Breaking News Live Updates: UN Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov of UNOCT meets a delegation of the Indian Government
Breaking News Live Updates: General Natalia Gherman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) met with a delegation of the Government of the Republic of India. Breaking News Live Updates: USG Voronkov and ASG Gherman expressed condolences for the recent terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April 2025: UN spokesperson in response to ANI on visit of Indian Technical Team at UN, New York.The discussions with the Indian delegation focused on ongoing collaboration with CTED and UNOCT within their respective mandates, particularly in support of implementing key Security Council counter-terrorism resolutions and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Key areas of cooperation include UNOCT-led technical capacity-building initiatives supported by India- such as cybersecurity, countering terrorist travel, supporting victims of terrorism, and countering the financing of terrorism. The participants also discussed efforts to counter the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, in line with the 2022 Delhi Declaration adopted by the Counter-Terrorism Committee under the Chairmanship of India. This includes the development of non-binding guiding principles—prepared with CTED's support—on threats posed by unmanned aircraft systems and the use of emerging financial technologies for terrorist activities. Show more
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
People will decide if governments can be run from jails: Amit Shah
Amit Shah NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that, unlike the Congress party 's approach of placing the Prime Minister above the law, the BJP 's policy ensures that the Prime Minister, ministers, and chief ministers are subject to the rule of law. "Now, the people of the country will have to decide whether it is appropriate for a minister, chief minister, or the PM to run the govt while in jail," Shah posted on X. He highlighted that Narendra Modi introduced a Constitutional Amendment Bill to bring himself under the law's ambit, while the Congress-led opposition opposed it to "remain outside the law's ambit, run govts from jail, and not relinquish their attachment to power". "The purpose of this bill is to elevate the declining level of morality in public life and bring integrity to politics," Shah said. The proposed law stipulates that no person in jail can serve as PM, CM, or minister. He noted, "When the Constitution was framed, our Constitution-makers could not have imagined that in the future, there would be political figures who would not resign on moral grounds before being arrested. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Europe Travel Hack That Saves You Hundreds on Trips! Learn More Undo " Shah pointed out that, in recent years, some CMs and ministers have immorally continued governing from jail without resigning. The bills include a provision allowing an accused politician to seek bail within 30 days of arrest. Shah contrasted this with historical actions, recalling that former PM Indira Gandhi, through Constitutional Amendment No. 39, granted the Prime Minister immunity from legal action. "On the one side, this is the work culture and policy of Congress, that they place the Prime Minister above the law through constitutional amendments. On the other side, the policy of BJP is that we are bringing our govt's PM, ministers, and CMs within the ambit of law," he said. Shah noted that BJP and NDA upheld ethical values, citing veteran LK Advani's resignation following allegations. In contrast, he accused Congress of perpetuating an "unethical tradition" started by Indira Gandhi. He referred to Congress's attempt to protect RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav with an ordinance, which Rahul Gandhi opposed, yet later embraced Yadav publicly in Patna. Shah claimed this exposed the opposition's duplicity. He clarified that the bills were always intended for thorough discussion in the Joint Committee of Parliament. "Yet, abandoning all shame and decency, entire INDI alliance, led by Congress, gathered to oppose it with crude behaviour to protect the corrupt. Today, the opposition has been completely exposed in front of the public," Shah said.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Nepal stand on trade through Lipulekh not justified: MEA
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Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Review: Asia After Europe by Sugata Bose
In college, a professor often went on diatribes against Eurocentrism, the practice of viewing the world through the lens of the hegemonic West. While he earnestly taught us the prescribed syllabus for philosophy students, he bemoaned its overwhelming focus on Western philosophy at the expense of, say, Indian, Arab, or Chinese thought. The Asian future: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9, 2023. (HT Photo) 288pp, ₹699; Harvard University Press However, even as he exhorted us to be aware of our Western blinkers, he acknowledged the impossibility of completely discarding them within our current modes of knowledge production and dissemination. After all, he was railing in English, the link language for us students from across India. But in doing so, he left us with an appreciation of the assumptions that constitute the bedrock of our worldview, what kinds of knowledge we privilege, and the indigenous thinkers and systems we remain unaware of. While this idea has a long lineage in academic circles, it has not always filtered down to the public sphere. In some cases, it