South East Asia

Naval exercises that may unite France, the UAE, the US, Japan and Australia could provide a major message of strategic partnering. Naval drills are defining new relationships from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Gulf of Oman and beyond.France is playing a leading role, according to new reports. A recent drill …

China has told Japan that Beijing is “exercising self-restraint” in operating its coast guard ships near the Senkaku Islands amid rising security concerns over its new law which allows such ships to use weapons against foreign vessels, Japanese government sources said Saturday.

Complacency or eased trade restrictions on dual-use technology would be the greater danger. So would any backing-off of counter-espionage investigations into Chinese bribery of American university professors or further infiltrations of PLA-linked Chinese nationals into research centers in the U.S. Both are prime examples of Beijing’s willingness to play a …

Mehmood Ghaznavi remembers rejecting the case of a Pakistani Christian girl converting to Islam for marriage four years ago. “She knew nothing about Kalma [the Islamic proclamation of faith], there was no inspiration. I suggested she study the Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad before marrying her Muslim …

A Peshmerga fighter was killed and another injured in a roadside bomb blast in Soran district, north of Erbil, earlier today, Saturday.

Honda has plans to sell two all-electric SUVs in the U.S. for the 2024 model year, and it soon will offer hybrid gas-electric versions of its top-selling models. The announcements come as the automaker acknowledges it has work to do to comply with emissions-reduction targets that will be coming from …

A French frigate docked at Cam Ranh Port in Vietnam this week, the latest sign that foreign powers are pushing back against China’s assertive behavior and expansive claims in the South China Sea. In February, France’s defense minister announced that a French nuclear attack submarine and an accompanying support ship …

The Minister of Peshmerga in the Kurdistan Region discussed with the Commander-in-Chief of the Senior Advisers in the International Coalition in Iraq and Syria, today, Thursday, the latest developments in the region and the relations between the Ministry of Peshmerga and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense in the agreement on …

Silo-based missile capabilities increase the odds of survivability for China’s small arsenal and are integral to Beijing’s nuclear modernisation effort. The Chinese recently moved to build a new set of missile silos. Speculation is rife about what this new development brings. Is it to bolster the survivability of the Chinese …

The Biden administration’s plan for Afghanistan reflects the urgency with which the US is looking for a way out, without giving up on any of the gains it has painstakingly made over the years. The new Biden administration has finally declared its plan for Afghanistan and it is picking up …