Cyclone 'Biparjoy', the first storm brewing in the Arabian Sea this year, has rapidly intensified into a severe cyclonic storm, with meteorologists predicting a 'mild' monsoon onset over Kerala and 'weak' progress beyond southern peninsular under its influence.
'The hardliners in Delhi are in for a big disappointment,' predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India and Pakistan have rejected the gas import price worked out by a consultant appointed by Iran as part of the over $7 billion tri-nation pipeline project.
The Indian side expressed readiness to provide extensive humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, Mujahid was quoted as saying by Afghanistan's Tolo News.
The United States, which spends billions monitoring adversaries like Al Qaeda, North Korea and Iran, pays an equal amount of attention on ally Pakistan and has ramped up surveillance of its nuclear arms, according to a report.
Given all the turbulence created by Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi's unexpected tirade against Saudi Arabia, it is likely to be business as usual between the two countries, albeit with a bit of caution on the part of both, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Russian President Vladimir Putin told a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Friday that the group should consider staging its own major sporting competition.
"We need to make sure that the Iran pipleline project is economically viable. This project has a life of 40 years," Menon tol the media in Delhi. Menon confirmed that India was trying to re-negotiate the Liquefied Natural Gas project with Iran. The deal was first made in 2005, but India feels there could be renegotiation.
India and Pakistan's admission to the Beijing-backed Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will be formalised at the grouping's summit in Kazakhstan next week, China said on Thursday.
'There is far more goodwill towards India from across the board in Afghanistan'
India is apprehensive about the Taliban's return as it would mean loss of access to Baluch rebels and help to the restive tribals of Waziristan. This would be a setback to the Indian strategy of returning the compliments of death by a thousand cuts to Pakistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
We understand the electoral compulsions, the desperate need for the BJP to have at least 50 per cent of the Hindus vote for them in Uttar Pradesh in a few months. For that, you need polarisation, put your own Muslim compatriots on the 'other' side. This is how your domestic politics runs contrary to your national, strategic interest, warns Shekhar Gupta.
The reduction of tension on the Chinese border may have reduced the urgency of a Biden-Modi meeting, but the sooner Modi starts a bromance with Biden the better as he had done with Obama and Trump, suggests Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India has not been invited to a crucial meeting being convened by Russia on the fast-evolving situation in Afghanistan that is expected to see the participation of Pakistan, China and the US, people familiar with the development said on Thursday.
As per RDIF, Sputnik V has a number of key advantages, including that there are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.
No nation is fully sovereign to do what it wants to do in the face of opposition from others, points out Aakar Patel.
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
Pakistan sees it as a 'stand-alone' project, while India sees it as part of a broader economic interaction.
'Traditionally, the US tried to tamp down tensions whenever a crisis situation arose and deputed officials from Washington to travel to Delhi to counsel restraint.' 'This time around, no US envoy flew down to Delhi -- not even when tensions spiked and a flashpoint was reached last week,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"The Indian side has been also making incongruous demands of allowing an Indian lawyer to represent Commander Jadhav. "We have repeatedly told them only those lawyers can represent Commander Jadhav in the court who have a licence to practise law in Pakistan. This is in accordance with legal practice in other jurisdictions also," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said.
If the Congress decides in favour of mid-term polls, a visit to Pakistan by the prime minister could prove unwise and counter-productive, says B Raman
The plea involves 'egregious violation of Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 by Pakistan.'
Pakistan has decided not to give any guarantee for uninterrupted gas supplies to India through a proposed multi-billion dollar pipeline from Iran, a media report said.
Given that India will get a huge part of its oil supplies from Iran through its government-owned oil PSUs, any unwelcome shocks in global crude rates could be absorbed well enough.
'If there's one administration that would be likely to put the squeeze on Pakistan, it's the Trump administration.' 'This is an administration that views terrorists as a black and white issue (kill them all, no questions asked), and will have little patience for Pakistan's selective policy toward terrorism.'
"Cargo originating from some cities in India, Qatar, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Maldives, Sudan and Libya will have to be re-screened after arriving in Britain before being loaded onto onward flights," Britain's Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told newsmen.
This closure has led to increase in flight duration and has put a strain on Mumbai's air traffic controllers, who are working extra shifts to handle the increase in traffic.
Gunmen on Wednesday shot dead six guards protecting a Spanish round-the-world cyclist in a violent and remote area of western Pakistan where a bus bomb killed 24 Shi'ite pilgrims a day earlier, police said.
Doval said it is time for closer consultations, greater cooperation and coordination among the regional countries to deal with the challenges emanating from Afghanistan.
Hong Kong have withdrawn from their Davis Cup tie against Pakistan in Islamabad citing security concerns, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said.
The external affairs ministry said Pakistan has also been asked not to subject the two women to any questioning, harassment or interrogation during their stay in Pakistan.
Fashion designer Wendell Rodricks is disappointed with the Supreme Court verdict that has ruled gay sex illegal.
Seeking to allay India's concerns, ambassador Luo had offered to rename the CPEC which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, insisting it was an economic cooperation and connectivity enhancement project devoid of "sovereignty issues".
In his brief address, the external affairs minister said India's friendship with Afghanistan is "strong and unshaken" and that no part of the country is untouched by New Delhi's development programmes.
Washington is signalling to Delhi that it can rely on American support in any great game vis-a-vis China. Delhi shouldn't fall into the trap, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Indian wrestlers reaped a rich harvest of five medals in the men's freestyle events but a gold medal eluded them on the second day of the Asian Championships, in Xi'an, China, on Wednesday
"India has no knowledge of Kulbhushan Jadhav's location and his condition. We are making all efforts to get him back but we can't reveal the steps that will be taken to achieve it," the MEA said.
With Beijing having had a profound rethink on India's admission as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the tectonic plates of the geopolitics of a massive swathe of the planet stretching from the Asia-Pacific to West Asia are dramatically shifting. That grating noise in the Central Asian steppes will be heard far and wide -- as far as North America, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Had a very fruitful meeting with Iranian defence minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami in Tehran. We discussed regional security issues including Afghanistan and the issues of bilateral cooperation,' Singh said in a tweet.
The US intends first to cripple the Afghan government financially through sanctions, freezing of assets, denial of access to international banking, etc, and then proceed to do pretty much what it wants to do with scant regard for Afghanistan's sovereignty, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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