MALE,  INDIA and the Maldives on Sunday discussed measures to strengthen bilateral ties and collaborate in the fields of defence, development cooperation, capacity building and health as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held talks with the country’s top leadership, including her Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid. Swaraj arrived here on Sunday on a two-day visit, the first full-fledged bilateral trip from India to the island nation after the Government of President ..

    WASHINGTON,   CHINESE bombers. Chinese hypersonic missiles. Chinese cyberattacks. Chinese anti-satellite weapons. To a remarkable degree, the 2020 Pentagon budget proposal is shaped by national security threats that Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan has summarised in three words: “China, China, China.” The US is still fighting small wars against Islamic extremists, and Russia remains a serious concern, but Shanahan seeks to shift the military’..

     By Lalit K Jha WASHINGTON, China is believed to have suggested “certain changes” in the language of the terrorist designation. The US, Britain and France are believed to be currently looking at the suggestions   THE US, France and the UK are believed to be in intense “good faith” discussions with China to arrive at a “compromise”, including on the language on the UN designation of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed ..

  CHRISTCHURCH, A RIGHT-WING extremist flashed a white power gesture as he faced the first of many murder charges in a New Zealand court on Saturday, while a shellshocked community dug graves for 49 mosque-goers he stands accused of slaying. Australia-born, 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant stood largely impassive in the dock wearing handcuffs and a white prison smock, as the judge read the first of what are expected to be a host of murder charges that could mean he dies in jail. Flanked by armed ..

THE Armies of India and Myanmar conducted a “coordinated operation” from February 17 to March 2 against insurgents in Myanmarese territory to avert a possible threat to the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project, official sources said. However, the Indian Army did not cross the border during the operation, they said...

  PYONGYANG, (IANS) NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong-un may break off denuclearisation talks with the US and resume missile and nuclear testing, a senior official here said on Friday. Vice Foreign Minister Choe Sun-hui told foreign diplo..

 WASHINGTON, (PTI) PAKISTAN owes its “all weather friend” China at least USD 10 billion debt for the construction of the Gwadar port and other projects, the top US General has said, as he underlined Beijing’s “pred..

FRANCE has decided to sanction Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar “at the national level”, hereby freezing his assets, just two days after China blocked Azhar’s listing as a global terrorist at the UN Security Council...

Responsible member-states of the Security Council may be forced to take "other actions" if China continues to block moves to designate Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, diplomats at the UN’s principal organ have warned. The senior diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity to give a sense of the frustration of the other members of the Security Council after China on Wednesday p..

    WASHINGTON, The Bill allows background checks for all gun salesThe Bill is unlikely to be approved in the Senate, where the Republicans have a majorityTHE US House of Representatives has approved a Bill expanding background checks for all gun sales, including those at gun shows and on the Internet. The Bipartisan Background Check Act seeks to close loopholes that allow people to buy guns without being subjected to a federal background check -- under current law, private purchases ..

     NEW YORK, A CONVICTED tax cheat and liar, who was once Donald Trump’s lawyer, has come before a Congressional committee to testify that the President is a “racist”, a “conman” and a “cheat” and to warn that there will not be peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election next year. Michael Cohen, in his dramatic testimony on Wednesday before the Democrat-dominated House Oversight and Reform Committee, made serious charges ..

According to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) India's arms imports from Russia, the major supplier of defence material for the country for decades, shrunk by a whopping 42 pc during the 2014-2018 period. From India’s 75 pc imports of arms from Russia during 2009-13 period, they have slumped to 58 pc. Such a drastic drop of imports of arms from India’s traditional supplier can be attributed to two major poli..