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India has blocked service to all mobile phones without a valid identity code, as part of anti-terrorist measures being implemented by the Indian government. On Monday, any handset without a valid International Mobile Equipment Identity (Imei) code had its connection cut off, according to the Indian Cellular Association (ICA), which represents mobile operators in the country. The mobile industry is complying with a government directive that arose after discussions between Indian security agencies and the Indian Department of Telecommunications, the ICA added. The Imei, a 15-digit number printed inside a phone, can be used to identify a particular device on...

WASHINGTON (November 2009) – The Center for Immigration Studies is releasing the third video in its series Border Basics by Janice Kephart, Three Years of Fraud in the U.S.: The Case of Manoj Kargudri. Following closely on the heels of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s announcement that she is looking forward to working with Congress on “comprehensive immigration reform,” Janice Kephart explores how the agency that would be responsible for carrying out an amnesty of 12 million illegal aliens still cannot ferret out fraud in a single simple employment petition even eight years after 9/11. Kephart examines the...

Next year China and India will celebrate six decades of diplomatic relations. A whole range of festivities is planned. The border war of 1962 was the nadir of the relationship. However, things have improved greatly since the 1980s. There are now regular high level political meetings; bilateral trade turnover next year may reach $60 billion; boundary demarcation talks have been underway since 2003, and there have been two joint military exercises designed to combat terrorism. Nevertheless, the two Asian giants do not really trust one another. India is particularly concerned about the Chinese military build-up in Tibet and along the...

China may beat India in gold consumption Updated: 2009-12-01 11:20 Counter:885 China is showing an unending appetite for the yellow metal and its production is set to record a new high this year. According to newspaper reports, the country's gold demand might be more than 450 tonnes this year, up from 395,6 tonnes last year, and output might climb to 310 tonnes, compared with 282 tonnes a year earlier. China overtook South Africa to become the world's largest gold producer in 2007. The World Gold Council (WGC) said in July China might pass India as the biggest consumer. Bullion touched...

India economy grows 7.9%, shatters forecasts By Penny MacRae (AFP) – 5 hours ago NEW DELHI — India reported its best growth figures in 18 months on Monday as government spending and record low interest rates helped Asia's third-largest economy rebound from the global financial crisis. The 7.9-percent expansion in the quarter to September from a year earlier far eclipsed market forecasts and prompted the government to raise its growth expectations for the financial year to March 2010. The growth figures, which underscored Asia's role in spearheading the global recovery, also stoked speculation about when India would begin exiting stimulus...

It was fitting that the first state visit to be received by the Obama administration, with a formal dinner held Tuesday, would be that of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Relations between the United States and India are of critical and increasing importance to both nations. India is the world's second most populous country, a rising economic power and a functioning and stable democracy. It is also perfectly positioned - geographically, economically and politically - to be of help with a number of issues important to the United States. While hardly identical, U.S. and Indian interests intersect in ways that,...

The US Saturday disclosed to India new information linking the anti-terror plot hatched by expatriates David Coleman Headley and Tahawuur Rana with some elements in the ISI and said it will reveal the name of a key Pakistani national linked to the Mumbai carnage in a week's time. The disclosure came when National Security Adviser MK Narayanan held talks with CIA chief Leon Panetta in New Delhi on Saturday, reliable sources said. The new information given by the US reinforces Indian investigations that have pointed to links between Headley and Rana, who were arrested by the FBI in Chicago last...

While much attention is being focused on the Secret Service for allowing uninvited socialites Tareq and Michaele Salahi to crash the state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House last week, the person responsible for all facets of the dinner has so far been given a pass by her friends in the media.White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, a Chicago pal of the Obamas, failed to follow the previous administration's practice of staffing the Secret Service-guarded entrances for dinner guests with someone from her office that could handle any problem with invitees.The AP quoted Rogers directly...

How should one read Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the United States? Measured against the experience of recent predecessors — such as Mr Singh’s own trip to Washington, DC, in July 2005, when the India-US nuclear deal was announced and triggered one of India’s most important foreign policy successes — this month’s voyage across the Atlantic will probably seem a mild affair. There were no blockbuster moments and obvious game changers. However, what was worth noting was the Prime Minister’s sustained effort at attempting to talk up the American mood. For example, in an interview to Newsweek just before...

