Foreign relations

India, the world's third biggest carbon emitter, was set to ratify the Paris agreement on climate change on Oct. 2 on the birthday of the country's famously ascetic independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

India, with a population of 1.3 billion people, is the latest big polluter to formally sign onto the historic accord which now takes a major step towards becoming reality.

The 19th South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Summit, scheduled to be held in Pakistan in November, will not take place, as Nepal - the current chair of the South Asian grouping - has cancelled the event after India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan refused to attend the regional meet in Islamabad.

The requirement for the certification of diplomas and academic references issued by higher-education institutions in the member-states of the EU, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland with an apostille has been dropped.

Turkey's performance in implementing the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was reviewed by a United Nations committee on July 13, as a Turkish delegation provided official figures and answered the committee's questions on a wide range of women's issues in the country. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi managed to earn Switzerland's trust, as Bern agreed on Monday to support the South Asian country's application for its entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Croatia should systematically and promptly "condemn all instances of nationalist and anti-minority rhetoric in political discourse and the media."

This is a recommendation contained in a new opinion of the Council of Europe (CoE) Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

The European Court of Human Right (ECHR) has ruled Turkey should pay 14,300,000 Euros in compensation to a Greek-Cypriot woman for violating her property rights.

Russia and China have asked India to clear its stand on the South China Sea dispute, saying that New Delhi's different stands on the issue have created confusion.

In its very significant Alevi judgment, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had this sentence in its 66th paragraph: "[...] The state's duty of neutrality and impartiality is incompatible with any power on the state's part to assess the legitimacy of religious beliefs or the ways in which those beliefs are expressed." 

The number of trips of Bulgarian residents abroad increased by 11.4% year-on-year in March, reaching 354,700, the state statistical office NSI announced on Wednesday.