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GREETINGS TO SS-15 COURSE ON 29 APR 1973 DATE OF COMMISSIONING (53 YRS AGO)
On completion of 53 years of glorious date of commission from (29 Apr 1973 – 28 Apr 2026), all those who passed out from OTS (Officers Training School) Chennai now called OTA (Officers Training Academy on 29 Apr 1973 , celebrated their completion of 53 years of date of commission with families ,all over India and abroad where ever officers now Veterans have settled down.
This day when Gentlemen Cadets were transformed into Officers after proudly supporting the first star on our young shoulders (Tech 6 – wearing two stars). They were Commissioned into various Arms and Services, we moved forward taking on our responsibilities. Some left after completing mandatory five years of service into newer pastures, other taking premature retirement and shouldering new responsibilities. Whereas the diehard continued serving till the day came for them to hang up their boots. During this time, many Course mates (CMs) were due to health issues, accidents and other causes and 2 minutes silence was observed to pay respect and remember our departed souls of lost who had departed from this world to the next one, who left us before they were 55/ 60 yrs of age.
. It was a pleasure meeting our CMs and interacting with them. The whole affair was well attended, reviving our memories of the time spent at OTS (Now OTA) during the training period. The whole scenario of OTA has changed, with newer buildings and newer get up, but this no way lessened our enthusiasm. White House speaks was interesting giving the observe.
Happy 53 commissioning day to all our dear CM s
Greetings on the anniversary of our commissioning into the Army. May this milestone fill all of us with pride for all that we have variously achieved …
Wishing you and your loved ones good health and lasting happiness
The incredible Internet of Things
The marriage of IoT and AI is a transition that dwarfs the original Internet’s impact
Manish Tewari
A person awakens not to an alarm clock but to a wearable band that has monitored the entire sleep architecture — tracking REM (rapid eye movement) cycles, heart rate variability and nocturnal peripheral oxygen saturation levels. Through a cloud-hosted machine learning model, it has chosen the lightest sleep phase within a predetermined window to trigger a gentle haptic pulse.
The bedroom lights slowly shift from a dim amber to a cool white, mimicking the arc of dawn, as soon as a tiny passive infrared sensor in the corner registers the first stirring of motion under the blanket.
The refrigerator has already detected that the milk carton’s weight, measured by a strain gauge embedded in the shelf, has fallen below a threshold, and it generates a grocery reminder that appears on the mobile phone screen, routed through a cloud service maintained in a data centre in some other part of the world. The smart kettle, triggered by a proximity tag in the owner’s slippers, heats water for tea; an ultrasonic sensor ensures that the water does not boil dry. All this unfolds before a single conscious choice has been made.
Welcome to the Internet of Things (IoT) — a network of physical objects embedded with sensors, software and communication technologies, enabling them to connect to the Internet and exchange data automatically without direct human involvement.
The term “Internet of Things” was coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a British technologist then working on supply-chain optimisation at Procter & Gamble, during a presentation linking Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to the Internet. The insight was deceptively simple: if everyday objects could sense their environment and communicate without human intermediation, inventory management would cease to be reactive and become self-aware.
Yet, the primordial object was even older: a hacked vending machine, wired to purchase food supplies through a computer terminal, report its inventory on its own, and chill. The machine, Prancing Pony, named after an inn in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, also sold beer but only on credit and only to people over 21, since it knew everyone’s age. If a youngster attempted to buy beer, it responded “Sorry, kid.”
From that quirky beginning, the field mutated through embedded systems, wireless sensor networks and machine-to-machine protocols. Every IoT device now embodies sensing, networking, processing and actuation. This convergence of operational technology with information technology dissolved the air gap that once insulated, say, a factory’s robotic arm from the Internet.
That dissolution represents the single most consequential architectural change in the history of digital infrastructure because it transforms every sensor into a potential entry point for malicious code, every actuator into a weapon that can manipulate the physical world.
Ashton’s original substrate contained the entire genetic code of IoT: physically embedded constraints, low-power silicon and a wireless link to a networked database. The real ignition for IoT came from the collision of three exponential curves: the plummeting cost of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors, the planetary spread of IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) and the emergence of low-power WAN (Wide Area Network) protocols that whisper tiny packets of data across kilometres on a single coin-cell battery.
