Taiwan Invasion Soon? China Lashes Out As NATO Chief Warns Of Xi's ‘Massive' Military Buildup
Russia Assures More S-400 Air Defence System Delivery To India, Lauds Role In Operation Sindoor
Russia has assured India of the timely delivery of the remaining S-400 air defence systems during a high-level bilateral meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov. Out of five ordered units, three S-400 squadrons have already been delivered. The remaining two will be handed over soon, according to Russia. The S-400s played a critical role in India's success during Operation Sindoor by neutralising enemy missiles and drones. The $5.43 billion deal signed in 2018 marks one of India's most advanced defence procurements. Russia reaffirmed its strategic partnership with India and expressed condolences for the recent Ahmedabad air crash. Watch for full details on this defence milestone, its strategic significance, and Rajnath Singh's strong diplomatic outreach.#s400india #rajnathsingh #operationSindoor #russiaindia #defencedeal #s400delivery #indianarmy #indiachina #indiaupdates #airdefencesystem #toi #toibharat #bharat #breakingnews #indianews
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Hindustan Times
27 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Op Sindoor: Poonch digs in, wants bunkers on priority
Nestled amid lush mountains along the Line of Control, the picturesque town of Poonch that bore the brunt of the worst cross-border shelling from Pakistan in five decades during Operation Sindoor between May 7 and 10, is slowly healing as residents pick up pieces of their shattered lives. A resident shows the damaged portion of Gurdawara in Poonch. (Waseem Andrabi /Hindustan Times) Of the 16 civilians killed in the Pakistani shelling in Jammu and Kashmir, 13 were from Poonch. They included four children. Almost two months on, 90% of families that had fled the town are back home but fear lurks as damaged houses bear mute testimony to the shelling. With the ceasefire holding, the residents want the administration to focus on buttressing bunkers on priority over other projects. 'Jaan hai to jehan hai (If there's life, there's the world),' says Abdul Jabbar, a septuagenarian who has lived in Poonch town all his life but has never seen such heavy shelling as he did in May. 'We didn't have any shelter or underground bunker. Now everybody wants it on priority as hundreds of shells landed in our town. We have seen the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971 besides the Kargil conflict, but this time was entirely different. We helplessly witnessed death and destruction at close quarters.' The first community bunker is being constructed in the premises of the deputy commissioner's (DC) office in the heart of Poonch. Land is being identified for building more such community bunkers in the town. 'The work has already started on one and the other bunkers will also be constructed at a fast pace,' said an officer privy to details. Workers constructing a community bunker at Poonch. (Waseem Andrabi /Hindustan Times) Inadequate compensation The hustle and bustle may have returned to the border town, but most houses damaged in the shelling tell a different story as repair work is yet to start. On its part, the government has disbursed relief cheques worth ₹ 16 lakh to the families who lost members in the cross-border shelling, besides giving government jobs and financial aid to rebuild damaged houses. However, most families say the compensation is insufficient as even the maximum amount of ₹ 1.3 lakh is not enough to carry out repairs. 'Shells landed in the courtyard of my house. I have got the damaged window panes replaced and that itself cost more than ₹ 2 lakh. It's a miracle we left in time,' said Rayaz Naz, a District Development Council (DDC) member from Loran Mandi who lives in the town's Radio Colony. Showing the damaged walls of his drawing room, he said, 'I can afford to repair my house but there are many, particularly in upper villages, for whom the compensation amount is inadequate. The relief should be enhanced for villagers in the hills.' Naz said that he had voluntarily provided land to the administration to build a community bunker. 'I was approached by the government and work on building bunkers across the town will start soon,' he added. Bunkers on priority Families who lost their loved ones in the shelling are still struggling to come to terms. Amarjit Singh, 50, an ex-serviceman was in his house when a shrapnel hit him and his older brother, Surjan Singh. Both brothers walked to the district hospital that is barely 100 metres from their house. While Surjan survived the head injuries, Amarjit succumbed to a deep wound in chest. 'I was in the hospital helping the injured and had returned home to take rest in the morning when a shell landed in my room,' said Surjan, a social worker who lives in the town's Ward Number 4. 