Founded in 2023, Fomo Momo is a pioneering food truck enterprise and finds its roots to Delhi. During her days in Delhi, Ankita loved various street food experiences, with momos holding a special place.
Even though she moved to US for job, she always wanted to do something. She happened to meet Impreet during a social gathering in the U.S., where their mutual admiration for momos surfaced and soon catalyzed the vision of transposing the authentic essence of Delhi's street food onto American soil.
Their first food festival experience was at Smorgasburg in Jersey City in 2021, attracting a diverse customer base. Encouraged by the positive response, Ankita and Impreet decided to invest in a food truck in 2023.
Going from planning to actually running the business was tough, especially when it came to getting into the market and reaching customers.
In confronting this obstacle, Ankita and Impreet adopted a proactive approach, distributing complimentary samples during the initial stages of their venture.
They worked hard for eight months to make their momo recipe perfect. Clients of their momos are college students and professionals hailing from diverse cultural backgrounds.
One of their most famous dishes is the chilli momos, loved for its spicy flavours that make the dining experience even better.
Yet, amidst these challenges, Ankita and Impreet find solace in fostering meaningful connections with their customers, a facet that underpins the enduring success of Fomo Momo.
The U.S contingent is represented by personnel from 1st Special Forces Group (SFG) while the Indian Army contingent is led by Special Forces personnel from the Eastern Command, the Defence Ministry said.
Exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ aims at sharing best practices and experiences in areas such as joint mission planning and operational tactics.
During the course of the next three weeks, both sides will jointly plan and rehearse a series of special operations, counter terrorist operations, airborne operations in simulated conventional and unconventional scenarios in mountainous terrain.
Key highlights include ‘Combat free fall insertion of troops from stand-off distances’, ‘water borne insertion of troops’, ‘precision engagement of targets at long ranges’, ‘combat air controlling of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft’ besides ‘airborne insertion and sustenance of troops’.
Exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ has evolved as a mechanism to exchange ideas and share best practices between the special forces of both the nations. It is also a platform to enhance inter-operability and strengthen defence cooperation between the armies of India and the U.S.
This is the 14th edition of the exercise while the first edition was conducted in the year 2010 in India and the 13th edition of the Indo-US Joint Special Forces exercise was conducted at the Special Forces Training School (SFTS), Bakloh (HP). The current edition is being conducted in Umroi Cantonment, Meghalaya from November 21 to December 11.
The Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll poll released this week found the US president trailing behind GOP candidates, Donald Trump, Haley and Tim Scott but ahead of Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
When asked about a hypothetical matchup between Haley and Biden in 2024, 41 per cent of respondents said they would back her, in comparison to 37 per cent who said they would support the current president.
Twenty-one per cent of respondents said they didn’t know or were unsure who they would support -- Biden or Haley.
“No question that President Joe Biden is showing lagging national poll numbers and that now multiple GOP candidates are ahead of him. This is a new development as (non-Trump) potential opponents like Haley get exposure,” Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, told The Hill.
The poll shared with The Hill found that 44 per cent of respondents said they would vote for Trump, while 40 per cent said they would back Biden.
A separate 15 per cent said they were unsure or didn’t know in a poll largely unchanged from a similar Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll in July that had Trump at 45 per cent and Biden at 40 per cent, The Hill reported.
When asked about a match between Biden and Scott, the former received 37 per cent, while the latter got 39 per cent in the poll conducted from September 12-14 with 2,103 registered voters.
Biden performed better than the other Indian-American in the race, Vivek Ramaswamy, who came in at 37 per cent while Biden received 39 per cent.
The octogenarian also did well against former Vice President Mike Pence and DeSantis but a slew of negative polls point to his age as an issue for the president.
America's oldest ever president, Biden had recently said that a lot of people seem focused on his age. "I get it, believe me, I know it more than anyone. I'm running because democracy is at stake, because in 2024 democracy is on the ballot once again. And let there be no question: Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy".
Assessing how Republican candidates would fare in a race against Vice President Kamala Haris, the poll found that Trump was the only candidate who would defeat Harris in a head-to-head race (46 per cent - 40 per cent).
The investment will be made by the group's Indian Subsidiary, RiR Power Electronics, Odisha Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said on Thursday.
Harshad Mehta, promoter of the group and an electronics and semiconductor industry veteran with four decades of leadership experience, has submitted a letter of intent to the delegation of Odisha government, which is on an official tour to the US, it said.
Started in 1994 by Mehta and headquartered in the US, Silicon Power is a major technology developer and solutions provider in the design, development, manufacturing and testing of high-power semiconductor devices and utility-applicable systems.
This will be a first-of-its-kind manufacturing facility in Odisha and will serve as a testament to the efforts the government of Odisha has put-in to develop a semiconductor ecosystem in the state.
A company team, led by Mehta will visit Odisha within one month, and the company has committed to start operations in the next 18 to 24 months, the CMO said.
During a comprehensive and wide-ranging discussion with the company team, the Odisha delegation gave a presentation highlighting Odisha's industrial ecosystem and the generous package of incentives available under different policies, including in the upcoming semiconductor manufacturing and fabless policy which was recently approved by the cabinet.
After holding discussion with the team, the company submitted an LoI to set up the manufacturing facility in the state. It will bolster the industrial landscape and create significant employment opportunities in the state, the state government said.
The US firm operates in India through its subsidiary, RiR Power Electronics, which serves customers in a range of fields, including industrial, electric utility, railways, renewables, and defence.
"For us, these are not just art but part of our heritage, culture and religion. So when this lost heritage returns home, it received with a lot of emotion," Sandhu said at a ceremony in India’s Consulate General here on Monday to repatriate the antiques.
In a preview, Prime Minister Modi had said at a meeting with the diaspora last month in Washington: "I am happy that the American government has decided to return more than 100 antiquities of India that were stolen from us. These antiquities had reached the international markets. I express my gratitude to the American government for this."
Prime Minister Modi, who has made it his mission to regain for India antiques and art stolen from the country, said: "Over centuries, innumerable priceless artefacts, some with deep cultural and religious significance, had been stolen and smuggled abroad."
About 50 of the antiques returned on Monday have religious significance for Hindus, Jains and Muslims, while the rest are of cultural value.
Some of them were plundered from temples where they were objects of adoration.
