SOURCE: PTI

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh interacted with his Malaysian counterpart Hishamuddin bin Hussein virtually on Monday to deepen defence cooperation between the two countries. Singh said on Twitter, “Had a wonderful interaction with Malaysia’s Senior Defence Minister, Mr Hishamuddin bin Hussein, via video conference. “

Had a wonderful interaction with Malaysia’s Senior Defence Minister, Mr Hishamuddin bin Hussein, via video conference.

SOURCE: FIRST POST

At his maiden meeting with India’s new envoy Pradeep Kumar Rawat in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated that “common interests between the two nations far outweigh differences”. In the same vein, he also praised his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar, for calling out Western ‘meddling’, and also acknowledged it as a “sign of New Delhi’s independence”. The question is if Wang Yi’s observations were perfunctory, or were aimed at Indian reaction to a veiled proposal for reviving bilateral talks at whatever level.

The reasons are not too far to seek. At the GlobSec 2022 Forum at Bratislava in Slovakia recently, Jaishankar was highly critical of West Europe, declaring that India’s foreign policy choices were not “cynical or transactional”. On specifics, he was responding to European nations and their leaders comparing the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war in the context of India’s strained relations with China, and cautioning/threatening New Delhi, ‘What if you are the next…’ He said the two Asian neighbours could manage their bilateral relationship on their own — and declared that the world (too/alone) had to “come out of its Euro-centric mindset”.

SOURCE: MONEY CONTROL

There is much more to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s one-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on June 28 than its stated purpose of paying “personal condolences on the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the former UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi and congratulating Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan”, his successor in both offices.

Since the return of post-COVID-19 near normalcy in the Gulf, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has expended considerable energy on getting the UAE to re-hire tens of thousands of Indians who lost their jobs in countries of the region due to disruptions caused by the pandemic. Last month, these efforts were put on a firm footing when a formal institutionalised structure was created “to skill Indian youth for pursuing overseas employment opportunities as per international standards.”

SOURCE: TRIBUNE PK

Pakistan will reach out to the G20 countries particularly with which it has close ties in an attempt to stop India from holding any event or meeting of the grouping in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir.

India is planning to host certain events of G20 in the disputed territory when it will host the summit meeting next year. India is set to assume the presidency of G20 in December this year. India is part of the G20 grouping comprising major economies of the world including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

SOURCE: THE PRINT

As the British allied forces fought the Japanese in the 1942 Burma Campaign, an injured and bloody Sam Menakshaw was hurriedly being awarded the Military Cross by Major General Sir Richard Cowens. Manekshaw had come to fight the battle with the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment, popularly known as 54^th Sikhs, but he had been hurt on the Sittang Bridge. The award couldn’t be given to a dead person – it looked like Manekshaw had hours left.

Not only did he live, Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, or Sam Bahadur, achieved a rare thing – he became a legend in his own lifetime. As India celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, it is appropriate to remember one of the architects of that famous victory.

SOURCE: PTI

The Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has started authorising Indian private firms, marking the beginning of private space sector launches in India. 

IN-SPACe is an autonomous, single window nodal agency; formed to promote, authorise, monitor and supervise the space activities of Non-Governmental Private Entities in India. Dhruva Space Private Limited, Hyderabad and Digantara Research and Technologies Private Limited, Bengaluru, were authorised by IN-SPACe on June 24 to launch their payloads.

SOURCE: PTI

Pakistan on Monday alleged that “one member” of the BRICS grouping blocked its participation in a virtual meeting held on the sidelines of the bloc’s recent summit hosted by China. The Foreign Office (FO) said Pakistan has noted that this year a high-level dialogue on global development was held as a side event at the 14th summit of BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

A number of developing/emerging economies were invited to the side event. It said China being the host country engaged with Pakistan before the BRICS meetings, where decisions are taken after consultations with all BRICS members, including extending invitations to non-members.

