Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that Ukraine received a new IRIS-T air defence launcher from Germany, according to Reuters, further strengthening Kyiv’s efforts to protect its cities and critical infrastructure from Russian missile and drone strikes.“Ukraine received a new IRIS-T air defence launcher from Germany yesterday,” Zelenskyy said, highlighting Berlin’s continued military support for…

Continue Reading

US President Donald Trump will personally launch the Great American State Fair next month after several musical acts withdrew from the event, citing concerns over its political associations.The organisers of the fair, Freedom 250, announced on Saturday that Trump will kick off the celebrations on June 24 in Washington, DC, as part of events marking…

Continue Reading

An Indian-origin manager at The Walt Disney Company has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a Russian prison after being convicted of drug possession and smuggling. The case stemmed from THC-infused gummy candies that were allegedly found in his luggage at a Moscow airport.According to Russian state media TASS, 46-year-old Jugal Daterao was arrested in…

Continue Reading

SINGAPORE: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took another swipe at Washington’s NATO and European partners on Saturday, saying those that do not hike defence spending sufficiently “will face a clear shift in how we do business”.NATO members pledged last year to ramp up defence-related spending to five percent of GDP but, despite increased efforts, many…

Continue Reading

The dangers of AI eclipsed those of nuclear weapons at a defence forum discussion on strategic stability in Singapore, as panelists warned it could reduce reaction times to the point where people make rash decisions.Collapsing the so-called “OODA loop” – an acronym for observe, orient, decide and act – creates a sort of fog in…

Continue Reading

China has expelled a New York Times journalist from the country over an interview the US-based newspaper conducted with Taiwan’s president, as Beijing ramps up its campaign to isolate the self-ruled island on the world stage.Reporter Vivian Wang was ordered to leave China in Feb, the NYT reported, calling it the latest example of Beijing’s…

Continue Reading

SINGAPORE: The United States, Britain and Australia are working together to develop unmanned undersea vehicles as part of their trilateral Aukus defence pact, US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth told reporters on Saturday.Aukus said in a joint statement that delivery of the vehicles will start in 2027.The programme will improve the three nations’ reconnaissance and…

Continue Reading

A grandfather died while rescuing his nine-year-old granddaughter after a sudden change in sea conditions pulled members of his family into deeper water at a beach in Cornwall, UK.Phil Crow, 68, suffered a cardiac arrest in the sea at Tregirls Beach near Padstow on bank holiday Monday after helping save his granddaughter, Sia Briskham, and…

Continue Reading

Former Bangladesh President Zia-ur-Rahman DHAKA: India on Saturday recalled the historic radio broadcast of former Bangladesh President Zia-ur-Rahman, in which he, invoking Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, proclaimed the country’s independence and called upon the people to resist the Pakistan army amid a military crackdown marked by widespread killings and mass atrocities.On the occasion of Zia’s…

Continue Reading

Representative image (Photo credit: AP) Ukrainian drone strikes triggered fires at multiple Russian oil facilities overnight into Saturday, Russian officials said, marking the latest in a series of attacks targeting Moscow’s energy infrastructure, according to the Associated Press.Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region said falling drone debris sparked a fire that damaged an oil depot and…

Continue Reading