Jordan Stockdale from the Manhattan prosecutor’s office said that many of the antiques were allegedly smuggled by Subash Kapoor and his gang of multinational operators.
He said: "We are excited to return those priceless treasures to you."
"We are deeply appreciative of Prime Minister Modi's kind words," Stockdale said, adding that "they reflect the close collaboration, which has led to successful recovery for thousands of Indian antiquities".
This was the latest development in the saga of convicted antiques smuggler Subash Kapoor who ran an international trafficking syndicate from his Art of the Past gallery on Madison Avenue in New York.
The Manhattan prosecutor’s office returned to India a batch of 248 antiques valued at $15 million in 2021, and another of 307 items valued at about $4 million last October.
Kapoor was sentenced last November by a court in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, to a 10-year prison sentence for stealing statues from temples.
He was extradited to India from Germany and is awaiting extradition to the US where he has been charged in New York with smuggling stolen artefacts.
Stockdale said that in all more than 2,500 artefacts valued at more than $145 million have been seized and he expected more of them to be returned to India.
Stockdale is the chief of staff to Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, whose office plays a pivotal role in Operation Hidden Idol that pursued Kapoor and the stolen antiques with Colonel Mathew Bagadanos heading the Antiquities Trafficking Unit.
The operation targeting Kapoor began around 2011 after a tipoff from Indian officials and discovered a web of crime spanning India, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Kapoor's business ensnared several museums and collectors.
Several museums have returned stolen artefacts to India.
Starting in 2014, museums in Honolulu, Hawaii; Salem, Massachusetts; Toledo in Ohio; Birmingham, Alabama, and Gainesville, Florida, began returning art and antiques identified as stolen from India.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced in March that it would send back 15 antiques from its collection that were connected to the Kapoor operation.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena have admitted to having art acquired from Kapoor in their collection.
The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the David Owsley Museum of Art in Muncie, Indiana, were among the institutions that had antiques from Kapoor.
Australia returned an Ardhanarishvara statue acquired from Kapoor to India in 2015 and its National Art Gallery said in 2021 that it would repatriate 14 other artefacts.
This is the prime minister's first visit to Egypt.
The two-day State Visit to Egypt at the invitation of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is also the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister since 1997.
Modi was in the US at the invitation of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
His visit to the US started in New York, where he led a historic event at the UN Headquarters to commemorate the 9th International Day of Yoga on June 21.
Later, in Washington DC, he was given a red-carpet welcome at the White House by President Biden.
The two leaders held a historic summit on Thursday, followed by Modi's address to Congress and a State Dinner hosted at the White House by the Bidens in his honour.
The visit was marked by several major deals to boost cooperation in key areas such as defence, space and trade.
Prime Minister Modi and President Biden hailed the "landmark" pact to jointly produce jet engines in India to power military aircraft and the US drone deal.
With India and the US set to elevate their strategic partnership, GE Aerospace announced it has inked a pact with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to jointly produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk-II Tejas.
In another big-ticket announcement, computer storage chip maker Micron said it will set up its semiconductor assembly and test plant in Gujarat, entailing a total investment of USD 2.75 billion (around Rs 22,540 crore).
Modi on Thursday also became the first Indian leader to address the Joint Session of the US Congress twice.
During his address, he sought action against state sponsors of terrorism. Modi also made a strong push for reforming multilateral institutions, including the UN, and spoke glowingly of India's ties with the US.
On Friday, US Vice President Kamala Harris along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted a luncheon for the Indian leader at the State Department. Modi also met top CEOs of the US and India at the White House.
Later in the day, he addressed an event hosted by the Indian community in the US.
During his Egypt visit, Prime Minister Modi is likely to interact with senior dignitaries from the Egyptian government, prominent Egyptian personalities, and the Indian community, apart from holding talks with Sisi.
In January, during Sisi's State Visit, the two countries agreed to elevate their relationship to a strategic partnership.
The prime minister will visit the Heliopolis Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery in Cairo, a solemn site that serves as a memorial to nearly 4,000 soldiers from the Indian Army who served and perished in Egypt and Palestine during World War I.
He will also visit the 11th Century Al-Hakim mosque, restored with the help of the Dawoodi Bohra community.
In his departure statement on June 20, Modi had said, "I am excited to pay a State Visit to a close and friendly country for the first time."
"We had the pleasure of receiving President Sisi as the Chief Guest at our Republic Day celebrations this year. These two visits in the span of a few months are a reflection of our rapidly evolving partnership with Egypt, which was elevated to a Strategic Partnership' during President Sisi's visit.
"I look forward to my discussions with President Sisi and senior members of the Egyptian Government to impart further momentum to our civilizational and multi-faceted partnership. I will also have the opportunity to interact with the vibrant Indian diaspora in Egypt," Modi said.
He was participating in the 'Skilling For Future Event' organised by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on Wednesday and his visit to the organisation was hosted by First Lady Jill Biden.
The prime minister also highlighted the initiatives undertaken by India to promote education, research and entrepreneurship.
"I am really happy to have got an opportunity to interact with young and creative minds here. India is working on several projects in collaboration with the NSF. I thank First Lady Jill Biden for planning and organising this event," Modi said.
Explaining the skilling mission of his government, Modi said for the bright future of youngsters, it is important to have education, skill and innovation, and India has worked in this direction.
The National Education Policy (NEP), education and skilling have been integrated. Under the Skilling Mission, more than 50 million people have been trained, and another 15 million are being given training on latest and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchains, Modi said while addressing a gathering.
To maintain the momentum of growth, "for India and the US, it is important to ensure a pipeline of talent", he said and added that his goal is to have this decade as "techdecade".
The US has the world's top educational institutions and advanced technologies, while India the world's biggest "yuva (youth) factory", the prime minister said and added that he believes, the India-US partnership will prove to be the sustainable and inclusive engine for global growth.
Later in a tweet, Modi said, "Honoured that @FLOTUS @DrBiden joined us in a special event relating to skill development. Skilling is a top priority for India and we are dedicated to creating a proficient workforce that can boost enterprise and value creation."
Welcoming the prime minister to the US, the First Lady said,"With this official visit, we are bringing together the world's oldest and world's largest democracies. But our relationship isn't just about governments. We're celebrating the families and friendships that span the globe, those who feel the bonds of both of our countries."
