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India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, meets President Obama at the White House Monday in what the Obama administration says is an effort by both countries to build a new strategic alliance. Modi was greeted in New York Sunday by enthusiastic members of the Indian diaspora.

Hong Kong authorities say they are withdrawing riot police from city streets as pro-democracy protests appear to be calming down.

U.S. intelligence agencies underestimated Islamic State activity inside Syria, which has become “ground zero” for jihadists worldwide, President Barack Obama said in a CBS television interview broadcast on Sunday.

Hong Kong’s leader has pledged to hold election reform talks soon in response to growing street protests in the port city.

At the gas talks in Berlin, Vice-President Guenther Oettinger proposed a new compromise to secure gas supplies to Europe and the Ukraine during the winter season.

On the margins of the UN-General Assembly in New York, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter launched a discussion on how to overcome the crisis of European security that has deepened in the face of the crisis in and around Ukraine. At the informal meeting attended by more than 25 foreign ministers and representatives of around 35 OSCE participating States as well as representatives of partner States and security organizations, Burkhalter sketched out three avenues towards reconsolidating European security as a common project and invited participants to outline their views on how best to proceed.

In the referendum on the independence of Scotland, London once again got its way, by the skin of its teeth—at least for the time being—thanks to a massive campaign of scare tactics. But even the New York Times commented that the anger expressed in Scotland against Westminster’s policies—in favor of the super-rich, imperial wars, etc.—is paradigmatic of the growing anger of the populations of the United States and the Eurozone about the blatant failure of the establishment’s policy.

Jean-Claude Juncker and the candidate commissioners.

Speaking at the end of a three-day visit to Azerbaijan, Anne Brasseur, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has called for a broad dialogue between the authorities, political actors and civil society. “Dialogue requires that all sides must be prepared to listen to each other, treat each other with respect and try to understand each other, even though they might not come to an agreement. By making small steps, progress can be achieved. Our Assembly is ready to support this process,” she said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's Sept. 17-19 visit to India, and his close interactions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have advanced the important bilateral relations between the two giant nations, and has positive implications for the global development thrust being carried out by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) as a whole. Today, in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said that cooperation will remain the main theme of Sino-Indian relations. He pointed to President Xi's observation that harmony between the Chinese dragon and the Indian elephant will bring benefits to the whole world.