London Mayor Ken Livingstone has described India as one of the world's greatest cultures and said he is looking forward to his forthcoming visit to India next month.
"We have made it quite clear both to Iran and the US that our relationship does not depend on the relationship or closeness with USA, or it will be affected because of relationship with Iran. These are totally independent stands," said Pranab.
"All over the world, changes have taken place. Therefore, in the functioning of the United Nations, in its structure and in its contents, it should reflect the contemporary realities," Pranab said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Delhi on Saturday on a day-long visit, but the 123 agreement will not be signed during her stay here. Rice will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and hold talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on a wide range of issues, including the civil nuclear initiative.
After two hours of deliberations between the United Progressive Alliance and the Left parties, it was decided that they would meet again on October 5 to narrow down their differences over the Indo-US nuclear deal
On a three-day visit to Seoul since Sunday, he made it clear that the increasing cooperation between India and the US was not aimed at containing China.
Kumaran Padmanathan, who allegedly financed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, was reported to have been detained in Thailand earlier this week.
Pranab lost his cool with a scribe.
The Left has already made it clear that its top leaders Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, A B Bardhan, D Raja, Abani Roy and Debabrata Biswas will be their nominees in the committee, which is expected to be a political one.
Monday's meeting of the empowered group of ministers on pricing of gas from Reliance Industries' D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin has proved inconclusive.
The government on Monday expressed willingness to set up a mechanism to resolve the stand-off with Left parties over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan said.
Petroleum ministry rejects conclusions of two reports ahead of EGoM.
CPM general-secretary Prakash Karat had said that the government would have to face serious consequences if it went ahead with the nuclear deal.
But stresses it will not compromise basic principles
The trip will be decorative. No offical treaty to mark the conclusion of the 123 Agreement will be signed by Bush and Dr Singh
India will get vital flood season data from China for five years as part of a bilateral understanding, which will improve forecast and timely warning in the downstream of the mighty Brahmaputra river. The data will be provided from 2008 to 2012 under a memorandum of understanding signed with Beijing in June this year during the visit of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to the Communist country.
A brainchild of President A P J Abdul Kalam, the pilot project for tele-education and tele-medicine under the Rs 542.9 crore (Rs 5.42 billion) pan-African programme was inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The decision to extend visa on arrival facility to Indians was taken during discussions between visiting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Ethiopian counterpart Seyoum Mesfin in the picturesque capital city of Addis Ababa.
Earlier, the minister visited the site of the Indian National Army memorial and described it as a "poignant moment".
Other issues discussed included cooperation for the success of the India-China Tourism Year and Youth exchanges.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will lead a high-level Indian delegation to the two-day meet that brings together foreign ministers from 43 nations in Europe and Asia.
Congress sources said the party will first discuss its choice of the Presidential nominee within the UPA and then consult the Left parties.
On the eve of his visit to China, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday made it clear that Arunachal Pradesh is not disputed and that India will not give up its right over it.Talking to reporters in Chennai, he acknowledged that Chinese troops have been indulging in incursions and that Indian security forces had been asked to be alert and maintain vigil along the border to stop such intrusions."We have a democratically-elected government there," he said.
However, Dr Singh made it clear that he had no idea who floated the three names and under whose directive.
The meeting also decided to intensify the vigil by naval warships deployed in the Indian Ocean, particularly using Airborne Early Warning aircraft.
She said it was her will-power and determination to return to her motherland, which prevailed upon the caretaker government to withdraw the arrest warrant and ban on her return.
Ahead of crucial Indo-Pak talks, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said his trip to Pakistan was a 'goodwill visit" and that he is not going with any fixed agenda or "any expectation".
The government will not stop companies from filing fresh applications seeking permission to set up special economic zones. However, it will not process any fresh applications until it clears the backlog of over 360 pending proposals.
Mukherjee had stitches in the head at Bethuadahari Primary Hospital and his condition was stable.
The talks will be held in Islamabad, sources told PTI in Delhi on Monday after a meeting between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in view of the change of the country's profile, foreign policy was facing new challenges, requiring change in it.
"So far Tibet is concerned, our position has all along been that the issue has to be resolved between different sections of the people of Tibet and People's Republic of China through dialogue and not through force," he said during an interaction with journalists at an orientation programme on Parliamentary reporting.
India on Friday ruled out fixing a timeframe for resolving all pending problems with Pakistan, including the Jammu and Kashmir issue, under the composite dialogue framework.
This comes in the wake of the PDP demand for phased withdrawal of security forces from civilian areas of the state.
"I have expressed my desire to visit Pakistan as soon as the new government is in place and I am waiting for that," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told media persons in Washington on Tuesday. "I hope the new government will pick up the thread from where it was left by President Pervez Musharraf and we will continue this exercise," he added.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met United States President George W Bush at the White House in Washington on Monday and discussed the entire gamut of bilateral ties, including the civil nuclear deal.Bush and Mukherjee are said to have exchanged not only pleasantries but also discussed the width and depth of the United States-India relations that included the civilian nuclear initiative.Specific details of the meeting have not been made available to the media.
Mukherjee said that holding of Joint Commission meeting reaffirmed the commitment of the two countries to carry forward the dialogue process.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has arrived in Washington as part of his maiden bilateral visit to the United States, during which the civil nuclear deal is expected to dominate the parleys.Mukherjee is scheduled to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tomorrow at 8:45 am (6:15 pm IST). The minister will go to the White House in the afternoon to meet President George W Bush as well as National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.
Kasuri will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday evening.
China also sought to allay concerns in India over its recent anti-satellite missile test.
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