She said after years of strengthening ties, the US-India partnership is deep and expansive as we jointly tackle global challenges.
"Mr. Prime Minister, I know that education is an issue close to your heart as it is to mine. You work to ensure that all Indians, especially girls, which I love, have the opportunity to pursue an education and gain the skills they need for our modern workforce. It is so important, it is exciting to be able to show you some of the innovative programs our schools and businesses are creating for students here," Jill Biden said.
The NSF is headed by Indian American Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan. In the last year or so, several Indian Cabinet Ministers have visited its headquarters in Virginia. Prominent among them are Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
"PM @narendramodi and @FLOTUS @DrBiden participated in a unique event focused on promoting vocational education and skill development among youth. PM and @FLOTUS discussed collaborative efforts aimed at creating workforce for the future. PM highlighted various initiatives undertaken by India to promote education, research and entrepreneurship," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted along with pictures of the programme.
The NSF is an independent agency of the US government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health.
The First Lady thanked the NSF for hosting them. "There are students in this room who are discovering the inner workings of semiconductors starting in middle and high school or training for other cutting edge jobs...," she said addressing the gathering.
"If we want our economies to be strong, we need to invest in young people who are our future. We need to ensure that they have the opportunities that they deserve," Jill Biden said.
Education is a cornerstone of the bond between India and the US, "one we hope to keep building and strengthening with this visit", she said.
"Our universities are partnering together, leading research, and creating apprenticeships and internships that span the ocean. And, as we have seen here, students from both our countries are learning and growing alongside each other, discovering the people they want to become and building a better world, together. Working side by side, our nations can create a safer, healthier, more prosperous future for everyone," Jill Biden said.
NSF director Panchanathan said that India, as of this year, is the world's most populous country.
"Promoting education opportunities and expanding India's technology sector have been key pillars of Prime Minister Modi's vision for the country," he said.
Modi arrived here from New York where he led a historic event at the UN Headquarters earlier in the day to commemorate the 9th International Day of Yoga, attended by UN officials, diplomats and prominent personalities.
Prime Minister Modi is visiting the US from June 21-24 at the invitation of President Joe Biden and the First Lady.
In his departure statement, Modi had said this "special invitation" from President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for a State Visit is a reflection of the vigour and vitality of the partnership between the democracies.
"The US has a significant defense partnership with India and terrific cooperation inside the Quad, across the Indo-Pacific with India. There's a lot to talk about. We're looking forward to the visit," John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters on Monday.
"I don't believe that the full agenda has been fleshed out for the state visit, but we are very much looking forward to have Prime Minister Modi here," Kirby said in response to a question The deal to build GE-414 engines in India is set to be announced during the Prime Minister's visit to the US from June 21-24.
Major defence deals are likely to be on cards, which includes an agreement estimated to be worth Rs 22,000 crore, between the two nations to buy 30 MQ-9 B armed drones.
According to reports, Modi and President Joe Biden will discuss Indo-Pacific and maritime security issues amid China's growing assertive activities in the region.
The two leaders will also explore opportunities to expand and consolidate engagement of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
Jude Chacko, hailing from Kerala's Kollam district, was gunned down while he was returning from work on Sunday (local time), Khaleej Times reported.
His parents migrated to the US more than 30 years ago.
Chacko, a student who also worked part-time, was attacked by two men during a robbery attempt, the report said citing police officials.
His funeral is likely to be held at a Malankara Catholic Church in Philadelphia on Saturday.
In April this year, Saiesh Veera, a 24-year-old student from Andhra Pradesh, was shot dead by unknown men at a fuel station in Ohio.
"My Diwali Day Act is one step toward educating all Americans on the importance of this day, and celebrating the full face of American diversity," Meng said on Friday.
"Diwali is one of the most important days of the year for billions of people across the globe," she said
"America's strength is derived from the diverse experiences, cultures and communities that make up this nation."
Broadening its appeal, the text of the bill says: "Millions of Americans, both religious and secular, celebrate Diwali, which is also called the 'Festival of Lights'."
The bill has been sponsored by 14 members of the House -- 13 Democrats and a Republican -- and shows wide wide support.
The sponsors even include Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal, who are caustic critics of the Indian government and what they call "Hindutva".
If the Diwali Day Act is adopted by Congress, it would become the 12th federal holiday, and only the second religious holiday after Christmas.
The bill was introduced on May 15 and forwarded the same day to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which will have to approve it for it to go before the House.
It will also have to be approved by the Senate before going to the president for the final stage of adoption as law.
"Establishing a federal holiday for Diwali, and the day off it would provide, would allow families and friends to celebrate together, and demonstrate that the government values the diverse cultural makeup of the nation," Meng's office said.
The announcement was made as May, the Asian American Pacific Islander Month was drawing to a close, with the endorsement of several Hindu, Sikh, Dalit Rights, Indo-Caribbean and pan-Asian community and professional organisations.
"The recognition of Diwali as a federal holiday would be an affirmative step in celebrating/recognizing the diversity of our nation," said John C. Yang, President of Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
Together with Meng "we are showing that Diwali is an American holidaya, said Jennifer Rajkumar, a member of the New York State Assembly.
"To the over 4 million Americans who celebrate Diwali, your government sees you and hears you," she said.
After a campaign by her and Meng, New York City has made Diwali a school holiday from this year.
Meng represents a constituency in New York with a large Asian population.
Gregg Orton, Executive Director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, welcomed the introduction of Meng's legislation.
He said: "The official recognition of Diwali allows for the acknowledgement and celebration of individuals in the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist faiths. Our communities deserve to be seen and celebrated, and the passage of this act empowers several South Asian and Southeast Asian communities in practising and embracing their religious heritage."
Sim J Singh Attariwala, a senior official of The Sikh Coalition, said: "By embracing these celebrations, we not only include and integrate communities but also strengthen the bonds of our multicultural society, making America a more vibrant and compassionate nation for all."
A significant acknowledgement of Diwali was made by the US Postal Service which introduced a Diwali stamp with the image of a diya or lamp in 2016.
According to the draft, the bill will have the House acknowledge that "Diwali signifies the victory of good over evil and unfairness, and knowledge over ignorance".
"Diwali, also known as Deepavali, is an auspicious day celebrated by many South and Southeast Asian communities as well as religious groups including the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain communities."