'Our only request to the government now is to build community bunkers, otherwise residents will be forced to live in fear,' he added. Amarjit's wife Harpreet Kaur said she had received ₹ 16 lakh as compensation besides a government job in the education department. 'Now my priority is to provide quality education to my school-going children Aman and Gursharnagat,' she said. The family agreed that the compensation for house repair is inadequate. 'We got ₹ 1.3 lakh, but it is insufficient to rebuild our house,' said Amarjit's relative Sukhpal Singh. At a nearby locality where the town's biggest seminary, Zai ul Uloom, is located, 300 students had a narrow escape, while their head teacher, Qari Mohammad Iqbal, affiliated with the institution for 22 years, was killed in the May shelling. 'He was inside a room when a shell landed in the backyard, killing him on the spot. It was a miracle that 300 students in the seminary survived,' said Jameel Ahmad, whose family has been running the seminary for the past five decades along with three other schools. 'Qari sahib's family got compensation and his wife Shahnaz was given a job in the post office,' he said. Barely 500 metres ahead in Ward Number 15, the family of ragi Amreek Singh reopened their grocery shop after almost two months on June 26. Amreek's elder brother Harjit Singh said: 'Splinters had left the general store damaged. We got it repaired and renovated though we are awaiting the compensation. Amreek's wife Jasmeet Kour has been given a job in the agriculture department,' he said. The shop is now named after Amreek and his picture adorns a wall. Nothing can fill void Ranjit Singh, who lived in the same lane, lost his life in the shelling. 'No amount of compensation can fill the void. My brother was single so the government gave me a job and compensation to support our aged parents,' said Balbir Singh. Four km away in Dongus locality, Mohammad Akram and his daughter Afreen, 17, got hit by a shrapnel inside their house. While Akram died on the spot, Afreen is recuperating. Afreen is still in shock and doesn't want to recall the fateful day. Akram's wife Fareeda Bi said though she has got a job in the horticulture department, it's a Herculean task to make ends meet as she has four daughters and two minor sons to bring up single-handedly. Besides the seminary, a temple and gurdwara were damaged in the shelling. Though the assessment was carried out, the management committees are yet to receive the compensation. 'A shell landed in the courtyard, damaging the temple. A tree bore the impact and no one was injured,' said Amarnath Sharma, the pradhan of the Hanuman Mandir at Baghei, Poonch. 'We are awaiting the aid and if it doesn't come, we will go seek donations to carry out the repair,' he added. Surinder Singh Bajaj, the vice-president of the Poonch District Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, said renovation of Gurdwara Singh Sabha is yet to begin. 'The shell hit a corner of the gurdwara minutes after the prayers had culminated. Usually, dozens attend, but that day there was no visitor,' he said. In the firing line Despite the devastation, no local resident talked of moving out of Poonch. A local politician has even put up the pictures of Colonel Sofia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, the women defence personnel who addressed the initial press briefings during Operation Sindoor, on the front door of his house. 'We are in the firing line of Pakistan and their pickets are visible from here. Earlier, villages near the Line of Control were hit, but this time Pakistan targeted the town, 20km from the LoC. We don't know what lies ahead, but we are definitely not leaving our homes. It's the government's job to ensure our security,' said Bagh Hussain Rathore, the district president of the ruling National Conference. As for the migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who had fled when the shelling began in May, it's back to business. Manawar Hassan, who runs a small hotel near the general bus stand in Poonch, said: 'I had left for Jammu along with my family. Though we belong to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, we decided to wait it out till things settled down here. We returned a fortnight ago. Business is back to normal now.' Damaged portion of a wall in Poonch as inhabitants yet to begin renovation work. (Waseem Andrabi /Hindustan Times) Life is limping back to normalcy largely because of the confidence residents have in the security forces, including J&K Police, the BSF and the army that have been on high alert. Two main bridges connecting Poonch town have got additional security with personnel keeping a close eye on visitors. After all, Operation Sindoor is in strategic pause, not over.
