Signalling that the UPA government is still hopeful of taking the Indo-US civil nuclear deal forward, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the Government would take a "sense of the House' on the deal before it is taken up for ratification by the US Congress. "Even if you have the right to sign the treaty, for implementation of the international treaty, you require legislations and these have to be done by Parliament. If at that point of time, Parliament refuses to move the legislation, the international agreement will be of no use,' Mukherjee told reporters.

Under normal circumstances, the event that got India international respect would have been an occasion to celebrate by the country's

Is India a sleeping giant, a rising power, or a great global power? How does it compare or compete with China? Are Pakistan and Afghanistan flashpoints in Asia? Is there any solution to the China-Tibet stand-off? Does international business now decide diplomacy? Is nuclear non-proliferation still relevant?

Striking an optimistic note, India on Saturday hoped civilian nuclear cooperation with the United States and other countries would become possible soon. This comes at a time when the Left is waving the red flag on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The UPA-Left committee on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is likely to meet on May 5. However, Left leaders refused to confirm the date. Sources also said CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has also written, on behalf of the Left parties, to foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee seeking clarifications about the IAEA safeguard negotiations and reiterating Left's opposition to the nuclear deal.

The US scientific community is against promotion of nuclear industry in their country. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee stated that if the 123 Indo-US nuclear deals were not carried out India would face "isolation and sanctions'. US spokesmen also expressed similar threats. The US Ambassador to India, David C Mulford had publicly and politically entered into the nuclear policy debate. But what are the opinions of the American scientific community on the issue.

Coral Flourishing At Bikini Atoll Atomic Test Site AUSTRALIA: April 16, 2008 CANBERRA - Coral is again flourishing in the crater left by the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated by the United States, 54 years after the blast on Bikini Atoll, marine scientists said on Tuesday.

Nuclear war between India and Pakistan would cause more than slaughter and destruction -- it would knock a big hole in the ozone layer, affecting crops, animals and people worldwide, US researchers said on Monday. Fires from burning cities would send 5 million metric tonnes of soot or more into the lowest part of Earth's atmosphere known as the troposphere, and heat from the sun would carry these blackened particles into the stratosphere, the team at the University of Colorado reported.

Japan will lead discussions at July's Group of Eight summit on the North Korean and Iranian nuclear standoffs and on strengthening the nonproliferation framework, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday in a biennial report on disarmament. The 2008 white paper on disarmament and nonproliferation also criticizes China's failure to provide an adequate explanation of its antisatellite test in January 2007, reiterating Japan's concerns and calling for greater transparency of its military capacities.

The objective of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is only to stop the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal and not to destabilise the government.