Reflecting concern about Internet security, the United States has said it won't tolerate government-sponsored cyber theft of trade secrets even as it brought cyber-espionage charges against China's five military officers for allegedly stealing classified corporate information.
India on Thursday blamed China's actions of amassing a large number of troops close to the border and attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) last year for the continuing military standoff in eastern Ladakh, and asserted that these acts were in violation of Sino-India bilateral agreements.
China has also announced that it would hold six live-fire military drills in waters around Taiwan.
The stringent and rare action against Commandant Rajesh Kumar Tomar was confirmed by the ITBP director general after a general force court trial was held against him under the ITBP Force Act of 1992.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday visited the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum here and paid homage to the founding father of Bangladesh.
When asked for an update on Tuesday's military-level talks, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing in Beijing that both sides reached progress for promoting further disengagement of the border troops at the Western Sector.
Nearly three weeks after students and staff members were mercilessly gunned down by Taliban terrorists at the army-run school in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, the doors of the school were reopened on Monday, with classes resuming later this week.
The sources also said another round of military talks between the two sides on Wednesday to defuse tensions in the area remained inconclusive. The talks lasted nearly seven hours.
"We hope the Indian side will move towards China and through concrete actions implement the consensus and continue the close communication through military and diplomatic channels to jointly push for the de-escalation on the border region," Zhao said.
It was initially suspected that the two youths acted as guides for the Uri attackers.
"I am not aware of the information you provided," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Beijing when asked about the reports of the Indian casualties at the contested borders. "Our border troops had a high-level meeting and reached important consensus on easing the border situation but astonishingly, on June 15, the Indian troops seriously violated our consensus and twice crossed the border line for illegal activities and provoked and attacked Chinese personnel which led to serious physical conflict between the two sides and China has lodged strong protest and representation with the Indian side," Zhao said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's action against its two members for their controversial comments against Prophet Mohammed cap a series of statements from its top brass and also Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat that sought to distance their organisations from shrill and combative religious rhetoric, even as it has brought to fore the conflict within their wide sphere of support.
The whereabouts of Mahinda Rajapaksa is being speculated since his resignation on Monday.
'Pakistan was very mature in the way it dealt with the incident.' 'India too owned up to the accident.' 'The whole incident was resolved quite amicably.' 'Both countries should be proud of how they have handled this situation.'
"India and China are in communication and negotiations on lowering the temperatures through military and diplomatic channels. No party should engage in any action that may escalate the situation at this point," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during a briefing when asked about the Prime Minister's visit.
According to a police official, an altercation broke out at a hotel where he allegedly wanted to enter with an 18-year-old woman.
'Why wouldn't so strategically-minded an adversary, such as China, not militarily exploit to the maximum Indian timidity, stupidity, and cupidity all along the LAC and legitimate, as it has done so often in the past, the fait accompli of incremental territorial grabs which, by the way, is its strategy and policy as implemented on the ground?'
The newly-inducted aircraft will carry out the 'Vertical Charlie' formation.
The two sides held talks on Tuesday as well but it could not produce any tangible outcome, the sources said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi met in Moscow on Thursday amid hopes of a possible breakthrough in reducing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
Four Chinese soldiers were killed in the fierce clash with the Indian Army in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June last year, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) acknowledged for the first time on Friday.
Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Saturday asked why the NCB's zonal director Sameer Wankhede used a "family friend" as an independent witness in three investigations.
Both sides have completed creation of a buffer zone of three kilometres in the three friction points of Galwan Valley, Gogra and Hot Springs as part of a temporary measure aimed at reducing the possibility of any confrontation.
The Indian Army has been pitching for a faster disengagement process in areas like Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang to bring down tension in the mountainous region.
One of the pilots suffered injury in his leg.
The US hopes that the differences will be resolved peacefully, officials said in Washington.
'Both sides have agreed that the overall situation should be handled in a responsible manner'
It is learnt that defence minister Rajnath Singh did not attend office as part of a precautionary measure.
Putin said the purpose of the West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy Russia.
The Congress alleged that whenever an issue of national security comes up, the "prime minister hides behind his ministers".
The BJP objected to the name claiming that Tipu Sultan had persecuted Hindus and hence his name was unacceptable for a public facility.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Bharatiya also alleged that Deshmukh had met a drug peddler and Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's aide Chinku Pathan at the Sahyadri state guest house in Mumbai when a strict lockdown was in force.
"When we have something to share, we will share. Discussions are ongoing," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said replying to a volley of questions on whether India and China are working on specific proposals to resolve the over six-month-long row in eastern Ladakh.
The charged PTI supporters, including women and children, showed their solidarity with Khan during the rally that started at 9 pm on Sunday and lasted till 3 am on Monday.
'Both sides should, therefore, focus on easing tensions in the friction areas by refraining from any actions that may lead to an escalation in the situation'
The Bharatiya Janata Party's key ally in Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Wednesday slammed the saffron party alleging that it is anti-Tamil and claimed that the party could never grow in the state.
Two of the terrorists belonged to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
A series of flash floods in Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh killed at least 16 people on Wednesday and damaged several residential houses, standing crops and a mini power plant, officials said.
The UPA government carried out six surgical strikes -- Bhattal sector in Poonch (June 19, 2008); Sharda sector, across Neelam River Valley, in Kel (August 30-September 1, 2011); Sawan Patra checkpost (January 6, 2013); Nazapir sector (July 27-28, 2013); Neelam Valley (August 6, 2013); and one on December 23, 2013, Congress spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said.
China on Monday said it is keeping a close watch on reports of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's planned visit to Taiwan though it was conspicuously missing from her official Asia tour itinerary and warned of a resolute response by its military and strong countermeasures if she went ahead with the trip to Taipei.
