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WASHINGTON: Amid delight in many quarters and distress in others, US president George Bush on Monday signed into law the so-called Hyde Act that is expected to end India's nuclear isolation and pave way for a strong US-India alliance in the 21st century. Striding briskly into a colourfully decorated White House East Room at 10.45 am, the president told an excited and partisan audience of supporters that nuclear cooperation would strengthen the partnership between the two largest democracies, aside from other benefits in terms of energy and environment. "The relationship between the United States and India has never been more...

The United States has invited India to appoint military officers to liaison posts in the U.S. Strategic Command, or STRATCOM, its largest and most critical defense set-up mandated to control strategic nuclear assets, space and missile defense and global deterrence against weapons of mass destruction, India's Financial Express newspaper reported Tuesday. STRATCOM, whose area of operation spans the globe, controls all U.S. nuclear delivery platforms, including ballistic missile submarines, B-52 strategic bombers, Minuteman-III intercontinental ballistic missiles and Tomahawk land attack systems. Having an Indian liaison officer on board will allow a more efficient link between Stratcom centers and India's relatively...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A landmark US deal extending civilian nuclear technology to India could open up 100 billion dollars in energy business ventures for Americans, a top US business group said. US President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clinched the deal in New Delhi last week that still requires US Congress approval for implementation. It gives India access to long-denied civilian nuclear technology in return for placing a majority of its nuclear reactors under international inspection. "This agreement could provide the US business community with 100 billion dollars worth of new opportunities in India in the...

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has welcomed a nuclear agreement between the US and India. International Atomic Energy Agency chief (IAEA) Mohammed ElBaradei said it would boost non-proliferation efforts. The UK and France also hailed the deal. But it was criticised by some members of the US Congress, who said it would lead to the spread of nuclear weapons. Under the accord, India gets access to US civil nuclear technology and opens its nuclear facilities to inspection. US President George W Bush - who finalised the agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi - called...

It was lessons in counting from none other than the US First Lady Laura Bush when she met the directors of Indian version of the famous American cartoon serial Sesame Street in Noida Thursday. Participating in the shoot of one of the episodes, Laura, not minding the take or re-takes, was a sport while acting with the lead characters of the serial Chamki. She might be a novice at acting, but the mother of two, Laura, knew how to charm the kids when she interacted with Shubham and Satyam at the sets. Received by the Noida administration at the Eagle...

Name the forces that will shape the world of the 21st century: economic globalization, democracy vs. dictatorship, the emergence of Asia, the role of Islam, the centrality of information technology, nuclear proliferation, global warming. The one spot on the map where they all converge is India. That's why President Bush's visit this week to the world's largest democracy – projected to end the century as its most populous nation – is more than an exotic photo op. In the decades to come, America's relationship with India is certain to be very important. It is also likely to be somewhat tricky....

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."

George W. Bush, who arrived in the capital last night, wouldn’t have encountered those protesting against his visit. Even if he did, Bush, who sees protestors every day outside White House, should be delighted at the vigorous freedom of expression practised in the world’s largest democracy. More so because the major message from vox populi seems a welcome, not a protest: opinion polls in India have consistently shown strong popular support to both the US and the president in the last few years. Bush’s personal standing in this country seems higher than in many other countries, including perhaps, at this...

OVER THE PAST decade, India has swapped its suspicious view of the United States for a warmer one built on trade, technology and shared worries about terrorism. The world's two biggest democracies have a lot in common, it turns out. Why then are President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh making nuclear weapons Topic A in a two-day visit beginning today? For Bush, the reasons are thus: He wants to reward a reliably democratic country with reactors to improve energy supplies for a fast-growing economy. The trick in these summit-level talks is making sure India opens its notoriously secretive nuclear...

The president's trip this week has strategic and economic import. WASHINGTON – President Bush and his policymakers like to stress how much 9/11 has changed America's foreign-policy objectives, but one goal the terror attacks did not alter is to build a stronger partnership with the world's largest democracy, India. When Mr. Bush arrives in India Wednesday, he will emphasize that same theme - one he has sounded since he was a governor running for president in 2000. At the top of the agenda are a controversial US-India nuclear-power agreement, proposed last summer when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Washington;...

President George W. Bush is planning a two-day wind sprint across India this week, when he will meet with political leaders, chat up high-technology millionaires and give a speech at a 16th-century fort. But to the consternation of many Indians, he will not see the country's most famous monument, the Taj Mahal, a decision Bush blamed last week on an omnipotent scheduler. "Look, if I were the scheduler, perhaps I'd be doing things differently," Bush said when he was asked in an interview with Indian reporters at the White House why he was skipping the Taj. "I'll be the president,...