The Indian Navy has swiftly responded to a call for help following a hijacking incident involving a Malta-flagged cargo vessel with 18 crew on board in the Arabian Sea, officials said on Saturday.
Indian Navy on Wednesday said its ships and aircraft remain 'mission deployed' for maintaining enhanced surveillance and undertaking maritime security operations.
Despite the delay, thousands of devotees, who came to bid farewell to Lalbaugcha Raja, continued to wait at the chowpatty.
A merchant vessel, with around 20 Indian crew, was hit by a suspected drone about 217 nautical miles off the Porbandar coast in the Arabian Sea on Saturday but there was no report of any casualties in the incident, Indian military sources and a maritime security agency said.
China has commissioned its third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, featuring advanced electromagnetic catapults, amidst rising tensions and military modernization efforts.
The intensity of rainfall is likely to increase with the likelihood of very heavy falls at a few places and extremely heavy falls at isolated places on May 15, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
After Operation Sindoor, the Army and Navy now view the IAF as not a supporting arm, but the spearhead of India's warfighting capability, capable of decisive outcomes across domains, explains Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted above-normal rainfall for most parts of India during the post-monsoon season (October to December), except for some areas in the northwest. The southwest monsoon season ended with the country recording eight per cent above normal rainfall.
In a rare feat, five women officers of the Indian Navy carried out the first independent maritime reconnaissance and surveillance mission in the North Arabian Sea onboard a Dornier aircraft.
Several drownings and missing persons reported across Maharashtra during the immersion of Ganesh idols following the Ganesh festival.
The death toll included over 450 from intense heat wave last summer, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
'What we need to watch is how Saudi Arabia's financial assistance will be used by Pakistan. If the funds go to build their military hardware and operations, it should worry us.'
Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan asserted that the armed forces are free of nepotism and urged children to join to serve the nation. He also spoke about Operation Sindoor and the use of technology in warfare.
The southwest monsoon arrived in Maharashtra on Sunday, making it the earliest onset of the annual rainfall season over the state in 35 years, according to the India Meteorological Department. The monsoon is expected to advance to Mumbai and some other parts over the next three days. The monsoon advanced into some more parts of the Arabian Sea, Karnataka, entire Goa, parts of Maharashtra, north Bay of Bengal, and parts of Mizoram, parts of Manipur and Nagaland on Sunday. The northern limit of monsoon passes through Devgad, Belagavi, Haveri, Mandya, Dharmapuri, Chennai, Aizawl and Kohima. Conditions are favorable for further advance into some more parts of central Arabian Sea, more parts of Maharashtra including Mumbai, Karnataka including Bengaluru, some parts of Andhra Pradesh, remaining parts of Tamil Nadu, more parts of west-central and North Bay of Bengal and some more parts of North Eastern states during next three days. The southwest monsoon hit Kerala on Saturday, marking its earliest arrival over the Indian mainland since 2009.
Experts discuss the Indus Waters Treaty, highlighting its engineering aspects and addressing criticisms of unfairness to India.
Indian Navy's carrier battle group, submarines and aviation assets were immediately deployed at sea with full combat readiness in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, a top Navy official said on Sunday.
Nearly 350 people were evacuated from Mumbai's Kurla area after the Mithi river swelled due to heavy rains. Authorities are monitoring the situation and working to ease the flow of water.
Low pressure over south-central Maharashtra and south Konkan is likely to move over the Arabian Sea and intensify into a depression in the next 48 hours, the India meteorological department said on Thursday. Under the influence of this cyclonic circulation, heavy rains are expected over the ghat areas of Maharashtra, Konkan and south Gujarat during the next two days, the IMD said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasts above-normal rainfall for India in September, following a monsoon season marked by heavy downpours and related disasters in various regions. The forecast indicates normal to above-normal rainfall for most areas, with some exceptions in the northeast, east, extreme south peninsular India, and parts of northwest India.
The collective West has always opposed strong leaders and economic development in India, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'There's an urgent requirement, particularly for the Indian Ocean region, as China's naval presence grows, and with Pakistan also acquiring more submarines.'
