
Month: July 2014


US launches charm offensive against wary India
NEW DELHI (AP) — Given a rare opportunity to lunch with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Gaurav Dalmia was less interested Thursday in discussing the planned topics at hand, including climate change or even the trade dispute between India and the U.S. Instead, the Indian businessman was focused on Kerry himself — and whether he would be able to smooth over brittle relations between Washington and New Delhi for the sake of economic growth.

India, U.S. stress strategic ties but tensions remain
By David Brunnstrom and Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The United States and India stressed their desire to boost business and defense ties on Thursday, but trade and spying rows were a reminder of the obstacles to President Barack Obama’s vision of a “defining” partnership. After a day of meetings in New Delhi seen as a preparation for a September visit to Washington by new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Indian leader’s election had created a “singular opportunity.” “The moment has never been more ripe to deliver on the incredible possibilities in the relationship between our two nations,” he told a news conference after the annual Strategic Dialogue meeting between the two countries.

State Dept: ‘No American is proud’ of CIA tactics
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has endorsed the broad conclusions of a harshly critical Senate report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention practices after the 9/11 attacks, a report that accuses the agency of brutally treating terror suspects and misleading Congress, according to a White House document.



Witness of Syrian atrocities testifies in Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — Graphic images of emaciated and bloodied corpses in the Syrian civil war were presented to uncharacteristically silent members of Congress Thursday as a former military photographer testified about the signs of savagery he witnessed.

Syrian atrocities witness testifies in US Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — Graphic images of emaciated and bloodied corpses in the Syrian civil war were presented to uncharacteristically silent members of Congress Thursday as a former military photographer testified about the signs of savagery he witnessed.

India says U.S. snooping “completely unacceptable”
India has raised the issue of U.S. surveillance activities in the South Asian nation with Secretary of State John Kerry, the foreign minister said on Thursday. “Yes, I raised this issue (U.S. snooping) with Secretary John Kerry … I have also conveyed to him that this act on the part of U.S. authorities is completely unacceptable to us,” Sushma Swaraj said at a joint news conference in New Delhi.

Kerry says compromise with India on WTO possible
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that he still hoped for a compromise to end India’s opposition to a global deal that would address its concerns and help advance trade liberalisation, just hours before a deadline passed. New Delhi has insisted that, in exchange for signing a trade facilitation agreement worked out in Bali last year, it must see more progress on a parallel pact giving it more freedom to subsidise and stockpile food grains than is allowed by World Trade Organization rules. “We are obviously encouraging our friends in India to try to find a path here where there is a compromise that meets both needs, and we think that’s achievable. India’s new nationalist government has demanded a halt to a globally agreed timetable on new customs rules and said a permanent agreement on food stockpiling and subsidies aimed at supporting the poor must be in place at the same time, well ahead of a 2017 target set last December in Bali.