US-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has advised US President Barack Obama, who will be visiting India next weekend, that “India should be valued in its own right, not as a partner in containing China.”

The Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs was on Thursday given the prestigious India eGov 2.0 Awards 2010 for the most innovative use of social media and Web 2.0 tools in government. The event was held in the evening at the Hotel Claridges in Central Delhi.

Tommy Hilfiger has become one of the best selling international brands in India thanks to a little unexpected help from actor Shah Rukh Khan, says Mohan Murjani, who built the brand in the U.S. and brought it to India six years ago.

A colourful performance of Turkish folk dances and music will be held in [New Delhi] Nov 1 and 2 to mark the national day of Turkey. The dances, by the Hacettepe University Folk Dances Group, are being presented by the embassy of Turkey in cooperation with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

In recent years, Indian corporate largesse has also benefited, among others, Yale, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania. But these gifts also illustrate a broader phenomenon: India's growing soft power.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) will celebrate 60 years of its foundation by with a two-day seminar beginning Nov 11 featuring an elite panel of speakers from India and abroad.

Space-based solar power (SBSP) may soon emerge as one of the leading sectors of strategic cooperation between India and the U.S., with a recently released report authored by U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Peter A. Garretson making the case for it being the next focus of the growing partnership.

The announcement Thursday that President Obama will visit Pakistan in 2011 has further sapped enthusiasm in India for Mr. Obama’s visit here next month.