SOURCE: UNI

According to German Ambassador to India Philip Ackerman, India can help bring the war in Ukraine to an end. “India maintains cordial relations with all parties.” “Perhaps India can be of assistance,” the ambassador speculated. He felt that because India is friends with both the West and the Russians, it should act as a mediator simultaneously. “You have to find the right time to come in as a mediator,” he said.

According to Ackerman, India has skilled diplomats who will presumably aid in negotiations. But, as he put it, “you have to know when to come in.”

SOURCE: PTI

The Indian Navy has given assurances to the government that it will become ‘Atmanirbhar’ (self-reliant) by 2047, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar said today. Addressing a press conference ahead of Navy Day, he also said the Navy keeps a strong vigil over the movements of various Chinese military and research vessels in the Indian Ocean Region.

He said the Indian Navy achieved a very high operational tempo in the last one year and there has been greater emphasis on the criticality of maritime security as India marches ahead.

SOURCE: PTI

The IMF “fully supports” the G20 agenda of India, which is planning to use the ongoing global crises as an opportunity to seek consensus on issues that require urgent attention, a senior official from the international financial body has said.

India formally assumed the G20 Presidency on Thursday. “They (India) are putting together a collective agenda for a much more prosperous future,” Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Director of the Strategy and Policy Review department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), told a group of reporters ahead of her trip to China and India next week.

SOURCE: PTI

An India Army truck caught fire about 60 km from Rajasthan’s Udaipur, ostensibly due to a technical malfunction, an official said on Friday.

The truck was part of a five-vehicle convoy en route to the military station in Udaipur. A Quick Reaction Team of the Army swung into action and cordoned off the vehicle, stopping traffic on the highway, Defence Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said.

SOURCE: ANI

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that the Indian Navy (IN) and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) are being equipped with indigenous state-of-the-art ships and weapons to protect the maritime borders of the country.

Rajnath Singh was addressing a meeting of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence. ‘Defence Shipyards’ was attended by a number of Members of Parliament in Mumbai on December 02, 2022. Rajnath Singh asserted that all efforts are being to strengthen IN and ICG as ensuring national security is the Government’s top priority.

SOURCE: IANS

Chinese involvement is suspected in the hacking of the server of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, a top source said on Friday, adding that four more servers were on the hackers’ target.

The source said that a total of five main servers of AIIMS were targeted by the suspected Chinese hackers. The data hacked from the AIIMS server has reportedly reached the main domain of Dark Web from where it may be sold.

SOURCE: PTI

The US on Friday echoed India’s reaction in rejecting China’s opposition to an India-US joint military exercise near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Uttarakhand and asserted that it is “none of their business”.

Ambassador Elizabeth Jones, the newly-appointed US Charge d’Affaires to New Delhi, also said that Washington’s interest is in supporting New Delhi’s efforts to become more capable and its capacities are directed in ways it believes to be important.

SOURCE: PTI

The government has decided to name 21 uninhabited islands in the union territory of Andaman & Nicobar after recipients of Param Vir Chakra , the country’s highest wartime gallantry award.

Out of the 21 islands, 16 are located in North and Middle Andaman district, while five islands are in South Andaman. Speaking to PTI, Andaman and Nicobar Islands MP, Kuldeep Rai Sharma, welcomed the move taken by the Centre for naming the 21 islands after decorated soldiers in assistance with the Defence and the local administration.

SOURCE: PTI

The United States considers its relationships with India and Pakistan as two “completely separate” policy forums and one is not dependent on the other, US Charge d’Affaires Ambassador Elizabeth Jones said on Friday.

In an interaction with a group of journalists, the senior-most American diplomat in India also said the recently announced US financial package was for the maintenance of Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets and it was not for upgrade of the fleet.

SOURCE: PTI

India will continue to buy crude oil from anywhere in the world, including Russia, to meet its energy needs, a top official said ahead of EU restrictions on Russian oil kicking in. 

The executive body of the European Union has asked its 27-member countries to cap the price of Russian oil at USD 60 as part of the West’s attempt to squeeze Moscow’s oil revenues and limit its ability to wage war in Ukraine while keeping global prices and supplies steady.

SOURCE: PTI

India is speaking to both sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the country’s Permanent Representative at the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj has said, asserting that New Delhi’s position has not been “passive” on the war.

The President of the Security Council for December said India has taken the side of peace and favours de-escalation through diplomacy and dialogue. India on Thursday assumed the Presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council for the month of December, during which it will host signature events on countering terrorism and reformed multilateralism.

SOURCE: PTI

Two new fast interceptor crafts will be inducted in the Indian Navy’s Bengal area, taking its total fleet strength at Kolkata to eight, a top official said on Friday. For any other effort necessary in the coastline or in the shores of West Bengal, he said that surface ships or naval aircrafts are brought in from Visakhapatnam, the Eastern Naval Command headquarters.

“The Navy has two fast interceptor crafts, which have been recently inducted and we hope that two more will join in the future,” Naval Officer-in-Charge (NOIC) Commodore Rituraj Sahu said at a press conference at INS Netaji Subhas, the Navy’s Bengal area base headquarters here.

SOURCE: UNI

A bust of iconic Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi will be inaugurated at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, New Delhi’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj announced on Thursday.

The news coincides with New Delhi taking over the rotating presidency of the 15-member UN Security Council for the month of December. During its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council which ends this month, India previously assumed the chair of the UNSC last August.

SOURCE: ANI

Based on specific input of infiltration by multiple intelligence agencies and JK Police in the Uri Sector, an intelligence-based operation was launched by the Indian Army in the general area astride the line of control from November 29, 2022, to December 1, 2022, according to the PRO (Defence) Srinagar.

During this operation, teams of the Indian Army observed the initiation of own early warning mechanisms close to the line of control and immediately launched search and destroy operation in the area.

SOURCE: API

Egypt’s Arab Organization for Industrialization inks a cooperation agreement with Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) that could expand further cooperation between both organizations if it wins the tender for an advanced trainer jet that the Egyptian Air Force is looking to procure.

Many Korean media has reported that KAI had won the tender to supply the T-50 Golden Eagle advanced trainer jet to Egypt but it wasn’t the case since it was MoU between the two companies as Egypt is yet to decide on the winner.