WASHINGTON: Bull in a China shop is not an expression one would normally use to describe India’s mild-mannered Prime Minister, but at a Washington think-tank on Monday evening Manmohan Singh was anything but delicate on India’s newly nettlesome neighbor before an audience that is largely in thrall of the Middle Kingdom’s meteoric rise on the global stage. In candid remarks that were keenly scrutinized in the context of New Delhi’s niggling troubles with Beijing and US overtures to the country, Dr Singh offered an Indian perspective on rising China that included an admission that lately, ''there is but a certain...

Research shows the following:"Unlawful Entry. A Violation of D.C.Code § 22-3102(1967).-- Unlawful Entry is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $100 or imprisonment in the District of Columbia jail for not more than six months or both in the discretion of the court."

Growing military ties between China and Pakistan are a serious concern to India, Defense Minister A.K. Antony said on Friday, in the latest display of a prickly rivalry between New Delhi and its neighbors.

Indians wanted to adopt Moshe- ISrael envoy speaks SAMYABRATA RAY GOSWAMI Mumbai, Nov. 26: The day baby Moshe was rescued during last year’s Mumbai attack and his picture was splashed by the media, the Israeli consulate here had its phone lines choked. “Every phone was ringing — the calls came from across India. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs — they all wanted to adopt Moshe. That was the singularly most overwhelming experience I have had in India so far,” said Mark Sofer, Israel’s ambassador to India, sitting in his sixth-floor suite overlooking the Gateway of India. Sofer was in Mumbai to...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday released a second installment from its logs of White House visitors in the first seven months of Mr. Obama’s term, revealing a roster of business executives, Democratic strategists and lobbyists showing up for meetings, events or tours. The latest list — some 1,600 names — includes Thomas Donohue, the head of the Chamber of Commerce who has been embroiled in a fight over climate change with the Obama administration. It also includes T. Boone Pickens, the energy investor and author of the best-selling book “The First Billion Is the Hardest.” A three-time visitor...

NYT: This much is known: About 7:15 Tuesday night, a glittering blonde, decked out in a red and gold sari, holding the hand of her black-tuxedoed escort, swept past the camera crews and reporters camped out to catch the red-carpet arrivals for the first state dinner given by President Obama.

It's the greatest White House fiasco since the sale of the Lincoln Bedroom. A pair of social-climbing, reality show wannabes got into the White House state dinner Tuesday night -- without an invitation -- and giddily rubbed elbows with Vice President Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel and a host of other high-level politicians and the media elite. "The Real Housewives of Washington" hopefuls Tareq and Michaele Salahi -- who've gotten a reputation for a bitter family feud involving a winery in the posh horse-country of Northern Virginia -- showed up at the state dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the...

A couple of aspiring reality-TV stars from Northern Virginia appear to have crashed the White House's state dinner Tuesday night, penetrating layers of security with no invitation to mingle with the likes of Vice President Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Tareq and Michaele Salahi -- polo-playing socialites known for a bitter family feud over a Fauquier County winery and their possible roles in the forthcoming "The Real Housewives of Washington" -- were seen arriving at the White House and later posted on Facebook photos of themselves with VIPs at the elite gathering. While the White House...

Crashing a state dinner at the White House apparently takes a security breakdown as well as some kind of nerve. But the stars were aligned for Tareq and Michaele Salahi on Tuesday night. White House staff were left red-faced after the aspiring reality TV couple caused a security scare by gatecrashing an Obama-hosted dinner. The Salahis mingled in the same room as President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and guest of honour Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - despite not being on the guest list. They even posed for pictures with Vice President Joe Biden, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel...

Last November, people around the world shed tears over one of the most tragic images of the Mumbai attacks — a newly orphaned little boy crying at the loss of his parents. “Mommy, Mommy,” Moshe Holtzberg wailed during a tearful ceremony held in a Mumbai synagogue days after a terrorist attack in India’s financial capital last November 26 left at least 166 people dead. But the heartbreaking story of little Moshe, then 2, was also hailed as an example of courage and humanity in the face of unspeakable violence. As Islamist terrorists kept Chabad’s Nariman House under siege, Moshe’s Indian...

