Sri Lanka to conduct elephant census after 10 years

Colombo (IANS) Sri Lanka's Department of Wildlife Conservation will conduct an island-wide elephant census this year after a decade to determine the exact number of the animals in the country, local media reported on Monday.

Secretary to…

Turkey launches fifth indigenous frigate

Ankara (IANS) Turkey has launched its fifth indigenous frigate produced as part of the MILGEM project, a national warship program.

Istanbul Frigate F-515 was designed with national resources, and over 75 per cent of its systems are of indigenous…

Prachanda faction expels Prime Minister Oli from party

Kathmandu (IANS) Discord and division continue inside the Nepal Communist Party, which has not split formally but has virtually fallen apart after Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli unilaterally decided to dissolve the House of Representatives on December…

US to operationalise India as Major Defence Partner: Austin

New Delhi (IANS) US Secretary of Defense nominee, Lt Gen Lloyd Austin (retd) has said that he would further operationalise India's major "Major Defence Partner" status.

During his confirmation hearing in Congress, the former US Central…

Biden's defence chief-designate says cooperation with India to grow

New York (IANS) US President Joe Biden's nominee for defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said that he would continue to build on the "strong defence cooperation" with India and ensure that the militaries of the two countries can collaborate on…

US rejoins Paris climate pact, WHO under Biden

New York (IANS) Getting to work soon after the inauguration festivities, President Joe Biden has signed orders for the US to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the first set of actions to undo the policies of…

Twitter locks account of Chinese Embassy in US over Uyghur tweet

New Delhi (IANS) Twitter has locked the official account of China's Embassy in the US over a controversial post that referred to Muslim Uyghur women as "baby-making machines" prior to government intervention.

The tweet was originally shared…

Blinken indicates US to continue backing India against China incursions

New York (IANS) Anthony Blinken, who is President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to be the secretary of state has indicated that the US would continue to back India against challenges to its sovereignty from China and work with it in the fight against…

Israeli jets target Hamas sites in Gaza

Tel Aviv (IANS) The Israeli military said on Monday that its warplanes struck sites belonging to the Hamas in the Gaza Strip after two rockets were fired from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

An Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement…

Indonesia earthquake death toll climbs to 56

Jakarta (IANS) The number of casualties due to the 6.2-magnitude earthquake which struck Indonesia's West Sulawesi province has increased to to 56, country's National Disaster Management Agency said on Sunday.

Agency spokesman Raditya…