It has emerged that a senior US government functionary offered to help India garner greater funding from the World Bank in return for protecting Dow Chemicals from possible legal fallout from the gas tragedy.
"The rains are continuing, the great dam above Sindh is in danger. If it breaks, the situation will reach an even more catastrophic level. It's already exceeded in the number of people affected the 2005 earthquake, but not as many people dead -- of course, that was 75,000. It is a major international humanitarian catastrophe."
The announcement was a surprise as the new administration to be headed by the new Premier is scheduled to take over during the annual Parliament session slated to be held from March 5 next year.
Modi said he really enjoyed the Metro ride.
'We are not interested in forfeiting the tie. We look forward to working with the ITF to find a solution that guarantees the safety of all the players'
The major substantive lesson that we should draw from the foreign minister-level talks is that Pakistan is not serious about addressing our concerns on terrorism. This should have been clear to us long ago because we have been talking to Pakistan on terrorism ever since 1997, says former deputy national security advisor Satish Chandra.
The United States administration is pushing for greater control over the investigation of any involvement of the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence in slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's presence in Pakistan since 9/11, amid fears that Islamabad may not carry out a credible probe.
India's concerns over China's plans to build two nuclear reactors for Pakistan and bilateral issues are set to figure prominently during talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy Shiv Shankar Menon and the Chinese leadership in Beijing from Saturday.
"Unfortunately, the seniors were being completely sidelined," he said in a statement.
Former NSA Brajesh Mishra told rediff.com, "One knew that the US was in Afghanistan to kill Osama. If they would get him, then their operation will be over. But, I believe the Taliban in Afghanistan is as dangerous as Osama's Al Qaeda. They are having a presence outside Afghanistan as well in Europe and even in the US."
Saran's appointment will bring in a professional diplomat, who does not have any experience of handling internal security (which was Narayanan's strength) and issue of terrorism. But on other side, Saran has the backing of more than three decades of experience in international affairs and has recently gained thorough understanding of issues related to climate change.
If you pledge market-linked instruments and their value plummets, you will have to provide additional collateral, points out Sanjay Kumar Singh.
'By making it so public in the House of Commons, you know the reaction in India... Mr Modi is not very happy about it; you're kicking out Canadian diplomats; you suspended visa services for Canadians...'
Cricket Australia said an independent security assessment confirmed there is a risk of terrorism in Bangladesh targeting Australian nationals.
China is keen to resolve in a "peaceful manner" its longstanding boundary dispute with India and wants to ensure that 2012 is a year of cooperation and development between the two sides.
After weeks of denying the possibility, Pakistan turned around on its position -- admitting to CNN-IBN that some or all of the terrorists who carried out the 26th November attacks on Mumbai- could have been Pakistani nationals.
A top United States Intelligence official on Monday held a series of meetings with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and senior officials, during which the progress in investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks was reviewed.Director of National Intelligence John Michel McConnell, who flew into the Capital, is also believed to have met National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and discussed issues related to evidence gathered so far in the probe in the 26/11 terror strikes.
He was stopped by the administration and will be sent back by a flight later in the afternoon, the Congress leaders said.
The retired American general who delivered an alleged memo that sought United States help to stave off a feared coup in Pakistan has said that he believes the document was "not credible".
Warning that India and China could ill-afford misperceptions on policy, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon on Thursday said that pursuit of an ambitious agenda by the two countries could put bilateral relations on a sound footing.
Sponsorship and external linkages have 'tended to fertilize indigenous terrorism.'
In its effort to improve its ties with Pakistan, India played down the spurt in infiltration from the neighbouring country in 2008 -- the year in which Pakistan-based terrorists carried out the Mumbai terror attack, according to a secret United States cable released by WikiLeaks
Some five months before the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack, India had warned the United States about increasing "white faces" in terrorist camps along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the attempt by jihadi groups to acquire fissile material to "fabricate a crude bomb beyond a dirty bomb".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would co-chair the first US-Pak Strategic Dialogue to be held in Washington on March 24.
The Kashmir issue was raised by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his first meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, a top Pakistani advisor said on Wednesday, discounting reports that the issue was sidelined during the talks.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves New Delhi on Wednesday on a 4-day visit to Maldives to attend the SAARC Summit on the margins of which he will meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The first high-level meeting between the two countries after the November visit of US President Barack Obama to India, Menon's Washington trip is considered as a preparatory one for the next round of India-US Strategic Dialogue to be held in New Delhi in April.
The US military has around 2,200 service members and civilian employees in Turkey, which is a NATO member and a crucial regional partner for Washington.
Mahmood Ali Durrani, who was sacked as the Pakistan's National Security Advisor after he acknowledged Ajmal Kasab's Pakistani nationality, has insisted that Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed had no role in the 26/11 terror strike and has asked New Delhi not to "push" Islamabad.
Warning that terrorists were increasingly using hi-tech methods to transfer money across borders, Deputy National Security Advisor Vijay Nambiar on Monday said the government was creating a 'robust legal environment' to fight cyber crime.
Speaking at the Cariappa memorial lecture on 'The role of militaries in international relations', National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon said that force was an inescapable factor in international relations, whether through its actual use or in the threat of its use.
During the meetings, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan S K Lambah and the top US officials discussed the progress made in Afghanistan so far and how the two countries can work together to achieve their common objective of defeat al Qaeda and the Taliban, and help in the emergence of a stable and democratic Afghanistan.
Ahead of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit, India and China on Tuesday concluded their 14th round of special representatives border talks, with both sides agreeing to seek a "fair deal" as they made "steady progress" on a framework to resolve the long-running boundary dispute.
He said it was disturbing that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with the National Security Advisor had convened a meeting of the state police chiefs on Sunday and suggested them to get back with the blueprint to on a formula to tackle the menace of terrorism in 100 days. "The meeting also recommended for the formation of the special force and was convened after the UPA government completed 1,600 days in the office," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Pakistan to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit likely to be held in September 2016.
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