NEW DELHI: Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh was behind the hoax call made to Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari during the height of tensions between India and Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks. Investigators told Pakistani daily Dawan that Omar Sheikh, posing as former external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, had threatened Mr Zardari, in a bid to heighten tensions between the two countries. Pakistani investigators found that Omar Sheikh, in a Karachi jail since 2002 for the murder of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, used a mobile phone with a UK-registered SIM to first place a call to Mr Mukherjee,...

The first-ever night trial of India's nuclear capable Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile has failed to meet all the mission parameters, defence sources said on Tuesday. "The test-fire, conducted from the Wheeler Island off Orissa coast on Monday night, could not achieve all the desired results and pre-coordinated parameters," they said after a thorough analyses of the mission data. The two-stage indigenously developed Agni-II missile, with a range of 2000 km, which was test-fired from a mobile launcher, was intended to train the end-user, the Strategic Force Command of the Indian Army, to operate the sophisticated missile in adverse conditions....

The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that it has sold 10 metric tons of gold to Sri Lanka, the third customer to acquire a portion of its gold holdings. The IMF in September finalized a plan to sell 403.3 metric tons of gold—an amount equivalent to about one-eighth of its total holdings. The IMF previously announced the sales of 200 metric tons of gold to India and 2 metric tons to Mauritius.

The government of the Indian capital, Delhi, has been paying salaries to 22,853 civic workers who do not exist. Salaries for the missing Municipal Corporation of Delhi workers add up to nearly $43m a year, City Mayor Kanwar Sain said in a statement. The "gap" was discovered after the authorities introduced a biometric system of recording attendance. Correspondents say it shows some civic officials created a list of "ghost workers" to siphon off state funds. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) employs more than 100,000 cleaners, gardeners, teachers and other workers. 'Gap' City officials became aware there were thousands of...

WASHINGTON - Crashing a state dinner at the White House apparently takes a security breakdown as well as some kind of nerve. The Secret Service is looking into its own security procedures after determining that a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, managed to slip into Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list, agency spokesman Ed Donovan said. President Barack Obama was never in any danger because the party crashers went through the same security screening for weapons as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime...

A couple of aspiring reality TV stars gatecrashed the state dinner hosted in honour of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House, clicked pictures with US Vice President Joe Biden and other guests and then posted them on their Facebook profile, US media said. A Washington Post report said: "Tareq and Michaele Salahi -- polo-playing socialites -- were seen arriving at the White House and later posted on the Facebook photos of themselves with VIPs at the elite gathering." "Honoured to be at the White House for the state dinner in honour of India with President Obama and...

On the anniversary of the Mumbai attacks we trace how the siege of the Indian city unfolded. Planning: The attacks were planned up to a year in advance. A number of terrorists were trained by the group Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan from which ten were chosen. The attacks were financed through Italian bank accounts and the group used internet telephones based in New Jersey and Austria. Reconnaissance: Sabahuddin Ahmed and Fahim Ansari were arrested in Rampur, India, in February 2008 carrying hand-drawn maps of targets in Mumbai, including the Taj hotel and Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station. Similar maps were later recovered...

ISLAMABAD: Omar Saeed Sheikh, a detained Pakistani militant, had made hoax calls to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a bid to heighten Pakistan-India tensions after last year’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, investigators have told Dawn. ‘Omar Saeed Sheikh was the hoax caller. It was he who threatened the civilian and military leaderships of Pakistan over telephone. And he did so from inside Hyderabad jail,’ investigators said. The controversy came to light after Dawn broke the story, exactly one year ago, that a hoax caller claiming to be then Indian foreign...

DAWN.com: Rawalpindi - "SEVEN INDICTED FOR PLANNING, AIDING MUMBAI ATTACK" SNIPPET: "Anti-terrorism court judge Malik Mohammad Akram Awan charged Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu Al-Qama, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum with planning, arranging weapons and providing training to the attackers." SNIPPET: "The court decided to take up the case of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving 'terrorist' being tried in India, separately under section 540-A of the criminal procedure code..."

What should we make of the kerfuffle over the Indian Prime Minister's state visit to Washington today? Manmohan Singh's summit with President Obama, scheduled in part to offset the president's unfortunate decision not to visit India on his first Asian tour, has been plagued by disappointment in Delhi. India does not enjoy the pride of place in America's foreign policy agenda granted it by President Bush and even by President Clinton in the last years of his administration. Why not? This U.S. administration, unlike its predecessor, appears to disfavor values-based cooperation as an organizing principle of American foreign policy, diminishing...

