A multilateral naval drill involving India, the US and three other nations begins in the Bay of Bengal Tuesday, an event that India says is a pointer to the country's growing importance on the world stage. This is the first time a joint exercise on this scale involving 25 vessels is being conducted off India's eastern seaboard and New Delhi has repeatedly sought to allay apprehensions that the drill had military overtones. 'There is no military alignment. It's only an exercise,' Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said of Malabar-2007 that runs Sep 4-9 and involves the navies of India, the...