The bill specifies that Diwali floats according to the "Vedic lunar calendar". Observed on falls on the 15th day of the eighth month or the New Moon Day in the month of Kartika".
Juneteenth commemorating the end of slavery was the last federal holiday adopted after approval by Congress and being signed into law by President Biden in 2021.
Diwali coincides with the Bandi Chhor Divas (the Day of Liberation), Kali Puja, and Tihar, it says.
The panel also suggested that to improve the effectiveness of economic sanctions the US must coordinate them with the Quad, an Indo-Pacific-centric group US forms with India, Australia and Japan, and other alliances and partnerships.
"The US should strengthen the NATO Plus arrangement to include India," said the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the US and the Chinese Communist Party in a report released on Wednesday titled "Ten for Taiwan policy recommendations to preserve peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait".
The NATO+5 group currently comprises all 31 member countries of NATO and Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Japan and South Korea, all countries that have bilateral defense and security treaties with the US.
India doesn't have a defence treaty with the US, but the latter has granted it the unique status of a "Major Defence Partner" with Strategic Trade Authorization 1 (STA-1) category facilitating license exemption for importing sensitive technology.
NATO Plus countries enjoy better access to America's vaunted defence industry and technology.
This is the first report from the select committee which was formed in January by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, to guide congress on competing with and countering China.
The committee has bipartisan support from both parties and the attention of the White House, which has had a testy relationship with Beijing so far, starting with a verbal free-for-all between their top foreign policy and national security officials at a meeting in Alaska in 2021, to recent tensions over a spy balloon that floated over the American mainland for days before US fighter jets shot it down over the Atlantic Ocean.
"Winning the strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party and ensuring the security of Taiwan demands the US strengthen ties to our allies and security partners, including India," said Raja Krishnamoorthi, the highest ranking Democrat on the committee.
"Including India in NATO Plus security arrangements would build upon the US and India's close partnership to strengthen global security and deter the aggression of the CCP across the Indo-Pacific region."
NATO Plus status for India has been bandied about for years now, but without fruition. It made it quite far in one instance and cleared the House of Representatives as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which is the Defence Department's budget, but came up short.
Ro Khanna, a Democratic member of the House, had introduced legislation to add India to the group some years ago.
A move is underway this time to include it in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024, as part of the main legislation and not as an amendment, which are seemingly easier to jettison during passage. And, most importantly, efforts are afoot to win over Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the powerful foreign relations committee, who is said to be the only man standing in the way of India becoming a NATO Plus country.
He is a Russia hawk and wrote the legislation that is now known as the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which calls for sanctioning countries that make significant arms purchases from Russia. He is upset with India because of its purchase of Russian S-400 air defence systems.
The China select committee's recommendations are in the nature of policy guidance for the US congress and reflects growing American desire to loop India into a larger plan to to prepare for a confrontation with China, which many US military experts have said is inevitable and most likely over Taiwan.
General Mike Minihan, a top US general, wrote in an internal memo earlier this year: "I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025." And President Joe Biden has now repeatedly said that he will send forces to defend Taiwan if it is attacked by China.
"Economic sanctions will be most effective if key allies such as G7, NATO, NATO+5, and Quad members join, and negotiating a joint response and broadcasting this message publicly has the added benefit of enhancing deterrence," the report said, seeking to further draw India into US plans for a confrontation with China.
The Quad -- Quadrilateral Security Dialogues -- has an avowed goal of keeping the Indo-Pacific "free and open" for all, as a bulwark against Chinese aggression. It has gained strength in recent years and though it has not gone as far yet as to coordinate economic sanctions against China, they have been moving in that direction such as their decision to block the Chinese IT giant Huawei by all four Quad member countries.
The other recommendations of the select committee include basing more longer-range missiles and unmanned vehicles in the Indo-Pacific, the US should strengthen collective planning (NATO+ for India is a part of this category), improving combined training of US and Taiwanese militaries, supplying key military systems to Taiwan, preparing key US infrastructure from Chinese cyberattacks, prepare Taiwan for similar contingencies, develop plans for US forces to operate in integrated manner with Taiwan, strengthen US bases in the Indo-Pacific; and, lastly, plan for a situation in which it would be difficult to resupply Taiwan during a crisis.
"On June 22, 2023, President Biden is hosting Prime Minister Modi for an Official State Visit and a State Dinner. As State Dinners have come to signify the President's utmost respect for visiting heads of state, granting a joint address to Congress is a commensurate honour for the leader of the world's largest democracy and perhaps the most critical partner to countering China in the 21st century," Representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and James Waltz, a Republican, wrote in a joint letter on Tuesday to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
"We firmly believe that inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver a joint address to Congress would further strengthen the deep and enduring friendship between the US and India," they added in the letter.
There were no indications if Speaker McCarthy, a Republican, will agree. If he does and Modi accepts the invitation, the latter will become the first Indian Prime Minister to address a joint session of US Congress twice. The first was in June 2016, in which he sought to project a new energy for the bilateral relationship with the two sides overcoming "the hesitations of history".
Biden has invited Modi for a state visit in June, the two sides announced earlier this month, with a state dinner at the White House as well.
The last Indian Prime Minister who was given a state dinner was Manmohan Singh; he was hosted by President Barack Obama. Singh was also the first foreign leader given a state dinner in Obama's presidency.
A state dinner is a rare gesture and signals a special relationship, which India and the US have to come to share over the last decade or so, going back several administrations and governments on both sides.
Khanna and Waltz, who are co-chairs of the India Caucus in the House of Representatives, invoke this special relationship to request the US Speaker to invite Modi.
"The foundation of our partnership lies in our shared commitment to democracy and the upholding of a rules-based international system," they write in the letter, adding, "With mutual interests in promoting global security, stability and economic prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity, the US and India have forged a deep bond. The recent in-person bilateral meetings between President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have reaffirmed our dedication to a resilient international order that safeguards sovereignty, upholds democratic values, and promotes peace and prosperity for all."
"The country was in denial of the long existing issue in the state of Kerala. The Kerala Story is a mission which is beyond the creative boundaries of cinema, a movement that should reach the masses all over the world and raise awareness," Sen told a group of Indian American reporters during a virtual news conference.
"The film's subject was hidden from the masses and deserved to be told. We made the film in order to initiate deliberation worldwide," said the producer of the film, Vipul Shah.
