The Congress-led UPA government seems all set to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States despite continuing opposition from the Left.

While both prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have been asserting their views in favour of the Indo-US nuclear deal over the last few days, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav also today voiced support for the nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, an important UPA-Left meeting on the issue has been called of Wednesday citing external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee's preoccupation with the visiting Syrian President Assad.

These point towards the government's resolve to go ahead with the controversial deal despite the Left opposition.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh said a formal deal with the US will open up new possibilities of cooperation with major nuclear powers like Russia and France. The PM also said his government aimed to create an international environment suited for promoting peaceful use of nuclear technology.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and external affairs minister Pranab Mukerjee also underlined the need for promoting nuclear co-operation with other countries to serve India's rising energy requirements.

The statements seem to be an orchestrated effort with the definite agenda of going ahead with the Indo-US agreement.

While UPA partners like Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad Yadav were earlier against a nuclear deal with the US, they too seems to have veered round to the view that there is no alternative other than signing the deal for ending the country's nuclear apartheid.

Now that the general elections are nearing, the Left may also have to fall in line to avoid a political isolation. They may either keep quiet or not oppose the deal in a very vocal manner.

Marxist leader Prakash Karat yesterday warned the UPA government of make-or-break discussions, putting ice on the Congress party's renewed efforts to push through the deal.

Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, meanwhile, said the UPA-Left meeting would consider any proposal by the government though his party was opposed to "signing the IAEA accord."

"Our objection is not with the IAEA. Our objection is with the India-US deal which, according to us, is very deeply anchored" in American domestic law that will impact India's strategic nuclear programme.

The postponement of the UPA-Left coordination committee meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, seems to be a prelude to the two sides preparing for a parting of ways.

''The government should not proceed to seek approval of the text of the India specific safeguards agreement from the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency,'' a statement signed by Prakash Karat (CPI-M), AB Bardhan (CPI), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc), and T J Chandrachoodan (RSP) said.

''The text of the `draft of the safeguards agreement' has not been made available to the committee. As far as the Left parties are concerned, they have not been able to form any opinion on the text of the safeguards agreement,'' they noted.

However, according to a senior prime ministerial aide, the Left had never formally asked that it be shown the ''frozen text.''

If the Left opts to withdraw support to the minority government the the government falls, a November-December 2008 general election is almost guaranteed.

Talking to reporters at it headquarters here, CBI Joint Director Arun Kumar, who is investigating the case, said Krishna's confessional statement had been recorded under Section 161 of CrPC (confession before a police official) but refused to divulge as to what he had owned up -- either being the killer or part of the conspiracy to kill 14-year-old Aarushi.

The confessional statement is a part of investigation and moresover the statement before police was not admissible in the court of law, Kumar said. The statement is a part of the CBI's case diary that was submitted in the designated court of Sapna Mishra in Ghaziabad.

Kumar said the 'khukri' (machete) was seized from the residence of Krishna, who has been remanded to six more days in CBI custody by a court in Ghaziabad on Tuesday. "Forensic experts are examining whether the khukri was used in the murders," Kumar said.

A CBI team, accompanied by forensic experts, on Tuesday thoroughly searched the room where Rajkumar, domestic help of Talwar's colleague Anita Durrani, used to live in Sector 53 in Noida, he said. The earlier seizures made from his room were being forensically examined, Kumar said. Few days ago my Orkut friend Sandeep-who works for TV18 Group ask me:" What should be the role of media in this kind of story? . Infact this question some time stop us to a point where we aren't sure about the answer i.e~ Investigation.  India's one of well knowen Crime Story anchor , who presented "Bardaat"- told "Our role shouldn't cross a boundary.

The 54th National Film Awards for the year 2006 were announced on Tuesday at Sashtri Bhavan in New Delhi.

Priyanandan's Malayalam film Pulijanmam, which stars Murali, bagged the award for the Best Film while Bollywood director Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munnabhai was adjudged the Best Popular Film providing wholesome entertainment.

Director Madhur Bhandarkar won the Best Director award for his film Traffic Signal.

Best Hindi Film went to debutant director Dibakar Bannerjee’s hit film Khosla Ka Ghosla.

Tamil actress Priyamani won the Best Actress award for her performance in Ameer Sulthan's Paruthiveeran and Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who declined the Special Jury award in 2001 following a controversy about a partisan jury, won the Best Actor award for his role in Suman Ghosh's Podokkhep.

