A Saudi Arabia-drafted resolution on Syria, which is set to be voted upon in the United Nations General Assembly, has dropped its demand for President Bashar Al Assad to step down and sanctions be imposed against the country after some member States, including India, objected to the provisions.
Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council will be taken only after a discussion with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 to protect and ensure unity and communal harmony and uphold the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution.
India and other like-minded countries in the United Nations Security Council decided to support a Western-backed draft resolution on Syria only after it was agreed to explicitly remove provisions of regime change, threat of sanctions and military intervention. The draft resolution on Syria, introduced by Morocco and supported by the Arab League, failed to be adopted by the UN Security Council as two of its permanent members, Russia and China, vetoed it.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
India is a great power that determines its national interests and chooses its partners, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, describing as "completely unjustified" the "enormous pressure" on New Delhi due to its energy cooperation with Moscow.
The resolution praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and accused the opposition of 'opportunism' and a mindset of 'extreme hate'.
In a significant political development, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah announced on Thursday that an alliance with the Congress was finalised for all 90 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, which is going for its maiden assembly polls after being reorganised into a Union Territory.
They met at Modi's residence in New Delhi a day after the NDA won a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha election, paving the way for him to take the oath for a third consecutive term, a first for any ruling alliance since 1962.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday targeted Jawaharlal Nehru and claimed that past mistakes were responsible for the problems such as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and occupation of some parts of the Indian territory by China.
Notwithstanding intense pressure by Tamil parties, India on Wednesday maintained suspense over its position on a resolution on human rights to be moved against Sri Lanka at the United Nations, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying it will depend on the final draft.
Leaders of the JD-U, which has two ministers in the Union government, insist that the resolution also spoke of "special package and other types of help" and that Bihar could still get a lot from Narendra Modi government.
Expressing 'surprise' over India supporting a 'weak' and 'diluted' United States resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council, former United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday said New Delhi had by its action "totally disappointed" the entire Tamil diaspora.
In a statement later, the White House said Biden and Netanyahu discussed Israel's military campaign in Gaza, including its "objectives and phasing".
China on Thursday firmly backed Sri Lanka against the US-sponsored resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council on alleged war crimes, saying it is against any country putting pressure on others in the name of rights violations.
Amid the spirited debate, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly approved a draft resolution on combating the glorification of Nazism by a recorded vote of 105 in favour to 52 against, with 15 abstentions.
India on Wednesday abstained from voting while Russia and China vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that threatened action against Syria if it didn't immediately halt a deadly crackdown on anti-regime protesters. Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council, vetoed the European-backed resolution, killing the draft. Apart from India, countries that abstained from voting were Brazil, Lebanon and South Africa.
United States President Barack Obama has assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the United Nations Security Council resolution asking non-Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty states to sign the proliferation treaty is not directed against India and that his country would fulfill all obligations with regard to the nuclear deal.
"International law doesn't recognise India's unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019. The judicial endorsement by the Indian Supreme Court has no legal value. Kashmiris have an inalienable right to self determination in accordance with the relevant UN SC resolutions," Pakistan's caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said in a post on X.
The government has slashed by up to 20 per cent the supplies of cheaper domestically produced natural gas to city retailers -- a move that may result in Rs 4-6 per kg hike in the price of CNG sold to automobiles, unless excise duty on the fuel is cut, sources said. Natural gas pumped from below the ground and from under the seabed from sites ranging from the Arabian Sea to Bay of Bengal within India is the raw material that is turned into CNG for sale to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households.
Sri Lanka on Monday made it clear that it will not abide by the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution that censured it over its human rights record and said it would only implement "feasible" recommendations of its own panel that probed the three-decade-long bloody civil war.
With India under pressure from Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu to support a United States-sponsored resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Commission against Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes, United Progressive Alliance's key constituent Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam on Saturday announced the convening of its high-level committee on March 20 to discuss the issue. Party chief M Karunanidhi will chair the meeting on Tuesday morning at its headquarters in Chennai.
The Supreme Court has sought details from the Allahabad High Court regarding controversial statements made by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav at a VHP function. The development comes amid calls for action against the judge for his remarks, which have been labeled as hate speech by some. The judge's statements were made at a VHP function on December 8, where he spoke about the Uniform Civil Code and the law working according to the majority. Several individuals and organizations, including lawyer Prashant Bhushan and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, have called for an inquiry into the judge's conduct and for his removal from judicial duties.
The United States has welcomed the passage of a resolution on Sri Lanka sponsored by it at the United Nations Human Rights Commission, saying the vote sent a clear signal to Colombo that the international community is committed to promote peace and stability in the country.
Ahead of his much-anticipated visit to conflict-torn Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India firmly believes that no problem can be solved on the battlefield and it is ready to extend all possible cooperation for the restoration of peace and stability in the region.
Telling his fellow countrymen that America is at an inflection point, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he has decided that the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation.
Setting aside their political differences, the ruling CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front and Opposition Congress headed United Democratic Front, once again came together to launch a joint fight against the Centre on the CAA, which has seen unprecedented protests all over the country.
In retrospect, it appeared that the bitterness of the war was still strong and the Ukrainian success in occupying Russian territory just a few days ago had added to the complexity of the situation. The positive US response to the visit, however, remains a silver lining in the dark clouds, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The Haryana assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution seeking the completion of the SYL canal and the transfer of Hindi-speaking areas from Punjab, while denouncing the neighbouring state for staking its claim over Chandigarh.
Guterres urged members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared.
Pakistan's parliament has unanimously passed a resolution, condemning the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.
Expressing solidarity with the people of Lakshadweep, the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution demanding the recall of island administrator Praful Khoda Patel and requesting the immediate intervention of the Centre to protect the lives and livelihood of the islanders.
China had in August extended by three months its technical hold on the proposal to list JeM founder Azhar as a global terrorist after having blocked the move in February this year at the United Nations.
Some names like 'Bharat Rashtriya Samiti', 'Ujwal Bharat Party' and 'Naya Bharat Party' were discussed for the new outfit.
Only 13 nations voted in favour of Russia's call for a secret ballot on draft resolution on Ukraine.
The 193-member general assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following the organisation of the above-mentioned referendums".
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