The current state of affairs is simultaneously a staggering engineering triumph and a policy quagmire. On the one hand, IoT has moved beyond wearables and smart speakers into the hard infrastructure of civilisation. In healthcare, for instance, continuous glucose monitors and implantable cardiac loop recorders that transmit medication adherence data have already transitioned to standard care protocols. These devices fuse the patient’s physiology with clinical decision-support algorithms, effectively turning every individual into their own digital twin.
On the other hand, the very ubiquity that makes IoT revolutionary also makes it terrifying. Unlike the Internet of human-to-human communication, where the worst-case breach often means stolen credit-card numbers or embarrassing email leaks, an IoT compromise is a kinetic threat. For example, insulin pumps can be remotely reprogrammed to deliver a lethal dose, or the CAN (Controller Area Network) bus of connected vehicles can be injected with malicious frames from the infotainment unit.
The marriage of IoT and AI is a transition that dwarfs the original Internet’s impact. The first Internet revolution was one of information: it indexed the world’s explicit knowledge and compressed the cost of sharing it to near zero. The IoT-plus-AI revolution is one of action — it indexes the world’s physical behaviour and compresses the time between signal and response to near zero.
IoT is a system of five layers: perception, network, middleware, application and business; but that model is static until AI becomes the brain across all layers. Edge-deployed TinyML models running on Arm Cortex-M microcontrollers fundamentally re-architect the Internet from a human-centric request-response system to a world where objects negotiate, learn and act long before a human ever joins the loop.
No case study exemplifies the breathtaking promise and the apocalyptic risk clearer than the saga of Claude Mythos, an AI tool capable of probing any system — desktop software, cloud infrastructure, embedded firmware — and rapidly surfacing zero-day vulnerabilities that a human reverse engineering expert might overlook for years.
Simply put, it could crash any machine it touched. The statement is not about mere software instability; it is about the fundamental brittleness of a world where AI, even with benign intent, can issue a physical command — such as opening a valve in a chemical plant or cutting power to a neonatal incubator — that cascades into a catastrophe because the AI’s mental model of the environment is imperfect.
This is the ultimate caution: in an IoT-saturated world, an AI agent is not just a disembodied text generator; it is a poltergeist with a wrench, a screwdriver and access to a billion actuators.
The future is one where entire cities will become soft-real-time control loops. Streetlights with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors will not only adjust brightness but also detect the micro-Doppler signatures of a pedestrian who has stumbled, instantly altering the signal timing of surrounding intersections while pinging the nearest autonomous ambulance. This is about turning the planet into a closed-loop metabolism — a form of geocybernetics — where every sensor-to-actuator chain is a potential attack vector.
The Internet gave humanity a new nervous system for information. The Internet of Things, once wedded to machine agency, gives humanity a new musculoskeletal system for the planet itself. The future beckons.
Trinco story travels a long way
Languishing since 1987, the Trinco Energy Hub will be connected with multi-purpose pipelines and power grids between Sri Lanka and India.
Maj Gen Ashok K Mehta (retd)
The Gulf War has at least had one positive effect — the creation of larger strategic oil reserves. One of the most significant measures is the Trincomalee (Trinco) Oil Tank Farms project in Sri Lanka. Languishing since 1987, the development of the Trinco Energy Hub is now on the anvil, to be connected with multi-purpose pipelines and power grids between the two countries. In a smart diplomatic move, New Delhi sent Vice-President CP Radhakrishnan, who also happens to be Tamilian, to Sri Lanka recently, in what was the first bilateral visit by any Vice President to Sri Lanka, raising the protocol from the customary contact of Foreign Minister Jaishankar who last visited Colombo in December 2025.