It’s one of the most secure places on earth, but two Washington area socialites and reality TV wannabes were apparently able to get behind the gates at the White House and mingle with the crowd at the State Dinner in honor of India last night. The Washington Post has the dish on Tareq and Michaele Salahi, below: The First Lady’s office told ABC they would have no comment on the crashers and referred all inquiries to the Secret Service. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan confirms that the agency is looking “into a report that two individuals not on the guest...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Secret Service is investigating how an uninvited couple was admitted to U.S. President Barack Obama's White House state dinner, penetrating layers of security and mingling with VIP guests. The couple from northern Virginia was not invited to the dinner, not included on the official guest list, and were never seated at a table in the South Lawn tent where the dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was held, The Washington Post reported, citing a White House official it did not identify. A Secret Service spokesman told the Post that no one was under any risk...

Tareq and Michaele Salahi SNIP "Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!" one of them wrote on their joint Facebook page at 9:08 p.m. SNIP While the White House offered no official explanation, it appears to be the first time in modern history that anyone has crashed a White House state dinner. The uninvited guests were in the same room as President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, although it is unknown whether they met the Obamas and the guest...

Univited couple get through Security last night at the White House and attend the White House State Dinner, not only that, they got their picture with Vice President Joe Biden, (Video from CNN + Photo with Biden)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Secret Service says it's looking into its own security procedures after determining that two people crashed Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says that President Barack Obama was never in any danger. Donovan says the party crashers went through the same security screening as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Indian Premier Manmohan Singh Friday urged the international community to "stay the course" in violence-wracked Afghanistan. ... "We appreciate the efforts of international community to stabilise Afghanistan and it is our sincere hope that the international community will stay the course."

WASHINGTON - -- What's the hottest ticket in the nation's capital? An engraved invitation to Tuesday's White House State Dinner, the first hosted by President Barack Obama. He and the first lady will honor Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister -- in a big way, and in their way. In a departure from the most traditional venue, the elegant, high-ceilinged State Dining Room, the Obamas instead will gather with a few hundred VIPs in a huge, heated tent on the South Lawn. The guest list for the black-tie gala remains a closely guarded secret, so there's heavy speculation about who may...

Gold futures rose to a record high near $1,188 an ounce Wednesday, getting a fresh lift on reports central banks were in the market to buy bullion and as the U.S. dollar slid to a key level against the euro. Also providing support, holdings in the biggest gold exchange-traded fund rose again. Climbing for the ninth straight session, gold for December delivery rose as high as $1,187.50 an ounce. The contract ended up $21.20, or 1.8%, at $1,187 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. India, Sri Lanka Analysts said speculation India could buy more...

Indian president becomes first woman leader to fly fighter jet Indian President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday became the first woman leader in history to fly in an Air Force fighter jet. Patil, 74, left the Lohegaon Air Force base near Pune in western India on a two-seat Su-30MKI for a 30-minute flight, where she was decked out in a G-force grey suit for her 0.9 Mac (700-800 km/hr) flight. Patil's fighter jet was escorted by two additional fighters so she could get a feel of how the planes fly and look in tactical operations. Her flight was broadcast live over...

Is it just the angle of the picture or has the Bower in Chief now ordered that a foreign flag be raised above the Stars and Stripes?

The visit to the U.S. of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will focus on important geo-political and economic issues. But this visit also should focus attention on the role India might play in an emerging global culture of freedom, helping both America and India. Friends of liberty should take note. Unenlightened legacy India seems an unlikely candidate to enhance the planet’s freedom. Its culture has been steeped in irrational religious beliefs, mostly unleavened by modern intellectual enlightenment. Religious violence between Hindus (80 percent of the population), Muslims (13 percent), and Sikhs (2 percent) goes back centuries. While tamped down, it...

President Obama welcomed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the White House with words that have inspired snickers in New Delhi: "Yours is the first official state visit of my presidency, its fitting that you and India be so recognised," 48-year-old Obama told the 77-year-old Indian leader. The general reaction in India has been: Who the heck does this guy think he is? Note to the Great Diplomat: When you do a head of state an honor, you don't remind him, in public, of the fact that you have done him an honor, particularly in self-aggrandizing terms of this sort....

