Putin not to host dinner for PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will return home early from his Moscow visit after plans of a dinner banquet to be hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin fell through. Singh, who will now return to India on Monday night, had earlier been scheduled to attend a traditional dinner banquet on the concluding day of his two-day visit. It is learnt that in a departure from protocol, Putin will now host a luncheon instead. While the new arrangement is more akin to a working lunch, officials insist that it is a 8220;luncheon banquet8221; for the PM. Amidst the protocol controversy over the 8220;official status8221; of the trip, sources said that an offer for a formal dinner banquet to be hosted by Singh8217;s Russian 8220;counterpart8221; 8212; Prime Minster Viktor Zubkov 8212; was politely turned down by India.