The Federation of Indian Associations of the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the leading umbrella diaspora organisation in the US, partnering with the Empire State Building, marked the festival of lights by illuminating the iconic Manhattan building in orange on Friday.

"In India's development cooperation, we will be guided by our partners' development priorities. Our assistance does not create indebtedness and is without conditionalities," he said at the 44th Annual Meeting of the G-77 Foreign Ministers on Thursday, in a veiled reference to China's loans which has led to debt-traps in some countries.

On Gandhi, Obama says he has 'a nervous, unformed quality about him, as if he were a student who'd done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject', according to The New York Times review.

America has never in its history before had a female President and Vice President so it remains to be seen what formal title -- 'Second Gentleman, Second Husband' -- will be given to the first male spouse of an elected leader.

Countries across the world -- from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada to Singapore and New Zealand, are witnessing phenomenal strides by Indian-origin politicians, who are now taking on influential and prominent roles in governments and cabinets.

'There are voters that may only come out to vote for him because he's speaking to their issues and they may not be Democrat or Republican'

With an increasing number of people from the Indian-American community playing a significant role in US elections, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said there is a realisation among them that "if you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu -- that is why they are voting and running for office in large numbers".

President Trump originally announced his intention to withdraw from the agreement in 2017 and formally notified the United Nations last year. The US exited the pact after a mandatory year-long waiting period that ended on Wednesday.

The map showed all the countries, including water bodies and Antarctica, coloured red, with the exception of the state of California, India, Mexico, Liberia, Cuba and China coloured blue -- the hue of the Democratic party. However, while India was coloured blue, Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East states were coloured red.

'It's official: we won. I'm going to Albany to fight to tax the rich, heal the sick, house the poor & build a socialist New York. But I can't do it alone. To win socialism, we'll need a mass movement of the multiracial working class as well. So let's build one,' Mamdani tweeted.

Compared with the 2016 election, in which Donald Trump received a 13 per cent of the Muslim vote, Trump in 2020 received 4 per cent more support.

The US appears to be on track to see over 160 million votes cast in the 2020 presidential election, a turnout rate of about 67 per cent, which is higher than what the country has witnessed in more than a century, as President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned through the final day to get more voters to the polling booths.

There were allegations that voters are receiving robocalls, spreading disinformation and encouraging people to stay home on Election Day.

Born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, Harris, 55, is the first Indian-origin and first Black woman to be picked by a major American political party for the top post.

In the study titled 'The Effects of Large Group Meetings on the Spread of COVID-19: The Case of Trump Rallies', researchers concluded 18 rallies by Trump held between June 20 and September 22 "ultimately resulted in more than 30,000 incremental confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 'likely led to more than 700 deaths', which may not necessarily have been among attendees.

Biden, 'plotting an ambitious presidency that would begin amid twin health and economic crises, is leaning on veteran advisers with high-level governmental experience rather than outsiders and ideological rivals to help guide him on subjects including the coronavirus pandemic and the country's diminished standing in the world', a report in The New York Times said.

The Center for Responsive Politics said that an 'extraordinary influx' of political donations in the final months -- driven by a Supreme Court battle and closely watched races for the White House and Senate -- pushed total spending in the election past the previously estimated 11 billion dollars figure.

"This restaurant @ScopaRestaurant literally threw my family and I, out of their premises. So racist. So sad. You really need to treat your customers right. Very racist. This is not okay," she said in a tweet.

The report said in 2016, around 58.3 million pre-election ballots were cast, including ballots in the three vote-by-mail states that year. That early vote accounted for about 42 per cent of all ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election.

India-born US district judge Amit Mehta, an Obama appointee, has been assigned the justice department's crucial lawsuit against internet search giant Google.