The Sino-Indian standoff at Doklam has persisted, albeit with a limited Chinese withdrawal to dodge embarrassment before its 19th party congress and to save the China-hosted Brics summit. Later, Pakistan began alleging that Jadhav’s wife’s shoes contained snooping devices. It also thus leaves Bhutan vulnerable to Chinese cajolements of a permanent territorial settlement to wean it away from India’s tutelage.. (that) the thing it really disapproves of is India maintaining a sphere of influence”.India-Pakistan relations are now in free fall, with Mr Modi having used Pakistan as a convenient punching bag in the recent Gujarat Assembly elections, even hinting at treason when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former vice-president Hamid Ansari had attended a dinner in honour of a former Pakistani foreign minister. That impacts India’s neighbourhood policy, specifically relations with China and Pakistan. India’s Pakistan policy of boycott and threats has thus faltered as Pakistan is, if anything, even more defiant.. India has one foot in a boat rowed by the Saudis and Emiratis (Mr Modi is to revisit the UAE next month), and the other foot in the Iranian dhow, now in Mr Trump’s cross-hairs.

 

According to exiled former President Mohammed Nasheed, who is perceived as close to India, China now holds 75 per cent of the Maldives’ debt. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: ANI) The year 2018 presents a challenging external environment to India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi enters his last full year in office. Until 2011, China didn’t even have an embassy in the Maldives. The “Quad”, a grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the US, to balance China, has been resurrected.In India’s expanded neighbourhood to the east a two-track approach is being adopted. It indicated that Indian foreign policy remains rooted in pragmatism. The US move on Jerusalem before a final settlement of the West Asia issue and unrest in Iran add to the complexity. The new foreign secretary has his work cut out. With President Trump given to diplomacy by Twitter and Russia converging with China on most international issues, the space for a balancing game has shrunk further. Some see it as a rudimentary Asian version of Nato.Later this month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive in India, followed by a mini-Asean summit as its 10 members are guests at the Republic Day celebrations. This maintains pressure on Bhutan, in whose territory Doklam lies. Ceasefire violations in the last year climbed to 820, 589 more that the preceding year, and 667 more than in 2014. But the principal challenge to India is its immediate neighbourhood. Mr Trump’s Riyadh visit early in his presidency emboldened the Saudi ruling dispensation to confront Iran, pillory GCC allies whose conduct the Saudis abhorred, escalate the war in Yemen and attempt novel reforms at home. Post-election, India facilitated the visit of the mother and wife of alleged spy-cum-saboteur Kulbhushan Jadhav for a meeting, which ended up humiliating the ladies when they were strip-searched.Thus 2018 will see Indian foreign policy largely playing a waiting game as elections loom in India, Pakistan, Russia and even the United States (the mid-term congressional polls). This is to both balance China and engage it. Mr Modi’s conduct of foreign policy has propensity for nationalistic posturing when crucial state elections approach. Reportedly, despite the onset of winter, when normally Chinese troops return to the Tibetan hinterland, they have bivouacked at the spot, within sight of Indian troops. The last two and Karnataka would also elect new Assemblies.

 

Drawing solace from the rising crescendo of Trumpian warnings would be unwise as the United States is principally soliciting action against groups like the Taliban and the Haqqani Network and not India-specific groups, which Pakistan is mainstreaming by transmutation into political units. First, despite palpable bonhomie, Mr Modi having been the first Indian head of government to visit Israel, India voted for a UN General Assembly resolution asking the United States to reverse its decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The Nepalese government can be expected to tilt more visibly towards China and thus allow the Belt and Road Initiative to connect Kathmandu by train to Lhasa and beyond, consequently tying the Nepalese economy more closely to China’s. Gen.. The Saarc neighbourhood is more divided today than ever with persistent Pakistani defiance and Chinese aggressive intrusion.To India’s west, the geostrategic scenario is more muddled. Vacuum bags Factory On a separate track, India would remain active in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Chinese brainchild, and Brics and RIC (Russia, India and China). Consequently, it exacerbated the Shia-Sunni divide and caused an intra-Sunni split. The Economist notes that “China is making it increasingly clear. That the national security advisers of India and Pakistan attended the following day a pre-scheduled meeting in Bangkok indicates either that Lt. That would be premature as more members yet need to be co-opted, including Vietnam and South Korea, and perhaps even Indonesia.India’s Pakistan policy of boycott and threats has faltered as Pakistan is even more defiant. Perhaps this was unavoidable after four permanent UN Security Council members and over two-thirds of the UN membership lined up behind the resolution.

