In a strong retaliation to the Pahalgam massacre, India's armed forces early Wednesday destroyed nine terror sites including that of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) using deep strike missiles in a 25-minute-long 'measured and non-escalatory' mission.
The Union Budget 2025-26 has allocated Rs 1,024.30 crore for expenses incurred by the Council of Ministers, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office, and for hospitality and entertainment of state guests. The allocated amount is a bit more than the Rs 1,021.83 crore earmarked in 2024-25.
Patel has previously worked at the justice department as a trial attorney for three years before taking on roles at the National Security Council, the office of the director of National Intelligence, and the department of defence, the report said.
'Fears in Washington began to intensify when it was realised that subsequent Pakistani and Indian attacks on major military facilities -- which were significant in terms of geographic scope and intensity -- could rapidly take both sides to where neither actually wanted to go.' 'The US objective was to stop the fighting as soon as possible. Everything else was secondary.'
Russian officials and state media on Saturday celebrated United States President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodomyr Zelensky's unprecedented clash at the White House.
'Trump's desire to withdraw the US from some arenas on the global stage will result in ceding space to China.'
The US move to align with Russia is prompted by fear of a Sino-Russian joint threat. Russia, fully aware of its military vulnerability vis a vis China may cautiously welcome the American move, assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The US ended up abstaining from the vote for its own resolution at the General Assembly after several amendments were passed ahead of the vote to strengthen the language against Russia and reaffirm Ukraine's territorial integrity.
Confronted by outrage in Greenland, the US has scaled down a proposed visit to the island.
'Parents are forced to provide their children to Russian re-education camps in occupied territories and in different parts of Russia, for example, in Chechnya, where Ukrainian children wearing military uniform are taught to use weapons.'
Security experts have warned that using Signal for discussions of this nature violates every established protocol for handling classified information.
'All the world knows that the US and Britain are enemies of the Iranian nation and now they sit in the UN Security Council and act as both judge and executioner, but the era of such an order is over,' said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Putin is keen on establishing a good personal rapport with Trump and anchor a meaningful US-Russia partnership, realistic enough to accept that Trump is as good an American president as Russia would ever get, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
After more than four hours of talks in Saudi Arabia, the US and Russia agreed on four key principles, Rubio said on Tuesday. These include appointing a high-level team to help "negotiate and work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine" in a way that's "acceptable to all the parties engaged."
India abstained on two UN General Assembly resolutions calling for a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine. The resolutions were adopted on the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with the UN Secretary General stressing that the war in Ukraine stands as a grave threat to the peace and security of Europe and the core principles of the United Nations.
India has expressed concern to the US authorities over the treatment of deportees on a flight that landed on February 5, particularly with respect to the use of shackles, especially on women. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has also registered its concerns regarding the need to accommodate the religious sensitivities and food preferences of the deportees. The US side has confirmed that no women or children were restrained on the deportation flights that landed in India on 15th and 16th February, 2025.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for enhancing trade and investment ties between their countries and committed to further deepening their engagement in the Indo-Pacific. They discussed a full spectrum of bilateral relations, including key global and regional issues, and stressed the urgent need for reform in the United Nations Security Council. The leaders also underscored their commitment to ensuring the global AI sector can drive positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
'Unsurprisingly, Trump shared Modi's podcast with Fridman on his Truth account.' 'The intentions of Trump, a transactional president, are never easy to tell.' 'We will know in the next fortnight if and when he unfolds reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods, whether Modi's flattering words made any significant difference to Trump's compass,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
By proposing the addition of six permanent members this year, it may appear that it was a major concession, but in actual fact, it will make no difference to the privilege of the permanent five as the new six will have no veto, ever! points out Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Following the preliminary investigations into the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 in which 38 passengers were killed near Aktau in Kazakhstan, it was revealed that a Russian missile was responsible for the crash, Euronews reported on Thursday, citing sources from the Azerbaijani government.
'The touchstone is reciprocity which will be applied to friends and foes alike.' 'It will be a bitter pill to swallow.'
India voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution that called for the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, and reiterated the call for achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in West Asia. The resolution, tabled by Senegal, was adopted with 157 nations voting in favor, while eight nations voted against it and seven abstained.
The Taliban have announced they will close all national and foreign nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) employing women in Afghanistan.
Suspension is the only method provided for in the UN resolution that established the Human Rights Council back in 2005.
We must bring a laser focus on our own interests, and define our friends and foes more clearly instead of trying to live by somebody else's rules. We must grow up, think for ourselves, think India First, asserts R Jagannathan.
New Delhi said if the reports of Azhar's location are correct, then Pakistan's "duplicity" has been exposed as it has been maintaining that the JeM chief is not in that country.
Notably Trump had withdrawn from the Paris Agreement immediately after his first inauguration in January 2017. Joe Biden reversed that decision later.
The leaders also noted the "negative impacts" of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, especially for developing and least-developed countries.
Members of the opposition escalated their criticism of Yoon, with some threatening to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president.
'Modi's intention was to create goodwill that will allow India to be seen by Trump as more than just a bad tariff problem.' 'He succeeded brilliantly on that count but none of these wins are unfortunately permanent.' 'Modi will have to do this again and again if Trump's grievances are to be durably assuaged.'
Noting that Israel is not interested in escalation of situation in the Middle East, country's Ambassador to India Reuven Azar said on Saturday that Israel defence forces attacked military targets in Iran 'in a very precise way' and that 'there is a price to pay when you attack the state of Israel'.
He also said that his country would continue to talk about the Kashmir issue "through channels that are acceptable" and prayed that "the issue is amicably resolved".
The situation in Syria remains a focal point for all the neighbouring nations after Syrian rebels on Sunday entered the capital Damascus, forcing Assad to flee, ending his over two-decade rule in the country.
India along with the G4 nations said it is "unfortunate" that momentum could not build up over the issue in the current session.
Pakistan on Friday won a seat as non-permanent member of the powerful United Nations Security Council, putting it in the club of 10 nations which currently includes India.
'Our strong support is there to India becoming a Security Council member,' British High Commissioner to India Michael Arthur said.
AI-driven and deepfake-enabled cyberattacks are anticipated to become increasingly prevalent in 2025 with sectors like healthcare and finance most prone targets, according to a recent report. The India Cyber Threat Report 2025 by the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and Seqrite, spotlighted the evolving tactics of cybercriminals and the rise of AI-driven attacks as a major concern. "Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be used to develop highly sophisticated phishing campaigns utilising deepfake technology and personalised attack vectors, making them harder to detect.
India supports dialogue and diplomacy and not war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) Summit in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday, in an unambiguous message calling for resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through peaceful negotiations.
Securing a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council is India's top priority for the year and it seems "eminently doable" with India putting a concerted effort, Indian envoy to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri has said.
India has said the United Nations Security Council in its present structure is "completely out of tune" with global realities and serves "no one's purpose", asserting that an expansion in the 15-member body should have permanent representation from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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