Indian Air Force plane arrives in Fiji

An Indian Air Force aircraft has arrived in the country this morning ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit on Wednesday. The aircraft is an Illyushin 76MD known as the Gajraj or King Elephant in the Indian Air Force which forms the strategic/heavy transport fleet. It has brought vehicles believed to be bullet proof for Modi’s entourage as well as his advanced security team. Modi who has been described as India’s political rock star is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the country in 33 years.

PM Modi invites US firms to invest in India; says US-India ties can help world recover from pandemic

PM Modi said that the bilateral partnership can help the world bounce back after the pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged the US firms to invest in India and said that now is the best time to invest. Listing out opportunities in the fields of energy, infrastructure, defence, agriculture, healthcare, etc, Narendra Modi said that the bilateral partnership can help the world bounce back after the pandemic.  He added that India and the US are two vibrant democracies with shared values and both are natural partners. Speaking a…

Modi and Ghani to reach Amritsar, likely to hold talks: Defense News

Modi and Ghani will jointly inaugurate the ministerial deliberations of Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process, which is being attended by nearly 40 countries and leading groupings like the European Union. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani will reach in Amritsar this evening to take part in the annual conference of the Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process. They are also likely to hold bilateral talks to strengthen India-Afghanistan ties, an official said. They are also scheduled to pay obeisance at the Golden …

INDIA-CHINA RELATIONS: NEXT STEPS – ANALYSIS

Sometime during the fall this year Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit India as part of the agreed high level bilateral exchange. Xi, who also leads the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the country’s military as chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), would be more powerful than his two predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin. Xi Jinping has recently unveiled his “thoughts on national defence” which include “not an inch of Chinese territory” will be given up, and if China fights a war it will be determined…

Narendra Modi and Tony Abbott reveal new India-Australia military agreement

Australia and India have entered a new era of security and military co-operation based on shared values and aimed at defending a rules-based international order. The Indian and Australian governments have now confirmed a Fairfax report this morning that prime ministers Narendra Modi and Tony Abbott quietly signed a sensitive and potentially transformative new framework agreement. The confirmation came after China's President Xi Jinping had flown from Canberra to Tasmania.  "They have decided to establish the Framework…

PM Narendra Modi Says Al Qaeda Will Fail in India

rime Minister Narendra Modi has said al Qaeda will struggle to recruit members in the world's second-most populous nation and he praised Indian Muslims for their commitment to fight for the country. Al Qaeda announced the formation of its first wing dedicated to waging jihad in South Asia earlier this month. A few days later it claimed responsibility for hijacking a Pakistani naval ship. Mr Modi, who was elected in May, said Indian Muslims were patriotic and would not betray their nation, which has a long history of sectarian stri…

Why the World’s Most Powerful Leaders Really Love India

Some of the world’s most important people are wooing India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi like teenage boys drooling over the homecoming queen. Less than a month ago, Modi was feted in Japan on his five-day official visit, during which he even received an unexpected hug from usually stiff Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. This week, Modi is hosting China’s President Xi Jinping, who upon his arrival in the country on Wednesday, proclaimed that Beijing wishes “to forge a closer development partnership and jointly realize our great…

Under Modi's watch, India edges closer to Israel

NEW DELHI: In a delicate balancing act, the Indian government under prime minister Narendra Modi is showing signs of edging closer to Israel, even as it attempts to maintain its longtime support of Palestine and cordial relations with the Arab world. Last week, Rajnath Singh, India’s home minister, traveled to Israel for two days to discuss defence and security issues – a visit that, analysts say, is in clear line with the thinking of Mr Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  During a visit by the former Israeli president Shimon Pere…

G20 Summit: PM Narendra Modi faces competition from Chinese President Xi Jinping

NEW DELHI: As Narendra Modi arrived in Brisbane on Friday to take part in his maiden G20 Summit and bilateral trip to Australia -- first by an Indian PM in 28 years -- he has competition at hand from Chinese President Xi Jinping who is also on official trip to the country with a similar goal of expanding economic and energy partnership with Canberra and expanding footprints in the Pacific region. But it is not Australia alone. Xi will follow Modi to Fiji after his trips to Australia and New Zealand in a nine-day trip to these three…

Pak shocked by massive Indian Army retaliation after Modi's fire-at-will order

Islamabad may not be awed but it certainly is shocked by the ferocity and volume of the Indian response to ceasefire violations along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir. Given complete freedom to act by the government, the Indian Army and Border Security Force are firing back at will from every spot the Pakistanis have targeted. The volume and intensity of India's return fire is much higher than the usual calibrated response the Pakistanis have come to expect. Top government sources told Mail Today that Indian forces ar…

Indian PM Modi is Under Attack Threat Based On Arrested Al Qaeda Suspects

INDIA: Three people arrested today in Madurai in Tamil Nadu were planning to attack 22 top political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi . The arrests were made by the National Investigation Agency, the country's top counter-terror group. The suspects are allegedly members of the Al Qaeda. M Khareem, Asif Sultan Mohammed and Abbas Ali were arrested after raids across the city. Along with explosives, investigators recovered pamphlets and documents on a pen drive that listed potential targets including PM Modi .

