Washington, June 04: US President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he has accepted an invitation from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit India in November this year.

“I am delighted to announce tonight that I plan to visit India in early November,” Xinhua quoted Obama as saying said in a speech at the reception for the US-India Strategic Dialogue held in Washington.

Manmohan Singh had offered the invitation when he visited Washington in 2009.

–IANS–

Tokyo, June 04: Japan’s cabinet resigned en masse Friday, and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) started the process of party presidential election, the winner of which will become the next prime minister of the country.

Yukio Hatoyama and his cabinet members resigned en masse in the morning, Xinhua reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan, 63, is leading the race. He is being challenged by Shinji Tarutoko, 50, a lawmaker who chairs the House of Representatives Environment Committee.

Beijing, June 04: Around 1,400 prisoners have been released from jail on medical grounds, before their sentences were over in China’s Jiangxi province, an official said.

Of the 1,400 prisoners released Thursday, 632 are elderly, 160 are handicapped and 604 are severely ill, Ma Chengzu, director of the the judicial department of Jiangxi province was quoted as saying by chinanews.com.cn.

The prisoners were released as part of a sentence mitigation programme started in June 2009 by the department.

Washington, June 04: Calling US-India relations as “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century”, US President Barack Obama said he plans to visit India in early November to together make “history and progress that will be treasured by generations to come”.

Beijing, June 04: China has banned meat and milk products from Japan and travellers have been advised not to bring such items into the country, following a ban due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, authorities said.

China stopped importing milk powder, milk, beef and cattle-related products from Japan at the end of April 2010, since the start of the outbreak in the Japanese prefecture of Miyazaki April 20.

New Delhi, June 04: Setting the tone for the first-ever Indo-US strategic dialogue in Washington on Thursday, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said in her opening remarks that improving ties with India was a “personal priority”.

The decision to upgrade the dialogue to a higher political level was made during Clinton’s visit to India last summer.

London, June 04: Times Square car bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad’s case has been postponed for three weeks until June 21 to allow him to speak with US authorities about the terror plot.

Shahzad, Pakistani-born American accused of planting a car bomb in Times Square, through his lawyer agreed to waive his right to indictment for another three weeks. US Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz signed an order granting the delay.

Ankara, June 03: Hundreds of activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla seized by Israeli commandos arrived in Turkey Thursday.

A crowd of about a thousand people welcomed the three planes carrying 488 activists at Istanbul airport as they arrived in the small hours of the morning.

The planes were also carrying the bodies of nine activists killed when Israeli commandos took control of the six aid vessels in Monday’s pre-dawn operation, deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc told journalists at the airport.

Ankara, June 03: Turkey’s ties with Israel suffered “irreparable” damage and “will never be the same” after the deadly raid on aid ships bound for Gaza, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Thursday.

“From now on, Turkish-Israeli ties will never be the same. This incident has left an irreparable and deep scar” on relations, he said in televised remarks.

Gul added that Monday’s attack by Israeli forces, in which eight Turks and a US national of Turkish origin were killed, “is not an issue that can be forgotten… or be covered up.”