India is increasingly a willing participant in the evolving US' Indo-Pacific strategy. While these developments are related to the perception of a growing Chinese security challenge, their implications for India's much-vaunted strategic autonomy should be a matter of deeper and closer reflection, asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Think you know all about the former Chief Justice of India, whom the Modi government nominated to the Rajya Sabha?
Fugitive Diamantaire Mehul Choksi who is held in Dominica after his mysterious disappearance from Antigua and Barbuda has alleged that his "friend" Barbara Jabarica was instrumental in his abduction which involved musclemen claiming to be Antiguan Police and mercenaries looking like Indians. The police have started the investigation after receiving a complaint from Choksi, Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.
The top diplomats of Quad nations on Friday denounced as "inadmissible" any use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war and strongly opposed any "unilateral actions" that seek to change the status quo in the South and East China Seas, a region that has witnessed increasing Chinese military offensive.
INS Shivaji is an Indian Naval station located in the hill-town of Lonavala in Maharashtra's Pune district.
Some residents of Nani Daman area alerted the police about suspicious movements of six persons in military uniform on Wednesday, thinking they could be terrorists.
The South Central Railway as well as the East Coast Railway cancelled several trains while some were terminated midway, officials said, adding a few express trains were also diverted.
All 40 trawlers which went missing in the Bay of Bengal following a storm were traced on Monday, but two of them capsized leaving seven fishermen missing, officials said.
'As she was dragged off the yacht, the princess cried, "I won't go back to the UAE, just kill me now!"' 'She hasn't been heard of since then.' 'Perhaps she is dead.' 'If so, Modi's government has blood on its hands,' notes Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'Unlike on the western and eastern borders where there is an enemy at the gate, here there is an invisible enemy which is building its own capability and can come into play at a time and place of his choosing.'
The sprawling warship building facility caters to the combat vessel requirements of not only the Navy, but also the Coast Guard.
The world needs to wake up to this new dimension of war at sea and be prepared to face the 'unknown enemy' who have the advantage of attacking at their choice of location and time, cautions Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
'An expanding army, rising salaries due to the 7th pay commission, and raised pensions due to OROP are consuming money at the cost of badly needed bulletproof jackets, rifles, artillery, submarines, warships and fighter aircraft,' notes Ajai Shukla.
US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on Sunday said five years ago on September 25, 2015 the Chinese President, standing in the White House Rose Garden, promised 'China does not intend to pursue militarisation' of the Spratly Islands, and China's outposts 'would not target or impact any country'.
Three officials from the US Consulate General at Chennai on Monday visited the central prison at Palayamkottai where 35 crew members of a US firm owned ship, arrested for allegedly carrying arms in Indian waters, have been lodged.
Aman Kumar Sharma from Himachal Pradesh, an Indian national, was among the 11 crew members of a ship freed after being held hostage for nearly four years by Somali pirates, with a top United Nations official calling for the release of all remaining captives.
An ecological disaster is in the making in the Sunderbans, the world's largest mangrove forest spanning across the Indo-Bangla border, after an oil tanker collided with an empty cargo vessel. The incident spilled nearly 350 tonnes of oil into the Sela river, threatening the survival of multiple species of flora and fauna.
Airman Bhupat Singh's family is hoping that everyone is safe and the rescue team finds the aircraft soon.
A cargo ship missing for a week with 14 crew members, including Indians, is feared to have been hijacked in the piracy-prone South China Sea, prompting Malaysian maritime authorities to launch a search on Thursday.
A day after being found dead under a collapsed building in Turkey, Ghana football player Christian Atsu's body arrived home in Accra.
The ministry also decided to dispense with the requirement of the Integrity Pact Bank Guarantee to reduce the financial burden on the Indian defence industry, a move aimed at promoting domestic manufacturing.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Babu Ram and Constable Altaf Hussain Bhat of Jammu and Kashmir Police were on Saturday posthumously conferred with the Ashoka Chakra and the Kirti Chakra awards respectively on the eve of the 75th Independence Day. While the Ashoka Chakra is India's highest peacetime gallantry honour, Kirti Chakra is the second in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards.
The Republic Day parade, which will begin at around 1030 am, will be a unique mix of the country's military prowess and cultural diversity, depicting the country's growing indigenous capabilities, Nari Shakti and emergence of a 'New India'.
It is a historic moment as Pakistan has released boats after a gap of 11 years.
Heavy rains on Tuesday pounded several parts of Tamil Nadu with most areas of Chennai witnessing water logging severely disrupting train and bus services.
A Bangladeshi oil tanker carrying over 3,50,000 litres of furnace oil sank on Tuesday in a river in the Sundarbans leaving its captain missing while leaking its cargo and endangering the world's largest mangrove forest.
Teams of the National Disaster Response Force started landing in Gujarat with the help of the Indian Air Force to undertake preventive evacuation of people living on the west coast, an IAF official said.
The Indian Navy said it was in a high state of readiness to "deter, prevent and defeat" any "misadventure" by Pakistan in the maritime domain.
British Prime Minister David Cameron recently asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's help to send back six British sailors who have been in Tamil Nadu for two years.
Singh was speaking to reporters on board the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya which is currently sailing along India's western coastline.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday reviewed the preparations for Cyclone Yaas including the evacuation of people on the high seas as well as in vulnerable coastal areas and the safety of COVID-19 facilities.
Meanwhile, the search and rescue team is seeking satellite imagery to find any clue of the plane that lost contact over the Bay of Bengal.
The army and air force have been deployed for rescuing stranded citizens after torrential rains have left residents marooned.
The navy had so far maintained that there were 273 persons on board the barge but an official on Wednesday evening said that the company which operated it has informed that there were 261 personnel on board the ill-fated barge.
During the heavy rains through the week here and other regions of Tamil Nadu not only inflatable boats, but preparedness, determination and presence of mind came in handy for personnel including policemen and women, civic and forest workers who rescued people, animals and snakes.
India has put on hold its search operations for the missing Malaysian airliner as it is awaiting fresh instructions from Malaysian authorities who are likely to look into new areas for locating the plane.
With this, the total number of Indian fishermen apprehended by PMSA in the last 48 hours has gone up to 88.
The boat's Arab owner says he has paid the fine of Rs 29.5 lakhs, but the Iranians now want parking fees. As the Arab-Persian standoff continues, the Indian fishermen's families live in a state of limbo.
The total cost for procurement of 41,000 LMGs will be Rs 3,000 crore while over 3.5 lakh Close Quarter Battle Carbines will be bought at a cost of Rs 4,607 crore respectively, defence ministry officials said.
A local court in Tuticorin has granted conditional bail to all the 35 crew members of a US ship, arrested on charges of illegally carrying weapons on board the vessel and straying into Indian waters.
