The inaugural meeting of the commission will be held at Marlborough House in London on Friday, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon announced on Tuesday.
A new agency is likely to be created for technical partnership among the Commonwealth countries, an initiative in which India can contribute in a big way, particularly by extending its IT expertise to smaller nations of the 53-member grouping, sources said on Tuesday.
According to sources the proposal has been scuppered by the British commerce ministry, which was not consulted, and which is the sectoral ministry for trade and investment.
Delhi's new Police Commissioner Dr K K Paul speaks to Onkar Singh.
The 92-year-old monarch's accounts released on Thursday showed the public funds used by her for official expenditure and duties went up from 41.9 million (Rs 377 crore to 47.4 million (Rs 426 crore).
Breaking his silence over India's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting scheduled at Colombo next month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said a decision would be taken only after considering all relevant factors, including sentiments of Tamil people.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision not to attend the Commonwealth Summit in Colombo was a loss for Sri Lanka as his absence reflected a breakdown of ties between the two countries, the main opposition said on Monday.
In a major relief for travellers from Asia and Africa, the UK has scrapped its controversial 3,000-pound "security bond" for some "high-risk" foreign visitors, including those from India.
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker-Bowles will make a nine-day visit to India next month on their way to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
Cameron is the second British PM to visit Kolkata after John Major about 16 years ago.
In the wake of stiff opposition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka.
Congress on Monday left it to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take a call on attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka amid a political controversy over the issue in view of the alleged atrocities against ethnic Tamils there.
There is a split in the United Progressive Government over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on November 15 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Some Union ministers including Finance Minister P Chidambaram want the PM to skip the session, said sources.
The hotel has currently turned into a high security zone with guests living there moved out to other facilities of the Taj group.
No meeting or interaction has been requested or scheduled with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi so far.
After stepping up attacks on the Union government over India's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka last month, chorus is mounting in Tamil Nadu among opposition parties over the country's offer to train Sri Lankan Naval personnel.
Swedish Prime Minister Lofven lauded India as 'global power' and said the two countries are a 'perfect match'.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided against attending the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting summit as he was pressed by "competing sentiments" in India about outstanding issues with Sri Lanka and domestic compulsions like polls in five states, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said.
Dr Singh has written a short letter to Rajapaksa informing him of his decision not to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit (CHOGM), sources said.
The aim of the scheme was to reduce the number of people from some "high risk" countries - including India, Pakistan, and Nigeria - staying in the UK once their short-term visa had expired.
With political parties in Tamil Nadu stepping up pressure on Centre for boycott of CHOGM at Colombo this month, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram met DMK chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai on Saturday and said no decision has been taken as yet on Prime Minister's visit to the meet.
Seeking to assuage the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu opposed to India's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting meet in Sri Lanka, Centre on Tuesday detailed its relief and rehabilitation efforts for minority Tamils in the war-torn island nation.
Growing foreign travel is one sign of the radical change in rising India's vacation dynamic.
Amid the political controversy over India's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government meet in Sri Lanka, the Congress top brass on Friday met to take a call on whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should attend the event.
For many years now, India has given the Commonwealth short shrift so its support for the Commonwealth trade initiative signals a renewed interest in the body.
No decision has been taken so far on whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the of Commonwealth Heads of Government meet in Sri Lanka on November 15-16, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday, asserting it will be taken after considering all aspects including "national interest" and "international obligations".
Canadian PM's wife Sophie Grgoire-Trudeau seems to have overshadowed America's First Lady in the fashion department.
Brushing aside opposition from the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and other parties in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa but did not give him any assurance on which way India will vote on a the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution for an independent international probe into rights abuses during the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, who is on a one-day visit to India, said he was open to meeting all elected leaders including Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Speaking to IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Cameron explained why he was not meeting Modi during this visit.
With some countries like Britain and Canada seeking to bring alleged human rights violations in the Sri Lankan civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam under the scanner during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting summit, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday asked member nations not to turn the Commonwealth into a "punitive and judgmental" body and desist from introducing bilateral agendas.
The issue of missing files relating to coalgate paralysed proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party demanding an immediate response from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, even as the government said it will leave no stone unturned in tracing the documents.
A defiant President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday once again rejected demands for an international inquiry into alleged war crimes during the military campaign against the LTTE, saying countries should not "dictate" to Sri Lanka.
Expressing anguish over India's decision to participate in the upcoming CHOGM in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Assembly today passed a resolution at its emergent session demanding "complete boycott" of the summit, as Congress and two other parties kept away from voting.
Amid indication that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Sri Lanka, the external affairs ministry on Saturday said no decision has been taken on the visit, which has been opposed by parties in Tamil Nadu as well as a section in Congress.
Brushing aside the demand of political parties in Tamil Nadu for a total boycott, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid arrived in Colombo on Wednesday to attend the CHOGM this week saying India remains committed to the welfare of the ethnic Tamils of Sri Lanka and that "we have to remain engaged" in "enlightened national interest".
The cascade of cordiality on both sides after the Modi-Sharif handshake in Paris was preceded by much planning and even goading from UK, US and Germany.
The prime minister should have visited Sri Lanka, armed with a critique of the Rajapakse government based on nuance and fact, says Sreenivasan Jain
Sushma Swaraj's suave moves helped Narendra Modi pull off a diplomatic coup, helping regain her standing.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal believes the India-US nuclear deal is not in limbo and it is for India and Pakistan to set the pace for conversations to resolve their issues. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
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