The Radhakrishnan call was significant for three reasons: it focused on transforming Trinco as an energy hub; it helped revive the “Tamil question”; and it embedded India’s strategic stature as first responder in India’s neighbourhood. Like the landslide political victory of the Rashtriya Swatantra Party in Nepal, Sri Lanka’s left-wing National People’s Power party stormed into power in 2024 decimating traditional parties, including the once-strong Tamil bloc.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake a former Marxist from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, which in the 1980s had opposed the 1987 India-Sri Lanka Accord, has recognised Delhi’s preeminence in the region and highlighted its Neighbourhood First policy by recounting India’s crucial interventions: the economic crisis in 2022; the financial lifeline that followed the crisis of debt; and relief during cyclone Ditwah. Radhakrishnan said India will stand with Sri Lanka’s “ successes and struggles like an affectionate elder brother”, a term that rebounded in Nepal. In its election manifesto NPP had said : Trinco oil tank farms will be renovated with support of a friendly foreign country.
Last month, with Radhakrishnan and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri flanking him, Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath called the Trinco project a permanent solution to the developing energy crisis in the Indian subcontinent, whilst referring to the ongoing war in the Persian Gulf. Misri, earlier Deputy High Commissioner in Colombo, briefed the media in Colombo on several bilateral matters, including the Trinco Energy Hub.
It will be instructive to recall the strategic importance of Trinco Harbour and Port as penned by former Sri Lankan Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne, who noted that the Dutch, French and British colonial powers contested Trincomalee because it was the gateway to the Bay of Bengal. British admiral Lord Nelson described Trinco as “the finest and deepest harbour in the world”. In 1935, the British built 100 oil tanks with impregnable Manchester steel, with the capacity to hold 1 mn tonnes of petroleum, long enough for six months of strategic petroleum reserve.
For Sri Lanka, Trincomalee is a ‘national asset’. In the past, several trade unions and political parties have protested energy cooperation with India, seeing it as a ceding of sovereignty. That’s why, despite several agreements and MoUs, none could fructify. The three decade-long Tamil Eelam war didnt help.
In 2003, Indian Oil Corporation signed a 35-year lease to develop 15 oil tanks, with an annual payment of $ 100,000. Sri Lanka Oil Corporation utilises 16 tanks for fuel storage, offshore bunkering and has rented three to Prima Flour Mill Singapore for water storage. Radhakrishnan discussed the renovation of oil tanks and laying of a multi purpose oil transfer pipeline between Karaikal/Chennai to Trincomalee. A solar power project is also under construction in Sampore in Trinco. The iron is hot for the Trinco Energy hub to be finally executed.
The Tamil question over the years has been relegated to ‘Tamil aspirations’; this is true even for those in the political doldrums especially after the political mauling of the fractured Tamil parties in the Northern Province, considered a Tamil stronghold for decades. NPP won three of nine seats in Jaffna districts, topping the vote share for the first time; remarkably, a non-Tamil national alliance had won seats in Jaffna. The Tamil National Alliance, which at one time had 16 seats, is today reduced to 12 seats. (Back In 1977, Tamil United Liberation Front was the main opposition party with 18 seats.) Provincial elections have not been held for seven years but there is no indication they will be held anytime soon. While Dissanayake has been telling Tamils that the new Constitution will address the “Tamil question”, Radhakrishnan informed Tamil leaders that he had discussed the issue with his Sri Lankan interlocutors.
Certainly, the Tamils have genuine reasons to be upset with Sinhala majority rulers, whether they belong to the Left or the Right. The Tamils point out that the spirit of the India Sri Lanka accord, which was a treaty between two countries — which guaranteed under a proposed 13th Amendment equality between Tamil and Sinhala, opening the door to a federal model of power sharing and devolution within a ‘united, undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka”– has not been implemented.
The late Tamil leader, R Sambanthan, had said: “India has special duty in ensuring the resolution of the Tamil question”. But no longer do Indian leaders even mention the implementation of the 13th Amendment or talk about reconciliation that followed military excesses during the Eelam war. Admittedly, Colombo has built a memorial to uphold the sacrifices of 1257 Indian Peace Keeping Force soldiers who facilitated the ultimate defeat of LTTE, back in 1990.
Traditionally, Sri Lankan leaders used to say: “We look to India for our security and China for economic growth”. After the 2022 economic meltdown and debt crisis, the tables have been turned, especially after India provided the $4 billion financial lifeline.
