An India-U.S. space conference to be held early next year will explore the "substantial market potential" as the American space industry is "anxious to work with India", a U.S. official has said. The conference, to be attended by representatives of space related industries from the two countries, would focus on the use of space science, environmental monitoring and global satellite navigation, including global positioning systems, for developmental purposes. "The objective of the conference is to bring U.S. commercial interests to India and, obviously, bring Indian commercial interests too on the same platform. There is a market potential that is fairly substantial," said Kenneth Hodgkins, deputy director of space and advanced technology in the U.S. department of space.

It is not only in software that the U.S. needs Indian intellectual capital - it needs Indian brainpower to understand the complexities of data emanating from earth science satellites. "If you can do it for Microsoft, why not for earth sciences or space technology?" asked James Dodge, director of earth sciences at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

A senior American official Tuesday said the U.S. and India need to strengthen their economic ties to attain a strategic partnership, but made it clear that the burden of action rests largely on New Delhi's shoulders. "With all positives in our relationship, the weakness of our economic links is glaring," said Richard N. Haass, director of policy planning in the State Department.

A senior U.S. official Tuesday asked Pakistan not to let differences with India over Kashmir to block progress on other issues that held promise of improve bilateral ties. "I would discourage Pakistanis from allowing their focus on resolving the Kashmir dispute to block progress on other issues that involve India and that hold promise of an improved bilateral relationship," Richard Haass, director of policy planning staff in the State Department, said.

The United States anticipates significant cooperation from India on Iraq and will turn to New Delhi "if force proves necessary," a senior U.S. official said Tuesday. "If force proves necessary, we hope that the United States could turn to the Indian government for assistance in meeting not only immediate needs but also in addressing the humanitarian, political and economic challenges that follow," Richard Haass, director of policy planning in the State Department, said in an address to the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII's) Partnership Summit here. Haass said Washington was pleased that India had urged Iraq's full compliance with the U.N. resolutions, calling on it to stop its suspected programme to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The United States urged India and Pakistan on Tuesday to revive full diplomatic relations to lay the ground for bilateral cooperation and people-to-people contact. Richard Haass, director policy planning at the U.S. State Department, told a business conference the lack of contact between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan was abnormal even by standards of two adversaries. "In this time of heightened tensions, we are in an unusual situation where neither country has a high commissioner in the capital of the other," Haass said.

A large number of Pakistanis swarmed into their embassy in Washington last weekend for a meeting on new US immigration rules that will require many Pakistani immigrants to be photographed, fingerprinted, and questioned by American immigration authorites. Late last month, the US government announced that Pakistanwould be added to the list of countries whose nationals would be subject to "special registration" requirements. With a few exceptions, male Pakistani immigrants over 16 years of age must go through the procedure between January 13 and February 21 of this year.

India will consider an appeal by aid groups to allow a planned shipment of soy blended with corn which had been rejected because it was unclear if it had been genetically modified, officials said on Tuesday. India's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee in November turned down an application by U.S.-based aid groups CARE and the Catholic Relief Society (CRS) to import the shipment to make food for impoverished school children. Officials from the Environment Ministry, which oversees the committee, said the consignment was not approved because it lacked proper certification.

Experts have warned that the Indian airline industry may be hit badly in case US-Iraq war takes place that will lead to a huge increase in insurance premium and the additional burden of an estimated 25 percent hike in prices of aviation turbine fuel. Referring to the 1991 Gulf War when a war-risk insurance premium of Rs 6 lakhs per flight used to be paid for Indian Airlines' services to Kuwait, experts said that the premium could be much higher this time around.