023: India is our partner of choice, says US envoy Jones

She also said that both countries are strengthening cooperation on critical technologies from space components to semiconductors

US shoots down 4th mysterious object over Lake Huron near Canadian border

It was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a US missile in a little more than a week

Sun Pharma recalls over 34k bottles of generic drug in US due to mfg issues

Drug major Sun Pharma is recalling over 34,000 bottles of a generic medication, used to treat high blood pressure, in the US market due to failed dissolution testing. As per the US Food and Drug Administration's Enforcement Report, the US-based arm of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is recalling lots of Diltiazem Hydrochloride extended-release capsules which are used to treat angina, high blood pressure and some types of irregular heartbeats. Princeton (New Jersey) based Sun Pharmaceutical Inc is recalling the affected lot due to "Failed Impurity (Deacetyl Diltiazem Hydrochloride) specification during stability testing and failed dissolution testing at FDA laboratory." The Mumbai-based drug major had produced the lot at its Halol-based manufacturing facility in Gujarat. The affected lot was later distributed in the market by its US-based unit. The company initiated the Class II nationwide recall (US) on January 13 this year. As per USFDA, a Class II recall is initiated in a situatio

China insists balloon for civilian use, accuses US of exaggerating dispute

The Biden administration offered details including that high-resolution imagery provided by U-2 spy planes flying past the balloon revealed an array of surveillance equipment

US' claims to waive sanctions for earthquake relief 'misleading': Syria

The Syrian Ministry responded in the statement on Friday that the US' decision "stipulates alleged exemptions for humanitarian purposes, and the facts on the ground proved its falsehood"

US would welcome any efforts by PM Modi to stop Ukraine war: White House

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, " I think there's still time for Putin to stop the war. I think there's still time for it. PM Modi can convince"

US introduces legislation for resolving issues between China and Dalai Lama

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a legislation in the US House of Representatives and the Senate to strengthen America's policy to jump-start a dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama that advance freedoms for the Tibetan people and peaceful resolution of their differences over Tibet. 'Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act' was introduced by Congressman Jim McGovern and Michael McCaul in the House and Senators Jeff Merkley and Todd Young in the Senate. It seeks to empower the US government to achieve its long-standing goal of getting Tibetans and Chinese authorities to resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue. The Tibetans are a people who deserve to have their rights respected under international law, McGovern said. This includes the right of self-determination, which they have been denied by the Chinese government and the international community, he added. The Biden administration has been vocal about Ukrainians' rights to decide how

US overreacted by using force, says Chinese ministry on 'spy balloon' issue

In a response to the White House's statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the US overreacted by using force and that the narrative is probably part of the information and public opinion.

Chinese spy balloon capable of gathering intelligence, claim US officials

FBI is analysing recovered parts of the suspected Chinese spy balloon, shot down on February 4, part of a fleet that had flown over "more than 40 countries across five continents", a US officials.

US needs to address India's ties with Russia, says Senatorial report

As the US focuses on the Indo-Pacific, in particular the Quad, the Biden administration needs to address India's ties with Russia and its "downward trend of democratic values and institutions", said a report by the Democratic Party of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. The report has called for supporting a strong and democratic India. Senate Foreign Affairs Chairman Senator Robert Menendez Thursday said the US needs to approach the Indo-Pacific with a well-resourced, whole-of-government approach that synchronizes the military-security elements with diplomatic, economic, and civil society elements to ensure the greatest chance of success. The "Strategic Alignment: The Imperative of Resourcing the Indo-Pacific Strategy", a Majority Staff Report, was released by Menendez on Thursday. "I believe that President Biden's Indo-Pacific Strategy, released one year ago, adopts this whole-of-government approach. If fully equipped with the tools that it needs to be successful, this strategy

Oil prices steady as optimism over recovering Chinese demand offset by US

il prices were steady on Thursday, as optimism over recovering Chinese demand was offset by U.S. oil inventories hitting their highest in months.

Online petition launched to extend H-1B visa holders' grace period

Amidst massive layoffs in the American tech sector that have resulted in a large number of Indian professionals being jobless, two Indian-American organisations have launched an online petition urging President Joe Biden to extend the grace period of H-1B visas holders from two months to a year. This means that once fired from a job, a foreign tech worker on H-1B visas would have one year to find a new job instead of the existing duration of 60 days, after which they have to leave the country. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. On behalf of immigrants (from the world, mainly from India and China) as well as naturalised citizens like Indian-Americans, Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies and Global Technology Professionals ...

Chinese spy balloons have targeted several countries, including India: Rpt

China has operated a fleet of spy balloons targeting several countries including India and Japan, a media report has said, days after the US military shot down a Chinese surveillance craft floating over sensitive installations in the country. US officials have briefed its friends and allies including India on the finds of the Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down by a fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday. On Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed officials from about 40 embassies here about it. The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China's south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The Post's report was based on interviews with several anonymous defence and intelligence ...