India has selected the national song Vande Mataram as the main theme for the Republic Day parade to be held in New Delhi on 26 January, marking 150 years since it was written. Bengali litterateur Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay composed Vande Mataram in the 1870s as a poem, and it remains a prominent cultural and patriotic […]
Read MoreBy Tom Hussain Pakistan is increasingly confident of making billion-dollar arms sales, headlined by the JF-17 fighters its co-produces with China, as up to six Muslim-majority countries look to upgrade their air forces amid growing geopolitical turbulence and civil wars. A preliminary deal worth US$4 billion was struck last month with the Libyan National Army […]
Read MoreBy Iman Muttaqin Yusof A well-intentioned US embassy post featuring a satellite image of Malaysia has sparked a distinctly local burst of self-deprecating humour, with social media users quipping in response to the picture: “Sorry, we don’t have oil.” On Friday, the embassy in Kuala Lumpur posted a 2016 photograph taken from the International Space […]
Read MoreBy Dewey Sim in Beijing and Zhao Ziwen in Hong Kong China has “more to lose” compared with Venezuela if Iran’s rulers should fall, according to diplomatic observers, but it is expected to avoid direct intervention. The country is facing a wave of anti-government protests fuelled by economic hardship in which hundreds, if not thousands, […]
Read MoreNew Delhi: India’s policy of choosing from where to source defence hardware is driven by national interest, and is not at all ideological, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in response to a question by NDTV linked to the official visit of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The German leader, who met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi […]
Read MoreBy Seong Hyeon Choi in Hong Kong and Sylvie Zhuang in Beijing US President Donald Trump’s proposal to boost next year’s military budget to US$1.5 trillion aims to blunt China’s global influence, a move analysts said could push Beijing to speed up its own military build-up with “greater urgency”. On Wednesday, Trump wrote on social […]
Read MoreBangladesh and Pakistan’s air chiefs have held a discussion on the “potential procurement” of JF-17 Thunder aircraft, according to the Inter Services Public Relations Directorate of Pakistan. Bangladesh Air Force Chief Air Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan met Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Chief Air Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu in Islamabad. Khan headed a senior defence […]
Read MoreISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday welcomed an agreement under which Spain will procure Turkish-made HURJET training aircraft, describing it as evidence of Turkey’s “pioneering role” in defence and aviation industry. Under the deal, signed this week, the Spanish Air Force will acquire 30 HURJET aircraft from Turkey in a contract valued at around […]
Read MoreNew Delhi: For the Indian Army, 2025 will be remembered as a decisive phase in India’s counter-terror and deterrence posture, with Operation Sindoor emerging as the defining military action against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and cross-border aggression. Launched in May 2025 in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor showcased India’s resolve, precision strike capability […]
Read MorePALM BEACH, United States: US President Donald Trump said Monday he was considering selling top-end F-35 fighter jets to Turkiye, during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who adamantly opposes the move. “We’re thinking about it very seriously,” Trump said when asked about an F-35 deal for Turkiye as he met Netanyahu at […]
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