Time of India
38 minutes ago
- Time of India
How can a new regime in Iran be in India's interest? Yet Delhi said little: Bruno Maçães
Bruno Maçães A former secretary of state for European Affairs in Portugal, Bruno Maçães wears many hats — he advises global corporations on geopolitical and technological risk, is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations , and has written books on the new world order as well as China's belt and road strategy. In an interview with Sunday Times , he argues that India must take a more proactive approach to securing its strategic interests. A truce has been called with the US, Israel and Iran all claiming victory. How do you assess these competing narratives? Israel was fundamentally interested in bringing the regime down. US president Trump showed considerable ability in how he avoided being dragged into a prolonged war most of his supporters were against. At the same time, no fundamental problem was addressed. Iran may even feel this is the right moment to pursue a nuclear weapon. The main obstacle in the past was political and may have been removed now that Ayatollah Khamenei has lost influence. He has consistently opposed a final decision on weaponising nuclear power. Regime change could lead to a military dictatorship in Iran and that would move it much closer to China. For India, this might well be a disaster and my conversations with friends in Delhi actually showed there was some awareness of the risk. But India needs to be more active in pursuing its strategic interests. In this multipolar world, India has had to do a balancing act with the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Middle East. How successful has this strategy been? India needs to develop a vision on what kind of principles and priorities it has and then apply those principles to ongoing crises. I consider India a civilization state but a civilization state needs to offer an organising theory of world order. How can it be in India's interest for Iran to be destroyed or for a new regime aligned with China and Pakistan to take root there? And yet we heard very little from Delhi in opposition to the wild adventures that were openly being discussed in Israel and Washington. On Russia's invasion of Ukraine, India, a country without territorial ambitions of its own, should be more critical of territorial invasions. I would have liked a stronger position and a stronger role against the return of the old European imperialism as represented by Russian president Putin . You have described the Israel attack on Iran as 'neoconservatism on steroids.' Can you explain? The old neoconservatism was about regime change. I think this is a more radical form of neoconservatism where the goal is regime destruction or collapse but there is no vision of what will replace it. Over the past two decades, Israel and the US have created a landscape of destruction in West Asia, all the way from Egypt to Pakistan. Syria is only now starting to recover, and a lot depends on whether it manages to get back on its feet and the wider region starts to recover. Unfortunately, Israel seems to believe the best future for itself is to become a fortified garrison amidst a landscape of destruction. There is no future in this vision, not even for Israel itself. I n your latest book 'World Builders', you argue that geopolitics is no longer about controlling territory but about technology. How do you see China's DeepSeek, and the fears in Europe that Trump could weaponise the tech dominance of the US? Europe has fallen behind. We need to realise technology is not above geopolitics. We are becoming more dependent on the US and that comes at the cost of our prosperity and independence. Regulation is not enough. In order to regulate technology, you first need to create it. We made a mistake 30 years ago to think it did not matter whether the main internet platforms in Europe were American or European. That was a tragic mistake. China did not make the same mistake, and now they have strong indigenous capabilities as shown by DeepSeek. Now, we find ourselves in a position of extreme dependency. Did you see how Nato's secretary general, who is European, referred to Europeans as 'they'? It reminded me of those nawabs in India who were so aligned with the East India Company that they referred to Indians as 'they'. In both cases, military dependence led to a kind of mental dependence. How do you think India will fare in this race for technology? Already, India is the only real rival to China in the race to control and deploy solar energy. Europe and America are out of this competition. I suspect in other areas too the contest for technological dominance will increasingly be between China and India. Right now, I think India is looking for a model. American-type financialisation will not work for India, but neither will the party leadership system of China. When you need to move fast in developing ideas and implementing them, the most important thing is a political model that fits your circumstances. Ultimately, India needs a political model that aligns with its culture and history which is the topic of my next book. A model is also necessary to organise discovery. What will be the technologies of the future? No one knows. But we know that it all starts with organised discovery. We already know that whoever masters solar energy and artificial intelligence will rule the world, but the details will decide everything. Can you tell us what your impressions were after your recent India visit, and what your next book will be focusing on? I spent two months this year visiting Ayodhya, the Mahakumbh and other places in India, as well as meeting many people and having intense discussions. My book will deal with the revival of Hindu civilization. I am spending a lot of hours reading the complete works of Vivekananda , Aurobindo, Coomaraswamy. These are writers of unmatched power but also complexity. I want to discuss the terms of this revival and also, what the Indian case can teach us about the fundamental political entity of the future: the civilization state, that is a state that is neither liberal nor national but based on a distinct civilization, a view about human life and society. I hope to be able to travel for several months across India next year to present these ideas.
