Turkish President Erdogan supports India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and proposes a rotational membership system.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (HT Photo)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan backed India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and proposed a ‘rotational’ membership mechanism. Addressing the media after the G20 Summit on Sunday, the senior politician noted that the world was ‘larger than five’. The remarks came mere hours after US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his support for a reformed UNSC with India as a permanent member.
“A country like India being there on the UN Security Council, we would be proud. But as you now, the world is bigger than larger than five. And when we say the world is larger than five, what we mean is that it’s not only about the US, UK, France, China and Russia…What we say is all of them, we should only have permanent members,” Erdogan said.
He also called for a ‘rotational system’ that would see all 195 member countries potentially becoming a member.
US President Joe Biden will travel to India on September 7, two days before the G20 Summit commences in New Delhi. (Image: Reuters)
US President Joe Biden has tested negative for Covid-19 and will travel to India on Thursday to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi, the White House said on Tuesday.
The US president will also have a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The announcement comes a day after First Lady Jill Biden tested positive for coronavirus on Monday.
Biden will also be abiding by the CDC guidelines, and will only remove his mask when he is socially distanced from others.
#WATCH | "On Thursday, the President will travel to New Delhi in India to attend the G20 Leaders' summit. On Friday, President Biden will participate in a bilateral with India's Prime Minister Modi. Sunday, the President will participate in official sessions of G20 summit…",… pic.twitter.com/wuh04cVwIX
“The US President will travel to India on Thursday to attend the G20 Summit,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told a press conference at the White House.
President Biden will participate in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi. Biden will participate in the official sessions of the G20 Summit on Saturday and Sunday, he added.
At the G20 Summit, Biden will call for a “just and durable peace” for Ukraine, the White House said.
India, President of the G20, will host global leaders for the Summit scheduled to take place on September 9 and 10 in New Delhi. During the Summit, Biden will commend Modi for his leadership of the G20, the White House said.
On Saturday (September 9) and Sunday (September 10), the President will participate in the G20 summit, where he and G20 partners will discuss a range of joint efforts to tackle global issues, including the clean energy transition and combatting climate change.
They will also mitigate the economic and social impacts of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, and increase the capacity of multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, to better fight poverty, including by addressing global challenges, the White House said.
While in New Delhi, the President will also commend Prime Minister Modi’s leadership of the G20 and reaffirm the US commitment to the G20 as the premier forum of economic cooperation, including by hosting it in 2026, it said.
[1/4] U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., September 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File PhotoU.S. first lady Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 just days before President Joe Biden, who tested negative for the virus, is due to travel to a Group of 20 summit in India, the White House said on Monday.
Biden’s 72-year-old wife, whose symptoms were described as mild, last had COVID in August of last year. The president, now 80, last tested positive in July 2022.
“This evening, the First Lady tested positive for COVID-19,” her communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, said in a statement. “She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.”
Biden flew back alone from Delaware on Monday evening.
“Following the First Lady’s positive test for COVID-19, President Biden was administered a COVID test this evening,” the White House said. “The President tested negative. The President will test at a regular cadence this week and monitor for symptoms.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Biden’s foreign travel could be affected.
President Biden speaks after touring areas devastated by the Maui wildfires, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. AP
LAHAINA, Hawaii — President Biden was greeted with middle fingers, chants of protest and signs that said “no comment” Monday as he arrived in Maui to tour wildfire damage after repeatedly declining to comment last week on the tragedy that killed at least 114 people.
A group of several dozen residents of scorched western Maui heckled Biden’s motorcade shortly after noon local time as it left tiny Kapalua Airport en route to the hardest hit areas of historic Lahaina, which was destroyed on Aug. 8.
“Go home Joe!” the locals chanted as Biden passed by — moments before the president read a scripted speech touting the federal response, despite criticism from residents who say not enough help has been offered.
The 80-year-old commander in chief has taken intense criticism, including from fellow Democrats, for appearing aloof following the deadliest US wildfires in more than a century.
As he drove toward downtown Lahaina, Biden passed signs that said “NO COMMENT,” “REALLY $7?, “ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS”, and “FJB,” as well as at least two flags promoting the 2024 candidacy of former President Donald Trump.
President Biden landing in Kahului, Hawaii on Aug. 21, 2023 to tour the damage from the Maui wildfire. Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
“Any number of military aircraft, planes and helicopters could have flown in here. To leave a town that was just devastated shut down was just ridiculous. The runway wasn’t cratered,” Mullen told The Post.
Meanwhile, Biden got the full White House treatment, delivering remarks from a lectern with the presidential seal amid the apocalyptic landscape following this month’s deadly wildfires.
The president was also provided with a small wooden table for his bottle of precious water as he spoke on the federal government’s response to the devastation, with the ashes of destroyed buildings visible behind the stagecraft.
It’s hoped the weapon will boost Ukraine’s lagging counteroffensive but the UN says they should never be used – and more than 100 countries have banned them.
President Biden has agreed to give Ukraine controversial cluster munitions to use against Russian troops.
The weapon detonates in the air and releases “bomblets” that scatter over a large area.
Opponents say they kill indiscriminately and that some of the smaller munitions can fail to detonate, posing a long-term risk to civilians.
US officials said the cluster bombs it will provide have a low “dud rate” of under 2.35% to minimise the risk.
President Biden called it a “difficult decision” but said he had to act as “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition”.
He told CNN the cluster bombs were being sent as a “transition period” until it can supply more standard 155mm artillery.
Colin Kahl, under secretary of defense for policy, said “hundreds of thousands” were available but refused to state how many would initially be provided.
He said Russia had been using older cluster munitions with a dud rate of 30-40% since the start of the war.
A Ukrainian serviceman with a defused cluster bomb from a Russian missile
Ukraine is said to have given written assurances not to use them in populated areas, to map where they are used, and committed to a post-war clean-up.
The US put off the decision “as long as we could” due to the risk to civilians, said Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser.
But he said there was “a massive risk of civilian harm” if Russia takes more territory because Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said cluster munitions could have an “extraordinary psycho-emotional impact” on demoralised Russian troops.
More than 100 countries are signed up to a convention against the use and manufacture of cluster bombs, but the US, Russia and Ukraine are not part of it.
“We’re not signatories to that agreement, but it took me a while to be convinced to do it,” President Biden told CNN.
He said he’d followed the recommendation of US defence officials.
Cluster munition shells being dismantled in Germany in 2009. Pic: AP
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had no position on the issue and that it was for “individual allies… to make those decisions”.
However, the United Nations has urged both sides not to use them.
UN human rights office spokesperson Marta Hurtado said “the use of such munitions should stop immediately and not be used in any place”.
The International Red Cross said cluster munitions “cause significant numbers of preventable civilian casualties”.
