Thousands of people flee eastern Rafah after Israel orders people to evacuate as fears of a full-blown military assault on the city sheltering more than one million displaced people grow.
The 70-year-old real estate tycoon had last month described tensions between India and Pakistan as a "very, very hot tinderbox" and offered to be "the mediator or arbitrator" if it was necessary and if the two countries wanted him to, following which the Foreign Office had welcomed such an offer.
Ruling out any American mediation on the Kashmir issue, US President Barack Obama has said dialogue is the best way to reduce tension between India and Pakistan.
Times have changed, situations have changed, but the basic nature of superpower geo-politics remains the same and so also India's diplomacy -- call it non-alignment, strategic autonomy or neutrality; it all depends on the time scale, notes Rup Narayan Das.
The estranged wife of former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti on Monday told the Supreme Court that she was not ready to undergo mediation to settle the domestic violence and attempt to murder case lodged by her against the Aam Aadmi Party leader.
Attempts to restart sports are risky, even when played outside. On Tuesday, an Israeli missile slammed into a football match at a tent encampment, killing at least 29 people, Palestinian officials said.
India has been consistently calling upon Sri Lanka to fulfill its commitments to protect the interests of the Tamil community and preserve the island nation's character as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.
Maoist-chosen mediators discussed certain key demands of the rebels with hardcore Naxal leader Ganti Prasadam in Bhubaneswar on Monday, as negotiations for the release of the abducted Malkangiri district collector and a junior engineer reached a crucial stage.
Pakistani Taliban commanders have contacted cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan to broker peace talks with the Pakistani government, but he said he would act as a mediator only if authorities give their consent.
The Odisha government on Wednesday hoped Maoists would soon name their negotiators for talks for release of Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka, a day after it invited them for parleys, even as intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was sought by mediators in the Italian captive's case.
Though the two shooters, held for the south Mumbai shooting incident, have claimed that fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar was not their target, the picture would be clear only after the arrest of the "mediator" who gave them the killing contract, a senior police official said on Friday.
Nirmohi Akhara, the main plaintiff in the Ayodhya title suit, wants the mediation of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoban and the national organisation of Muslim ulemas-- Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind -- along with Hindu religious leaders like Baba Ramdev, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar and Murari Bapu.
Personal growth and self-discovery are significant factors in the rise of grey divorces, says relationship expert Kanchan Rai.
Nine Naxalites, including three women, were killed in an encounter with security personnel in a forest along the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, state's Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma said.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a Zilla Parishad school teacher from Latur in Maharashtra and registered a case against four persons after it emerged that a racket was being operated to help NEET students willing to pay money to crack the exam, police said on Monday.
President-elect Barack Obama has been told to refrain from promoting the idea of direct US mediation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir by senior American analysts, who say any such move could backfire.Such a mediation "could backfire by raising unrealistic expectations for a favourable settlement among Pakistanis, thereby fuelling Islamabad's support for militants in hopes of pushing a hard-line agenda," stated analysts Lisa Curtis and Walter Lohman.
Sadhana Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde speaking to the protesters said, "The Supreme Court has upheld your right to protest. But then other citizens also have their rights and it should also be maintained."
'The struggle of insurgents and pro-independence political activists is fuelled by a deep conviction that not only is a free Balochistan possible, but they also believe that Pakistan will inevitably break apart, leading to Balochistan's independence.'
Trump said the tensed situation also has a lot to do with religion. "It's a complicated situation. A lot has to do with religion. Religion is a complicated subject," he said.
Maoists have indicated that they have not backed out of the talks with the government, but asked mediator Swami Agnivesh not to contact them through their channels alleging that the police was tracking their leaders through the letters sent by him.
The Obama Administration is unlikely to mediate on the Kashmir issue and the US policy of non-interference will continue despite calls for greater American involvement, according to a latest Congressional report.
It voiced optimism over the outcome of the three-day talks with Pakistan.
Maoist-nominated mediators on Monday refused to issue an appeal to the ultras for early release of a ruling Biju Janata Dal MLA and an Italian, held captive by different rebel groups, and instead asked Odisha government to release "innocent" people jailed on the charge of being Naxal.
'When a third party intervenes, the parties to the dispute do not conduct the dialogue with sincerity and hence the grouses remain,' Syed Nazir Ahmad Kashani said.
Mediation talks between National Basketball Association (NBA) owners and players continued unexpectedly on Wednesday for a second straight day in New York in a bid to resolve the bitter labour dispute.
With the hostage crisis getting complicated by the fresh demands made by Maoists, Orissa government and the mediators are likely to take the help of Naxalite leader Ganti Prasadam to secure the release of Malkangiri district collector R V Krishna, official sources said.
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that Sikhs bravely fought the 1962, 1965, 1971 wars and the Kargil battle, but no helmet issue arose then.
The World Bank's move came as it told the two countries that it was responding to their separate proceedings initiated under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has once again urged the United States and other major countries to mediate between India and Pakistan, in order to resolve long pending issues between them, so as to enable Islamabad to focus on the war against terrorism and militancy.Talking to a visiting US parliamentary delegation led by Senator Thomas Carper, Gilani, without mentioning Kashmir, asserted that Pakistan wants a peaceful resolution of all the core issues.
Supporting the India-Pakistan talks and peace process, he said dialogue was imperative but there should be the world community's involvement at a certain level to reach a solution acceptable to all the parties concerned.
Goswami said ULFA Commander-in-Chief Paresh Barua seemed positive about the outcome of the just held PCG-government meeting but was 'terribly agitated' when she spoke to him over phone on Saturday.
There is no immediate Israeli confirmation of the truce extension but Hamas issues its own statement confirming as much, crediting the Qatari and Egyptian mediation efforts, it added.
The Chhattisgarh government on Tuesday named two former chief secretaries as its nominees for talks with Naxals for release of abducted Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon even as activists -- Prashant Bhushan and Manish Kunjam -- declined to mediate on behalf of the Maoists.
Heckling, confrontation and strong-arm tactics don't come to him easily, reveals Aditi Phadnis.
Talks have begun for the safe release of two Italian nationals abducted by Maoists in Odisha and the state government is making all efforts to get the hostages released. The Odisha government on Thursday evening began talks with two of the Maoist nominated mediators, Dandapani Mohanty and BD Sharma, for the safe release of two Italian nationals abducted by the ultras.
Outgoing US ambassador to India Robert D Blackwill said, 'There will be no American roadmaps. No American gameplan. No American substantive proposals.'
Swami Agnivesh, one of the 22 members of the core committee set up by activist Anna Hazare, claimed on Monday that there has been no response from the Centre so far to end the activist's indefinite fast against corruption. "In the last seven days, we have never had anyone mediating between us and the government about the Jan Lokpal Bill," he said. He rejected media reports about the government roping in any mediators.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Thursday announced that the operational pause in the Gaza Strip will continue amid the mediator's efforts to continue the process of releasing the hostages and subject to the terms of the framework.
"On Kashmir as I said, we would all like to see improved relations between India and Pakistan."
