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NEW DELHI -- At a time when even friendly governments are quick to distance themselves from the United States and its pugnacious, embattled president, India is a strategic maverick. The former firebrand of the Non-Aligned Movement has chosen this moment to forge a close partnership with Washington and to speak up positively about American power in world affairs. "This lack of nuclear cooperation is the last remaining cobweb from our old relationship, and we can now sweep it aside," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said with an expressive wave of his hand. "There are no other barriers to a more productive,...

India Won't Scale Back Nuclear Program By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago NEW DELHI - India's prime minister said Tuesday his country has no intention of scaling back its nuclear weapons program even as it moves to place most of its atomic reactors under international safeguards in a deal with the United States. ADVERTISEMENT Under the civilian nuclear accord finalized last week with Washington, India plans to open 14 of its 22 reactors to international inspections in exchange for American nuclear know-how and fuel. Critics here say the deal could threaten national security. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...

Jerusalem, March 6: Against the backdrop of the recent Indo-US nuclear deal, the Israeli defence industry has expressed concern that the United States' tightening security ties with India will adversely affect their prospects in one of their key markets. "The Americans understood Israel is taking a huge market away from them. It took them time to respond, but they eventually did," a source at Israel's defence industries told local daily 'Yediot Ahronoth'. "From now on it will be much harder to carry out arms deals in India," the source added. "The US plans on turning India into one of its...

India and Russia have held talks on the eve of a key meeting of the UN atomic watchdog over the Iran issue. Indian Premier Manmohan Singh "lauded Russia's efforts to address the issue... through dialogue and consultations," a statement said. The International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors meets on Monday. The meeting is expected to clear the way for the UN Security Council to consider acting against Iran over fears it seeks nuclear weapons. The IAEA board of governors will hear a report from the organisation's chief, Mohamed ElBaradei. The talks on the phone between Prime Minister Singh and...

The President and the first lady continue their far east tour, today they attended several events in India There was an article that referred to the First Lady as the "Queen of America" showing that she has the ability to win hearts all over the world. Ohio pinged me to the thread about this article earlier and also the dose ping, in case you missed the ping here is a link to that thread. 'The queen of America had come' and Laura Bush debuts on Indian telly: PICTURES The Vice President gave a speech at the National Summit on Retirement...

WASHINGTON: The US Congress was divided on the groundbreaking India-US nuclear cooperation agreement finalised on Thursday by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, even as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came out in support of the deal. Members of the Congress who have traditionally supported the deal, like Joe Wilson and Joe Crowley, sent out a "Dear Colleague" letter to members of the house urging them to support the pact that requires the Congress to change US laws for its implementation. At the same time, others like Ed Markey vocally opposed the agreement on the grounds...

New Delhi, March 2: US President George W Bush was on Thursday accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. President A P J Abdul Kalam warmly welcomed Bush at the forecourt of the historic Rashtrapati Bhawan, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues were also present. The US President took salute from the inter-services guard of honour with anthems of India and America being played in the background. Bush arrived on Wednesday on a three-day visit. Later talking to reporters, an elated Bush said, "I have been to many capitals around the world. I have never seen...

United States President George W Bush looked cheerful as he was accorded a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday morning. Bush exchanged more than the usual two words of greeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath during the introductions to Dr Singh's ministers. A visibly elated Bush later told reporters, "I have been to many capitals around the world. I have never seen a reception as well organised and as grand as the reception we just received."

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India and the United States have sealed a controversial nuclear cooperation pact, the centerpiece of President George W. Bush's first visit to the world's largest democracy, Indian news channels said on Thursday.

Bollywood's leading lady Aishwarya Rai would not be seen at the luncheon being hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in honour of visiting US President George W Bush in Delhi on Thursday. Rai's secretary Hari Singh told a news agency that she had already left for Brazil when a request that she attend the event came from the Ministry of External Affairs. "We received a phone call from the protocol officer in MEA seeking her presence at the lunch, 40 minutes after she left for Brazil on Tuesday," Singh said. "We have informed the Ministry via e-mail that she would...

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who received US President George Bush at the airport in breach of protocol, was reportedly frisked by American agents when he was allowed to approach the president. The media was kept out of sight and hence could not see the incident, but BJP vice president and member of parliament Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi later told the media that it was an insult and humiliation for the nation to allow foreigners to check the Indian prime minister in his own land. Unprecedented security arrangements have been made for Bush who arrived here for a three-day visit...

