India inched closer to getting a non-permanent seat on the 15-member UNSC with its sole competitor from Asia, Kazakhstan, backing out of the crucial race.
Asked whether India offered something to China for Azhar's listing, he asserted that India doesn't negotiate on matters related to national security. "Our objective was to ensure designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist," he said.
"Australia wants to take the relationship with India to the front ranks of the partnerships we have," Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said at a joint press briefing with visiting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee after the agreements were signed in Canberra. The two countries agreed to further strengthen their relationship by forming a new body to hold yearly talks and by signing treaties to increase anti-terror efforts.
Career diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri, who recently retired as India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist,' Pompeo tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was welcomed in Dublin by the voices of Irish children reciting Sanskrit shlokas, took a jibe at the opposition parties back home saying that if this was done in India then it would have raised questions about 'secularism'.
'India will keep trying to avoid conflict.' 'This is the moment when we draw a line in the sand.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's phone call to Trump will help restore a degree of sanity to Indian statecraft and diplomacy, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Early this year the US along with the United Kingdom and France approached the United Nations's sanctions committee for the ban on Azhar.
Hariri was assassinated on February 14, in which 22 other people were also killed when his car was blown up.
"Time has come for Pakistan to decide in its own interests. We will do what's in Pakistan's interests," Qureshi told Geo TV in an interview.
The German Chancellor has called for deeper ties with India
China, a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council and a close ally of Pakistan, has repeatedly foiled India's bid to list Azhar as a global terrorist, saying there is no consensus in the top organ of the world body on this issue.
China, one of the five permanent members of the UNSC had taken the lead in drafting 1172 resolution.
"It is the responsibility of all members of the council to make sure that these requirements are followed," Chinese Permanent Representative to the UN said.
"The US was never a friend of India. Friendship with it will bring danger to the country," Dasgupta said.
India is planning to ask Pakistan to seize assets of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and most wanted terrorists Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi as all three are in the United Nations Security Council's Al Qaeda sanctions list which makes it incumbent upon Islamabad to freeze their holdings.
Pakistan strongly condemns and rejects the announcements made by the Indian Government regarding Jammu and Kashmir, the statement said. "As the party to this international dispute, Pakistan will exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps," it said.
Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said that Pakistan was committed to the implementation of UNSC 1267 sanctions regime and has taken several steps in this regard.
The foreign minister made the request for assistance to Modi who noted that India was committed to helping all nations affected by the tragedy.
'Magnanimity and appeasement have no place in the world of realpolitik as India has learned the hard way,' notes Vivek Gumaste in the first of a two-part column.
Hitting out at the report, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in New Delhi that the update of the earlier OHCHR report is "merely a continuation of the earlier false and motivated narrative" on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict in Syria on a "relatively large scale", a United Nations report said, without blaming any side.
'For this kind of informal summit, I think it is better to leave the leaders much time to discuss whatever they would like to discuss'
India and Japan on Friday sought a peaceful solution to the territorial disputes in the strategic South China Sea, saying parties involved in the matter must not resort to "threat or use of force", in remarks that could anger China which is opposed to any outside interference.
On the border dispute, officials on both sides say the protracted boundary talks made progress, while both sides made attempts to avert tensions along the 3,488-kilometre-long Line of Actual Control, which remains undefined.
Pakistan, as Security Council president, cannot impose any issue on the world body, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri V Fedotov said.
The Chinese technical hold was set to lapse on Monday, and had China not raised further objection, the resolution designating Azhar as a terrorist could stand passed automatically. The hold has been extended for another six months.
Donald Trump on Wednesday started his maiden visit to Beijing with both sides inking deals worth $9 billion.
The reaction by the State Department came after Pakistan Premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, during an interview to Geo TV on Tuesday, referred to Saeed as 'sahib' or 'sir'.
'The opposition party was disappointed that the UN listing does not mention the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives, and has no reference to Jammu and Kashmir'
The Congress questioned Modi what was the use of "swinging" with Xi.
Both leaders also exchanged views on the situations in South Asia, an official Chinese statement said about the meeting between Xi and Khan.