DefenseNews :  Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit India soon, with the Kremlin currently finalizing the dates for his trip. This announcement was made by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who indicated that the exact dates will be revealed shortly. This visit marks Putin's first trip to India since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022; his last visit occurred on December 6, 2021, during the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi. The upcoming visit is significant as it comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#…

Why Narendra Modi’s invite to Barack Obama marks a watershed in India-US ties

The presence of US President Barack Obama at the Republic Day celebrations next year is likely to mark the long awaited moment of transformation in India’s relations with America and an extraordinary shift in Delhi’s world view. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to invite Obama, and the American president’s acceptance reveal the scale and scope of the mutual understanding that appears to have emerged out of the meeting between the two leaders in September. Over the next two months, Delhi and Washington will have the opportuni…

US endorses India-Japan strategic partnership

WASHINGTON: The US has welcomed the just announced India-Japan Strategic Partnership and said it is looking forward to strengthen its trilateral co-operation with them. "The US strongly supports India's collaboration and cooperation with its neighbours in the Asia Pacific. We actively support such collaboration through our trilateral dialogue and other activities with India and Japan, and look forward to strengthening further our trilateral cooperation," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said. The US strongly suppo…

Modi urges 'people-driven' reforms, seeks black money cooperation at G20 meet

Economic reforms are bound to face resistance and, hence, must be insulated from political pressure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, but emphasised that such policy should also be “people-centric and people-driven”. Modi’s comments made at a private retreat of G20 leaders in Brisbane come days before the start of the winter session of parliament in which key but controversial legislation on opening up the pensions and insurance sectors are expected to be taken up. The government may also seek to tweak the contentious ne…

Under Modi, Israel and India forge deeper Business & Defence ties

TEL AVIV: At the UN General Assembly in New York last September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set aside time for a critical meeting. But it wasn't US President Barack Obama he was keen to see. It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Since Modi came to power in May, ties between Israel and India have been in overdrive, with the two signing a series of defence and technology deals that have underscored their burgeoning commercial and political relationship. The same month as the UN meeting, Modi's cabinet cleared a l…

Boeing mulls investment in India’s defence sector

New Delhi :  Boeing , the world's largest planemaker, is considering investing in India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi eases rules for foreign investment in the defence sector and expedites arms contracts. The United States-based aerospace company is in the process of identifying partners "for a strategic and meaningful relationship," Dennis D. Swanson, the New Delhi-based vice-president at Boeing Defence Space & Security, said in an interview. Modi 's decision in July to allow overseas investors to buy as…

India To Push Joint Weapons Development During US Visit

NEW DELHI — India’s leader will seek joint development of high-tech weaponry when he visits the White House on Sept. 30, in a shift from the country’s “buy and supply” relationship with the US, an Indian official said. New Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also discuss greater participation of US and Indian defense companies when he visits with US President Barack Obama, said the official with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Defense analysts here say the Modi government will not give big-ticket weaponry orders to the US …

Wagah suicide attack: Bomber was vowing the ‘revenge’ against PM Narendra Modi

The terrorist group that carried out Sunday’s murderous suicide bombing at Wagah has followed it up with a threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “You are the killer of hundreds of Muslims,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat Ahrar (TTP-JA) spokesperson ‘Ehsanullah Ehsan’ said in a message released on his Twitter feed on Monday, hours after claiming responsibility for the Wagah strike, “We w(il)l take the revenge of innocent people of Kashmir and Gujarat” (sic). Modi has been briefed at least twice in the last fortnight on the growing threat…

Indian Defense News: Israel's Defence Minister to visit India for first time

IDN: "Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon will be meeting senior Indian officials to discuss the possibility of  further expanding and deepening our defence ties and also attend the Bangalore Air show," sources informed. Ya'alon had expressed his country's desire to participate in the 'Make in India' campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Israel  last year and several Israeli defence industries had also backed the move.    Though India is Israel …