SOURCE: PTI

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his American counterpart Pete Hegseth have agreed to firm up a 10-year framework to further expand defence and strategic ties between India and the US.

The decision on the defence framework was mentioned in a Pentagon statement that was released on Wednesday, a day after Rajnath Singh and US Defence Secretary Hegseth held a phone conversation. “Secretary Hegseth and Minister Singh agreed to sign the next 10-year US-India Defence Framework when they next meet this year,” it said.

SOURCE: IANS

The US gives India priority as its “key defence partner in South Asia”, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has affirmed to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to a Pentagon Spokesperson, Colonel Chris Devine.

“When he spoke to Rajnath Singh on Tuesday, Hegseth emphasised the priority the US places on India as its key defence partner in South Asia,” said Devine. He pointed out that both leaders reviewed the considerable progress both countries have made toward achieving the defence goals set out in the February 2025 joint statement by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and agreed to sign the next ten-year US-India Defence Framework when they meet this year.

SOURCE: IANS

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar has dismissed the notion that Pakistan impinges on the relations between the US and India, which are based on their complementarity and not on third countries. He also dismissed the claims of US President Donald Trump that he forged the ceasefire between the two neighbours after Operation Sindoor, saying the record speaks for itself.

“I would really urge you to get over the idea that we need to define ourselves regarding third countries in order to forge ahead” in ties with the US, EAM Jaishankar told a questioner who asked if there was a change in the relations because of Pakistan.

SOURCE: AFP

The United States, Japan, India and Australia have pledged to work together to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals, as worries grow over China’s dominance in resources vital to new technologies. The four countries said in a joint statement that they were establishing the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, aimed at “collaborating on securing and diversifying” supply chains.

They offered little detail but made clear the goal was to reduce reliance on China, which has used restrictions as leverage as the US in turn curbs its access to semiconductors and threatens steep tariffs.

SOURCE: IANS

 India has expressed concerns regarding the abduction of three Indian nationals employed at the Diamond Cement Factory in Kayes city of Mali, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday when a group of armed assailants carried out a coordinated attack at the factory premises and forcibly took three Indian nationals as hostages, the Ministry said in the statement.

SOURCE: NASA

NASA astronaut Raja Chari and Dr. V. Narayanan, chairman of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), interact outside the Orion spacecraft mockup at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Narayanan and Indian officials visited NASA Johnson and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ahead of the Axiom Mission 4 launch to the International Space Station.

As part of a collaboration between NASA and ISRO, Axiom Mission 4 delivers on a commitment highlighted by President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send the first ISRO astronaut to the station.

SOURCE: PTI

A Bangladeshi smuggler was killed and a BSF jawan injured in a face-off near the India-Bangladesh boundary in West Bengal’s Nadia district when a group of traffickers attacked the border guards, officials said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred near the Halderpara border outpost under the jurisdiction of the 32 Battalion of the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier. Based on intelligence inputs about a possible gold smuggling attempt, an ambush team of BSF personnel had been deployed in the area.

SOURCE: IANS

An encounter is underway between security forces and terrorists at Chatroo area of Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir, an army official said on Wednesday. He said that based on a specific intelligence report, a joint search operation was launched in Kanzal Mandu, Kishtwar.

“Contact has been established with the terrorists, and the operation is in progress,” he said. The anti-militant operation started on the day the annual Amarnath Yatra begins after a joint team of police and security forces received an input about the presence of terrorists in that area.

SOURCE: PTI

The U.S. has expressed hope that it can complete several major pending American defence sales to India, as it stressed that Washington and Delhi are “mutually aware” of the security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday (July 1, 2025) at the Pentagon and said he had a productive conversation on advancing the India-U.S. defence partnership, building on growing convergences of interests, capabilities and responsibilities.

SOURCE: PTI

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that his government decided to enhance the water storage capacity, as India continued to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance. A day after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan that included putting the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in “abeyance”.

Pakistan’s massive agriculture is dependent on the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, and any effort to divert water, and even temporarily stop it, may spell disaster for the country.

SOURCE: REUTERS

India is exploring building three new strategic oil reserves to boost its emergency stockpile and strengthen energy security, the head of the company in charge of strategic reserves said on Wednesday.

India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, imports more than 80% of its oil needs and is constantly diversifying its crude sources to mitigate the impact of geopolitical crises on its oil procurement.State-run engineering consultancy Engineers India Ltd is doing feasibility studies to build the new reserves, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd’s CEO L R Jain told Reuters. “In case of exigencies, we will be better prepared,” he said.

SOURCE: REUTERS

A panel of Indian lawmakers will review safety in the country’s civil aviation sector and has invited several industry and government officials to answer questions on July 9, with topics set to include Air India’s recent plane crash.

The upper house of India’s parliament has asked airport operators, air traffic controllers and airlines including Air India and IndiGo to take part in a comprehensive review of passenger safety, according to a memo drafted for the meeting and seen by Reuters.

SOURCE: AFP

The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet confirmed today that he will have a successor when he dies, reassuring Buddhist followers around the globe that the 600-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama will continue. 

It is a landmark decision for Tibetans, many of whom had feared a future without a leader, as well as for global supporters who see the Dalai Lama as a symbol of non-violence, compassion and the enduring struggle for Tibetan cultural identity under Chinese rule.

SOURCE: PTI

China on Monday said that the boundary dispute with India is complicated and will take time to settle but at the same time, it expressed its readiness to hold discussions on the delimitation of the border and keep it peaceful.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in his meeting with Chinese counterpart Dong Jun in Qingdao on 26 June proposed that India and China should solve the “complex issues” under a structured roadmap comprising steps to de-escalate tensions along the frontiers and rejuvenate the existing mechanism to demarcate the borders.

SOURCE: UNI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today embarked on a fivenation visit to Ghana, Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, and Namibia from July 2 to 9, during which he will be attending various bilateral, multilateral and other programmes, especially the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

In a post on X, the PM said he is looking forward to interacting with world leaders and discussing ways to make our planet better. “Over the next few days, I will be attending various bilateral, multilateral and other programmes in Ghana, Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, and Namibia. Looking forward to interacting with world leaders and discussing ways to make our planet better.