It was "possibly a Pakistani fishing vessel", but the identity and other details will be ascertained once the boat is intercepted, the official said.
This is the second time in the last three days that the actor was called for questioning, a police official said.
Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack. The meeting comes a day after the Chief of Air Staff met with Prime Minister Modi to discuss the security situation. Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi gave the armed forces "complete operational freedom" to respond to the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people.
The cyclonic circulation over southwest bay off south Tamil Nadu persists and now lies between 2.1 and 5.8 km above sea level.
'What we are witnessing is not a freak incidence or a freak occurrence, but a new climate reality where warming oceans, monsoon variability and local geography are combining to produce extreme events.'
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a jailed accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has moved a court in New Delhi seeking permission to speak to his family. The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman is currently in judicial custody and is accused of conspiring with David Coleman Headley and operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) to carry out the terror attacks. Rana was brought to India after the American Supreme Court dismissed his review plea against his extradition.
The navy received information about the vessel, responded to the distress call and the Pakistan Maritime Information Centre requested a nearby merchant ship "MT KRUIBEKE" to provide necessary assistance to the stranded crew of the Indian vessel.
In Professor Sulochana Gadgil's passing, India has lost a scientific giant, a fierce intellect, and a compassionate soul, remembers Dr Madhavan Nair Rajeevan.
The Coast Guard pressed into service several of its ships along with helicopters off the coast of Mumbai and Gujarat, an official spokesman said. EEZ of a country is the 200-km maritime region from its shores. In Indian waters, the Coast Guard has the responsibility of looking after this region.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday announced setting up of "appropriate" memorial of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji in the Arabian sea off the Mumbai coast.
Lightning claims more lives in India annually than any other extreme weather event. Between April and July this year alone, 1,621 people died due to lightning strikes.
Shah said Shivaji Maharaj defeated "Mughal shahi" (rule of Mughals).
Indian carriers are grappling with severe operational disruptions after Iran launched missile strikes on the US military base in Qatar late Monday. This led to airspace closures for long hours in parts of West Asia. Iran, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait shut down their skies following the attack, forcing airlines to cancel, divert, or delay flights through these vital corridors.
The era where nations thrived through rigid alignments is giving way to an age where the connective State defines power. For India, that era has arrived, points out Dr Nishakant Ojha.
The Indian Air Force will carry out a two-day mega military exercise along the border with Pakistan from Wednesday that will involve all the frontline fighter jets including Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft. The exercise is taking place amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. India's civil aviation authorities have already issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for the major air exercise that will largely take place along the southern and western section of the Indo-Pakistan border. India's frontline fighter jets including the Rafale, Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Mirage-2000, Tejas and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft are set to feature in the exercise.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian national accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is likely to be lodged in a high-security ward in Tihar jail upon his extradition from the US. Rana, a close associate of David Coleman Headley, a US citizen who was also involved in the attacks, will be brought to India after his last-ditch attempt to evade extradition was rejected by the US Supreme Court. The attacks, which lasted nearly 60 hours, resulted in the deaths of 166 people and sent shockwaves across the country.
In a major operation, the Indian Navy intercepted a pirate mother ship, rescuing 13 crew members, and arrested 61 Somali sea brigands nearly 600 nautical miles off the western coast. "Vega 5, a pirate mother vessel, was intercepted by fast attack craft INS Kalpeni and 61 pirates were apprehended and 13 crew members rescued," a Navy spokesperson said on Monday. The pirates and their ship were being brought to Mumbai for further investigations, the spokesperson said.
India's Air Chief Marshal A P Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday to discuss the security situation arising from escalating tensions with Pakistan. The meeting comes after a similar briefing by the Navy Chief on the situation in the Arabian Sea. This follows a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, which India has blamed on Pakistan. India has taken several retaliatory measures, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty and banning imports from Pakistan.
While the peacetime stranding of a foreign fighter jet is rare in India, the F-35 -- a military asset of a foreign country with which India has strategic relations -- was being guarded by the Central Industrial Security Force, the agency responsible for security at Indian airports.
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