Still, the Trinco Energy Hub is breaking news. Colombo’s Daily Mirror , a premier newspaper, described it as follows on April 22: “It is no longer a matter of strategic vision but how urgently it can be executed”.
What a long way the Trinco story has travelled.
As General Dwivedi visits alma mater, a look at service Chiefs from Sainik Schools
As chief of the Army Staff, Gen Upendra Dwivedi, walked down the memory lane at his alma mater, Sainik School in Rewa on Tuesday, it cast a throwback on several chiefs of the Armed Forces, besides other distinguished civilian alumni, who began their illustrious march from Sainik Schools, which are now on the cusp of transformation to meet contemporary educational and societal demands.
“In a moment of pride and deep nostalgia, #GeneralUpendraDwivedi, #COAS, visited his alma mater – Sainik School Rewa, where his journey of discipline, courage and leadership first began. The #COAS laid a wreath at the school memorial, reviewed a Guard of Honour by the cadets and commended the faculty and cadets for upholding the finest traditions of the institution,” the Indian Army posted on its X handle.
Walking once again through the corridors that shaped his character, the Chief shared his memories and inspired young cadets to lead with integrity, serve with dedication and uphold an unwavering commitment to the nation. The visit stood as a tribute to mentorship, gratitude, and the enduring legacy of Sainik Schools as the cradle of India’s future leaders, the post added.
Distinguished Alumni
Besides General Dwivedi, an Infantry officer who was commissioned into the Army in December 1984 and was appointed as the 29th Army Chief on June 30, 2024, the Current Chief of Navy Staff, Admiral Dinesh Tripathi is also from the same batch of the same class that passed out from the school in 1981.
Admiral Tripathi was commissioned into the Indian Navy in July 1985 and assumed office as the 26th Navy Chief on April 30, 2024. He is the only Navy Chief to be publicly listed as a Sainik School alumnus.
Former Army Chief’s Gen Dalbit Singh Suhag and Gen Deepak Kapoor are alumni of the Sainik School Chittorgarh in Rajasthan and Sainik School Kunjpura in Haryana, respectively. An Infantry officer, Gen Suhag was the Chief from August 2014 to December 2016, while Gen Kappor, a Gunner, headed the Army from October 2007 to March 2010.
The 22nd and 24th Chiefs of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Air Chief Marshal PV Naik have studied in Sainik School Purulia in West Bengal and Sainik School Satara in Maharashtra, respectively.
Other notable alumni in the defence fraternity include Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, former Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, a MiG-21 pilot who had shot down a Pakistani F-16 in the aftermath of the IAF’s airstrike on terror camps in Balakot in 2019, and Major Sudhir Walia, a Special Forces officer to be decorated with the Kirti Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra. In addition, a large number of flag officers in the three services have studied in Sainik Schools.
Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, chief minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio, former chief minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Jarbom Gamlin, ex-governor of Reserve Bank of India, Duvvuri Subbarao, ex-Home Secretary, Anil Goswami ex-Director General border Security Force, Rakesh Asthana and former Director, AIIMS New Delhi, Dr Randeep Guleria are among civilian Sainik School alumni.
Future Course
Sainik Schools started coming up in 1961 as feeder institutes for the National Defence Academy and the Naval Academy, and for ensuring the removal of regional imbalances in the officer cadre of the Armed Forces.
At present, there are 33 Sainik Schools in the country, which are being run as joint ventures of the Central and state governments. Besides, the government has launched a scheme to set up 100 new Sainik Schools in partnership with NGOs, private schools and state governments, out of which 86 such new schools have been approved.
In addition, the Rashtriya Indian Military College, set up in 1922 by the British, and five other Rashtriya Military Schools, the first of which came up in 1925, have a similar mandate, but they are run solely by the Central Government. All three institutions come under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.
In March, Parliament’s Departmentally Related Standing Committee on Defence recommended that Sainik School students should not just be nurtured for entry into the Armed Forces, but also be encouraged to pursue alternative career pathways aligned with their interests and aptitudes directly or indirectly related to defence research, innovation, design and medicine.