Singh leads India's three revolutions MANMOHAN Singh is an unlikely revolutionary. Yet as the leader of 1.1 billion people, the world's largest democracy and its second-largest nation, the Indian Prime Minister has already enacted three profound revolutions. As finance minister during the 1991 economic crisis, Singh decisively turned India towards market liberalisation. Then after the last election he became India's first non-Hindu prime minister -- he is a Sikh -- showing the depth of India's secular democracy. Now, in the nuclear co-operation agreement he has struck with US President George W. Bush, Singh may have marked India's decisive emergence as...

Indian PM makes bid for uranium INDIAN Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will ask John Howard to back his nuclear co-operation deal with George W.Bush and to lift the ban on sales of Australian uranium. On the eve of Mr Howard's visit to India, Mr Singh said he would like to buy uranium from Australia to feed his country's growing appetite for the raw material. "I hope Australia will be an important partner in this. We are short of uranium. We need to import uranium and our needs will increase in years to come," he told The Australian in an exclusive...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday that Indian states are vying with each other to attract more foreign direct investment, with the improvement in the investment climate and the reduction in bureaucratic and ideological hurdles. He was speaking to the media at the East Asian Summit in Kuala Lumpur. To this end, he cited the example of West Bengal and its progressive chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. He said that even though West Bengal is ruled by a Leftist government, the state chief minister is pulling out all stops to bring in big investment to the state. "Nobody would say...

Militants' training camps wiped out By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi (Filed: 10/10/2005) Training camps used by jihadists battling with the Indian army for control of Kashmir were buried by landslides or left in ruins by the earthquake, bringing hope of a new opportunity for peace-making after a 16-year Islamic insurgency. India and Pakistan, nuclear rivals who both lay claim to Kashmir in its entirety, have fought two of their three wars over the territory. Security analysts said yesterday that the earthquake in Pakistan's highly-militarised Kashmir region had "significantly depreciated'' the insurgents' capacity to carry on their fight for independence...

Close on the heels of the United States appreciating India's support to the International Atomic Energy Agency resolution against Iran's controversial nuclear programme, President George W Bush Friday spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and reviewed bilateral relations covering the path-breaking nuclear deal between the two countries. During the 10-minute telephonic conversation initiated by the US side, the two leaders "reviewed the implementation of the July 18 Indo-US joint statement and other bilateral issues and touched on developments in the region", the prime minister's media adviser Sanjay Barua said in a brief statement. Washington has termed as "very significant" India's...

India PM in historic Afghan visit By Sanjeev Srivastiva BBC News, Kabul Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul for a two-day visit aimed at strengthening relations. Mr Singh is the first Indian prime minister to visit Afghanistan in nearly three decades. He will use the visit to emphasise Delhi's commitment towards rebuilding Afghanistan's economy, infrastructure and democratic institutions. The war-ravaged country is a strategically crucial ally for India. Motives for generosity India is Afghanistan's biggest donor in the region. It has spent over $500m in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001....

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Washington this week and, in addition to meeting with President Bush, will address a joint session of Congress - an indicator of the dramatic change in the once-chilly relationship between India and the US. Equally remarkable has been the upturn in the India-Pakistan relationship, which the Bush administration has helped promote. But by doggedly opposing the projected gas pipeline from Iran across Pakistan to India, the administration is still forgoing a key opportunity to bind India and Pakistan together further, while also engaging Iran and giving it a greater stake in the stability...

Are you surprised by the rapid rapprochement between India and the United States, so visible during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington last month? After all, who isn’t? If any one had told you a couple of months ago that the weakest Congress government in India’s independent history, which survives on the support of the Left parties so hostile to Indo-US relations, would sign two unprecedented pacts with the United States in a matter of three weeks, you would have asked him to go get his head examined. But that precisely is what has happened. India signed a 10-year...

New Delhi, July 23: France is happy the US is finally ready to accept India as a responsible nuclear state — a line it claims the French leadership has been advocating for seven years. But it is not sure if the growing Indo-US ties will be at its expense and reduce France to being a marginal player in the subcontinent. “It clearly vindicates our position. We have been advocating that India’s position vis-à-vis the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group must be clarified. It is something that is well-known to the Indian government,” a senior French official said. The reference was to the...