Soon after the awards ceremony, jury member and filmmaker Rahul Dholakia spoke to me over phone (on behalf of Star News © ) about the many controversies that have been plaguing the National Film Awards.

"There are always some favourites, but the majority has ensured that no agenda is pushed through. I am very happy that the lines between art cinema and commercial cinema has blurred and we are talking about good and bad cinema," he said.

LAST WEEK, the Senate considered a bipartisan global warming bill - the closest such a far-reaching measure has ever come to passage. Although the bill failed in the end, over half of the Senate supported action on climate change.

The next Congress and administration will have a historic opportunity to build on this momentum and deliver the American people a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gases. The voters this fall must decide an important question: Who is the best candidate to make that happen?

Following Senator John McCain's May 12 speech on global warming, many hastily praised the Republican presidential candidate for breaking ranks with President Bush and his own party's orthodoxy by calling for mandatory greenhouse gas reductions. But we should not be so quick to give McCain kudos. While McCain represents an improvement over eight long years of denial and inaction by the Bush administration, being better than the current president is not good enough. In fact, McCain's record and recent proposals raise real questions about his commitment to the bold measures we need to combat global warming.

If McCain's version of straight talk on the environment means missing key votes for clean low-carbon energy, then we have a lot to worry about. Twice, in December and February, when the Senate failed by one vote to extend key production tax incentives for wind and solar power, McCain not only didn't vote but said subsequently he would have opposed these measures. Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, voted for them.

While many agree that a "cap and trade" program is probably the best mechanism to achieve the necessary reductions in greenhouse gases, McCain's "cap and trade" proposal comes up notably short. Take, for example, the issue of allocation of allowances to emit greenhouse gases. McCain would initially distribute all of the allowances free of charge to emitters, which the experts agree would likely mean a windfall to these polluters. McCain would have Congress punt to an unelected commission to make a decision - somewhere down the road - on when and in what amounts allowances might be auctioned. Obama advocates a 100 percent auction of allowances from the start. He would use the revenues generated by the auction to help consumers meet energy costs and promote clean technologies.

McCain would also allow polluters to meet all of their obligations by buying emission reductions, or "offsets," from other sectors of the economy or from outside the United States. By opening the door to unlimited offsets, McCain's approach would invite polluters to take credit for alleged reductions that cannot be verified and allow the highest emitting sources to continue operating dirty facilities indefinitely. Obama would limit the use of offsets and would direct EPA to examine rigorously any offsets used.

In addition to a strong cap and trade program, other tools will be required to achieve a serious reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Once again McCain's positions come up short. His global warming plan specifically rejects tighter building standards for energy-efficient homes as burdensome regulation. But then, McCain has repeatedly voted against national renewable electricity standards similar to the standards already adopted in nearly half of the states. By contrast, Obama has made ambitious proposals to boost development and deployment of new efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

While McCain told the online publication Grist last October, "I'm not one who believes that we need to subsidize things," he has long been fixated on subsidizing nuclear plant construction - which already receives substantial federal support. One of the reasons he gave for opposing the recent Senate climate change bill was the absence of sufficient nuclear incentives.

The world's leading climate scientists are absolutely clear climate change is real and the time for action is now. Barack Obama has made bold and comprehensive proposals that will deliver the deep emission reductions scientists say are essential. Although McCain once introduced legislation, his current positions on energy, renewables and a cap and trade program are simply outdated; they have not kept pace with the times.

Carol M. Browner was EPA administrator from 1993 to 2001. Bob Sussman, a campaign adviser to Barack Obama, was EPA deputy administrator from 1993-94.

over the past eight years would be taken to task.

If there is one thing nations can agree on, said U.S. National Security Advisor Hadley, is that "a nuclear-armed Iran would be disastrous for the peace of the Middle East and the world."

Iran has not been forthcoming in addressing the serious concerns raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or I-A-E-A, regarding a possible military dimension to its nuclear program, according to the I-A-E-A’s latest report.

The IAEA first raised its concerns on Iranian weaponization-related work and documentation in late 2005. Since December 2007, the IAEA has sharpened its focus on securing answers to its questions in this regard.

