International news brief: PM Modi to attend SCO summit; Mass grave found in Kharkiv region

Samarkand, Sep 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will spend about 24 hours in Uzbekistan's Samarkand as he will attend the first in-person summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in two years in the historic Uzbek city, which will deliberate on major regional security challenges and issues like trade, investment and energy supplies.

PM Modi arrived in Samarkand on Thursday night to attend the summit of the eight-member SCO grouping which will also see the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iran's Ebrahim Raisi, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other leaders from the Central Asian countries.

People of flood-hit Pakistan need America's help: US Congresswomen

Asserting that the people of Pakistan need America's help, a US lawmaker has introduced legislation to provide more help to the country that has been devastated by recent floods. The cash-strapped nation has been struggling with the worst floods in the past 30 years, leaving more than 1,400 dead and 33 million people affected since early June. A third of the country is submerged in water and one in every seven persons is badly affected by the floods that have led to an estimated USD 12 billion in losses that have left about 78,000 square kilometres (21 million acres) of crops under water.

Ahead of Nov mid-term, Trump coins India-US friendship slogan in Hindi
Former US president Donald Trump has coined an India-US friendship slogan in Hindi as part of his efforts to woo the influential Indian-American community before the mid-term elections in November. "Bharat and America sabse achhe dost" Trump is seen rehearsing and saying in a video released by the Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC). The slogan in English means "India and the United States are best friends". In the short 30-second video, Trump is seen seated with his supporter Chicago-based businessman Shalabh Kumar from the Republican Hindu Coalition. The new slogan is inspired by the phenomenal success of the 2016 slogan of Trump in Hindi "Abki Baar Trump Sarkar" which had caught the imagination of the Indian Americans then and had played a key part in his victories in some of the key swing states.

Ukraine's president: Mass grave found near recaptured city
Ukrainian authorities found a mass burial site near a recaptured northeastern city previously occupied by Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday night. "A mass grave of people was found in Izium in the Kharkiv region. The necessary procedures have already begun there. More information - clear, verifiable information - should be available tomorrow," Zelenskyy said in his nightly televised address. Associated Press journalists saw the site in a forest outside Izium on Thursday. A mass grave bore a marker saying it contained the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers. It was surrounded by hundreds of individual graves with only crosses to mark them.

India-US strategic partnership grounded in shared commitment: WH
The strategic partnership between India and the US is grounded in a shared commitment to advance free, open Indo-Pacific region and promotion of rule of law and dignity, the White House said Thursday. China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. "The strategic partnership between the US and India is grounded in our shared commitment to the advancement of free and open Indo-Pacific region, the rule of law and the promotion of human freedom and dignity," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during her daily news conference. "We consult closely with India on regional developments, but I'm just not going to comment on any diplomatic discussions," she said in response to a question.

Prominent countries like India, the US have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising power.

with PTI inputs