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President Droupadi Murmu Arrives In London To Attend Queen Elizabeth IIโ€™s Funeral

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II, 96, the former head of state of the UK and Head of the Commonwealth of Nations passed away on September 8. She will be laid to rest will full state honours at Westminster Abbey on September 19.

London: President Droupadi Murmu arrived at Gatwick Airport in London to attend Queen Elizabeth IIโ€™s state funeral at Londonโ€™s Westminster Abbey on Saturday.
The President is on an official tour to the United Kingdom from September 17 to 19 to attend the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday and offer condolences on behalf of the Government of India. The presidential aircraft carrying Murmu and her entourage members, including foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra landed at Londonโ€™s Gatwick Airport at 20:50 IST from where she left for the hotel where she will be staying during this tour.

On her arrival at the airport, the president was received by the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom.
According to official reports, on Sunday, she will attend the Lying-in-State of the Queenโ€™s coffin at the Palace of Westminster and sign a condolence book on behalf of the Indian government at Lancaster House near Buckingham Palace.

Later in the day, she will attend a reception hosted by King Charles III for the overseas leaders at Buckingham Palace in London before the funeral service on Monday at 11 am local time.
The next day, she will attend the state funeral service at West Gate of Westminster Abbey. And in the afternoon, she will attend the reception hosted by James Cleverly, UKโ€™s Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.

Queen Elizabeth II, 96, the former head of state of the UK and Head of the Commonwealth of Nations passed away on September 8. She will be laid to rest will full state honours at Westminster Abbey on September 19.

Also Read:Karnataka Congress Launches Website Against BJP, Asks Citizens To Register Bribe Complaints

One-day state mourning was observed across India on September 11 as a mark of respect to UKโ€™s Queen Elizabeth II who passed away on September 8.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Temporary exemptions to some countries to keep oil prices down: Trump on Iran sanctions

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Washington | Defending his decision to give temporary exemptions to eight countries, including India and China, from the ban on Iranian oil imports, US President Donald Trump has said it was done so to keep global oil prices down.

The US on Monday imposed โ€œthe toughest everโ€ sanctions on a defiant Iran aimed at altering the Iranian regimeโ€™s โ€œbehaviourโ€. The sanctions cover Iranโ€™s banking and energy sectors and reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports.

However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that eight countries โ€” India, China, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey โ€” were temporarily allowed to continue buying Iranian oil as they showed โ€œsignificant reductionโ€ in oil purchase from the Persian Gulf country.

โ€œWe have the toughest sanctions ever imposed. But on oil, we want to go a little bit slow because I donโ€™t want to drive the oil prices in the world up,โ€ Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington on Monday before leaving on a campaign trail for the mid-term polls.

He, however, emphasised that his effort to keep the oil prices down has nothing to do with Iran.

When asked about his decision to give temporary exemptions to eight countries from the ban on Iranian oil imports, Trump said, โ€œIโ€™m not looking to be a great hero and bring it down to zero immediately. I could get the Iran oil down to zero immediately, but it would cause a shock to the market. I donโ€™t want to lift oil prices.โ€

โ€œIf you notice, oil prices are going down very substantially, despite the fact that already half of their capacity is gone. But I donโ€™t want to do that,โ€ he said.

โ€œI saw some people saying, โ€˜Oh, why arenโ€™t you tougher on that?โ€™ Well, the sanctions are very tough and I donโ€™t want to lift the oil prices worldwide by clamping down 100 per cent. It will be gradual,โ€ the US president said.

However, the Democratic Party leadership criticized Trump for giving exemptions to some of the major Iranian oil importers.

House Democratic Whip Steny H Hoyer said, โ€œRather than achieving its stated goal of eliminating Iranโ€™s oil exports altogether, the administration has issued โ€˜exemptionsโ€™ for major Iranian oil importers, allowing Iran to earn billions of dollars from oil sale.โ€

โ€œThese exemptions are premised on significant reductions of Iranian oil imports by countries such as China and Turkey when there is minimal evidence of such reductions. This waters down the integrity of sanctions and communicates to the rest of the world that others do not have to abide by the US restrictions,โ€ he said.

Hoyer alleged that by โ€œtearingโ€ up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Trump administration has isolated the United States and undermined the multilateral efforts to curb Iranโ€™s โ€œdangerousโ€ behaviour.

Congressman Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said by reinstating sanctions without justification, Trump is pitting the United States against European allies and increasing its reliance on Saudi Arabia at a time when that country is โ€œimplicated in a plot to assassinateโ€ on foreign soil a journalist and its outspoken critic.

โ€œThe downside risks to this policy are manifold โ€“ it could cause Iran to restart its nuclear enrichment efforts, bringing us closer to a military confrontation,โ€ he said.

Schiff said, โ€œThe Trump administrationโ€™s unilateral re-imposition of these sanctions will also accelerate efforts to facilitate transactions through alternative financial channels that are not reachable by the US sanctions and into which we will have limited visibility.โ€

US National Security Advisor John Bolton claimed that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran failed to permanently block all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb.

โ€œFurther, its negotiators failed to secure any restrictions on Iranโ€™s other destabilizing activities, including the regimeโ€™s ballistic missile development and proliferation,โ€ he told a New York audience.

President Donald Trump had in May pulled the US out of the landmark Iran nuclear deal, an Obama-era accord which he has repeatedly criticised as โ€œdisastrousโ€.

Democratic Senator Tom Udall, who is also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, โ€œLed by people like John Bolton, who believe that we should bomb Iran, I fear the Trump administration is marching toward another catastrophic war in the Middle East.โ€

โ€œThis administrationโ€™s reckless withdrawal from the JCPOA has squandered our best opportunity to prevent a nuclear Iran, moving us closer to a military conflict that the American people donโ€™t want โ€“ all while undercutting our most importance alliances abroad,โ€ he said.

But Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Trump administration deserves credit for re-imposing sanctions and dramatically reducing Iranโ€™s oil exports and revenues.

Imposing maximal economic pressure on Iran is vital for getting Tehran back to the table, he said.

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