The film tells the story of three girls who were converted to Islam and ended up joining the ISIS.
"This is a very bold, honest and true film which in the beginning got no support, today stands at the point of releasing worldwide with a spectacular box office success in just 6 days," Shah said in response to a question at the virtual news conference organised by its Impact Advisor Priya Sawant and community leader Vijay Pallod.
The film, which has been vociferously championed by the Hindu right, including the BJP, has been boycotted by cinemas across Tamil Nadu and has been criticised by many for originally claiming in a teaser that 32,000 girls from Kerala fled the state to join ISIS.
The film's makers were earlier ordered by the Kerala High Court to remove the teaser from its publicity campaign, including social media posts. The film has been banned by the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee.
Adah Sharma, the film's leading lady, offered her opinion on the significance of both the story and the subject, stressing the necessity to address and ending such inhuman practices in society.
A statement issued by External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said: "The USCIRF continues to regurgitate biased and motivated comments about India, this time in its 2023 annual report."
He went on to add that "we reject such misrepresentation of facts, which only serves to discredit USCIRF itself".
Bagchi further said that India "would urge USCIRF to desist from such efforts and develop a better understanding of India, its plurality, its democratic ethos and its constitutional mechanisms".
In its annual report on religious freedom, the USCIRF asked the State Department to designate India as a "country of particular concern" on the status of religious freedom along with several other nations.
The USCIRF has been making similar recommendations to the Department since 2020, which have not been accepted.
In its India section of the latest report, the panel alleged that in 2022, religious freedom conditions in India continued to worsen.
The Commission also urged President Joe Biden' administration to impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for "severe violations" of religious freedom in the country by freezing their assets.
The team from New York University (NYU)- Lagone, in a mice study, showed that certain stem cells have a unique ability to move between growth compartments in hair follicles. However, as people age, it gets and thus loses their ability to mature and maintain hair colour.
The study, published in the journal Nature, focused on cells in the skin of mice, which in humans are called melanocyte stem cells, or McSCs.
"Our study adds to our basic understanding of how melanocyte stem cells work to colour hair," said study lead investigator Qi Sun, a postdoctoral fellow at NYU Langone Health.
"It is the loss of chameleon-like function in melanocyte stem cells that may be responsible for greying and loss of hair colour. These findings suggest that melanocyte stem cell motility and reversible differentiation are key to keeping hair healthy and coloured," added said Mayumi Ito, Professor at NYU Langone Health.
In the latest experiments in mice whose hair was physically aged by plucking and forced regrowth, the number of hair follicles with McSCs lodged in the follicle bulge increased from 15 per cent before plucking to nearly half after forced ageing.
These cells remained incapable of regenerating or maturing into pigment-producing melanocytes.
The stuck McSCs, the researchers found, ceased their regenerative behaviour as they were no longer exposed and hence their ability to produce pigment in new hair follicles, which continued to grow.
By contrast, other McSCs that continued to move back and forth between the follicle bulge and hair germ retained their ability to regenerate as McSCs, mature into melanocytes, and produce pigment over the entire study period of two years.
Ito said the team has plans to investigate means of restoring motility of McSCs or of physically moving them back to their germ compartment, where they can produce pigment.
President Joe Biden had nominated Plumb, currently serving as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, to the position in June 2022.
"By a vote of 68-30, the Senate confirmed Radha Iyengar Plumb to be a Deputy Under Secretary of Defense," the US Senate Periodical Press Gallery tweeted.
Prior to her appointment as Chief of Staff, she was director of research and insights for trust and safety at Google with oversight of teams responsible for technical research, data science and business analytics.
She previously served as the Global Head of Policy Analysis at Facebook where she focused on high risk/high harm safety and critical international security issues.
In her Linkedin profile, Plumb describes herself as an experienced leader with deep technical analytic skills and a demonstrated history of working in the government, academia, and industry.
Plumb previously was a Senior Economist at the RAND Corporation where she focused on improving measurement and evaluation of readiness and security efforts across the Department of Defense.
She also held a number of senior staff positions on national security issues at the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and the White House National Security Council.
At the outset of her career, Plumb was an Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and did her postdoctoral work at Harvard.
She received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Economics from Princeton University, and holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In his announcement, Moore cited Rai's 30-plus years of career experience dedicated to higher education and his commitment to innovation, access, and leadership.
"This is an historic opportunity to build upon a strong higher education system of community colleges, the University of Maryland System, and private colleges," Rai said in a statement released by Montgomery College.
"We must create an inclusive higher education ecosystem that provides meaningful and affordable access to higher education and workforce training to all residents in the state. We will ensure that home grown talent combined with research advancements, will make Maryland a prime destination for employers around the nation and the world for relocating, starting and expanding their businesses," he added.
With his community college background, Rai provides a unique and valuable perspective on the need for post-secondary education to align with academic and workforce needs, the Montgomery College statement read. He has also helped in the creation of programs that meet the needs of emerging industries like cloud computing, cybersecurity, cell and gene therapy, and data science.
According to the statement, Rai has worked to remove barriers to education access through the redesign of developmental education, revision of alternate placement policies, and embedding of coaches in classrooms to increase student success.
Prior to serving as the College's chief academic officer, Rai led the Germantown Campus as vice president and provost
A PhD in mathematics at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Rai continues to actively contribute to the field of mathematics by authoring numerous scholarly articles and other academic publications.
He completed his BS in statistics, physics, and mathematics from the University of Allahabad.
In his new role, Verma will be responsible for directing, coordinating, and supervising State Department operations such as foreign assistance and civilian response programmes.
Verma previously served as US Ambassador to India (2015-17) during the Obama Administration, becoming the first person of Indian descent to hold that position.
He is presently the Chief Legal Officer and Head of Global Public Policy at Mastercard. He also served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, where he led the State Department's efforts on Capitol Hill.
A US Air Force veteran, Verma served on active duty as a Judge Advocate. His military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal and Air Force Commendation Medal.
Verma is the recipient of the State Department's Distinguished Service Award, the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship, and was ranked by India Abroad as one of the 50 most influential Indian Americans.
He holds degrees from the Georgetown University Law Center (LLM), American University's Washington College of Law (JD), and Lehigh University (BS).
Biswal is presently the Senior Vice President for International Strategy and Global Initiatives at the US Chamber of Commerce, overseeing the US India Business Council and US Bangladesh Business Council.
