US denies moving 34 warships to Mumbai

Dismissing news reports as totally absurd, the US has denied that it has moved some 34 war ships around Mumbai, where President Barack Obama would arrive on the wee hours of Saturday, the Pentagon has said."That's just comical. Nothing close to that is being done," Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, told reporters at a news briefing.Morrell was res...

The countdown to US President Barack Obama's India visit has begun.The President and his entourage have left Washington, for what is Obama's longest overseas tour of his presidency.The tour begins in India where he hopes to encourage business deals to rejuvenate the US economy and also improve his re-election prospects for 2012. The President is ta...

Hours before US President Barack Obama left for his visit to India, the US has slapped sanctions against Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).It has also targeted Lashkar commander Azam Cheema, who helped trained militants for the 26/11 attacks, and was the mastermind in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings.The US...

From making America eat better to advocating social causes, US First Lady Michelle Obama is trying hard to make a difference. And perhaps that is why she's fitted in meeting a group of children from Mumbai's orphanages on her jam packed  itinerary. For a year now, these children  are preparing to meet the US First Lady - they are learning...

On the eve of President Barack Obama's maiden visit to India, the US slapped sanctions on Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e Mohammad, besides targeting LeT commander Azam Cheema, a key operational figure in the 26/11 attacks.The Treasury Department took action against Cheema, who helped train operatives for the 26/11 attacks ...

First choppers surveying the shore and then a full-blown mock drill in South Mumbai from the helipad where US President Barack Obama will land to his first stop - the Taj Hotel.Agents from the US secret services, Indian intelligence agencies and the local police participated in this unique security, a drive to gauge how much time the convoy will ta...

Two days ahead of the visit of US President Barack Obama, IT industry body Nasscom has shot off a letter to the US ambassador in India, Timothy Roemer, flagging concerns about rejection of business visas for Indian IT firms.There have been concerns in the industry over an increasing number of visa applications by Indian IT companies being rejected....

US President Barack Obama may be the world's most powerful leader, but when he steps into Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, he will be treated like any other visitor.So says Rajghat Samadhi Committee secretary Rajnish Kumar, adding that the blackstone memorial on the bank of the Yamuna doesn't differentiate between people because that would ...

The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday.Communications set-up and nuclear button and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi.He wil...

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao briefed the press in New Delhi today about the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama. "Our Prime Minister visited US in November 2009 and was given honour of first state visit of Obama administration. President Obama's visit will reciprocate that," said the Foreign Secretary.  The last visit from the United...

The costs of US President Barack Obama's upcoming trip to India has been criticised by a Republican leader as "over-the-top" spending but the White House said the figures cited by the lawmaker have "no basis" in reality."When asked whether she would support cuts to Social Security and Medicare, Representative Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Min...

When Barack Obama took over recession battered America, there was hope that the economy reeling under the impact of its worst crisis since the great depression will turn around quickly. Two years later, American voters remain terribly unhappy with the state of their economy. The recession may have given way to recovery, but growth remains largely j...