India had refused to supply offensive weapons to the Sri Lankan military during its critical campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, forcing Colombo to turn to China for purchases. "India had told us they were not in a position to sell or send offensive weapons or even equipment like radars and basic communication equipment to meet our requirements," Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka has revealed. "So we had no other option," Fonseka said.
Australia have gone on to win the World Cup every time they have reached the last four and will be well-fancied for a sixth title.
The Sri Lankan army's hopes to crush Tamil Tigers and end Asia's longest running civil war are still not around the corner, a media report said. 'Peace still will not be easy or, despite recent good news, immediate. The Tigers may still be able to carry out some terror attacks, though they no longer pose a wide-scale threat. And Colombo faces questions about its commitment to a permanent political settlement,' a Wall Street Journal report said.
Air India's jumbo B747 made two flights to Wuhan city -- the ground zero of the coronavirus epidemic that has killed more than 300 people, infected 14,380 others and spread to 25 countries, including India, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Xi Jinping will visit Pakistan this year after a cancelled a trip in 2014.
The Sri Lankan Army chief on Monday said his forces have inflicted heavy losses on Tamil Tigers and the militant outfit's capability to wage a conventional war will be wiped out within a year.
Here's a presentation of some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by.
'Even if such a thing happens, it will not prolong for many days like Doklam did.' 'That is because both the leaders do not want it.'
We can expect to see more Chinese wolf warrior diplomats on the prowl, in India's neighbourhood, though its mailed fist is not so visible while dealing with India, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
The coming together of the Quad and the Australia-UK-US grouping would be a formidable adversary, moving toward the creation of a 'thousand ship navy' that reins in the PLA navy in the Indo-Pacific.
'Under National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval and now Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, India began to actively work on Pakistani internal faultlines with a possibility of the break-up of Pakistan as the only solution,' observes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'India is a huge market for Chinese goods. I don't think a war stands to logic when you have economic compulsions, but then Chinese are known to do illogical things.'
As Washington, DC, prepares to celebrate July Fourth with a military "Salute to America" that will feature military bands, a parade and flyovers from the US Navy's Blue Angels and Air Force One, here's a look at other countries that hold military marches.
The President is seeking an end to the spurt of violence.
Addressing an election rally in Dwarka three days before the February 8 assembly elections, the prime minister said the national capital also needs a government that will give direction and not resort to blame games.
The virus, which has infected more than 14,562 people, continues to spread beyond China.
India has realised that one can only deal with China from a position of strength and that is not palatable to Beijing, observes Dr Rup Narayan Das.
An agreement between India and Pakistan, however tenuous, has its own meaning and impact. We have not heard the last word about the ceasefire agreement, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Pakistan's Shia Ismaili Muslims on Thursday buried the bus attack victims who were killed by Islamic State militants
Tulsidas Balaram, who passed into the ages last week, was a member of the Indian football team which reached the semis at the Olympics and won an Asian Games gold medal.
Exercise Tiger Triumph -- a full-scale, tri-service beach landing operation -- is a capability India is seeking to build.
The terrorists were armed with AK-47s, grenades, pistols, knives, many rounds of ammunition. Sepoy Jagdish Chand's weapons were his bare hands and enormous courage. He died, but not before he felled one of them. Archana Masih/Rediff.com speaks to the family of Sepoy Jagdish Chand, one of the 7 soldiers martyred in the terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force Station.
The Indian Navy's flagship carrier, the INS Viraat will be decommissioned on March 6 after serving the nation for 30 glorious years.
'Should the new ISIS leadership opt for a consolidation, the Afghan-Pakistan border would be an attractive place,' warns Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
As the Indian Army reported its first case of the infection with a 34-year-old soldier testing positive in Leh, the Army said it has taken a series of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus among the forces such as checking flu symptoms among soldiers on their return from leave and cancelling non-essential travel, conferences and recruitment drives.
She also said the Kartarpur corridor initiative was not linked to the dialogue process with Pakistan.
'Not a single bullet was fired, but we were warning the enemy not to continue with their antics!' IAF Veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe finds out how the Light Combat Helicopter, which will be inducted into the IAF on October 3, was designed, developed and flown.
We salute the Mi-8 today on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of Operation Cactus. Through its glorious service career, the Mi-8 left an indelible mark on the future by providing the IAF with a lineage of professional helicopter aircrew, says Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
'The era of conventional wars is almost over in the Indian context.' 'In such a scenario, special forces could play a decisive strategic role in the spectrum of conflict.'
Kedar Jadhav claimed he never lost faith in India's bowlers to deliver victory in a last-over thriller with Afghanistan. Jadhav's careful half century, alongside captain Virat Kohli's 67, were the two highlights in a difficult day at the crease for India's batsmen in their latest ICC Men's Cricket World Cup clash at the Hampshire Bowl.
'More members of the Indian Armed Forces have died in Kashmir, North East and Naxal areas than in the 1962 and 1971 wars against Pakistan combined. These deaths are the result of political failure and not war.'
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will visit India on his maiden foreign trip next month even as he ordered the release of all Indian fishermen in custody in Colombo as a goodwill gesture on the first day in office.
To him running was both his God and beloved as he created his own little fairytale out of what what could have easily been a tale of horrors.
'No prime minister of India is averse to normalise relations with Pakistan, if it is possible to do so without altering our fundamental position on Jammu and Kashmir,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The armies that are lined up and firing at each other without ceasing, without much change on the ground and without much benefit, are replaced by civilians (also in uniforms, of team colours) screaming abuse,' says Aakar Patel.
'Some have speculated that it has to do with Doklam and the 2019 elections.' 'That Modi asked Xi not to embarrass him by sending the Chinese army into Bhutan again, this time rolling over our resistance,' says Aakar Patel.
All the evacuees will undergo a 14-day quarantine at a medical facility.
'Despite Modi's high-flown rhetoric about good-neighbourly relationships in South Asia, he lacks a road map how to proceed -- be it with Bangladesh or with Sri Lanka and Pakistan... But a deeper question arises here: Did he duck on his own accord or under the diktat from the RSS, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The aircraft carrier is China first domestically-built ship. Shandong is bigger than China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning and could house 36 fighter jets.
