During Wednesday’s briefing, US Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit would “affirm the deep and close partnership” between the two countries. While avoiding a response to whether the meetings will be centred around defence, she said that PM Modi and US President Joe Biden would discuss the Indo-Pacific, including the need to bolster their strategic technology partnership.
After a Tuesday vote at the UN General Assembly, the UNSC will welcome five new non-permanent members — Algeria, Guyana, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia. Their terms will begin in January and continue for two years.
Yintao Yu, the former head of engineering for ByteDance in the US, said in a legal filing that some members of China’s Communist Party used data from the popular social media app TikTok to identify and locate protesters in Hong Kong. He added that the same officials also had access to US user data, an accusation that the company has previously consistently denied.
Japan’s Fukuoka District Court ruled on Thursday that not allowing same-sex marriage was “in a state of unconstitutionality.” While opinion polls reveal that around 70% of the Japanese public supports same-sex marriage, PM Fumio Kishida’s conservative ruling party is against it.
An Air India ferry flight landed at the Magadan airport in far east Russia in the early hours of Thursday morning to carry the stranded passengers and crew of Air India’s Delhi-San Francisco flight, which had to make an emergency landing due to a technical failure on Tuesday. Subsequently, the ferry flight left for the US, carrying stranded passengers and crew.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu arrived in Belgrade on a state visit to Serbia on Wednesday and was received by her Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic. President Murmu will meet with various Serbian leaders, address a business event, and interact with the Indian community in the country.
Kyiv and Moscow stated on Wednesday that a pipeline used to transport ammonia fertiliser from Russia through Ukraine, which was crucial to the survival of the Black Sea grain deal, had been destroyed, further complicating discussions around the agreement. Russia’s Defence Ministry said a “Ukrainian sabotage group” blew up a part of the pipeline near Masyutivka in the Kharkiv region. Whereas the Ukrainian governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Sinehubov, provided another narrative. He said that the Russian military had attacked the pipeline.
The Kremlin press office reported on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al Saud communicated via phone call regarding cooperation within OPEC+. The two leaders also discussed strengthening trade and economic ties between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and implementing prospective “joint projects in investments, transportation logistics, and energy.” Additionally, both leaders addressed aspects of Russian-Saudi cooperation in other multilateral organisations and agreed to remain in contact at various levels.
Jaffna MP and Tamil National People’s Front Leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam was arrested at his Colombo residence early on Wednesday. He was charged with “obstructing police duties” and later released on bail. His arrest came as he had sought time from the parliamentary Speaker to raise the breach of privilege issue in the House on Wednesday.
Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) signed an MoU to collaborate on making six stealth submarines, in the presence of German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, in Mumbai, on Wednesday. The MoU aims to utilise the latest technology from Germany and the manufacturing abilities of the MDL for six conventional submarines under the Project-75 (India) of the Indian Navy.