 

The Chinese pressure on the Indian periphery was manifested in Sri Lanka conceding control of Hambantota port and its adjoining territory to China on a 99-year lease, the Maldives ramming through a free trade agreement with China and a coalition of the two largest Communist parties winning the elections in Nepal. Meanwhile, India continues supporting the East Asia Summit (EAS), built around the 10-member Asean. Nasser Khan Janjua was complicit in the Islamabad charade or was undercut by his former service to keep India-Pakistan relations disturbed. This is necessary as the US under Donald Trump has undertaken a structural withdrawal by abandoning Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Paris climate change accord, vacating space for China. This year will be full of byelections to Parliament in the critical states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan

In 2014, astronomers found Thule using the Hubble Space Telescope and selected it for New Horizon’s extended mission in 2015. Eastern time, the New Horizons probe will arrive at the “third zone” in the uncharted heart of the Kuiper Belt. Both probes are still operational. In this peripheral layer of icy bodies and leftover fragments from the solar system’s creation, the interplanetary probe will position its seven onboard instruments for the first close-up glance of Ultima Thule, a cool mass roughly 20 miles (32 km) long and shaped like a giant peanut. Launched in January 2006, New Horizons embarked on a 4 billion mile journey toward the solar system’s frigid, faraway edge to study the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons.

 

At 12:33 a.”While the mission marks the farthest close-encounter of an object within our solar system, NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2, a pair of deep space probes launched in 1977, have reached greater distances on a mission to survey extrasolar bodies. Scientists had not discovered Ultima Thule when the probe was launched.During a 2015 fly-by, the probe found Pluto to be slightly larger than previously thought. (Photo: NASA) A NASA explorer is on track to reach the solar system’s outermost region by early Tuesday morning when scientists expect it to fly by a space rock 20 miles long and billions of miles from Earth, the most distant close encounter of its kind.Scientists had not discovered Ultima Thule when the probe was launched, according to NASA, making the mission unique in that respect. In March, it revealed that methane-rich dunes were on the icy dwarf planet’s surface.

 

As the probe flies 2200 miles (3,500 km) above Thule’s surface, scientists hope it will detect the chemical composition of its atmosphere and terrain in what NASA says will be the closest observation of a body so remote.At 12:33 a.After trekking 1 billion miles beyond Pluto into the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons will now seek clues about the formation of the solar system and its planets. Eastern time (0533 GMT), the New Horizons probe will arrive at the “third zone” in the uncharted heart of the Kuiper Belt, scientists said. “Anything’s possible China Vacuum space bags Factory out there in this very unknown region,” John Spencer, deputy project scientist for New Horizons, told reporters on Monday at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. “We are straining the capabilities of this spacecraft, and by tomorrow we’ll know how we did,” New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said during the news conference at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. “There are no second chances for New Horizons.m.(Source)

The White House asserted that President Trump&Vacuum space bags Factory39;s maximum pressure campaign is working, having already denied the regime direct access to more than USD 10 billion in oil revenue since May 2018. "The United States will aggressively enforce its sanctions, and those who continue to engage in sanctionable activity involving Iran will face severe consequences," it said.The Trump administration will continue to apply maximum pressure on the Iranian regime until its leaders change their destructive behaviour and return to the negotiating table, it said."It remains the policy of the United States to deny Iran all paths to both a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and to counter the totality of Iran's malign influence in the Middle East," Trump said in his executive order.