She brings over 30 years of experience in US foreign policy and international development programs within the Executive Branch, Congress, and the private sector.
Having served as Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs at the US Department of State from 2013 to 2017, Biswal oversaw the US-India strategic partnership during a period of unprecedented cooperation, including the launch of an annual US-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.
She also initiated the C5+1 Dialogue with Central Asia and the US-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue during her tenure as Assistant Secretary.
Prior to that, she was Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), directing and supervising USAID programs and operations across South, Central, and Southeast Asia.
She has also spent over a decade on Capitol Hill, working as Staff Director on the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Appropriations as well as professional staff on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives.
Biswal serves as the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and is on both the Board of the National Democratic Institute and the US Institute of Peace International Advisory Council.
She is a member of the US Institute of Peace Afghanistan Study Group and the Aspen Institute's India-US Track 2 Dialogue on Climate and Energy.
Biswal is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she studied International Relations and Economics.
The US International Development Finance Corporation is America's development finance institution. It partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world today.
The law came into force immediately after the signing on Tuesday and the decision to resume Russia's participation in the treaty is up to the head of state, reports Xinhua news agency.
In his annual State of the Nation to the Federal Assembly on February 21, Putin said Russia was suspending its participation in, rather than withdrawing from, the New START treaty.
He also pointed out the combined strike potential of NATO as Britain and France also have nuclear arsenals that pose a threat to Russia.
A day later, a bill on the New START treaty suspension was unanimously adopted by Russia's parliament and then sent to Putin for his final approval.
The New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty in force between the two nuclear superpowers, was signed in 2010 and took effect on February 5, 2011.
The Treaty stipulates that seven years after its entry into force, each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers.
On February 3, 2021, the two nations exchanged notes on the completion of internal procedures necessary for the agreement on extending the term of the treaty for five years to take effect.
On August 8, 2022, Russia informed the US it was temporary pausing New START inspections of its facilities in the wake of the sanctions imposed on Moscow in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The US federal government has announced plans to end the Covid-19 Public Health Emergency on May 11. The CDC said that Covid-19 remains a public health priority and it has impacted all aspects of daily life and contributed to a decline in life expectancy. Many people remain at higher risk for severe illness and death, Xinhua news agency reported.
Covid-19 remains a critical public health issue, said the CDC, adding that it remains important to stay up to date with Covid-19 vaccines, especially for people at higher risk for severe disease.
The US is currently averaging about 33,700 new Covid-19 cases, 3,500 hospitalisations and 344 deaths each day, according to CDC data.
The longest wait-time, typically for first-time visitors, is down from over 1,000 days to about 580, as a result of such measures that also include interview waiver for repeat visitors, additional staffing at consular operations in Indian missions and "Super Saturdays" when mission staff just process visas all day.
From summer stateside renewal of visas will be allowed in some categories on a pilot basis.
"It is the number one priority that we're facing right now," said Julie Stufft, the senior official of the State Department's consular operations, told reporters while referring to the extraordinary delays in the processing of US visas in India.
"We are absolutely committed to getting us out of the situation where people -- anyone in India -- seeking a visa appointment or a visa would have to wait a lengthy time at all. That's certainly not our ideal."
As a result of these efforts so far this year, Stufft said further" "We've issued 36 per cent more visas than we did before the pandemic in India. Just to say that again, 36 per cent more visas processed now than during the before the pandemic in normal times and that is a huge percentage increase and I think it will actually go up as the year goes on. It's only February."
Long waiting times for US visa processing post-pandemic, specially for first-time visitors, have become a key issue in the bilateral relationship and it was raised by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at the last 2+2 meeting between the two countries' Foreign and Defence Ministers in Washington D.C. last September.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had assured him then that the US had a plan to address the issue.
Frustration over these visa delays had led many in India to ask if they were symptoms or manifestation of deeper problems in the bilateral relationship. And there was a perception that the delay was intentional.
"We are keenly aware of the public perception this has generated and created in India and in part, what we're doing today is to try and address that misperception that somehow the US is no longer welcoming of Indian students or Indian businessman or Indian visitors writ large and this really is a systemic problem," said Nancy Jackson, a senior official of the state department's South and Central Asia bureau, in response to question.
The delays were caused by the closure of consular operation for more than a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
All US operations were impacted around the world. But the situation in India was the worst of all because of the sheer volume of visa applications that the US receives from Indians for all categories -- from B1/B2 tourist visas to H-1B and L work visas to others.
Delays in most of these categories have been addressed to a large extent the officials said because of interview waiver for repeat visitors.
Their applications are processed remotely at US missions around the world.
"So right now today we have dozens and dozens of officers around the world and here in Washington right down the street doing Indian thesis on behalf of our mission in India," Stufft said.
This frees up the consular staff in India to focus on first-time visitor interviews.
Indians are also being encouraged to apply for visas at US missions in other countries, the officials said, who acknowledged this was far from an ideal situation.
More than 100 US missions around the world have processed Indian applications.
The officials would not describe in detail what intelligence the US has seen suggesting a recent shift in China's posture, but said US officials have been concerned enough that they have shared the intelligence with allies and partners at the Munich Security Conference over the last several days, the CNN reported.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue when he met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Saturday on the sidelines of the conference, officials said.
"The Secretary was quite blunt in warning about the implications and consequences of China providing material support to Russia or assisting Russia with systematic sanctions evasion," a senior State Department official told reporters, CNN reported.
Vice President Kamala Harris also alluded to China's support for Russia during her speech in Munich.
"We are also troubled that Beijing has deepened its relationship with Moscow since the war began," Harris said Saturday. "Looking ahead, any steps by China to provide lethal support to Russia would only reward aggression, continue the killing, and further undermine a rules-based order."
Officials said the US is seeing China publicly trying to present itself as a proponent of peace - Wang said in Munich on Saturday that Beijing would be introducing a "peace plan" for Ukraine and Russia - and maintain relationships with Europe, while at the same time quietly aiding Russia's war effort and considering the provision of lethal aid, CNN reported.
"This warfare cannot continue to rage on. We need to think about what efforts we can make to bring this warfare to an end," Wang said at the conference.
