World Echo

Pakistan has reaffirmed its opposition to adding new permanent members on the UN Security Council, stressing that any increase in permanent seats will compound the 15-member body’s paralysis, and prevent the majority of small and medium-sized states from serving on it. “The expansion of the Security Council should promote ‘equitable representation’, not create new historic injustice,” Ambassador Munir Akram told delegates at the deadlocked Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) aimed at reforming the council on Thursday. The Pakistani envoy was participating in a discussion on a proposal called ‘L69 Model’ from a group of Asian, African, Latin American, the Caribbean and Pacific Island states aimed at restructuring the council. The group argues for an expansion of the council, in both permanent (six additional seats, bringing the total to 11) and non-permanent (five additional seats, bringing the total to 15) categories of membership, with equitable geographical representation. The grou...

Alexei Navalny, Russia's most famous opposition leader, died on Friday after collapsing and losing consciousness at the penal colony north of the Arctic Circle where he was serving a long jail term, the Russian prison service said. Navalny, 47, rose to prominence more than a decade ago by lampooning President Vladimir Putin and the Russian elite whom he accused of vast corruption, avarice and opulence. The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said in a statement that Navalny "felt unwell" after a walk at the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) north east of Moscow. He lost consciousness almost immediately, it said. "All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict," the prison service said, adding that causes of death were being established. Read more: Russia's Oscar-winning opposition is mired in conflict...

India's Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped a seven-year-old election funding system that allows individuals and companies to make unlimited and anonymous donations to political parties, calling it "unconstitutional". The decision is seen as a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been the largest beneficiary of the system it introduced in 2017. The system, called Electoral Bonds, was challenged by members of the opposition and a civil society group on the grounds that it hindered the public's right to know who had given money to political parties. Under the system, a person or company could buy bonds from the state-run State Bank of India (SBI.NS), opens new tab and donate them to a political party. Individuals and companies bought 165.18 billion rupees ($1.99 billion) of such bonds in total up to November 2023, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-government civil society group working on election...

The leaders of Canada, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, according to a joint statement released in response to reports about Israel's planned military operation in Rafah. "We are gravely concerned by indications that Israel is planning a ground offensive into Rafah. A military operation into Rafah would be catastrophic," the statement by the prime ministers of the three countries said. "An immediate humanitarian ceasefire is urgently needed." Israel will press ahead with an offensive against Hamas in Rafah, the last refuge for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, after allowing civilians to vacate the area, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday. Read also: OIC condemns Israeli aggression in Gaza, calls for int’l intervention The statement urged Israel not to conduct the offensive, however it said any ceasefire could not be "one sided," and would require Hamas to disarm and i...

Farmers protesting in India this week are using a homemade arsenal to counter the state-of-the-art weaponry of the security forces trying to disperse them: they're flying kites to ensnare police drones carrying tear gas canisters. For the past two days, thousands of farmers have fought pitched battles with security forces some 200 km (125 miles) north of Delhi after police stopped their "Delhi Chalo" or "Let's go to Delhi" march to the capital to demand the government provide higher prices for their crops. On Thursday, representatives of the farmers unions met with government officials in a bid to reach a solution. The farmers had brought their tractors and trucks along to the protest and have used these, and other farm equipment, as deterrents to the police action: jute vegetable sacks are soaked in water and used to contain the tear gas canisters while blowers disperse the fumes. A protester runs from tear gas, as farmers march towards New Delhi, at Shambh...

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has issued a robust condemnation of the ongoing Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip, specifically denouncing the indiscriminate attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern region of the Gaza Strip. The attacks have resulted in the tragic martyrdom and injury of hundreds of Palestinians, a majority of whom are reported to be children and women. The OIC expressed grave concern over Israel's disregard for international warnings and the severe consequences of targeting a city housing over 1.5 million Palestinians, many of whom already grapple with insufficient access to the necessities of life. #OIC Calls on the International Community to Assume its Responsibilities Towards What is Happening in #Gaza: https://t.co/DkAmSI6HBH pic.twitter.com/FAvZJoEHW5 — OIC (@OIC_OCI) February 14, 2024 In an official statement, the OIC underscored the seriousness of the expanding Israeli aggression, characterising it as a continuation of the...

Indian security forces fired tear gas at protesting farmers for a second day on Wednesday to stop tens of thousands from marching to the capital New Delhi to demand higher prices for their produce. Travelling on trucks and trolleys loaded with food, bedding and other supplies, the farmers began their "Delhi Chalo" (Let's go to Delhi) march on Tuesday morning after talks with the government failed to yield a commitment on minimum prices for a range of crops. Authorities imposed tight security arrangements in areas bordering New Delhi, with hundreds of personnel in riot gear deployed amid cement blocks topped with barbed wire and shipping containers as barriers in the path of the convoy. Security forces stopped the farmers at the Shambhu border that divides Punjab and Haryana - the northern states to which most of the farmers belong - almost 200 km (125 miles) from their destination. Read also: Indian police fire tear gas as protesting farmers march to capital Protesters th...