UNITED NATIONS: India has questioned why the UN Security Council has been rendered "completely ineffective" in resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has continued unabated for two years, as New Delhi asserted that outdated structures need reform for multilateralism to be effective.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador, Ruchira Kamboj, raised the question at a UN General Assembly plenary meeting held to mark two years since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict on February 24, 2022.

26 February 2024; MEMO: Jacob Rothschild, a British Jewish banker, passed away at the age of 87, his family announced on Monday, Anadolu Agency reports.

BHOPAL: The 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will enter Madhya Pradesh on March 2 and the mass outreach programme, being held ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, will continue in the state till March 6, a party leader said on Tuesday.

Gandhi will hold a roadshow on March 2 after the yatra enters MP at Piprai in Morena district, state Congress vice president Rajiv Singh said.

26 February 2024; MEMO: Yemen’s Houthis fired a missile that likely targeted the “Torm Thor” in the Gulf of Aden on 24 February, but missed the US-flagged oil tanker, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday, as the group steps up attacks on ships, Reuters reports.

26 February 2024; AA: Hungary’s parliament on Monday approved Sweden's NATO membership, essentially sealing the deal, as it was the last member of the alliance that had not yet given the green light.

The vote took place in the capital Budapest following last week’s meeting between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson.

The vote of 188-6 was not close.

Tehran, IRNA, 27 February 2024 -Qatar's Al Jazeera network reported on Tuesday morning that the Zionist regime has agreed to release 400 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 40 Israeli captives held by Palestinian resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Jazeera cited sources familiar with the ongoing negotiation on the Gaza ceasefire in Doha that the names of people with high convictions were also seen among those whom Israel agreed to release.

26 February 2024; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to risk the lives of hostages held by Hamas if it serves his image, a former premier remarked Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

22 February 2024; MEMO: Families of Israeli soldiers fighting in the Maglan Unit in the besieged Gaza Strip have sent a joint letter to the army command saying their children are “frustrated and have lost motivation to fight” given the operational reality that has turned them into easy targets for Palestinian fighters, like “ducks on a shooting range”, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported yesterday.

22 February 2024; MEMO: Twenty-six French lawmakers have asked the International Olympic Committee to bar Israel from competing in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.

In a letter to Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee, the lawmakers condemned “the unprecedented war crimes committed by Israel” against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Tehran, IRNA, 27 February 2024 – The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has said that US President Joe Biden’s administration is responsible for the death of an American airman who set himself on fire.

Through self-immolation, Aaron Bushnell protested against Washington’s support for Tel Aviv’s genocidal measures in Gaza, Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday cited by Palestinian news agency Samaa.

26 February 2024; MEMO: A member of the Hamas Political Bureau said yesterday that there is going to be an official meeting with Fatah and the other Palestinian factions in Moscow because there is no official communication with the Palestinian Authority regarding the plan for the day after the end of the war in Gaza.

Tehran, IRNA, 27 February 2024 - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that the Conference on Disarmament has consistently failed to deliver on its promises, warning that the threat of a nuclear war, which appeared on humanity last century, has resurfaced.