'I have been warning Pakistan," announced Palaniappan Chidambaram, the Indian minister of home affairs, this month, "not to play games with us. If terrorists from Pakistan try to carry out any attacks in India, they will not only be defeated, but will be retaliated against very strongly." In the spectacular attacks in Mumbai a year ago tomorrow, 10 terrorists despatched by Lashkar-e-Taiba, an extremist Muslim organisation based in Pakistan, killed at least 173 people, including five British nationals. Ahead of the anniversary of the atrocities, Mr Chidambaram's words have been understood – both in New Delhi and Islamabad – to...

India plans to buy more gold from IMF Nov 24 2009 India is open to buying more gold from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It bought 200 tonnes for $6.7 billion on November 3. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may well buy IMF’s remaining hoard of 201.3 tonnes on acceptable terms, which are now under negotiation. A government official said that the additional purchase would depend on the “successful pitching by RBI”. “RBI is an independent body, and the government does not interfere in its affairs. It will get the gold if its bid is successful and at the...

Mumbai: D. Sivanandan, Mumbai's police commissioner, was appointed to his position in June after his predecessor came under fire for mishandling the November attacks in which 173 people were killed. Sivanandan, who is credited with wiping out Mumbai's notorious underworld as head of the city's crime branch in the early 90s, taught economics for several years. Known for his iron hand, he was even depicted in a Bollywood movie on gang wars. At a recent interaction on security with business executives, Sivanandan spoke about measures taken to secure the city, the possibility of a new attack, and the need to...

A year ago tomorrow, as no one in India needs reminding, Urban Jihad set sail from hostile shores, came aground in Mumbai, flickered live on our TV screens, and purveyed death across the city. Recovering from the monstrous invasion, a wounded and incensed India that had had enough of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism seriously contemplated letting rip against terrorist targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. But following entreaties to hold back in the interests of not diverting attention and military resources away from the larger goal of targeting jihadi forces in Afghanistan, it exercised tremendous restraint. A year later, look at where Pakistan stands....

Modern Flourishes as Obamas Host First State Dinner RACHEL L. SWARNS November 24, 2009 WASHINGTON — It is an old tradition, a White House dinner governed by ritual and protocol that happens to be this city’s hottest social event. But at their first State Dinner on Tuesday night, President Obama and his wife, Michelle, made sure to infuse the glittering gala with distinctive touches. They hired a new florist, Laura Dowling, who bedecked the tented outdoor dining room with locally grown, sustainably harvested magnolias and ivy. They selected a guest chef, Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit in New York, an American...

The White House -- finally! -- has released its guest list for tonight's state dinner. Among the politicians: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Chris Dodd, and Sen. Claire McCaskill. Among the members of the media: NBC's Brian Williams, CBS's Katie Couric, the New York Times' Tom Friedman, CNN's Sanjay Gupta, and ABC's Robin Roberts. Among the celebrities/moguls: David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Gayle King, M. Night Shyamalan, and Steven Spielberg. Below is the entire list...

The arrival of Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in Washington and the bad feeling towards the current U.S administration in New Delhi right now highlights a disappointing truth about President Barack Obama: Foreign policy is not his thing. Well, not if we judge him on his achievements in South Asia – the front line in the war on terror, the home of Al Qaeda’s global headquarters, and the place where, more than anywhere in the world, he needs to succeed. Yet in Afghanistan, he seems to be failing miserably. His favourite politician, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, the main Afghan guest at...

UP to a million Hindu devotees have gathered in a village in Nepal to witness the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals in a mass sacrifice that has drawn widespread criticism. Worshippers travelled long distances, many coming from India, to attend the two-day Gadhimai festival, which honours the Hindu goddess of power and takes place once every five years in southern Nepal. A huge cry of "Long Live Gadhimai!" went up after the village temple's head priest launched the event with the ritual sacrifice of two wild rats, two pigeons, a rooster, a lamb and a pig. The crowd...

I moved to New Delhi a year and a half ago from New York for a new job with a newspaper. When I arrived in India's capital, I figured if I was going to live in the country, I might as well get used to the food, the water and the bacteria that doesn't seem to bother too many natives. I ordered juices, ate cold salads and drank the un-bottled water that restaurants bring customers for free. But I learned the hard way there are better methods for adjusting your body to the new climate. Less than two weeks into...