“Accordingly, the Committee recommends that the Ministry of Defence, through these schools and colleges, adopt a multi-pronged approach to build awareness and instill a sense of purpose aligned with students’ interests from an early stage. Such an approach would ensure holistic development and enable students to emerge as responsible citizens and future leaders of the nation,” the Committee had said.
The Committee also suggested that the curriculum related to modern technology and warfare such as the concepts associated with artificial intelligence, cyber and space warfare, autonomous systems like drone warfare, defence related directed energy and quantum technology, geopolitics of energy, etc. should be included so that students are in sync with the latest information and development in these fields.
Army set to hold first-ever multilateral military exercise involving 11 friendly countries
Delegates from foreign armies participating in exercise Pragati – I at the Foreign Training Node in Meghalaya. Pic: Eastern Command
PRAGATI symbolises a shared commitment to collective security, regional stability and collaborative growth
The Indian Army is set to host military delegations from 11 friendly foreign countries for the inaugural edition of a multilateral military exercise, christened PRAGATI at the Foreign Training Node in Umroi, Meghalaya, from May 18–31.
PRAGATI, an acronym for Partnership of Regional Armies for Growth and Transformation in the Indian Ocean Region, reinforces defence cooperation, enhances interoperability and strengthens mutual trust, the Indian Army said on Tuesday. PRAGATI symbolises a shared commitment to collective security, regional stability and collaborative growth.
The Indian Army had extended an invitation for the exercise to 15 countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Earlier, the Army’s Eastern Command had said that the Foreign Training Node hosted delegates from extended neighbourhood countries for the final planning conference of the maiden multinational Exercise PRAGATI – I.
Besides military drills and wargames, a key component of the event is a two-day industry exposition, highlighting the Army’s capabilities and fostering industrial partnerships with ASEAN nations. During exercises with foreign countries, military contingents are able to effectively highlight capabilities of Indigenously manufactured hardware and equipment and provide a realistic hand-on experience.
According to information shared by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), which is involved in showing Indian defence equipment at the exercise, unmanned aerial systems and countermeasures, autonomous surveillance and intelligence gathering systems and robotics, including unmanned ground vehicles, robotic mules for logistics and reconnaissance and remotely operated martitime systems, AI-based capability enhancement, precision ammunition, electronic and laser warfare and cyber defence are among the major domains to be showcased.
Human survivability and solutions like equipment sustenance, parachutes and multispectral camouflage nets, land-based, naval and aerial surveillance, spatial intelligence, smart surveillance and perimeter security, secure communication and satellite systems, medical equipment and personal protection gears are other products.
Besides the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy, representatives from the border guarding forces and the state police forces would also participate in the event.
India has a structured programme for conducting bilateral and multilateral training exercises with many foreign countries to boost interoperability, enhance combat skills, and strengthen defence cooperation. Several such events are held in India and overseas every year involving all three services.
US sanctions target India-linked opioid supply chain tied to Sinaloa cartel
The sanctions were issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control under multiple executive orders aimed at curbing the proliferation of narcotics and dismantling terror-linked financial networks
The United States has imposed sweeping sanctions on a transnational drug supply network with links to India, targeting entities and individuals accused of supplying precursor chemicals used by the notorious Sinaloa Cartel to manufacture synthetic opioids.
Announcing action against 23 individuals and entities, the US Department of the Treasury said the network spans India, Latin America and Mexico, and operates across the entire illicit opioid supply chain—from chemical sourcing to trafficking. The sanctions were issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under multiple executive orders aimed at curbing the proliferation of narcotics and dismantling terror-linked financial networks.
The US Embassy in India acknowledged cooperation from Indian authorities, stating that “partnership with Indian law enforcement was instrumental in disrupting key elements” of the network distributing precursor chemicals to cartels.
Among those designated are India-based supplier Satishkumar Hareshbhai Sutaria and associate Yuktakumari Ashishkumar Modi, along with their firms SR Chemicals and Agrat Chemicals. According to US authorities, they allegedly facilitated shipments of fentanyl precursors such as N-Boc-4-Piperidone to Mexico and Guatemala, often mislabelled as “safe chemicals”.
Both were arrested by Indian agencies in March 2025.
