The American fear is not just that a politically unstable and highly militarized Pakistan could be the world’s largest nuclear weapons State by 2025. It is the development of a tactical nuclear force to be used in the battle field, which is more worrying. Simply put, the American fear is that Pakistani tactical or battlefield nuclear warheads might be stolen by Islamic militant groups and used against the US, according Hans Kristensen Director of the American Nuclear Information Project.
A day after China agreed to provide sea and land ports to Nepal and end India’s monopoly over trade, Nepal has withdrawn from the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) joint military drill to be held in India next week saying that it does not have the sanction of the August BIMSTEC summit.
Steven Spielberg maintained in his interactions with Arthur Clarke that he had never seen Ray’s script in his life. But seeing the uncanny resemblance of the story line and the character of the Alien in Spielberg’s film with Ray’s story line and character of the Alien, Clarke called up Ray in January 1983 and asked him to write to Spielberg as he had noticed ‘striking parallels’. But Ray Ray declined to take it any further, though he maintained that both the films “would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout America in mimeographed copies,” says Dr.Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai in newsin.asia
India and the US signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) here on Thursday which could soften America’s plan to impose sanctions on India for buying military equipment from Russia. The signing took place after “2+2 talks” between the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on the one side, and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defense Minister Nirmal Sitharaman on the other.
Funding agencies affiliated to the Western nations and their allies, Japan and South Korea, are now making a beeline for Sri Lanka to counter growing Chinese developmental assistance to it.It appears that the Western, Japanese and Korean funding will mostly be for social welfare infrastructure and rehabilitation projects meeting the needs of the common man, a cause close to the heart of Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
The Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, has said that caning a women for lesbianism does not reflect Islamic compassion. He was commenting on the public caning of a lesbian couple in Terengganu, an Easter Malaysian State. “This gives a bad impression of Islam,” the 93-year-old leader said. “It is important that we show Islam is not a cruel religion that likes to impose harsh sentences to humiliate others,” he said.
A brilliant Sri Lankan University of New South Wales student, Mohamed Kamer Nalir Nizamdeen, was arrested in Sydney on August 30 on suspicion that he was plotting to kill former Prime Minister Turnbull and other leaders and also to blow up the Sydney Opera House. Nizamdeen’s friends and well wishers the world over, are circulating a petition for signatures seeking justice for him on the grounds that the suspicion against him is baseless.
The data published in The Lancet on Wednesday showed that more than one in four adults globally (28 percent or 1.4 billion people) are physically inactive. This can be, however, as high as one in three adults inactive in some counties. Insufficient physical activity is a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, and has a negative effect on mental health and quality of life, the report authored by four WHO experts says.
The wings of Lockheed Martin’s F-16 fighter jets will be produced in India, the American security and aerospace giant announced on Tuesday, in a major boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. The Maryland-based Lockheed Martin has entered into an agreement with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) for the production of the wings. Lockheed officials insisted that the planned F-16 wing production to India is not contingent on India selecting the F-16 for the Indian Air Force. Lockheed has offered to move its entire F-16 manufacturing base to India. India is yet to make a decision on it.
India will be on a slippery slope once it agrees to discuss with the US its defense relationship with Russia on a case-by-case basis. It will be an affront to India’s sovereignty and self-respect to allow the US to have a say in its relations with Russia, says former Indian diplomat and commentator Melkulangara Bhadrakumar
