Ukraine war: UN General Assembly condemns Russia annexation
The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russia's attempts to annex four regions of Ukraine, BBC reported.
The resolution was supported by 143 countries, while 35 states - including China and India - abstained.
As well as Russia, four countries rejected the vote, namely Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Nicaragua.
Although symbolic, it was the highest number of votes against Russia since the invasion.
Last week, in a grand ceremony in the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin signed documents to make the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson part of Russia.
The agreements were signed with the Moscow-installed leaders of the four regions, and came after self-proclaimed referendums in the areas that were denounced as a "sham" by the West.
The resolution calls on the international community not to recognise any of Russia's annexation claim and demands its "immediate reversal". It welcomes and "expresses its strong support" for efforts to de-escalate the conflict through negotiation.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was grateful to the countries that supported it.
"The world had its say - [Russia's] attempts at annexation is worthless and will never be recognised by free nations," he tweeted, adding that Ukraine would "return all its lands".
"The stakes of this conflict are clear to all, and the world has sent a clear message in response - Russia cannot erase a sovereign state from the map," he said, according to BBC.
Dame Barbara Woodward, Britain's ambassador to the UN, said Russia had failed on the battlefield and at the UN, adding that countries had united to defend the world body's charter.
The General Assembly vote was triggered after Russia used its veto power to prevent action at the Security Council - the body in charge of maintaining international peace and security. As permanent members, China, the United States, France and the United Kingdom also hold vetoes on the council, BBC reported.
There have been calls for Russia to be stripped of its veto power after the Ukraine invasion.
Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard needs 'headline writers' as pressure grows after Forest draw
Steven Gerrard says he needs his Aston Villa players to become "headline writers" if they are to improve on their disappointing early-season form, BBC reported.
Villa missed the opportunity to move up to ninth in the Premier League with Monday's 1-1 drawat Nottingham Forest.
While Villa are unbeaten in four, they have managed just seven goals from their nine top-flight matches so far.
"The important thing is how I get this team to be more potent," Villa boss Gerrard told Sky Sports.
"[For] Effort and application a lot of our play is OK until you get to a certain point. But look around the dressing room and you see [Philippe] Coutinho, [Emiliano] Buendia, [Ollie] Watkins, [Danny] Ings and [Leon] Bailey will be back soon.
"I need these players to step up and provide big moments and go and be headline writers for us."
Against Forest, Villa were reliant upon 37-year-old Ashley Young's superb strike to earn them a draw in an encounter where they struggled to create clear-cut opportunities despite having more than 60% possession.
Of their 12 efforts on goal, Watkins was the only other Villa player besides Young to find the target, and they rarely looked like adding to their tally from their 27 touches in the Forest penalty area.
"I don't think there was too much wrong with the performance up to a certain point," Gerrard added.
"It was a fantastic strike and it was one of a few moments of quality in the final third. Ashley [Young] is leading by example for us at the moment and we are really pleased with him.
"We are grinding at the moment. We are close to turning draws into wins, but to do that we need big players to step forward for us and give us a little more quality in the last bit of our play. In the last couple of games we are going away frustrated."
Nepal, Italy sign MoU establishing consultation mechanism
Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and Ambassador of Italy to Nepal Vincenzo de Luca today signed a MoU on the Establishment of a Bilateral Consultation Mechanism between the two Foreign Ministries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its twitter. The Mechanism will be an important platform for dialogue on a regular basis between the Ministries in further enhancing bilateral relations and promoting areas of cooperation, the Ministry said.
Kathmandu District Court remands Sandeep Lamichhane to seven days in police custody
Former Nepal national cricket team captain Sandeep Lamichhane, who was arrested on the rape charge, has been remanded in police custody for seven days. The Kathmandu District Court on Monday ordered the police to keep Lamichhane in custody and proceed with their investigation. He was presented before the court this afternoon due to Dashain holiday although he was arrested four days ago from the Tribhuvan International Airport. Lamichhane claimed in the court that the girl who accused him of rape was not a minor. The 22-year-old cricket star’s lawyer said that two birth certificates of the girl have been found during the investigation. According to the birth certificates, it has been clarified that the girl is not minor. A 17-year-old girl had filed a rape complaint against Lamichhane at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala when he was abroad to play Caribbean Premier League (CPL) from Jamaica Tallawahs. According to the complaint, Lamichhane had allegedly taken the girl to various places in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur on August 21 and raped her in a hotel room the same night.
