A landmark treaty banning cluster munitions will come into force from August 1, the United Nations announced, but all major powers, the US, China, Russia Israel and India are shunning it.
According to reports, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping as Head of State of a country with which the UK has diplomatic relations.
One hundred-and-ninety-two countries have signed the climate change convention.
US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have already expressed their intention to attend the 15th conference of signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change slated to kick off on December 9.
Defence, security, science and technology, trade and culture are some of the issues on the plate for the talks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has acknowledged that the dreaded terror group Islamic State poses one of the greatest challenges facing the international community today and said there is a need to "delink terrorism from religion".
The 70-year-old leader had a disappointing Super Tuesday that included a third-place finish in her home state of Massachusetts.
Cautioning that no part of the world could claim to be immune from terrorism, India on Wednesday pressed for early adoption of a proposed convention to fight the menace pending at the United Nations, saying it could materialise if the international community showed political will.
In an army that favours officers who have spent the bulk of their service years doing counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, General Anil Chauhan is that rarity: A China specialist who has logged plenty of service years along the Line of Actual Control and the McMahon Line with China.
Although the pact would focus mainly on the Pacific and the South China Sea region, any action designed to deter China with or without New Delhi's active participation is a welcome move, notes Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
As hopes for any deal on global warming dims at the Cancun meet later this year, United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres on Wednesday made it clear that the Kyoto Protocol will continue post 2012 as a second protocol since it does not have a 'sunset' clause.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to deposit in its account the compensation given by Italy for the kin of two Indian fishermen killed by Italian Marines off the Kerala coast in February 2012.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had won 30 of the total 50 seats in the region in the 2018 assembly polls, followed by Congress 17, Janata Dal-Secular 2, and others (KPJP-Shankar) 1.
The South Carolina governor has become the first woman and minority to join Trump's administration.
Marking the end of strict banking secrecy practices, Switzerland earlier this month agreed to automatic exchange of information and mutual administrative assistance in tax matters with overseas authorities.
'Congress is being increasingly seen to be standing with Pakistan as Tharoor's statement was not an isolated incident'
Five top United Nations officials have urged world leaders to "seal the deal" at Copenhagen in December on an ambitious new climate change pact aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Expressing surprise over the reports that China was planning to lift its ban on trade in tiger parts, India has sought clarification from a United Nations forum in which China a few days ago had pledged to the contrary.
'Wisdom demands Modi moves to restore the critical institutions of the State and dial back on the cult building around his persona,' say Sonali Ranade and Shealja Sharma.
The football world gathered in the Qatari capital on Friday as the draw ceremony for the World Cup finals got under way with music and dance.
The 77-year-old former US vice president on Friday night took his tally of pledged delegates over the halfway mark of 1,991 from a total of 3,979, thus becoming eligible to earn the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
Political observers are keen to see if the BJP will now be guided by its more firmly entrenched ideological dominance in picking a face solidly identified with its core planks, or if it will choose a person tilted more to its electoral calculations. Or, whether its pick will be an ode to its core supporters or a outreach to relatively new groups of votaries.
Unhappy over India's handling of the marine's issue, Italy took the matter to the International Tribunal on Law of the Sea challenging Indian jurisdiction in the case.
Being one of the most ecologically modernized state in the world, Japan heads to Copenhagen with its ambition of green leadership in the post Kyoto regime. Japan has nurtured this ambition through smart diplomatic endeavors, ecological restructuring of policies and technological innovations.
Nearly 58 years after the United Nations adopted a convention on refugees, India is finally shaping its own legal framework to define the status and rights to be granted to refugees.The Home Ministry is currently chalking out the draft of the Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Protection) Bill and it will be presented before the Union Cabinet early in November. Once it is cleared by the Cabinet, it will be introduced in the winter or Budget session of the Parliament.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir stated that the development put Pakistan in its place.
Sri Lanka's former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe has rubbished the government's claim that the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam rebels are on the verge of being brought down to its knees saying there are still 15,000 armed Tamil tigers left.
The average global temperature between January and October has been 0.68 degrees Celsius higher than the 20th century's average global temperature of 14.1 degree C.
"The world's eye is on Kashmir and on Pakistan...I will be the ambassador who raises Kashmir's voice at every international forum," he said.
Modi also asserted that if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India.
Donald Trump's own party leaders came out openly against the Republican presidential nominee.
The 20-time English Premier League champions are far from their best, but, in the final analysis, it is the results that matter, and at the moment they are on a winning spree, says Bikash Mohapatra
India's JSW Steel has been awarded more than 5.4 million carbon credits, including four million carbon credits in the single largest issuance of emissions permits to a Kyoto Protocol project, by the United Nations.
Here are the images that encapsulated the biggest moments in the month of August.
Yadav struck deals with the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress whenever needed to form or save the governments led by him in Uttar Pradesh.
The plea filed by NGO Association for Protection of Civil Rights and others also sought a direction to the Centre to refrain from preparing the National Register of Citizens.
In a resolution adopted in the assembly, the Jayalalithaa government sought diplomatic efforts by India to change any possible pro-Lanka stand adopted by America in the United Nation rights body.
India has not only been decked in tricolour hues in the lead up to the 76th Independence Day celebrations, but also put under a heavy security blanket, right from Delhi, the epicentre of the mega celebrations, to Jammu and Kashmir.
Within days of announcing mega investments for building in Hyderabad its second data centre cluster in India, Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Monday said it is excited about the India market, where cloud adoption offers massive headroom for growth. Pledging its long-term commitment to the India market, AWS, Amazon's cloud computing unit, said it expects global uncertainties to accelerate the decisions by companies to opt for flexible, on-demand cloud infrastructure to pare costs, gain efficiencies and drive business innovation. "Cloud reacts well to uncertainty," Puneet Chandok, president - commercial business, AWS India and South Asia, Amazon Internet Services Pvt Ltd (AISPL) told PTI.
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