Mint
42 minutes ago
- Mint
Russia Tries Again to Expand LNG Exports Upended by Sanctions
(Bloomberg) -- Russia is taking another crack at expanding exports of liquefied natural gas after US sanctions stalled efforts last year. An LNG vessel has docked at the Arctic LNG 2 export facility for the first time since October, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg and satellite images. The facility was supposed to be a cornerstone of Moscow's goal to increase LNG exports threefold by 2030, but has been idle for months after struggling to find buyers willing to break western restrictions. Russia has the pieces in place to meaningfully boost LNG exports as it expands its shadow fleet. Since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian gas pipeline exports to Europe have dwindled, and shipping more fuel via seaborne LNG tankers provides an attractive revenue stream to fill Moscow's coffers. At least 13 ships, including those that can navigate icy waters, have been marshaled to potentially service Arctic LNG 2, with some changing management companies several times to help obfuscate the actual owners. According to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg they include: 'Russia does have more vessels at its disposal compared to the summer/fall of 2024,' Malte Humpert, founder of the Arctic Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, said in an email. 'If it can find buyers, this small fleet should be sufficient to lift cargoes.' Eight shipments were exported from Arctic LNG 2 between August and October 2024, but never docked on foreign shores. Instead, the gas was offloaded into two Russian storage units in the Barents Sea and its Far East region. Large-scale production halted in October after ice built up around the facility and made transport by traditional vessels challenging. Russia's first domestically built ice-class LNG tanker may come online in the second half of this year if it passes remaining sea trials, Interfax reported Wednesday, citing Sovcomflot Chief Executive Officer Igor Tonkovidov. Now, the market will be closely monitoring whether Arctic LNG 2 can find willing buyers. Exporting more would be a boon for consumers, as it would put pressure on global gas prices. The Biden administration was diligent in sanctioning ships and companies connected with exporting fuel from Arctic LNG 2 last year. It isn't clear if the Trump administration will be as strict, or if the government will slap restrictions on ports that accept the fuel. The threat of retaliation from the US kept buyers at bay last year. Officials related to the Arctic LNG 2 joint venture have never stopped trying to sell the fuel, traveling to potential buyers in India and China over the last year, according to traders with knowledge of the matter. However, it isn't clear if they have been able to secure any sales. 'The biggest obstacle remains finding a buyer and shipping capacity,' Jan-Eric Fahnrich, a senior analyst at Rystad Energy, said by email. 'They will then circle around looking for buyers in Asia and Novatek will offer a discount.' Majority shareholder Novatek PJSC and the operating venture Arctic LNG 2 did not respond to emails seeking comment. Iris, the tanker currently docked at Arctic LNG 2, is a so-called Arc4 vessel, with a reinforced hull that allows it to navigate the shorter Arctic route to Asia when conditions allow in the summer. It is likely that the ship will make the journey, as Asia is home to buyers who may be willing to circumvent western restrictions. 'China would appear to be the most likely candidate, but with consistently declining Chinese demand for the past eight months this won't be an easy task,' said the Arctic Institute's Humpert. 'The fact that more than one million cubic meters of LNG loaded last year remains unsold, and in floating storage, does not bode well for renewed attempts to market additional volumes this summer.' Loading vessels at Arctic LNG 2 could also be necessary to ease brimming gas tanks. Satellite images taken June 25 indicate that two production trains at the facility are flaring, which indicates they could be operating or cooling down equipment. Without steady exports, the plant's storage will quickly fill up, and lack of space was one of the reasons why Arctic LNG 2 stopped large-scale production in October. Meanwhile, traders will wait to see if US or European officials further tighten restrictions on the facility as exports resume. 'Now is the time for increased pressure' on Russia's energy revenues, said Geoffrey Pyatt, distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center and a former US assistant secretary of state who helped craft Arctic LNG 2 sanctions under the Biden administration. 'European leaders have expressed new determination to end all imports of Russian gas, making it even more important that the United States maintains our pressure on Novatek.' --With assistance from Anna Shiryaevskaya. More stories like this are available on