 

The (Iranian) regime has maintained its nuclear ambitions and continues to develop its ballistic missile capabilities and support terrorism," the White House said.The extensive nuclear archive exposed by Israel proves Tehran pursued nuclear weapons and secretly preserved its blueprints and database to do so, the White House said. The sanctions come after Trump last month refused to give waivers to countries like India from buying oil from Iran, in an attempt to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero.A year after he withdrew from the "fatally flawed", "one-sided" Iran nuclear deal and began the process of reimposing sanctions on Tehran, Trump with his new move has now imposed sanctions on Iran's top three exports – oil, petrochemicals and metals. 

 

Washington: US President Donald Trump Wednesday imposed tougher-than-ever sanctions on Iran's iron, steel, aluminium and copper sectors, a move aimed at stopping Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles and to counter its "malign influence" in the Middle East. "The Iran deal left Iran with future pathways to pursue nuclear weapons.An executive order signed by Iran takes steps to deny Iran revenue, including revenue derived from the export of products from Iran's iron, steel, aluminium, and copper sectors that may be used to provide funding and support for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorist groups and networks, campaigns of regional aggression, and military expansion, Trump said.

 

The regime received an influx of cash because of sanctions relief that it has used to engage in and support terrorism and to destabilise the Middle East, it said. The US is seeking to ramp up pressure on Iran to counter what the White House perceives to be a potential threat."It is also the policy of the United States to deny the Iranian government revenue, including revenue derived from the export of products from Iran's iron, steel, aluminum, and copper sectors, that may be used to provide funding and support for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorist groups and networks, campaigns of regional aggression, and military expansion," it said. The deal included incomplete mechanisms for inspections and verification," it said.Noting that the Iran deal was a disastrous "one-sided" deal that failed to end Iran's nuclear programme and the full range of the regime's malign activity, the White House said Trump withdrew from the deal because it failed to protect American national security interests and enabled Tehran's malign behaviour.Last month, the US designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organisation, the first time the designation has been applied to a government entity.After coming to power, Trump withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal last year and has imposed stringent sanctions against what he describes as the "authoritarian" Iranian regime. After coming to power, Trump withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal last year and has imposed stringent sanctions against what he describes as the 'authoritarian' Iranian regime.

 

The deal failed to address Iran's wide range of malign activities, including its global terrorist campaign, unjust detention of Americans, ballistic missile development and more, it alleged. The regime was allowed # to preserve its nuclear infrastructure, keep enriching uranium, and continue research and development.The Trump administration is imposing tougher sanctions on Iran than ever before because the regime continues to engage in destructive and destabilising activities, the White House said moments after Trump notified the US Congress about his latest sanctions on Iran.'Iranian regime has maintained nuclear ambitions, continues to develop ballistic missile capabilities and support terrorism,' WH said

We are now going through the process of establishing those mechanisms and getting the necessary approvals," he said."The ISRO recognises the contributions of the industry in meeting the demands of national needs of the space systems and also says, "The participation of the industry in the realisation of space systems such as spacecraft, launch vehicles, establishment and operations of ground systems and facilities and implementation of application programmes have been steadily growing.In the area of satellites, the ISRO has given a contract to a company for assembly, integration and testing of spacecraft."It should be an ideal thing to happen in the long run because if the industry is able to do what is required, then definitely it&Hanging vacuum storage bags Factory39;s a better opportunity for us (ISRO)."We are (currently) using significant amount of things from the industry.

 

We are getting many of the sub-systems done through the industry across the country," he said. Asked if he sees # the ISRO as a pure R&D player outsourcing all other work to the industry, Kiran Kumar said.". If you take launch vehicles (space rockets), 80 per cent of our work, we do with the industry (which are making space-related equipment) today," the agency's Chairman A S Kiran Kumar told PTI in an interview.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to forge a joint venture with an industrial consortium to build rockets.

 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to forge a joint venture with an industrial consortium to build rockets. In the area of satellites, the ISRO has given a contract to a company for assembly, integration and testing of spacecraft.According to the ISRO Chairman, the consortium would have less than half-a-dozen companies from the industry, which would, however, have many sub-contractors under them.The space agency is looking to form a joint venture with an industry consortium (to build polar satellite launch vehicle or PSLV), with the first launch planned for 2020-21 under this proposed entity, Kiran Kumar said