Buckling under global pressure, Muammar Gaddafi on Friday announced a ceasefire and halted all military operations, hours after the United Nations authorised a no-fly zone over Libya and United States and allies readied plans for a military action which France said could come 'within hours.'
With BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, calling for ceasefire in Libya, a top Pentagon official on Wednesday said that the onus for this lies with the Gaddafi forces, which needs to pull back its troops from cities and stop attacking civilians.
President of the European Council Charles Michel on Tuesday spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed his condolences over the death of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, a native of Karnataka.
As external affairs minister S M Krishna travels to Beijing on Tuesday for talks till April 8 with his counterpart, Yang Jiechi, highly placed sources in the establishment confirmed that India and China have been in talks for some time to ban Masood Azhar of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Abdul Rehman Makki of the Jamaat-ud Dawa and Azam Cheema of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, under the UNSC resolutions.
Pakistan has rejected India's stance on occupied Kashmir, saying the dispute over the region was a result of New Delhi's refusal to implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
A United States official is set to hold talks in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Lebanon this week on sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Pakistan on Thursday said India's stand that the Simla Agreement of 1972 supersedes earlier United Nations resolutions on Kashmir is not legally tenable even as it sought "serious negotiations" on all outstanding disputes.
The United States on Sunday said time was running out for Iran to address the growing concerns of the international community about its nuclear programme, as the Islamic republic approved plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities in defiance of United Nations' demands.
The reports quoting unnamed senior administration officials came amid an increasing demand in this regard from US Senators even as the Trump administration called a meeting of the UN Security Council on Iran's ballistic missile tests.
The new UN Security Council resolution on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament makes it difficult for the NPT signatory countries to withdraw from the regime and calls upon nations to enter into safeguard agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Only 13 nations voted in favour of Russia's call for a secret ballot on draft resolution on Ukraine.
Following the Chinese president's comments on Kashmir, India in a quick response asserted that it is not for other countries to comment on "internal affairs of India".
Amid the US-led moves to impose fresh sanctions on Iran, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made it clear to President Barack Obama that India was opposed to any sanctions that would target common people of that country.
At a joint media briefing with Lavrov, Jaishankar listed issues such as "factors of instability" such as terrorism and its cross-border manifestation and said it remains a "major concern".
Taking a tough line, Israel has indicated that it will continue to ignore the UN Security Council resolution seeking ceasefire in Gaza, until it has achieved its objectives of weakening Hamas and stopping the smuggling of arms in the region from Egypt.
The warning came despite assertion by visiting Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Tuesday that India's dealings with Iran were not in any way a contravention of the UN Security Council resolutions.
India has reiterated its reluctance to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty despite United States President Barack Obama's call for all nations to sign the disputed pact.
However, there would be some exceptions such as equipment meant for light water reactors and low-enriched uranium when it is incorporated in assembled nuclear fuel elements for such reactors.
The 2 countries underlined the need for more efficient measures to prevent propagation of terrorism, including in the cyberspace.
The reported test came amid escalating cross-border tensions, with the North threatening retaliation over the start of South Korea-US military exercises condemned by Pyongyang.
In his first comments since the militaries of India and Pakistan jointly announced on Thursday that they have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and other sectors, Khan said Pakistan remains ready to move forward to resolve 'all outstanding issues' with India through dialogue.
The two leaders reaffirmed that the United States and India 'will take concerted action against all terrorist groups, including groups proscribed by the UNSCR 1267 Sanctions Committee'.
Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
"Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended," he said, thanking armed forces for their execution of the dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled -- in the early hours of Tuesday (August 31) -- with no further loss of American lives.
The US would 'welcome and support' a new UN Security Council resolution if it highlights the world body's resolve, he said.
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".
At the same time, Jaishankar said India and the US are on the same page on many issues relating to the recent developments in Afghanistan including apprehensions about the possible use of Afghan soil for terrorism.
Eleven countries voted in favour of the resolution while three countries - India, China and the UAE abstained.
Pakistan has said that the Kashmir dispute has international ramifications and rejected India's assertion that the ongoing strife there is an internal matter where Islamabad has no role to play and should have no role to play.
The UN team to visit Islamabad for an assessment of Pakistan's compliance with the world body's sanctions regime.
'China is well aware of our position. It is not for other countries to comment on the internal affairs of India'
Minister in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Srinivas Prasad, strongly rejected remarks made by Pakistan's envoy to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, in which she had said that the non-implementation of UN Security Council resolutions for a plebiscite in Kashmir is the "most persistent" failure of the UN.
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