With the maiden launch of unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1 Oct 22 from spaceport Sriharikota, about 80 km from Chennai, India joins th e lunar race in quest of space supremacy and its place in the elite club of space-faring nations, at a time when there's renewed global scientific interest in the moon.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. It is the commonest cause of cancer deaths among Indian women. Every year, almost 74,000 women die due to cervical cancer in India. More than 130,000 Indian women are diagnosed with it every year. According to statistics, every hour 8 women in India die due to cervical cancer.

The Prime Minister of India, H.E. Dr Manmohan Singh, the President of Brazil, H.E. Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the President of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe (thereafter referred as “the leaders”) met in New Delhi, India, on 15 October 2008, for the 3rd Summit of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum.

Mr. Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary presided over a function today in New Delhi where the Ministry of External Affairs signed an agreement on the Passport Seva Project with M/s Tata Consultancy Services appointing them as the service provider for the project. Mr. S. Ramadorai, CEO and MD of TCS was also present at the function.

Your Excellency, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State of the United States of America, Honourable Members of the US Congress, Distinguished Secretaries of the US Administration, and, Friends of India who have joined us today.
I thank the Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice for her gracious remarks.
Today is an important day for India-US relations, for global energy security and for our common endeavour to promote sustainable development while addressing environmental challenges. In signing the Agreement between India and the United States of America for cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy we have brought to fruition three years of extraordinary effort by both our Governments. The agreement is one more visible sign of the transformed relationship and partnership that our two countries are building together. In doing so, we implement the vision and understandings reached in July 2005 and March 2006 by President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The President of the Palestinian National Authority, H.E. Mahmoud Abbas, accompanied by the Foreign Minister of the PNA, Dr. Riyad Al-Maliki and other senior officials, will pay a State Visit to India from 6-9 October, 2008.