US-India strategic alliance, global influence: Rubio

Seeking to repair ties between India and the United States-which he described as a "strategic alliance between two countries that have global influence and the ability to influence global events" - visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday addressed New Delhi's concerns on challenges over the past year from trade tariffs to visa restrictions and changes in immigration policies to Washington's close ties with Pakistan's military leadership.-

India finalises request letter for 114 Rafales, to send it to France soon

India has finalised the Letter of Request (LoR) for the procurement of 114 Rafale fighter jets for the IAF and is expected to send it to France "very soon", within the "next few weeks" The Indian Express has learnt.

Around 90 jets from this set of 114 are to be manufactured in India through a collaboration between the French manufacturer Dassault Aviation and an Indian company, while the rest will arrive in flyaway condition.

Bengal to set up 'holding centres' for illegal Bangla immigrants, Rohingya

The West Bengal government has ordered the setting up of "holding centres" across all 23 districts in the state for Bangladesh nationals and Rohingya people found to be illegally staying in the country, ahead of their deportation.

UCC will not encroach upon rights, customs, traditions of tribals: Shah

Seeking to allay apprehensions among tribal communities over the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that no provision of the UCC would apply to tribals and asserted that the law would not encroach upon their rights, customs or traditions.

Iran embassy rejects Rubio remarks on nuclear programme

In Response to visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's remarks that Iran can never have nuclear weapons, and they need to turn over their highly enriched uranium, the Iranian embassy in New Delhi has said that they consider "the peaceful use of nuclear science and technology to be the legitimate and inalienable right of its people", emphasising that it will never relinquish this lawful and internationally recognised right.

The rupee problem this time is different. The solution must be, too

The pressure point is the capital account. This will require both a weaker rupee and foreign capital augmentation measures.

Squeezing the current account through demand compression can be counterproductive.

The energy challenge is urgent, step up to it

The US war on Iran has prompted a rethink on the challenges facing the Indian economy. While most of the focus at present has been on the sharp fall in the exchange rate of the rupee, the rupee's fall isn't, by itself, the problem. It is, rather, a reflection of the more substantive weaknesses in the economy. The biggest one is India's high and rising dependence on energy imports.

India faces a 1991 moment: It needs to reform, relook at subsidies

The Indian rupee continues to weaken against the US dollar. If the RBI does not intervene decisively, the exchange rate could well slide to Rs 100 per US dollar. To stabilise the rupee, the RBI may need a war chest of at least $50-60 billion, and even that would provide only temporary relief. The underlying causes of the crisis lie largely beyond the RBI's control.

Between Russia and EU, Delhi's defence rebalancing

Apart from green growth and technology, defence cooperation emerged as an important area of engagement between India and Europe during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Italy. The adoption of the India-Italy Defence Industrial Roadmap was an especially important development. Earlier, on the margins of the India-EU Summit in January, Delhi signed a Security and Defence Partnership (SDP) with the EU, an integral part of Towards 2030: A Joint India-EU Comprehensive Strategic Agenda.

Russia uses hypersonic Oreshnik missile in mass attack on Ukraine

Russia Pounded Kyiv and surrounding areas with hundreds of drones and missiles on Sunday in one of the heaviest bombardments of the city since the start of the four-year war, firing an Oreshnik hypersonic missile near the capital.

China sends astronaut on year-long space mission as it eyes 2030 moon landing

China Sent three astronauts to its space station on Sunday, one of whom will stay for a year, a record length for the country, enabling the study of long-duration human physiology in space as Beijing works towards its ambition of a crewed moon landing by 2030.

On a damaged Malaysian seabed, 'concrete' reefs are bringing coral & fish back

Pom Pom Island lies off the northeastern coast of Borneo, an area where fishermen have for decades used homemade dynamite to kill schools of fish. The practice, which has long been illegal in Malaysia, is common among local anglers, who say they cannot earn enough money from the smaller catches they make using conventional methods.

But miles of coral reef have become collateral damage.

DRDO's new missile offers precision strikes, anti-drone combat

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) last week carried out final development trials of the UAV-Launched Precision Guided Missile (ULPGM)-V3. This will be followed by user trials by the armed forces.

Amid tighter Green Card rules in the US, why Indians could be uniquely affected

The US on Friday moved to significantly restrict those eligible for permanent residency in the country, rattling the lakhs of Indians on temporary visas who are awaiting a Green Card.

The US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), announced that those applying for Green Cards must return to their home countries to do so a sweeping reversal of a practice in place for over half a century.