'Xi Jinping is keen that the second Trump-Kim summit happens soonest.' 'Kim is reported to have told Xi that he expects to achieve a result from a second summit that the international community would welcome,' points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
As part of a series of chats, which will help understand the significance and scope of US President Barack Obama's visit to India, noted journalist Siddharth Varadarajan interacted with rediff.com readers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has conveyed Indian "sensitivities" regarding the ban on wearing turban in France to French President Francois Hollande, who has assured him that he would ask the authorities concerned to engage with the Sikh diaspora.
The US has told India and other countries to cut oil imports from Iran to 'zero' by November 4 or face sanctions.
After raising India's heckles by issuing visas in a separate sheet of paper to several residents of Jammu and Kashmir, China issued a visa stamped on passport to former Jammu University vice chancellor Amitabh Mattoo, a domicile of the state, who visited the neighbouring country. Mattoo, who had applied for a visa in the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi to attend an international conference on nuclear disarmament in China in November, had been given a regular stamped visa.
The government on Monday asserted that India was not worried by the decision of G-8 nations to curb the transfer of some sensitive nuclear technology to nations which have not signed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty. The statement from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee came after Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party were seen on the same side in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, demanding a discussion on the key issue.
IAEA director general Muhamad ElBaradei expressed the hope for a long-term comprehensive agreement, which would allow for the development of relations and cooperation with Iran.
The G20 foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday was unable to come out with a joint communique due to sharp differences over the Ukraine conflict despite persistent efforts by host India to build consensus.
The US, which is currently working overtime to get the civilian nuclear accord with India approved by the Congress, is engaging the South Asian country on a number of issues, the White House has said. "We're working with India on a variety of things, including the civil nuclear agreement," the Press Secretary Dana Perino said in Washington on Tuesday at her daily briefing.
Two of Xi Jinping's chosen officials have disappeared from view, an indication of turmoil in Xi's government, months after he installed a collection of loyalist leaders in his cabinet, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and a Republican presidential aspirant have called his fellow rival Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy a guy who sounds like ChatGPT and described him as an "amateur" Barack Obama.
The 119 nearly identical construction sites, that could potentially house powerful weapons capable of reaching the American mainland, are similar to those seen at existing launch facilities for China's arsenal of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, the report said.
Lack of sleep, unhealthy eating habits, physical inactivity and a stressful daily schedule stemming from demanding career paths to juggling multiple hats on the personal front are some factors that increase health challenges, especially in young Indians, notes dietician Sheryl Salis.
'The group commands 85 per cent of the global GDP, and if you are able to convey your point of view effectively to this group then you have reached more or less all the important players that matter.'
Officials of India and the US on Wednesday held discussions on ways to meet the global challenges of nuclear proliferation and threat of nuclear terrorism.
The people will view it from their viewpoint, their immediate interest, historical experiences, their insecurities, he said.
'The performance of any government is benchmarked on five parameters -- India's external security, the state of the economy, social cohesion, internal security, and India's relations with the world or its foreign policy. On each of the benchmarks in the past nine years, the NDA-BJP government has come up completely short'
Asked if there was a 90 per cent chance of hope of an agreement, Singh replied, "I certainly hope that," adding that an agreement would be a "great contribution" of Bush "to ending India's isolation from the world nuclear order."
Sharif raises Kashmir issue at UNGA, renews plebiscite demand.
US President Barack Obama has no scheduled meetings with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly Session, the White House has said.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Tuesday slammed Sri Lanka for raking up the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project issue, saying India "will do what is required."
The Congress will take on the government in Parliament on the Indo-US nuclear deal
The Democrats, especially the Biden administration, wanted to deliver a sharper message to Mr Modi than would be possible in a formal summit setting. So, why not get the most prominent Democrat in decades to deliver it?, explains Shekhar Gupta.
Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who is in-charge of Department of Atomic Energy, said the country lacks a law under which compensation could be awarded in the case of a nuclear accident.
Natwar to consolidate partnership with Iran
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday against the backdrop of widespread anger in West Asia over controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammed made by two former Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons.
It also said that certain debates on television channels on the incidents in northwest Delhi had unparliamentary, provocative and socially unacceptable language.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has finally sanctioned the proposal of allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) from Pakistan. But the final notification will be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) within the next couple of weeks. The move will be unprecedented in the bilateral trading relations between both the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Biden, the 80-year-old Democrat, made the announcement in a three-minute promotional video that begins with a one-word pitch: Freedom.
Major General S C N Jatar, who passed into the ages on Monday night, thwarted anti-national forces at the peak of the Assam agitation. Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) salutes this officer and gentleman.
The Biden administration has reaffirmed its commitment to support India's permanent membership in a reformed UN Security Council and New Delhi's entry to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
In a post on X, Modi said, "Happy to have welcomed @POTUS @JoeBiden to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Our meeting was very productive."
The four Left parties that support the United Progressive Alliance government have already rejected the Bill, which has been approved by the Cabinet. Instead, they have asked for separate Bills for agricultural and non-agricultural workers.
In a tribute, President Joe Biden called him a "born patriot", while Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar hailed him as a thought-provoking global strategist.
During the day-long debate, the lines between science and religion often got blurred with many invoking religious texts and the contribution of 'rishi munis' to highlight India's tryst with the extra-terrestrial world.
Today, with China centrally seated and located, the Global South has an intriguing road ahead. Odds of it becoming a Chinese bloc in the emerging new bipolar world are higher than we'd wish them to be, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Expressing grave concern over a US nuclear-powered submarine sustaining damage in the disputed South China Sea, China on Friday demanded Washington to reveal the details and the location of the accident and blamed America's frequent air and naval sorties in the Indo-Pacific to assert the "freedom of navigation" as the "root cause" of the incident.
During the nearly two-hour meeting that lasted almost till midnight at 10 Janpath, Mukherjee, the government's pointsman on the deal with United Progressive Alliance allies and the Left parties, and Antony apprised Sonia of the talks they had with leaders of the constituents of the ruling alliance and the Communist Party of India-Marxist and CPI in the last two days. Emerging from the meeting, neither Mukherjee nor Antony spoke to the media.
