Rejecting some critics' argument as to what message the US was sending to Iran by signing a nuclear energy deal with India, Burns said, "We don't see the connection between what Iran is doing and what India seeks to do."
Saudi Arabia on Sunday came under attack globally a day after it carried out mass execution of 47 people, including Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr who was a vocal critic of the government and the Saudi monarchy.
At scaling back Tehran's nuclear programme and relieving the Islamic Republic from the sanctions
Iran's ambassador to the UN said the US allocation of $3 million for 'promoting democracy and human rights' in Iran was a clear violation of a 1981 US-Iranian agreement signed at Algiers.
The Modi government's appalling inefficiency and lack of purpose stand exposed, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The attacker, who officials say was acting alone, killed himself after the massacre at Olympia shopping centre.
The Iranian nuclear issue, which threatens to snowball into a major issue, is also likely to figure at the two-day talks.
United States President Barack Obama has hailed the "historic understanding" reached between world powers and Iran over the framework of a deal on its contentious nuclear programme, even as Israel warned that it would threaten the Jewish state's survival.
"The Israeli and American intelligence agencies no doubt stand behind the bloody and bitter events that took place in holy Karbala and sacred Najaf," said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has escaped sanction over the failure of its judo world champion to fight an Israeli at the Athens Olympics.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Police confirmed the explosion, near a shrine at a major Bangkok road, was from a bomb but no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
To the extent the nuclear race in West Asia is slowed down by the Iran nuclear deal, the world as a whole has reason to be happy, says Virendra Kapoor.
The Chabahar port, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, 'can be the first significant footfall in an Indian variant of the 'Belt and Road' initiative.'
One indictment accuses Huawei of trying to steal trade secrets from T-Mobile, and of promising bonuses to employees who collected confidential information on competitors. A second indictment claims the company worked to skirt US sanctions on Iran.
The tally of 114 includes two fatalities and 17 foreigners as well as 13 people who were discharged after they recovered from the infection.
'If push comes to shove, Pakistan does have the capability to make it difficult for the US and NATO forces to make even a withdrawal of troops out of Afghanistan in orderly fashion,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'A top Russian diplomat, Ambassador Alexander Aksenyonok told me in Sochi, Moscow is keen on a political settlement in Syria "as early as possible -- which is also our exit strategy",' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Indians must remember that Pakistanis hate losing to India, at war or in cricket, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
'Given the sharp increase in oil prices, a mounting problem for the 2nd and 4th largest importers like China and India -- the Qingdao meeting is likely to push for the large energy producers (Russia and the Central Asian Republics) and energy consumers (China and India) to arrive at some understanding for mutually beneficial outcomes,' notes Srikanth Kondapalli.
'Who put the fear of god into Imran Khan and how it happened we do not know, but the great cricketer panicked and called Mahathir to regret that he cannot attend the KL Summit,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
He was ready even to take on Germany's collective guilt over the Holocaust
In a rare move that might end the chronic impasse between arch-enemies the United States and Iran, President Barack Obama could meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The surge in oil prices has also affected the rupee, which hit a 6-week low of 70.25 on Friday against the dollar.
The description of his career by Ambassador Nazareth in his elegant language, judicious choice of details, without ego or malice to anyone, shows that it had its ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies and lucky and unlucky accidents. Ambassador T P Sreenivasan reviews A Ringside Seat to History.
Her departure from the cabinet marks an abrupt halt to the meteoric rise of the Gujarati-origin MP, often touted as a potential future leader of the Conservative Party and a prime ministerial candidate.
With Modi's international image seriously damaged -- perhaps, irrecoverably -- and Indian foreign policy finding itself in drift, we move on to the New Year in a depressing scenario, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Israelis began voting on Tuesday in a general election following a high-pitched campaign
'The coronavirus has provided each one of us a chance to press the 'reset' button. I take this National Medical Emergency to announce a process of national healing.' 'As of midnight tonight, my government will drop all talk of NRC and NPR, and my Muslim brethren should sleep peacefully that this is as much their country as mine.'
The US intends to break up India's strategic partnership with Russia and to continue to interfere in Indian-Iranian relations, apart from inserting itself into the Sino-Indian bilateral discourse, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, analysing the US defence secretary's visit to India.
It is easy to foretell that negotiating a comprehensive and final agreement on the Iran nuclear issue is by no means an easy task. It involves hard negotiations, but the hardest step has been taken, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who was among the first group of foreigners to visit the the top-secret Arak plant hidden behind barren mountains south of Tehran.
One of the major advantages of buying Iran crude is the additional credit period of 90 days that the country gives to India, compared to 30 days by other countries.
'If the series of instances in the recent past are taken into account -- guns falling silent on the border; vastly reduced cross-border infiltration into J&K; positive approach to meeting Indian demands on the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage; resumption of overflight for Indian aircraft; visible disinterest in rhetoric and so on -- Commander Jadhav may see better days in a conceivable future,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Artists from all over the world are now sharing amazing tributes to the widely seen photo of Aylan under the Turkish hashtag #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik, or #HumanityWashedAshore.
Aseem Chhabra lists the films that won his heart at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
Scientists at the University of Michigan created the model to help develop a basis for understanding the strategic implications of cyber technology.
What does the Taliban chief's death means for various stakeholders?
Negotiating a sustainable compromise with Iran is not getting any easier, and this delay might not yield the desired result of bringing Tehran's nuclear programme under stringent limits, says Claude Smadja