US officials said that Mexican cartels increasingly rely on global chemical supply chains, particularly from Asia, to produce synthetic drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. A kilogram of certain precursors can yield hundreds of thousands of lethal doses, underscoring the scale of the threat.
The sanctions freeze US-linked assets of designated entities and prohibit financial transactions with them, with potential secondary sanctions for foreign institutions facilitating such dealings.
No material shows contact with Pakistani nationals: HC grants bail to YouTuber in Official Secrets Act case
Making it clear that communication with Pakistani nationals or dissemination of sensitive information was not prima facie established, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted regular bail to a YouTube vlogger accused under the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
.Justice Bhardwaj also took note of 10 months of actual custody period already undergone and his clean antecedents. The order came on the regular bail plea filed against the State of Punjab and other respondents in an FIR registered on June 3, 2025, at State Special Operations Cell police station in Mohali.
The FIR was registered on allegations that Jasbir Singh of Ropar district, stated to be a YouTube vlogger and running a channel “Jaan Mahal”, had visited Pakistan on multiple occasions and was allegedly in contact with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.
It was further stated that Jasbir, in connivance with certain unknown accomplices at the behest of ISI agents, was engaged in passing sensitive information relating to activities within India, including movements of the Indian Army. It was also alleged that he maintained contact with several Pakistani nationals and was carrying out such activities under the guise of operating his YouTube channel.
Petitioner’s stand
Appearing before Justice Bhardwaj’s Bench on the petitioner’s behalf, senior advocate P S Ahluwalia and counsel Deepinder Singh Virk contended that he was arrested on June 3, 2025, and had undergone actual custody exceeding 10 months. It was argued that he was a vlogger regularly uploading content on his YouTube channel and Instagram page, and the initiation of proceedings arose out of content posted on his YouTube channel “Jaan Mahal”.
Court’s findings
Justice Bhardwaj asserted the State could not dispute that the petitioner had been operating a YouTube channel with a substantial number of travel and vlog-related videos uploaded over time. “From the retrieval of the petitioner’s mobile data, no chats, messages or communication have been recovered, at this stage, as would reflect that he was in contact with any Pakistani national,” the court observed.
Justice Bhardwaj added that the State also did not dispute that the uploaded content did not pertain to any classified or restricted material. The court observed that “prima facie, the videos in question appeared to be of locations and subjects that are accessible to the general public and no material has been placed on record to demonstrate that the petitioner had access to, or disseminated any sensitive or confidential information.”
Bail granted
The petitioner was ordered to be released on regular bail, subject to furnishing bonds to the satisfaction of the trial court. The court, however, imposed a condition that the petitioner “shall not extend any threat and shall not influence any prosecution witness in any manner directly or indirectly,” and clarified that the observations would not affect the merits of the trial.
Iran-Israel war LIVE Updates: US appears cold to Iranian proposal to end the war without a nuclear deal
he Trump administration seemed unlikely Tuesday to accept Iran’s offer to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade on the country.
The proposal would postpone discussions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, something that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to rule out in a Fox News interview Monday.
“We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point,” he said of the proposal, which was delivered to the US by Pakistan.
The White House said US President Donald Trump’s national security team discussed the offer and Trump would address it later.