has done so in a rather perverse manner. Take the case of the Indian extremists who use the idea of 'decolonisation' to justify parochialism and subjugate minorities. Ironically, their worldview and ideals derive heavily from European fascist ideology. So, in the very act of highlighting their identity in opposition to the West, they adopt European frameworks of identity and nationalism. That is why I think my professor would have approved of Sugata Bose's Asia After Europe: Imagining a Continent in the Long Twentieth Century. Through the works of scholars and political leaders across Asia and the interactions between them, it explores their visions of Asian solidarity and universalism, and the evolution of Asian thought, politics, and art. They not only challenged European colonial precepts, but also conceptualised alternatives to dominant European narratives and debates. In the book, we encounter Okakura Tenshin, José Rizal, Jamaluddin al-Afghani, and Benoy Kumar Sarkar, among other luminaries of the 20th century and earlier. These names might not be as familiar to non-scholars as some of the more notable ones who figure in Bose's account, such as Rabindranath Tagore and Chiang Kai-shek. Yet, they are no less fascinating. Rizal was a Filipino writer and nationalist, whom the Spanish colonial government executed in 1896. He became a unifying symbol of Asian resistance against Western imperialist domination. Okakura, a Japanese art critic and champion of Asian unity, travelled to India and had close links with Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore. Al-Afghani, born in Iran, was a 'proponent of Islamic fraternity rather than Asian solidarity', though Bose emphasises that there was significant overlap between the two. Al-Afghani travelled across West and South Asia, and in the latter, stressed Hindu-Muslim unity against the British. Sarkar, an 'energetic, globe-trotting Indian intellectual', visited China and Japan, met intellectuals and politicians there, and extensively documented his journeys and geopolitical insights. The book succinctly captures attempts to forge an Asian identity and consciousness, visions of Asian solidarity, and the schisms caused by intra-Asian wars and conflicts. It provides a refreshing account of Asian histories in relation to each other, often without the Western lens that most works on the continent adopt. Asia has now bypassed other regions as the largest producer, exporter, importer, and consumer of goods. With many heralding the 21st century as the Asian century, Bose's book highlights what potential connections and collaborations between Asian nations could look like. He also explores what it would take for the continent to chart a future that 'expands and not destroys the aspirations of humanity'. In the preface, the author says that he has written the book 'in an accessible literary style for a broad readership'. Indeed, interesting anecdotes, such as about Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru rushing to help Chinese First Lady Madame Chiang put on her shoes during a visit to Shantiniketan, make Bose's historical exploration and arguments engaging. While the book largely eschews jargon and does not require an intimate knowledge of 20th-century history, it would have been good if it had provided more context for the non-scholar. Take, for example, the idea of Asia vis-a-vis Europe. While European nations' collective participation in the European Union and free movements across borders in the Schengen zone have lately reinforced the notion of the continent as a unified entity, it is an idea with a long history. Of course, plenty of myth-making and propaganda over centuries have helped shape it. For example, Europeans assert their antecedence in Greek and Roman empires, while conveniently glossing over how Arab scholars mediated their engagement with these civilisations. They claim the continent is built on Enlightenment ideals (natural law, liberty, rationalism, tolerance, etc.) despite their history of colonisation and perpetuating atrocities on the rest of the world. So, while the notion of Europe might be perverted and self-serving, there is some narrative underpinning it, no matter how flawed. What would an analogous conception of Asia look like? Can one find — or invent — common features among its disparate nations? Are there any unifying links between countries thousands of miles apart, say, Japan and Jordan? There are no clear answers, more so given that the idea of Asia as a singular landmass is also an arbitrary European construct. Historian Sugata Bose (Samir Jana/HT Photo) Nevertheless, the author explores several responses to these questions, such as Sarkar's 'three-fold basis of Asiatic Unity' and pan-Asian art and cultural initiatives, among others. While these are quite illuminating, I wish he had further investigated the meta-critiques regarding what constitutes Asia, especially the continent's conceptions that do not merely rely on Europe as a frame of reference. Besides, the book predominantly focuses on Japan, India, and China, with only fleeting references to the other countries that make up the continent. Would an idea of Asia defined largely by these three regional powers be representative of the entire region? Or would it replicate the hegemonic influence of wealthy western European nations over the idea of Europe? A deeper exploration of these debates would have helped better contextualise Bose's cogent and insightful account. Syed Saad Ahmed is a journalist and communications professional. In 2024, he was selected as a Boston Congress of Public Health Thought Leadership Fellow. He speaks five languages and has taught English in France.
