Council

• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar officially launched India's bid for the single Asia-Pacific seat on the UN Security Council for the 2028–29 term. • The campaign, initiated at the UN Headquarters, involves New Delhi actively seeking international support to secure the position. • This move is coupled with India's renewed demand for comprehensive Security Council reforms to better reflect current global geopolitical realities.

Legal action by the Daylesford small business owner has forced councillors to stand down – leaving only two able to serveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDavid Penman wasn’t happy.The Daylesford small business owner didn’t like the work of his local council. So, using little-known laws that force elected officials to stand down, he essentially stopped it from making any big decisions. Continue reading...

• President Ilham Aliyev announced that Azerbaijan is considering a full withdrawal from the 46-member Council of Europe. • This potential exit follows the 2024 suspension of Azerbaijan's voting rights within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). • The move signals a significant diplomatic rift between Baku and the European human rights organization over governance and political standards.

Suspension of family reunion route has left many stuck in conflict zones or using people smugglers to reach safetyMore than 16,000 refugees have been unable to reunite with families in the UK, leaving them either stuck in conflict zones or resorting to using people-smugglers to reach safety, according to the Refugee Council.The government suspended the refugee family reunion route last September. It allowed a person granted refugee status to apply to bring immediate family members such as a spouse and their children under 18 to reunite with them in the UK. The indication was that the suspension would last until the spring of this year. Continue reading...

• The EU Parliament has sent a child abuse bill back to the Council after a chaotic vote on Thursday. • The move follows a last-ditch effort by Europe’s center-right political group to revive the proposal using a rarely used procedure, despite lawmakers previously rejecting it in March. • This legislative reversal forces EU member countries to re-evaluate and decide whether to accept the updated proposal.

• India is transitioning from a passive adopter of AI to an active leader by investing in homegrown large language models (LLMs) and citizen-centric use cases. • The country leverages the world's largest English-speaking STEM talent pool and a deliberate government-led strategy to drive this technological shift. • This evolution is critical as India manages workforce transitions and talent development after overtaking China as the world's most populous country in 2023.

• Following a June 4, 2026, public meeting titled “Pandora’s Prompt,” the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council designated artificial intelligence as the sixteenth technology priority in The Apollo Program for Biodefense. • The Commission aims to address the dual nature of AI, analyzing its potential to facilitate offensive biological threats while leveraging its capabilities for defensive security. • The initiative calls for the United States to collaborate with international partners and industry to invest in AI-driven disease surveillance, diagnostics, microbial forensics, and medical countermeasure development.