Pleased to engage with Russian leadership: Iran foreign minister
April 28, 2026 1:44 pm
Moscow: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that he was pleased to engage with the Russian leadership “as the region is in major flux”, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks aimed at resolving the war in West Asia. This comes a day after Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg in Russia and met President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty. Reuters
Trump not happy with latest Iran proposal to lift Hormuz blockade
April 28, 2026 1:44 pm
US President Donald Trump is unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal on resolving the two-month war, a US official said, dampening hopes for a resolution to the conflict that has disrupted energy supplies, fuelled inflation, and killed thousands. Iran’s latest proposal would set aside discussion of Iran’s nuclear program until the war is ended and disputes over shipping from the Gulf are resolved. That is unlikely to satisfy the US, which says nuclear issues must be dealt with from the outset, and Trump was unhappy with Iran’s proposal for that reason, a US official briefed on the president’s Monday meeting with his advisers said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
China prioritises energy security, tech edge as Iran war fallout spreads
April 28, 2026 1:40 pm
Beijing: China’s top leadership on Tuesday pledged to strengthen the country’s energy security while pursuing rapid technological development and greater self-sufficiency, as the economy is beginning to be affected by the US-Israeli war on Iran. The world’s second-largest economy grew 5.0 per cent in the first quarter, at the top of its full-year target range of 4.5 per cent to 5.0 per cent, showing higher resilience than many other countries to the conflict, thanks in part to ample oil reserves and a diversified energy mix. Reuters
Iran willing to share defensive capabilities with Asian partners, says deputy defence minister
April 28, 2026 1:33 pm
Dubai: Iran is ready to share its defensive weapons capabilities with “independent countries, especially members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)”, Deputy Defence Minister Reza Talaei-Nik said on Tuesday, according to Iranian state media. Reuters
Rubio says preventing Iranian nuclear weapon remains ‘core issue’
April 28, 2026 12:20 pm
Washington: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked in a Fox News interview about Iran’s latest proposal, which would postpone discussions on its nuclear programme but end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade and ends the war. “There’s no doubt in my mind that at some point in the future, if this radical clerical regime remains in charge in Iran, they will decide they want a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said. “That fundamental issue still has to be confronted,” he said. “That still remains the core issue here.” AP
Iran war is latest blow to Somalia’s malnourished children
April 28, 2026 12:15 pm
Nairobi/Geneva: For Somalia’s malnourished children, already suffering the twin catastrophes of looming famine and radical cuts in foreign aid, the US-Israeli war on Iran means more than soaring petrol pump prices; it is a matter of life and death. Shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods exacerbated by shipping disruptions are forcing clinics to turn away severely malnourished children and ration supplies, Reuters reporting shows. Almost half a million children under 5 suffer from “severe acute malnutrition” or “wasting”, the most life-threatening form of hunger, and the delays are worsening the effect of the aid reductions. Reuters
Latest Iranian plan would set aside nuclear issue until after war ends
April 28, 2026 8:09 am
Dubai/Washington: Senior Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the proposal carried by Araqchi to Islamabad over the weekend envisioned talks in stages, with the nuclear issue to be set aside at the start. A first step would require ending the US-Israeli war on Iran and providing guarantees that the US cannot start it up again. Then negotiators would resolve the US Navy’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran aims to reopen under its control. Reuters
IAF eyes Russian Mi-26 lease to boost heavy-lift capability in Himalayas
The ministry, in its RFI, said the three helicopters are needed on lease to meet IAF’s operational requirements
The Ministry of Defence is looking to lease three specialised ultra heavy-lift helicopters for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
A request for information (RFI) — the initial step to seek bids from vendors and start the tender process — was issued today.
The ministry wants a helicopter that can lift 20 tonnes and operate at high altitude in the Himalayas. This effectively narrows the field to the Russian Mi-26, the only helicopter in the world capable of lifting such loads across mountains.
IAF had a fleet of four Mi-26 helicopters procured in the late 1980s. One of the helicopters crashed in 2010 near Jammu, and the remaining three were progressively grounded by 2017.However, in October 2024, a deal was signed with Russia to overhaul these machines.
The bidding process for leasing three more such ultra heavy-lift helicopters is separate from the overhaul of the older Mi-26s.
The ministry, in its RFI, said the three helicopters are needed on lease to meet IAF’s operational requirements. The lease will be for an initial period of two years, with an option to purchase the assets thereafter.
IAF wants the helicopter to operate at 5,000 metres (18,000 ft) above sea level, with the ability to drop supplies or personnel at several high mountain peaks in the Himalayas.
The helicopter must carry at least 45 fully equipped troops and be capable of modification to an ambulance version with at least 20 stretchers. It should also operate in temperatures ranging from minus 40 to 60 degrees Celsius.
For effective operations, the IAF is seeking the latest equipment, including a weather radar and a digital moving map display.
For protection, the helicopter must have an electronic warfare suite, including a radar warning receiver (RWR) and a missile approach warning system to detect and display threats, along with a countermeasure dispensing system
