External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and UN Secretary-General António Guterres unveiled the bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the United Nations Headquarters. The bust will be the first Gandhi sculpture to be permanently located at the North Lawn Gardens of UN. Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan, Vaishnav jan to was recited at the event. The event was also attended by the high-level representatives of the United Nations Security Council members including the incoming members and senior UN officials, added the release. The sculptor of the bust is Ram Vanji Sutar, who made the Statue of Un
India and the UAE have seen a “veritable transformation” in their ties, which are now beginning to have a broader ripple impact, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday. Calling the signing of the bilateral trade pact between India and the UAE a defining decision of this transformation, the union minister emphasised that India and the UAE want to use their relationship to shape the changing world. S Jaishankar said this in the keynote address at India Global Forum and panel discussion – India-UAE: Partners for Global Impact in Abu Dhabi. India and the UAE signed UAE-
The European Union on Tuesday moved closer to passing a tax on foreign companies that wish to import products that fail to meet climate-protection standards in which EU companies must comply. Once in place, the first-of-its-kind carbon border levy will shield EU’s industries from rivals in countries with lower CO2 pricing. The new tax aims to create a competitive level playing field after EU companies claimed to be burdened with high costs to meet climate goals, while international competitors could easily import their goods without the same constraints and price better than local produc
Israel’s incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a parliamentary majority on Thursday after his Likud party reached an agreement with the Jewish ultra-Orthodox Shas party. The agreement gives Netanyahu control over 64 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance won a comfortable victory in a November 1 election, Israel’s fifth election in less than four years. Though the political parties have yet to sign a final coalition deal, according to the agreement, Shas leader Aryeh Deri will head the interior and health ministries during the first half of the
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation three national Ayush institutes, namely All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Goa; National Institute of Unani Medicine (NIUM), Ghaziabad; and National Institute of Homoeopathy (NIH), Delhi, on Sunday. The three institutes will strengthen research, international collaborations, and facilitate affordable Ayush services in the country, said Union Ayush Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday. The institutes will create 400 additional seats for students in UG, PG and doctoral courses. The minister said that 550 additional beds in th
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thanked his counterparts from the US, France and Japan for supporting India’s G20 presidency. The country resumed the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday expressed confidence in India taking over the presidency of the powerful G20, saying that he has trust that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would bring everyone together to build a peaceful and a sustainable world. Sharing a picture of himself and Prime Minister Modi in a tweet, Macron endorsed the theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future” that India has cho
India and Israel are “natural allies” who are united by a fundamental commitment to the democratic ideals upon which they were founded, said Israeli President Isaac Herzog, while making a rare appearance at an exhibition in Jerusalem featuring Indian deities and temple rituals on Thursday. Herzog attended a cultural event at the Israel Museum to inaugurate the new exhibition, Body of Faith: Sculpture from the National Museum of India. He called the exhibition a by-product of the growing friendship between the two countries. “India and Israel are natural allies, united by a fundame
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a “fundamental mindset shift” to shape a new paradigm of human-centric globalization, as India assumed the presidency of the G20 on Thursday. In a blog, the Prime Minister underscored the theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One World, One Family, One Future), and listed terror, climate change, pandemic as the greatest challenges that can be best fought together. Gone is the time to remain trapped in the same old zero-sum mindset, which has led to both scarcity and conflict, he said, adding that India’s G20 presidency will work to promote a universa
Qatar will supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Germany under a 15-year deal signed on Tuesday, as the European country attempts to replace Russian gas supplies disturbed due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. To begin in 2026, the deal will see Qatar sending up to 2 million tonnes of the gas to Germany through an under-construction terminal at Brunsbuettel. The deal involves state-run Qatar Energy and ConocoPhillips, which has stakes in Qatar’s offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf that it shares with Iran. Germany, which got more than half its gas from Russia before the war
Saudi Arabia on Monday announced plans for a new airport in Riyadh intended to spur rapid growth in the capital while advancing the kingdom’s ambitious aviation goals. The airport will accommodate 120 million travellers by 2030 and 185 million travellers by 2050. The airport project is in line with Saudi Arabia’s vision to transform Riyadh into one of the top 10 city economies in the world and support the growth of its population to 15-20 million people by 2030,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a statement. “With sustainability at its core, the new airport will ac