Australia on Monday reiterated support to Indian viewpoint that world financial decision-making forums must be democratic and representative, and sought to enhance trade links between the two countries.
The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted a resolution demanding "an immediate, durable and fully respected" ceasefire in the troubled Gaza Strip, leading to withdrawal of all Israeli forces.
The sources said France's position has not changed and is very clear -- the Kashmir issue must be settled bilaterally. This has been stated on several occasions and will continue to be reiterate to partners in the UN Security Council, they added.
China said it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the United States, the United Kingdom and France following a careful study of the revised materials
The decision was taken during a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the southwestern the Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday.
India has sought China's support for its bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council during a meeting between President Pratibha Patil and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Bejing. Patil, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday on a six-day visit to China, was welcomed warmly by Wen at the Purple Light Pavilion.
President Pratibha Patil discussed bilateral issues of mutual interest and situation in the region with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday.
"Next year we are trying for a Security Council seat (from the Asian region) and I believe that the Indians have said that they will support us there," Abdullah Hussain Haroon told PTI.
Pitching for a greater role for India globally, former US President George W Bush favoured its entry into the expanded UN Security Council, which he acknowledged had got caught into political complications over questions like size and criteria.
After a gap of 19 years, India was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, a position which would help it push more aggressively for the reform of the world body's top organ. India secured an emphatic win, with 187 of the 191 member states in the General Assembly backing its candidature and one member state abstaining from the vote.
India hit out at China for its remarks that there was no consensus over the United States' proposal to ban Pathankot attack mastermind and Jaish-e-Mohammed is chief Masood Azhar at the United Nations
"In all the meetings the Prime Minister had, beginning with US leadership, there was a suo moto recognition of the concerns that Pakistan represents as a country that has in many senses both supported and nurtured cross-border terrorism, including in Afghanistan and from Afghanistan," he said.
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.
In a US-India Joint Leaders' Statement issued after the first in-person bilateral meeting between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Friday, the two leaders underscored the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy made a strong pitch for India's inclusion as a permanent member of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, which he said needs to be expanded to make it more inclusive."Did you know that India... in 30 years time... the world's most populous nation, doesn't have a permanent seat on the Security Council?" said the French president, hosted by Columbia University as part of the World Leaders Forum.
A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.
Former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Karl F Inderfurth, has told the US Congress that Washington should publicly support India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, arguing that the India's case has never been stronger.
The main elements of the programme are bilateral meetings with the US leadership, participation in the Quad Leaders' Summit, address at the UN General Assembly and business interactions.
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the suicide attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul in which 41 people, including four Indian nationals, were killed and expressed determination to root out the scourge of terrorism.
While the US stayed away, the remaining 14 members voted in favour of the resolution which came after three days of intensive negotiations.
'There is far more goodwill towards India from across the board in Afghanistan'
In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the President of the UN Security Council Ruhakana Rugunda, Israel accused an Indian contingent of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) of having done nothing to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the border and even cooperating with the group, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Pakistan on Friday "regretted" India's virtual rejection of its proposal for talks on Kashmir even as it briefed the ambassadors of the P-5 and European Union countries about the situation there in yet another attempt to internationalise the issue.
The government of Punjab province has decided not to close welfare organisations run by the Jamaat, which was declared a front for the Lashker-e-Tayiba terror group by the UN Security Council soon after the Mumbai attacks. The provincial government has appointed doctors in Jamaat dispensaries and decided to retain the old teaching staff in its schools, television channels reported.
'China is a friendly country and we welcome it for reconstruction and developing Afghanistan'
"Lashkar-e-Tayiba tactics is quite obvious. It is trying to increase tensions between India and Pakistan at a time when they and their associates are particularly under pressure in western Pakistan," Barrett said in at press conference at the UN Headquarters in New York.
An Indian colonel was injured in fresh firing in the troubled Malakal region in South Sudan
Noting that the last reforms to the Security Council were made in the sixties, Ambassador of France to India Jerome Bonnafont said "if we want the Security Council to remain a legitimate place for handling peace and security crisis in the world, it is absolutely necessary to have India as well as couple of others as permanent members."
The Pakistan government has blocked a resolution moved in the UN Security Council for imposing sanctions against former Inter-Services-Intelligence chief retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul over his alleged links with al-Qaeda and Taliban, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday.
President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday indicated that she will seek China's support for India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council during her six-day visit to the country, the first by an Indian head of state in a decade.
David Cameron, the man most likely to take over as the next Prime Minister of Britain, has promised to forge a "new special relationship" with India and support India's bid for a seat in the UN Security council.
New Delhi's candidature was unanimously endorsed by the 55-member Asia-Pacific grouping, including China and Pakistan, in June last year.
Securing a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council is India's top priority for the year and it seems "eminently doable" with India putting a concerted effort, Indian envoy to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri has said.
UN Security Council is witnessing an acrimonious wrangling over the action it should take on the Georgian conflict, after a fresh draft resolution introduced by Russia on the issue was promptly opposed by the United States.
With the US President Barack Obama presiding over a key session of UN Security Council on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament on Friday, America has asked all countries to join the Non Proliferation Treaty and hoped that the powerful body of the UN would endorse its call for world without nuclear weapons.
Pressing for "actual negotiations" on the issue of UN Security Council expansion, India has asked the General Assembly for discussions to be held in an interactive format, as representatives of the world body met in New York to launch parleys on reforms.
"The United States believes that the long-term legitimacy and viability of the UN Security Council depends on its reflecting the world of the 21st century," said Gordon Duguid, the State Department Acting Deputy Spokesman, onThursday.
He also said that India was a parliamentary democracy and the decision to abrogate Article 370 provisions, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was taken after detailed discussion in Parliament and with the support of majority of the members.
India strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.
"There was a resolution in the United Nations Security Council. If Pakistan had not taken steps under that, then they could have declared Pakistan a terrorist state. They could have crippled Pakistan's economy," Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said.
