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• NEW DELHI (AP) -- India's government says there's no standoff with the U.S. over the arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York, appearing eager to defuse a controversy that has threatened bilateral ties.
• After meeting with Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, on Saturday following her return to New Delhi, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid downplayed tensions with the U.S.
• He said the two countries would sort out their issues.
• Khobragade was indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury on accusations that she exploited her Indian-born housekeeper and nanny, allegedly having her work more than 100 hours a week for low pay and lying about it on a visa form. She denies the charge.
• She was allowed to return home in an apparent compromise with India.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- For veterans seeking disability compensation, the application process is supposed to be so easy that a handwritten note on a napkin will initiate a claim or an appeal. A proposed rule from the Obama administration would change that, and veterans groups are sounding the alarm.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs says the many ways that requests for disability compensation arrive actually hamper its ability to administer benefits, and they contribute to a claims backlog that has about 400,000 veterans waiting more than 125 days for a decision. At times, workers spend so much time trying to figuring out what's being claimed and trading letters with applicants that it's slowing down decisions for everyone.
• The VA's solution: Require veterans to use a standard form when they file for disability compensation -- or appeal a decision, and throw in some incentives for those who use a computer.
• The response to the proposed rule from the nation's major veterans groups?
• "Draconian" and "heavy-handed," said the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "A seismic change" that will "poison" the disability claims process, said the American Legion.

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