Mathai meets top US defence official
Foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai concluded his three-day US trip after his meeting with deputy secretary of defence Ashton Carter at the Pentagon.
"Carter's continued engagement with senior Indian officials demonstrates the importance the defence department places on US-India relations," a Pentagon spokesperson said after the meeting.
During his three-day trip to Washington, Mathai held wide range of talks on bilateral and regional issues with top US officials including the new Secretary of State John Kerry.
Among others he met deputy secretary William Burns and under-secretary of state for energy, economic growth and environment Robert Hormats.
Soon after meeting Kerry, Mathai had a three-hour long meeting with under secretary of state for political affairs Wendy R Sherman during which they discussed a whole range of bilateral and regional issues, setting the tone for the second term of the Obama administration, which sources described as "very very substantive".
Expressing satisfaction over the progress made in his meeting, sources said it was "frank and useful exchange of views."
A US state department spokesperson, familiar with the talks, said Sherman and Mathai "enjoyed a warm and positive" meeting at the state department.
Sherman expressed the US' condolences for the Hyderabad bombings and underscored the priority America attaches to India-US counterterrorism cooperation.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Google to delete user location history on US abortion clinic visits
"If our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit," Jen Fitzpatrick, a senior vice president at Google, wrote in a blog post. "This change will take effect in the coming weeks."
-
Two Indo-Canadian academics honoured with Order of Canada
Two Indo-Canadian academics, working on research to advance the betterment of mankind, have been honoured with one of the country's most prestigious awards, the Order of Canada. Their names were in the list published by the office of the governor-general of Canada Mary Simon. Both have been invested (as the bestowal of the awards is described) into the Order as a Member. They are professors Ajay Agrawal and Parminder Raina.
-
Elon Musk's Twitter hiatus, in 2nd week now, generates curiosity
The world's richest person, Elon Musk, has not tweeted in about 10 days and it can't go unnoticed. The 51-year-old business tycoon has 100 million followers on the microblogging site, which he is planning to buy. Since April, he has been making headlines for the $44 billion deal and his comments and concerns about the presence of a large number of fake accounts on Twitter.
-
Taliban's reclusive supreme leader attends gathering in Kabul: Report
The Taliban's reclusive supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada joined a large gathering of nationwide religious leaders in Kabul on Friday, the state news agency said, adding he would give a speech. The Taliban's state-run Bakhtar News Agency confirmed the reclusive leader, who is based in the southern city of Kandahar, was attending the meeting of more than 3,000 male participants from around the country, aimed at discussing issues of national unity.
-
July 1: Canada to mark 155th anniversary of its formation
As the country prepares to celebrate the 155th anniversary of the formation of the Canadian Confederation, Canada Day, the traditional centre of festivities, Parliament Hill in Ottawa, will be off limits as protesters linked to the Freedom Convoy begin gathering in the capital for the long weekend. Various events have been listed by protesters including a march to Parliament Hill on Friday.