The latest I-A-E-A report said, "Iran has not provided the agency with all the information, access to documents and access to individuals necessary to support Iran's statements" that its activities are purely peaceful in intent. "Iran may have additional information, in particular, on high explosives testing and missile-related activities which ... Iran should share with the agency." These remain matters of "serious concern," said the I-A-E-A. "Clarification of these is critical to an assessment of the nature of Iran's past and present nuclear program."

The report also notes that the Iranian government continues to defy United Nations Security Council demands that it suspend uranium enrichment and heavy-water related activities, and that it refused requests by I-A-E-A inspectors to visit several Iranian nuclear-related sites.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the I-A-E-A’s latest report shows that Iran has been "willfully non-cooperative":

"The Iranians are ... willfully withholding information about their activities related to potential weaponization. There are a number of different questions out there about the military’s involvement in this nuclear program, about Iran’s efforts to fabricate hemispheres of uranium. And I’m not sure -- other than for a weapon -- why you would do that."

Gregory Schulte, U.S. representative to the IAEA, said the new report details how much Iran has to explain about its nuclear program, "and how little it has." Mr. Schulte said the latest report is a "direct rebuttal" to claims by the Iranian regime that it has answered all questions about its nuclear program

As Hillary Clinton prepared to throw her weight behind presumptive Democratic nominee Barrack Obama, a new poll suggested that she could make the difference in a neck-and-neck presidential race with Republican John McCain.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, the first conducted entirely after Obama clinched the party nomination Tuesday, shows he leads McCain 49 percent to 46 percent among registered voters-a statistical tie, given the question's 3-point margin of error.

But the former first lady, who is expected to 'strongly support' Obama's presidential campaign during an event at noon Saturday, could add about 3 percentage points to an Obama-Clinton 'dream ticket', the poll indicated.

Democratic voters appear to like an Obama-Clinton ticket, it suggested noting that over half of them, 54 percent, would support a joint ticket, but 43 percent would oppose it. A hypothetical Obama-Clinton ticket would currently get 52 percent of the vote, compared with 46 percent for a hypothetical McCain ticket with former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney.

But if Clinton is not on the ticket, 60 percent of her Democratic supporters said they would vote for Obama, 17 percent would vote for McCain, and 22 percent would stay at home in November and not vote for anyone.

'That's just one estimate of the 'Clinton factor,' ' said CNN polling director Keating Holland, 'and it may not be an accurate predictor since it piles several hypotheticals on top of each other and asks people to guess their state of mind five months from now.

'Nonetheless, it does indicate that unmotivated Clinton supporters may be a bigger risk to Obama than defections from the Clinton camp to McCain.'

Thus whether Hillary Clinton can begin to unite the Democrats after a bitter and divisive primary season that stretched over nearly 18 months and 57 contests may be crucial to the party's success in the November presidential election.

Obama and his former rival discussed how to begin unifying the party during a meeting Thursday night in the Washington home of California Senator Dianne Feinstein shortly after Clinton disavowed a campaign by her supporters to make her his vice presidential mate.

Former presidential adviser David Gergen said the meeting may have helped relieve some of the tension that has arisen between the two parties since Tuesday night, noting that there was 'some awkwardness about how each of them was handling this.'

'I think that was very wise of her, after talking to a variety of people, to recognise what she did on Tuesday night and the way her supporters have been trying to pressure him is backfiring.'

The Clinton camp had made it widely known that she would accept the No. 2 slot if it was offered, but the push by her supporters was viewed as putting undue pressure on Obama to pick his former rival.

Obama said Thursday that 'everybody needs to settle down' and let the vetting process run its course.

'It's important that this be done in a careful, methodical way. We're not going to be rushed into making any pick, whomever that might be,' Obama's communications director, Robert Gibbs, told MSNBC.

The extent of Clinton's endorsement will be crucial to the Obama camp as she gained more than 17 million voters during the Democratic battle, and Obama will need many of those to defeat Republican McCain in November.

As Donna Brazile, a member of the Democratic National Committee, said it was important after the hard-fought primary season that Obama and Clinton work to promote reconciliation. 'There's a lot of healing to be done,' she told CNN.

'[Obama] wants to do everything possible to ensure Clinton, her supporters, her donors, the voters who went to the polls to cast their ballots, that he will champion their cause, he will fight for their issues, and, of course, he will earn their support,' Brazile said.