Eleven countries voted in favour of the resolution while three countries - India, China and the UAE abstained.

The Council will vote on the draft resolution at 3 pm Friday (New York time), two days after it held an emergency meeting on the situation in Ukraine just as Putin had announced Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Guterres, who opened an emergency meeting of the 15-nation Security Council on Ukraine late Wednesday, in his brief off-the-cuff remarks said 'if indeed an operation is being prepared, I have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart: President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died'.

The 15-nation United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Ukraine late Wednesday night, the second meeting this week and the fourth since January 31 as tensions escalated between Russia and Ukraine.

'The escalation of tension along the border of Ukraine with the Russian Federation is a matter of deep concern'

Tirumurti said India 'has been in touch with all concerned parties. It is our considered view that the issue can only be resolved through diplomatic dialogue.'

Speaking in the Security Council briefing on 'Threat to International Peace & Security Caused by Terrorist Acts' on Wednesday, Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti reiterated India's firm belief that terrorism in one part of the world is threat to peace and security of entire world.

The incident took place early on Saturday, when the statue was defaced by some unknown persons, the Consulate General of India in New York said.

India abstained on the procedural vote taken in the Security Council ahead of a meeting to discuss the tense situation on the Ukraine border.

The report also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017.

A special Indian team is camping in Manitoba to assist ongoing investigations by Canadian agencies and to render any consular services for the victims.

Shand, a 'suspected smuggler of undocumented foreign nationals', was arrested near the US/Canadian border on January 19 for transporting two Indian nationals, who were illegally present in the US.

Vishal Garg, the Indian-origin CEO of US-based homeownership firm Better.com, who recently fired nearly 900 employees over a Zoom call and triggered widespread outrage, is returning to his position more than a month after "taking time off" from the job.

In its weekly report on the pandemic, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that the incidence of COVID-19 has increased globally, initially driven predominantly by transmission of the Delta variant, particularly in the European region.

Hassanain is being charged with Assault in the Third Degree as a Hate Crime, Assault in the Third Degree, and Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree, and will be arraigned on Saturday, it added.

'In India, a deadly wave of infection with the Delta variant stole 240,000 lives between April and June and disrupted economic recovery. Similar episodes could take place in the near term,' said the report.

"Omicron has been detected in all countries where we have good sequencing and it's likely to be in all countries around the world. It is quickly, in terms of its circulation, overtaking Delta. And so Omicron is becoming the dominant variant that is being detected," Kerkhove said during a virtual questions and answers session.

The incident comes days after an apartment fire in Philadelphia killed 12, with eight children among the dead.

The Sikh taxi driver was assaulted by an unidentified man, who knocked off his turban and also used expletives against him.

In yet another case of suspected hate crime, an Indian-origin Sikh taxi driver in the US has been assaulted by an unidentified man, who knocked off his turban and also used expletives against him outside the JFK International Airport in New York, according to a video on social media.