United States, Russia and China oppose talks to reform the powerful United Nations body
PM Modi went to New York this time not to engage in polemics, but to find solutions to global problems. He made some progress on several matters, even on reform of the UN Security Council, when the US made a major concession for the first time that six permanent members without veto, including India, could be considered
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Kash Patel, a close confidante, as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This appointment would make Patel the highest-ranking Indian American in Trump's incoming administration. Patel has previously served in various roles in the Trump administration, including Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. Trump praised Patel's work in uncovering the "Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax" and his commitment to "bringing back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI." Patel, who has extensive experience in law enforcement and national security, is known for his work on the Russia investigation and his criticism of the "deep state."
The United Nations member states will begin inter-governmental negotiations on the expansion of the 15-member Security Council in both permanent and non permanent categories and also mull on the question of veto, the two issues for which India has pressed for debate.
The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the member states' names. According to the information released by the office of the UN spokesperson, India will assume the rotating presidency of the Council for the month of August next year.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has said the five permanent members of the UN Security Council would not accept the demand for veto powers made by India and other aspiring members.
The allocated amount is substantially lower than the Rs 1,803.01 crore earmarked in 2023-24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations Security Council that 'we have to prepare' the second peace summit to end the Russia-Ukraine war 'altogether' and he has invited India and other countries to join the peace process.
Cameron also said Modi has a very clear plan about technology and the future of India and his third consecutive term in office demonstrates the ability to bring real change in a consistent way.
The cabinet ministers concerned are on their way to Berlin.
The 15-member Council held a formal vote here to elect Guterres, the former UN High Commissioner for refugees had emerged as the "clear favourite" to succeed Ban Ki-moon, 72, as the 9th Secretary General.
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.
Erdogan's skipping of the Kashmir reference is being seen as an apparent shift in Turkiye's stance and comes at a time when the country is trying to become a member of the BRICS grouping to forge alliances beyond the West.
Once identified, these individuals are drawn into private groups where they are exposed to manipulative content, including fabricated videos depicting atrocities allegedly committed by security forces, the officials said.
Lisa Curtis, who served as deputy assistant to President Trump and as National Security Council senior director for South and Central Asia from 2017 to 2021, said she expected the same bumps for India and the US, as in Trump's first term, including tariff, dependence on Russia over arms supply and oil purchase from Iran. Curtis, however, said both countries could never enter an alliance but develop a partnership that is "short of an alliance". She hoped them to achieve a cooperation that deters China, but also prepares both countries in case of a crisis or conflict, be it in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, or another flare-up on the India-China border.
This is the first time that the National Security Council has held a meeting with these Sikh activists and Sikh separatists.
This is the first UN sanction on Iran.
Numerous members of Hezbollah in Beirut and various areas of Lebanon were injured when their communication devices exploded, according to the Arab media reports. ANI posted on X quoting AP that Iran's ambassador in Lebanon was among those injured in the blasts.
India stressed that it is even more extraordinary for a country with a history of rigged elections to talk about political choices, that too in a democracy.
"We should not have a repeat of what happened in Mumbai. That there was a terror attack and there was no response," Jaishankar told reporters in Mumbai.
India's bid for a permanent seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council has received a strong support from many UN member states, including the UK and France, who emphasised that the the world body's top organ must reflect the emergence of new global powers.
President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday said that international relations must be democratised and the process of United Nations reform expedited to make the Security Council more representative of contemporary reality. The President also pointed to the dangers of terrorism and said India was determined to root it out. "We are determined to eliminate the scourge of international terrorism against which we have zero tolerance," she said.
The 15-member body strongly condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launches.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) intensified its campaign in Lebanon with targeted airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut, hitting key weapons depots and terror infrastructure overnight, according to a report by Times of Israel.
The United States had received intelligence from a human source about an Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump weeks before the assassination attempt against the former US President on Saturday, according to national security officials.
'Now it's for India to also make certain decisions. The sky's the limit. You've got to be strategic.'
The United States has vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council on the latest Palestinian bid to be granted full membership of the United Nations, an outcome lauded by Israel but criticised by Palestine as 'unfair, immoral, and unjustified'.
Delivering a thinly veiled message to Pakistan from its soil, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said activities across borders characterised by the 'three evils' of terrorism, extremism and separatism are unlikely to encourage trade, energy flows and connectivity.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had also made an impassioned plea for the UN to reflect today's world.
An earthquake of magnitude 4.8 struck 7 km north-northeast of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, on Friday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday elected Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning in January 2014.
In an address at a security conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Kazakh capital, he also underlined the need for holding accountable the sponsors, financiers and facilitators of terrorism, in remarks that came amid Pakistan's continuing support to various terror groups.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The UN Security Council on Tuesday failed to adopt a resolution calling for humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war after a veto by the US.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the month of Ramzan, a breakthrough coming after more than five months since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
'We condemn recent illicit missile launches in the region that violate UN Security Council resolutions. We express serious concern over recent dangerous and aggressive actions in the maritime domain. We seek a region where no country dominates and no country is dominated one where all countries are free from coercion, and can exercise their agency to determine their futures,' the declaration said.
The statement by IRGC which was televised on the country's state media, came, three days after Haniyeh was killed at his accommodation in northern Tehran following his attendance at the inaugural ceremony of Iran's new president Masoud Pezeshkian.
President Barack Obama met his National Security Council team at the White House to review potential holiday threats and discuss America's security posture in Pakistan in view of the horrific terrorist attack on a school in Peshawar that left 141 dead, mostly children.
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