At the direction of President Joe Biden, the US military at 2.39 pm EST shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, some six miles away from the US shores in South Carolina, with no damage to the life and properties of Americans, a senior defence official told reporters in Washington.
Fighter aircraft from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia inspired a single missile into the balloon causing it to crash into the ocean within the US territorial airspace, said the official, adding that as of now there are no indications that any people including US military personnel, civilian aircraft or maritime vessels were harmed in any way.
"I told them to shoot it down," Biden told reporters in Hagerstown, Maryland.
"On Wednesday, when I was briefed on the balloon, I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible. They decided -- without doing damage to anyone on the ground -- the best time to do that was as it got over water, outside within the 12-mile limit," Biden said.
Meanwhile, Beijing reacting to the downing of the balloon expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition towards the US use of force to attack China's civilian unmanned airship, state-run Xinhua news agency cited a statement from Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying on Sunday.
"The US insisting on the use of force is an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice. China will resolutely uphold the relevant company's legitimate rights and interests, at the same time, reserving the right to take further actions in response," said the Foreign Ministry statement.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said that at the direction of President Biden, fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by and belonging to the People's Republic of China (PRC) over the water off the coast of South Carolina in US airspace.
"The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above US territorial waters," Austin said.
China has claimed that the balloon was merely a weather research "airship" that had been blown off course.
This action of downing of the balloon was taken in coordination, and with the full support, of the Canadian government.
The Pentagon official told reporters soon thereafter that they took immediate steps to protect against the balloon's collection of sensitive information mitigating its intelligence value to China.
By shooting down the balloon it addressed the surveillance threat posed to military installations and further neutralise any intelligence value it could have produced, preventing it from returning to China.
"In addition, shooting the balloon down could enable the US to recover sensitive PRC equipment. While we took all necessary steps to protect against the PRC surveillance balloon collection of sensitive information of the surveillance balloons overflight of US territory, which was of intelligence value to us," the official said without divulging much of the information.
"I can't go into more detail, but we were able to study and scrutinise the balloon and its equipment, which has been valuable. The Chinese officials have themselves acknowledged the high-altitude surveillance balloon which has been useful to the People's Republic of China," said the official.
Now that the balloon has been shot down, focus has shifted to the recovery mission, which is already underway.
Multiple vessels are on the spot along with the divers, to go down if needed. The US has also deployed unmanned vessels that can go down to get the structure and lift it back up on the recovery ship, said the official.
FBI officials are also on board as well, other counterintelligence authorities to be categorising and assessing the platform itself.
According to the second senior defence official, the Pentagon has been tracking this high altitude balloon for some time. It entered Alaska on January 28. It then entered into Canadian airspace on January 30 and re-entered US airspace over Northern Idaho on January 31.
"With confidence the high-altitude balloon was a PRC surveillance balloon. We assessed that it did not pose a threat at any time to civilian air traffic and because of the altitude of the balloons. We also assess it did not pose military or kinetic threat to US people or property on the ground, although we were constantly updating both of those assessments and prepared to take it out if that threat profile changed," said the official.
"We're also looking at the intel value of the balloon throughout. We are going to learn more as we pick up the debris that was not likely to provide significant added value over and above other PRC intel capabilities such as satellites in low Earth orbit, for example," said the official.
But nevertheless, this balloon was clearly crossing over sensitive sites, including sensitive military sites. As such, the Pentagon took additional precautions to make sure that whatever added intelligence value was minimised.
Through constant monitoring and surveillance, the US has learned technical things about this balloon and its surveillance capabilities. "I suspect if we are successful in recovering aspects of the debris we will learn even more," said the official.
This is not the first such sighting. It's happened before, but the US defense department said this is the longest Chinese spy balloon that has been seen hovering over the country. And it comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepares to visit China and President Joe Biden is slated to deliver his first State of the Union speech in a Republican-led House of Representatives.
India will be following this spy balloon's flight as well for insights and lessons given its own border challenges with China, whose military has provoked a string of skirmishes along the Line of Actual Control in recent years, the last of them took place in December, and with increasing frequency.
"The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now," Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brigadier Gen. Pat Ryder said during an impromptu briefing on Thursday evening.
"The US government, to include NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), continues to track and monitor it closely."
But the balloon poses no threat to commercial air traffic as it's positioned way above that height, Ryder said.
President Biden has been briefed, according to news reports.
A senior defence official who briefed reporters on background that the US intelligence community has "very high confidence" the balloon belong to China and the US has engaged China on it "with urgency, through multiple channels".
The US is weighing options on how to deal with the balloon but for now, the official said, it's been decided at the highest level in the US military - Chairman of joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley - to let it float overhead, rather than to shoot it down. The key concern being the safety of civilians down below.
"We did assess that it was large enough to cause damage from the debris field if we downed it over an area," the official said. "I can't really go into the dimension a"Abut there have been reports of pilots seeing this thing, even though it's pretty high up in the sky. So ... it's sizable."
But the US is largely leery of the mission of this spy mission. "Currently, we assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collective collection perspective," the official said. "But we are taking steps, nevertheless, to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information."
The strain is believed to be behind the recent surge in the number of Covid cases in the US. The patient in Jaipur had returned from the US on December 19 last year, sources said.
Five cases of this variant have been reported in India so far -- three in Gujarat and one each in Karnataka and Rajasthan.
He got a Covid test done on December 23 after complaining of fever, which returned positive. He then consulted a private doctor online and took medicines and reportedly got cured.
The youth's genome sequencing was conducted at the SMS Medical College in Jaipur.
"The patient came to us for check-up in the last week of December. Tests have confirmed the presence of Omicron's new sub-variant XBB 1.5," an official said.
However, the officials in the state health department are tight-lipped in this matter.
The Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) of Jaipur, Vijay Faujdar, said that till now, they have not received any information about this patient. Any further action will be initiated once information is received about the latest case, he added.
According to experts, this variant spreads infection by neutralising the vaccination and naturally made antibodies in our body. Not only this, the infection spreads in our body 104 times faster than all the other variants known till now.
Microsoft, Google and others have flagged vulnerabilities in codes due to memory safety issues and malicious cyber actors can exploit these vulnerabilities for remote code execution or other adverse effects, which can often compromise a device and be the first step in large-scale network intrusions.
