Foreign policy is always a work in progress and ups and downs are built into foreign policy process. What is permanent is national interest. Hopefully, this year, which will also witness general elections in the country, will also clear clouds in the foreign policy horizon, observes Rup Narayan Das.
IAEA director general Muhamad ElBaradei expressed the hope for a long-term comprehensive agreement, which would allow for the development of relations and cooperation with Iran.
Putin said the residents in the four annexed regions will now be Russia's "citizens forever".
Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, who is visiting Washington, DC, has cautioned that India is unlikely to go along with tough sanctions against Iran even as the paranoia over that country's alleged nuclear weapons programme reaches fever-pitch. He also warned that any military action in the Gulf would plunge that region into grave instability and chaos.
The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO have expressed concern on the new law and warned of retaliatory measures.
The pressure on India to take a hostile attitude towards Russia and China was not subtle, but it was guarded, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan after Monday's 2+2 ministerial meeting in Washington, DC.
The foreign ministers of the European Union will on Monday decide whether to impose tough sanctions against Russia in the wake of voting by the people of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula to join the Russian Federation.
If China would not have extended the technical hold, Azhar would have automatically been designated under the UN as a terrorist.
The United Nations Security Council has dropped five prominent Taliban members from its sanctions blacklist under an ambitious national reconciliation plan of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.
The sanctions committee of the Council had circulated a note to its members that the United States, backed by Britain and France, had tried to add JuD chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed to the list of individuals and organisations connected to terrorism last May, but was blocked by China, according to a note circulated in the UNSC on Wednesday.
Speaking at a joint press appearance with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Washington, DC, Blinken said that the US tried everything possible to avert the Ukraine conflict through diplomacy.
Iran blamed America for the cancellation saying they had delayed the issuance of visas to the crew of the special plane that would have carried Ahmedinejad to New York for the meeting.
Terming the action by China as "surprising", External Affairs Ministry said it had expected China would have been more understanding of the danger posed to all by terrorism and would join India and others in fighting the common challenge of terrorism.
This is the latest in a string of tests by North Korea in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
As external affairs minister S M Krishna travels to Beijing on Tuesday for talks till April 8 with his counterpart, Yang Jiechi, highly placed sources in the establishment confirmed that India and China have been in talks for some time to ban Masood Azhar of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Abdul Rehman Makki of the Jamaat-ud Dawa and Azam Cheema of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, under the UNSC resolutions.
China, at the apparent request of Pakistan, put a "technical hold" on an Indian request to the UN Security Council to slap sanctions on three terrorists, says a secret State Department cable of December 2009 signed off by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The partial withdrawal would mean that Iran would stop exporting enriched uranium stocks as stipulated by the 2015 agreement.
Meanwhile, the test drew strong criticism from North Korea's neighbours and the West which warned of a robust response to its "grave provocations".
The Telegraph quoted General Hossein Moghadam, the Guard's former deputy chief, as saying that 'mass graves' are being dug close to the site of 1980-Iran-Iraq war. "The mass graves that were used for burying Saddam's soldiers have now been prepared again for US soldiers," he added.
India on Tuesday banned exports and imports of all items from North Korea that can be used in nuclear or ballistic missile plans. The Commerce Ministry imposed a blanket ban on "all items, materials, equipment, goods and technologies which could contribute to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related and other weapons of mass destruction-related programmes".
Pakistan will fulfil international obligations regarding the designation of individuals and entities by the United Nations as terrorist, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
The resolution, drafted by France and Tunisia, 'demands a general and immediate cessation of hostilities in all situations on its agenda and supports the efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General and his Special Representatives and Special Envoys'.
The G20's Bali Declaration Wednesday acknowledged differences among members on the Russia-Ukraine war but said it was essential to adhere to international law, including protection of civilians caught in conflicts.
The ICC from the next cycle will award the same prize money to men's and women's champions and runners-up teams at its global events.
The Pakistan government has blocked a resolution moved in the UN Security Council for imposing sanctions against former Inter-Services-Intelligence chief retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul over his alleged links with al-Qaeda and Taliban, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday.
Russia has consistently supported Iran's right to civilian nuclear energy under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and is building a nuclear power plant for the Islamic nation in Bushehr.
"Lashkar-e-Tayiba tactics is quite obvious. It is trying to increase tensions between India and Pakistan at a time when they and their associates are particularly under pressure in western Pakistan," Barrett said in at press conference at the UN Headquarters in New York.
There is the problem of regions in the North East being theatre for power-play by nations with borders and influences converging in those parts, which in turn requires a sizable presence of the armed forces, notes Shyam G Menon.
Hassan Rouhani to offer Friday prayers in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid.
North Korea is unlikely to strike first, but its response in retaliation, if attacked, could be massive even at the expense of its own destruction, says Rajaram Panda.
The United Nations Security Council has placed sanctions on Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front organisation of banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba, declaring it a terrorist organisation.Four top leaders of LeT including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Zaki-ur-Bahaziq have also been declared as terrorists by the UNSC.Imposing the sanctions, the Council asked all member states to freeze their assets and impose travel ban and arms embargo.
Pakistan today said India's bid at the UN to ban Masood Azhar was "politically motivated" and "replete with frivolous information", two days after its close ally China blocked the proposal to get the JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind listed as a global terrorist.
Thursday's ruling does not affect any decision on Russian and Belarusian athletes' participation at the Paris 2024 Olympics which the IOC will take at a later date.
A defiant North Korea on Friday test-fired another short-range missile and warned of more 'self- defence counter-measures' if 'hypocrites' in the United Nations Security Council slapped sanctions on it for this week's nuclear test. North Korea launched a new type short-range missile with an estimated range of 160 km from its Musudan-ri rocket launch site on its east coast, a South Korean official said.
It will be interesting to see if Pakistan, after this snub, competes in the tournament, scheduled to be held from September 2-17.
The US intends first to cripple the Afghan government financially through sanctions, freezing of assets, denial of access to international banking, etc, and then proceed to do pretty much what it wants to do with scant regard for Afghanistan's sovereignty, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"President Trump believes that Kim has an unprecedented opportunity to change the trajectory of our relationship and bring peace and prosperity to his country," Pompeo said.
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