An Indian diplomat whose arrest in the US sparked protests from India has been formally indicted by a US grand jury. However, prosecutors said that Devyani Khobragade, 39, had also been granted immunity and that officials had asked her to leave the US. The Indian foreign ministry later confirmed that she was on a flight back to India. Ms Khobragade was detained on charges of visa fraud and of […]

The political traffic jam that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is facing over his office’s involvement in controversial lane closures last year could intensify on Thursday as an official at the heart of the scandal is slated to testify.  The governor is also preparing to give a press conference late Thursday morning. The governor is trying to get a handle on the controversy, which could threaten the potential 2016 presidential […]

  Germany is joining international efforts to destroy Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons, the foreign and defence ministries have announced. Waste from the destroyed weapons would be burned at a government facility in the town of Muenster, they said. Germany said it was responding to a request for help from the UN and OPCW, co-ordinators of the destruction plan. The first consignment of toxic chemicals left Syria on a Danish […]

India in the 2012 Olympics.  The Olympics are never free from political influence and associations, but in India, political infighting has literally cost the nation’s athletes the chance to compete under their own flag. India’s membership in the International Olympic Committee has been frozen since December 2012, when the IOC learned that India elected officials accused of corruption to its national Olympic committee. The Indian Olympic Association will hold new […]

The chemistry and momentum is clearly with a charismatic Modi but will he have the numbers to become India’s next prime minister? For almost three decades, Sharad Pawar has been India’s prime minister-in-waiting. A few years ago, when journalists asked him if he had finally given up on his prime ministerial ambitions, the Maharashtra leader candidly admitted that with a party of less than 10 MPs, his chances for the […]

Arvind Kejriwal: Delhi chief minister wins confidence vote   Arvind Kejriwal, new chief minister of India’s capital Delhi, has won a vote of confidence in the state assembly. Support from the Congress party which had been in power helped him secure 37 votes, one more than he needed. Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi (Common Man’s) Party (AAP) won 28 of the 70 seats in last month’s elections on a pledge to […]

Fifteen months after the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, the narrative of the attack continues to be shaped, and reshaped, by politicians and the press. But a New York Times report published over the weekend has angered sources who were on the ground that night. Those sources, who continue to face threats of losing their jobs, sharply challenged the Times’ findings […]

  Thailand’s main opposition Democrat Party has announced it will boycott snap elections set for 2 February. Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva told a news conference it would not be fielding candidates, saying: “Thai politics is at a failed stage”. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the election earlier this month in a bid to end weeks of mass protests. The head of the Thai army has warned the country’s political divisions […]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Jo Becker: Outcry over Indian diplomat’s arrest overshadows issue of domestic worker abuse Becker: Routine strip search in U.S. is humiliating, degrading, and it’s rare in India She says domestic workers face slavelike labor, physical abuse, excessive hours Becker: Report found domestic worker abuse among diplomats who have immunity The uproar in India over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York is growing. Indians are protesting […]

For decades, both parties supplanted a push for higher wages with well-intended public aid. The result: calamity 2013 is the year many Americans discovered the crisis of the working poor. It turns out it’s also the crisis of the welfare poor. That’s tough for us: Americans notoriously hate welfare, unless it’s called something else and/or benefits us personally. We think it’s for slackers and moochers and people who won’t pull […]