SOURCE: TIMES NOW

In a first of its kind initiative, the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) delivered two Autonomous Electric barges for Norway based ASKO Maritime AS. The 67 meter long vessels are delivered as Full-Electric Transport Ferries powered by an 1,846 kWh capacity battery. After commissioning of autonomous equipment and field trials in Norway, these vessels will operate as fully autonomous ferries of ASKO that can transport 16 fully loaded Standard EU trailers in one go across the fjords.

The vessels being built at CSL are designed by Naval Dynamics, Norway using Kongsberg Maritime systems, with detailed engineering carried out by CSL. These vessels are built under DNV GL Classification and flagged in Norway, under the rule regulations of the Norwegian Maritime Authority. Once in operation, these vessels will create a new benchmark for the merchant shipping world in the field of Autonomous Vessels with Zero Carbon Emission.

SOURCE: Tribune News Service

The government has made it mandatory for companies, registered in India, to obtain necessary security clearance from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) before appointing a person from a country having land border with India on their board as director.

The countries having land border with India include Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. Sources said the move is essentially aimed at preventing Chinese companies from circumventing Indian laws to do business in the country.

SOURCE: PTI

Army’s Northern Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi on Saturday concluded his five-day ‘operational and logistics review’ visit of the Union Territory of Ladakh, a defence spokesman said.

During the tour, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief visited numerous strategically important locations, reviewed the operational preparedness, progress of infrastructural development, status of induction of new weapons and equipment under ‘Atmanirbharta’ and interacted with all ranks, veterans and ‘veer naris’, the spokesman said.

SOURCE: TIMES NOW

Three days ahead of Amarnath pilgrimage, hybrid terrorist, who was tasked to target men in khaki was apprehended by Jammu and Kashmir police from Doda outskirts today. With his arrest police has foiled sinister plot of Pak proxies to carry out selective targeted killing of police personnel in Doda district and adjoining areas.

Arrested terrorist has been identified as Fareed Ahmed, resident of Koti Doda and from his possession one Chinese pistol, two magazine, 14 live cartridges and one mobile phone has been recovered.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Fareed is highly radicalised and was in touch with terror commanders sitting across border in Pakistan.

SOURCE: PTI

Two unidentified militants on Monday were killed in an encounter with security forces in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Nowpora-Kherpora in the Trubji area of the district following information about the presence of militants there, a police official said.

“#KulgamEncounterUpdate: 01 more #terrorist killed (Total 02). #Operation going on. Further details shall follow. @JmuKmrPolice,” the Kashmir Zone Police had earlier tweeted.

SOURCE: ZEE NEWS

A Pakistan intruder was killed by Border Security force (BSF) troops along the International Border in Jammu district on Monday, official sources said. Security forces claimed that during the night at about 12.10 am alert BSF troops noticed suspicious movement across the fence in the general area of BOP Baqarpur. An officer said “Our domination party in night noticed a person coming from Pakistan side aggressively towards the fence with an intention to cross the fence.

Our party challenged him to stop but he paid no attention to it and continued his movement towards the fence. Left with no option our troops fired three rounds on the intruder due to which he fell immediately ahead of fencing.”

SOURCE: PTI

India should comprehend the situation along its unsettled western and northern borders as a ‘two-front’ contingency and prepare for it accordingly, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said on Sunday, referring to the possible challenge from a collusive military threat from China and Pakistan. In an exclusive interview to PTI, the Chief of Air Staff said India could be attacked on all fronts, starting from military standoffs to information manipulation and blackouts in the future and its security doctrines and capabilities will have to cater to such possibilities.

To a specific question on whether Russian aggression against Ukraine could encourage China to take more aggressive posturing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), he said the effect of global events and geopolitical developments on India’s engagement with Beijing are being assessed continually across wide-ranging domains “at all levels”.

SOURCE: TNN

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) has received the crew module fairing (CMF), a critical structure that will protect the crew module-carrying astronauts during the Gaganyaan launch, from a Bengaluru-based company that was commissioned to build it.

The CMF was manufactured by Alpha Tocol Engineering Services, a fully owned subsidiary of Alpha Design Technology Limited (ADTL), in Peenya, while the design and specifications came from Isro. Adani Group holds the majority stake in ADTL.