Tension between India and Nepal has been brewing since May after Kathmandu released a controversial new political map, which shows the disputed territories of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani within its borders.
Indian govt officials last month skipped Turkish National Day celebrations in Delhi, in a message to Ankara following its support for Islamabad, particularly during Operation Sindoor.
Bihar is blessed with a land more fertile for revolutions than any in India. Why has it fallen so far behind then? Constant obsession with politics is at the root of its destruction.
Lockheed looks to sell additional F-16s to customers in Africa, Asia and South America
•Lockheed Martin anticipates another wave of international F-16 sales, to countries in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia, according to the company’s chief financial officer.
• According the CFO, it is a good fourth-generation aircraft for those customers who cannot afford the F-35 or buy it as this time. It might be a good intermediary step for customers to go from the F-16 to F-35, so Lockheed sees it as complementary and not competing against themselves.
Russia to test-fire Tsirkon anti-ship Mach 9 hypersonic missile 10 times in the next few months
• Russia’s M-22 Tsirkon or Zircon anti-ship hypersonic missile will be test-fired at least 10 times in the next few months before it is inducted into service by 2022.
• It will be fired from naval warships and submarines as part of the trials.
• All the 10 trials will take place in 2020-2021 out of which seven to eight will be carried out from Admiral Gorshkov frigate. The remaining two to three test-firing will take place from the Severodvinsk submarine with at least one of them while submerged.
Sri Lanka to seek currency swap worth USD 400 million from RBI to meet short term financial needs
• Sri Lanka will enter into the agreement with the RBI for a Bilateral Currency Swap Arrangement worth USD 400 million to boost foreign reserves and ensure the financial stability of the country which is badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The swap arrangement is a decision two countries reach while doing trade related payment.
• Sri Lanka has ordered imports restrictions to prevent non-essential imports. This is in view of the local rupee falling to its historical low against the US dollar. The rupee now hovers over 195 to the dollar gaining somewhat from being down to 200 mark.
• The government has also announced talks with Asian Development Bank (ADB) and China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. A USD 300 million budgetary support is anticipated from the ADB.
• Largely owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank recently forecast Sri Lankan economy to contract by 3 per cent this year as against a 2. 4 per cent estimated growth last year, whilst the IMF predicted the global economy to contract by 3 per cent as well.
Australia pitches for trilateral cooperation with India, Indonesia
• In an address to the National Defence College (NDC), Mr. Barry O’Farrell, Australian High Commissioner-designate said that India and Australia will face common challenges in the Indo-Pacific as the COVID-19 pandemic is stretching much of the world’s governmental capacity.
• He called for greater cooperation especially stressing on trilateral cooperation between India, Australia and Indonesia.
• He said that the three countries should build on last year’s successful trilateral maritime security workshop with Indonesia to identify new ways in which the three countries can collaborate to be the best possible custodians of the Indian Ocean.
• On enhancing bilateral cooperation, he said there were many ways through which India and Australia could reinforce each other’s efforts and one of the ways was by making defence facilities available to each other to expand their militaries’ respective operational reach. This was already an evolving area with a logistics support agreement in the final stages of being concluded.
• The High Commissioner designate also referred to the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region which is emerging as a regional hub for monitoring maritime movements and cooperation.
• He also mentioned the increasingly common platforms operated by the two militaries acquired from the U.S., the P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft, and India’s soon-to-be-acquired MH-60 Romeo multi-role helicopters.
Lockheed looks to sell additional F-16s to customers in Africa, Asia and South America
•Lockheed Martin anticipates another wave of international F-16 sales, to countries in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia, according to the company’s chief financial officer.
• According the CFO, it is a good fourth-generation aircraft for those customers who cannot afford the F-35 or buy it as this time. It might be a good intermediary step for customers to go from the F-16 to F-35, so Lockheed sees it as complementary and not competing against themselves.
Russia to test-fire Tsirkon anti-ship Mach 9 hypersonic missile 10 times in the next few months
• Russia’s M-22 Tsirkon or Zircon anti-ship hypersonic missile will be test-fired at least 10 times in the next few months before it is inducted into service by 2022.
• It will be fired from naval warships and submarines as part of the trials.
• All the 10 trials will take place in 2020-2021 out of which seven to eight will be carried out from Admiral Gorshkov frigate. The remaining two to three test-firing will take place from the Severodvinsk submarine with at least one of them while submerged.
Sri Lanka to seek currency swap worth USD 400 million from RBI to meet short term financial needs
• Sri Lanka will enter into the agreement with the RBI for a Bilateral Currency Swap Arrangement worth USD 400 million to boost foreign reserves and ensure the financial stability of the country which is badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The swap arrangement is a decision two countries reach while doing trade related payment.
• Sri Lanka has ordered imports restrictions to prevent non-essential imports. This is in view of the local rupee falling to its historical low against the US dollar. The rupee now hovers over 195 to the dollar gaining somewhat from being down to 200 mark.
• The government has also announced talks with Asian Development Bank (ADB) and China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. A USD 300 million budgetary support is anticipated from the ADB.
• Largely owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank recently forecast Sri Lankan economy to contract by 3 per cent this year as against a 2. 4 per cent estimated growth last year, whilst the IMF predicted the global economy to contract by 3 per cent as well.
Australia pitches for trilateral cooperation with India, Indonesia
• In an address to the National Defence College (NDC), Mr. Barry O’Farrell, Australian High Commissioner-designate said that India and Australia will face common challenges in the Indo-Pacific as the COVID-19 pandemic is stretching much of the world’s governmental capacity.
• He called for greater cooperation especially stressing on trilateral cooperation between India, Australia and Indonesia.
• He said that the three countries should build on last year’s successful trilateral maritime security workshop with Indonesia to identify new ways in which the three countries can collaborate to be the best possible custodians of the Indian Ocean.
• On enhancing bilateral cooperation, he said there were many ways through which India and Australia could reinforce each other’s efforts and one of the ways was by making defence facilities available to each other to expand their militaries’ respective operational reach. This was already an evolving area with a logistics support agreement in the final stages of being concluded.
• The High Commissioner designate also referred to the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region which is emerging as a regional hub for monitoring maritime movements and cooperation.
• He also mentioned the increasingly common platforms operated by the two militaries acquired from the U.S., the P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft, and India’s soon-to-be-acquired MH-60 Romeo multi-role helicopters.