Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met US President Donald Trump during the G-20 Summit in Argentina. He is expected to voice India’s firm commitment to make the Indo-Pacific a region for shared economic growth during the first trilateral meeting between him, Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The first of its kind meeting between Modi, Trump and Abe assumes significance against the backdrop of China flexing its muscles in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders stated the trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi will be held towards the end of the Trump-Abe bilateral talks.

During the meeting, the three leaders are expected to share their views on progressing a free, open, conclusive and rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific region, based on respect for international law and peaceful resolution of all differences.

Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao on Friday signed the Maratha Reservation Bill which was passed by both houses of state assembly yesterday. The bill was passed by both the Houses of the state Assembly on Thursday after it was tabled by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Legislative Assembly. The bill was passed within half an hour of it being tabled by Fadnavis.

The bill, which was introduced following massive protests by the Maratha community in Maharashtra, gives 16 per cent reservation to the members of the Maratha community in government jobs and admissions in government institutions under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Citizens (SEBC).

It may be noted that the state already has 52 per cent reservation for SC, ST and OBC communities when it comes to government jobs and admissions in state colleges. The Maratha quota has thus taken the total reservation percentage in the state to 68 per cent- the highest in the country after Tamil Nadu, where the reservation percentage stands at 69 per cent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Argentina to attend the G-20 Summit, met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese premier Xi Jinping for a trilateral meeting aimed at addressing various areas of cooperation among the three nations. This was the second trilateral meeting between India, Russia and China, which took place after a gap of twelve years.

“President Putin, President Xi Jinping and I discussed a wide range of subjects that would further cement the friendship between our nations and enhance world peace,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter

Earlier, India, Japan and US held their first trilateral meet on the sidelines of the summit. Prime Minister Modi, his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump held talks over issues of global and multilateral interests, focusing largely on the strategic Indo-Pacific region. The talks gain importance in view of the Chinese attempts at imposing dominance in the region

An NRI octogenarian from Germany handed over her ancestral land in Gujarat for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, making it the first stretch of land to be acquired by the national transporter in the state for the project, an NHSRCL official said Friday.

Savita Ben, who runs an Indian restaurant in Germany, is originally from Chansad village and she shifted abroad 33 years ago after getting married, the official told PTI.  In Chansad, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) required 11.94 hectare of private land and Savita Ben sold hers for Rs 30,094.

“She flew down specially to hand over the land for the project and we are extremely grateful to her for having agreed to it. She returned to Germany where she lives with her son and runs a restaurant. “This stretch of land is the first piece of land which we have acquired for the project in the state,” NHSRCL spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar said.

New Delhi: India hopes to play a constructive role to help build a middle ground consensus among the world’s major economies if the US and China spar over a final statement of the G20 summit at Buenos Aires beginning Friday, said a senior government official.

Leaders are wary of discord after the failure of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Papua New Guinea to agree on a joint statement —following Chinese objections on trade.

And if the leaders fail to reach a consensus in Buenos Aires, it will be the second such failure of a summit hosted by Argentina after members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) failed to make any headway last December.

The official who is involved in finalizing India’s G20 strategy said the focus of the latest summit is “future of work” in the context of robotics, automation and artificial intelligence, infrastructure for development and sustainable food future. “Obviously other issues like trade, climate change, international financial architecture, all these issues have come up for discussion,” he said, requesting anonymity.

The Indian government has launched an initiative in major consulates in the US to simplify the overall passport applications procedure and reduce the turnaround time for applicants from 10 days to 48 hours or less. The Passport Seva Project (PSP) prints Indian passports in the US and reduces turnaround for applicants.

The Consulate General of India, Houston, inaugurated the PSP in Houston along with a team led by Minister of State for External Affairs, General (Rtd) V K Singh.

The team has been in the US to launch the project at Indian Embassy, Washington DC and in five Consulates- Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York and San Francisco.

Last week, the PSP was launched in New York. The programme will be launched by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) at the Indian Embassy in Washington followed by the Consulate in Atlanta.

It aims to operationalise all Embassy/Consulates in the US during the course of next 15 days.

Indian actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and filmmaker Nandita Das have been awarded at the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA).

Nawazuddin Siddiqui was given the award for the Best Performance By An Actor for his film "Manto" while Nandita Das received the FIAPF award for achievement in films in the Asia Pacific region.

"Honoured to have received Best Performance By An Actor Award by ASPA 2018 for my favourite film 'Manto'. This one is Special, winning for the 2nd Time. Thank you Asia Pacific Screen Award and thank you, Nandita Das, for believing in me APSA 2018," Siddiqui said.

India will chair the Kimberley Process (KP), a global initiative to remove conflict diamonds from the global supply chain, from January next year, the Commerce Ministry said on November 30.

KP is a joint initiative of different countries, industry and civil societies to control flow of conflict diamonds, which are used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments in the world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit here on Friday and they discussed ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties.

The two sides also held discussions on enhancing investment in technology, renewable energy and food security.

“Had a fruitful interaction with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. We discussed multiple aspects of India-Saudi Arabia relations and ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter

The militaries of China and India should “work hand in hand” for the benefit of people of the two countries, the Chinese defence ministry said Thursday, as the armies of the two countries are all set to resume joint military exercises next month after a gap of a year following the Doklam standoff.

Each side will send 100 troops to take part in the 14-day drill, he said.