"NSA advises organisations to consider making a strategic shift from programming languages that provide little or no inherent memory protection, such as C/C++, to a memory safe language when possible. Some examples of memory safe languages are C#, Go, Java, Ruby, and Swift," the agency said in a new document.
Commonly used languages, such as C and C++, provide a lot of freedom and flexibility in memory management while relying heavily on the programmer to perform the needed checks on memory references.
Simple mistakes can lead to exploitable memory-based vulnerabilities.
"Software analysis tools can detect many instances of memory management issues and operating environment options can also provide some protection, but inherent protections offered by memory safe software languages can prevent or mitigate most memory management issues," said the NSA.
Even with a memory safe language, memory management is not entirely memory safe.
"Several mechanisms can be used to harden non-memory safe languages to make them more memory safe. Analysing the software using static and dynamic application security testing (SAST and DAST) can identify memory use issues in software," said the NSA.
"The compilation and execution environment can be used to make it more difficult for cyber actors to exploit memory management issues. Most of these added features focus on limiting where code can be executed in memory and making memory layout unpredictable," the agency suggested.
The US Labour Department said on Thursday that core inflation, excluding food and energy prices, rose 6.6 per cent in September from the corresponding period of last year.
It was also up from 6.3 per cent in August, making it the highest increase since 1982.
On a monthly basis, the core retail inflation rose 0.6 per cent in September, according to official data.
US stock futures fell and Treasury yields soared higher after the inflation data topped came out. The dollar also rallied.
Judge J. Paul Oetken, hearing the case in New York, threw out late last month requests by Infosys and its executives to dismiss the case.
The former recruiter, Jill Prejean, said in court papers seen by IANS that at Infosys she "consistently heard from at least a dozen partners, to her shock, that they preferred not to hire additional consultants of Indian national origin".
She has also alleged that she personally faced discrimination as a woman and because of her age when she was dismissed from her New York-based job.
Oetken said that Prejean had shown that there were sufficient grounds for the case alleging "unequal treatment based on her age and gender" by Infosys' three senior executives.
Prejean, who was hired in 2018 to help recruit "high-level executives and/or partners for Infosys", was "dismissed" the next year and it is believed she was "replaced by a younger, less qualified person", the complaint said.
The complaint said that although she worked for Infosys, she had been hired by a company called IT Associates Inc and was paid through them.
Her original complaint in 2020 only said that she was instructed to exclude women with children at home and people near or over the age of 50 from consideration for hiring.
But it was amended last year to include people of "Indian national origin" among victims of alleged discrimination.
It said that Prejean "consistently heard from at least a dozen partners, to her shock, that they preferred not to hire additional consultants of Indian national origin, that they wanted women without children at home, and candidates not approaching 50".
In their meetings, she "apprised the partners that they were advancing illegal criteria and that she would not act on them", the complaint said.
"These preferences were open and notorious and seemed to be the company culture," her complaint said.
The amended complaint also included as defendants Mark Livingston, the CEO of the consulting division, and vice presidents Dan Albright and Jerry Kurtz, while IT Associates appeared to have been dropped.
It said that "among the partners who endorsed illegal criteria were Defendants Kurtz and Albright, who expressly stated them to" her.
The complaint said Livingston "made good on his threats of retaliation" for raising various issues.
California had the most confirmed cases among US states so far, with 4,656 cases, followed by New York with 3,755 and Florida with 2,398, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the CDC data.
Monkeypox infections are rarely fatal, with most cases resolving within two to four weeks. According to the World Health Organization, the disease has a fatality rate of around 3 per cent to 6 per cent.
However, immunocompromised individuals are more likely to experience severe illness when infected, according to the CDC.
US health officials are warning doctors against overusing the lone drug available to treat monkeypox.
Viruses are constantly evolving to better infect humans and overcome new drugs and vaccines, according to the CDC.
The US Food and Drug Administration has warned that the antiviral drug, called Tecovirimat, is highly vulnerable to resistance. Even a small mutation in the virus could leave the drug ineffective.
"A price cap on Russia oil is a powerful tool -- one part of the tool in our agenda to put downward pressure on global energy prices in a way that will benefit consumers in the US and globally," White House Press Secretary Karen Jean-Pierre told reporters during her daily news conference here Friday.
"And we are determined to implement this policy in a way that achieves those goals," she said.
Earlier in the day, G7 finance ministers announced a cap on the price of Russian oil, which they said would put pressure on global energy prices while denying Putin revenue to fund his brutal war in Ukraine.
As per the announcement, the G7 countries, along with other allies and partners, plan to prohibit the provision of services that enable maritime transportation of such oil and products unless purchased at or below a price level determined by the coalition of countries adhering to and implementing the price cap.
"By committing to finalise and implement a price cap, the G7 will significantly reduce Russia's main source of funding for its illegal war, while maintaining supplies to global energy markets by keeping Russian oil flowing at lower prices," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
"While we have seen energy prices ease in the United States, energy costs remain a concern for Americans and continue to be elevated globally. This price cap is one of the most powerful tools we have to fight inflation and protect workers and businesses in the United States and globally from future price spikes caused by global disruptions," she said.
Responding to a question, Jean-Pierre told reporters that the impact of G7 efforts to implement a price cap is already bearing fruit.
"Reports show that Russia is already offering steep discounts -- as much as 30 per cent -- and long-term contracts to some countries. This also demonstrates that Russia is planning to continue supplying its oil and willing to swallow bigger discounts," she said.
"A price cap will give more countries better leverage to strike deals with Russia. We will further work in the coming weeks to determine the price cap level; release further information, including technical guidance for market participation; and announce our coalition partners as well," said the press secretary.
"We're prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously and to take responsibility to help us tackle this virus," Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra said in a call.
The US has so far delivered some 600,000 JYNNEOS vaccines -- originally developed against monkeypox's related virus, smallpox -- but this number figure is still far short of the approximately 1.6 million people considered at highest risk and who need the vaccine most.
Some 99 percent of US cases have so far been among men who have sex with men, the Health and Human Services department said last week, and this is the population authorities are targeting in the national vaccination strategy.
In contrast to previous outbreaks in Africa, the virus is now predominantly spread through sexual activity -- but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says other routes are also possible, including sharing bedding, clothing, and prolonged face-to-face contact.
The US declaration comes after the World Health Organization also designated the outbreak an emergency last month -- something it reserves for diseases of highest concern.
With agency inputs