With the Nuclear Suppliers Group draft set to be amended because of demands from some member countries, the government in Delhi on Sunday held a high-level meeting to analyse the new development and discuss options available to it. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee held hour-long discussions with Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Nuclear Deal Shyam Saran and senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Atomic Energy on the issue.
The Delhi police probe into the February 13 terror bombing on Israeli envoy Tal Yehoshua's car in New Delhi has revealed that journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi had plotted it in collusion with members of a military arm -- Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, including one Syed Ali Mahdiansadr.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be on a two-day official visit to India from Thursday, his first trip to the country since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine last month.
With his administration focusing on alternative sources of energy so as to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, US President Barack Obama wants to build Indo-US renewable energy partnership which would end up in benefiting not only the two countries, but also the entire world.
Amid differences with America on the issue of drone attacks against high-value terrorist targets on it soil, Pakistan on Tuesday said it would not give any "blank cheques" to the United States and not accept foreign troops in its territory in the ongoing war to root out the Al-Qaeda and Taliban.
While India's High Commissioner Bisaria is in Islamabad, his Pakistani counterpart Moin-ul-Haq is yet to take charge in New Delhi.
Conveying that there will be no let up in India's drive to modernise its energy and defence sectors, prime minister's special envoy Shyam Saran said on Tuesday this should encourage Washington to look at New Delhi as a source of demand for its goods and services.
India can play an important role in pushing ahead the peace process as it is an influential country due to the relations it has with the key players in the world.
"References made by President Obama did seem to suggest that there is some kind of a link between the settlement on Pakistan's western border and the Kashmir issue. Certainly that had caused concern," he told Karan Thapar's India Tonight programme. "I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does have any such views then he is barking up the wrong tree," he said.
Australia's new government on Tuesday said that it will not sell uranium to India until the country signs the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Last year, the previous federal government struck an in-principle agreement with India to sell uranium to the country. The deal was to be subject to strict conditions, including guarantees that the uranium would be used for power generation only, despite India not being a signatory to the NPT.
Differences among the Association of South-East Asian Nations came to the fore on Tuesday night when 10 heads of governments aborted a briefing by United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari on the Myanmar situation after Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein strongly opposed the move.
In the meeting, Ngodup Dongchung, an official in the Tibetan government-in-exile and representative of the Dalai Lama, thanked Blinken for the continued support by the US to the Tibetan movement.
Adopted after nearly two weeks of hectic negotiations, the first Global Stocktake deal, being termed the UAE consensus, urges countries to accelerate efforts toward the phase-down of unabated coal power, which is a climb down after India and China strongly resisted the singling out of coal.
Senior Indian Foreign Service officials Sharat Sabharwal and Meera Shankar will be the next envoys to Pakistan and the United States respectively. Sabharwal, Special Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, will succeed High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal, who reaches superannuation on February 28. Shankar, India's Ambassador to Germany, will succeed Ronen Sen in Washington.
Four Indians and an American, were killed during the five-hour long siege that ended early Thursday morning.
The two deliberated on how to go about in implementing the agreement, with the US Ambassador emphasising the need for taking the next steps as early as possible as delay could endanger the agreement
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also likely to be in Beijing in November or December, the State-owned China Daily said a day after India's Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon held talks with senior Chinese officials on a range of issues
The PM expressed his anguish over the deteriorating situation and the humanitarian crisis in the war-hit country, while reiterating India's appeal for cessation of hostilities and a return to dialogue.
The Indian side expressed readiness to provide extensive humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, Mujahid was quoted as saying by Afghanistan's Tolo News.
The decision is significant as it comes in the midst of India's efforts to lobby support in the international community for its civil nuclear energy ambitions.
Saran is on a visit to Australia and New Zealand to try and assuage their concerns with regard to backing India's nuclear aspirations.
Special United States envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman has resigned after leading the American diplomatic campaign in the volatile region for two years as President Barack Obama's pointsman to the region. Grossman would be replaced by Deputy Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan David D Pearce in an acting capacity. His resignation would come into effect on December 14.
Talking about opposition by the Left parties to the growing ties with Washington, the Prime Minister's envoy said, "Whatever be the reservations that have been expressed about our relations with the US, no other friendly country, member of the NSG has the necessary standing to lead the process of opening up the existing multilateral regime to accommodate India".
The Volcker panel had named Natwar Singh, who was divested of External Affairs Ministry, and the Congress party among the non-contractual beneficiaries of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
India on Thursday said it will scale up nuclear energy production to 60,000 megawatts by 2030 after signing the pending N-deals with more countries.
'All options are there on the table. Yesterday when this terror attack was conducted, we celebrated the 29th anniversary of the full establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and India, exactly yesterday. So, it may not be a coincidence but all options are being investigated'
Oil experts from Iran and Pakistan will meet in Teheran on Tuesday to add finishing touches to the $7-billion gas pipeline project linking the two countries as well as India, which is not attending the talks, a media report said.
He replaces Shyam Saran, who has been designated as India's special envoy for the Indo-US nuclear deal.
In the first high-level contact between India and the new United States government, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan is expected to meet Richard Holbrooke, special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Munich during his three-day visit that began on Friday.
India's growing relationship with Israel is not at the the expense of New Delhi's traditional commitment to the Palestinian cause, a top Indian diplomat has said while attempting to give a push to the West Asia peace process.
With India and China becoming more powerful and tilting the balance to the East, it is necessary for the West to seek partnership with them instead of struggling "for hegemony" in the "new world", former British premier Tony Blair has said. "In the next two decades China and India will undergo industrialisation four times the size of the United States and at five times the speed," Blair, now a special envoy to the Middle East, told the Yale alumni.
Saran and Burns will have deliberations on conceptual issues that have an impact and bearing on the negotiations on the agreement.
Chatterjee said rules did not ordinarily permit the House taking up a motion on a subject pending before a court of inquiry but he had exercised his discretionary powers to allow the debate.
German carmaker Volkswagen has deputed Frank Elbe, former German ambassador to India, as a special envoy to represent its interests in the country. \n\n
MEA bids farewell to Saran; to take charge as N-deal special envoy
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