Defence`s Feeds

A just-released assessment by U.S. intelligence officials finds Russia and Iran, joined by a handful of other countries and groups, did seek to influence the outcome of the November 2020 presidential election. But the assessment also concludes that, despite repeated warnings by a number of top officials, China ultimately decided to sit it out.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) today released the declassified Intelligence Community (IC) assessment of foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. federal elections. The document is a declassified version of a classified report that the IC provided to the President, senior Executive Branch officials, and Congressional leadership and intelligence oversight committees on January 7, 2021.

Two of the longest serving Artillery systems, the 130mm Self Propelled M-46 Catapult Guns and the 160mm Tampella Mortars were decommissioned today at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges. The ceremony was marked by the customary firing of last salvos. The decommissioning firing was attended by Lt Gen K Ravi Prasad, Director General Artillery and other senior officers.

North Korean state-run companies have begun hoarding molybdenum ore, causing the price of the high-tech industrial input to spike in a move that suggests that trade with China could resume soon, sources in the country told RFA.

North Korea has broken its silence and issued a new warning toward the United States as top American and Japanese foreign policy and defense officials condemn China's aggression in the region.

The White House confirmed on Monday that the administration of President Joe Biden has recently reached out to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) but has not yet received a response from Pyongyang.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday slammed the ongoing military exercises jointly held by South Korea and the United States, and warned of possible retaliation, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's influential sister has warned the administration of US President Joe Biden against "causing a stink at its first step," as senior American officials are in the region for visits.

US and Japanese foreign and defense ministers warned Tuesday against "coercion and destabilizing behavior" by China after the bilateral "2+2" talks in Tokyo on Tuesday, while the Chinese foreign ministry warned that the US-Japan alliance should not target any third party.

Chinese military enthusiasts have been advised not to become tools of overseas intelligence agencies and leak classified information on the People's Liberation Army (PLA), after several accounts covering domestic military affairs on Chinese social media were recently suspended.

China and the US are negotiating over the agenda for the imminent bilateral high-level strategic dialogue, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday, hoping for a return of bilateral ties to the right track.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is stepping up pressure on China's Alibaba group to sell off its media assets including the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper, according to recent media reports.

In the latest pushback against foreign criticism of China's human rights abuses, Beijing has endorsed a series of lawsuits against U.S.-based German researcher Adrian Zenz, whose research and conclusions have been central to claims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

The decision of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature of China, to improve the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has won wide support from the 1.4 billion Chinese people, including Hong Kong compatriots.

The United Nations (UN)'s food agency says an unprecedented increase in food and fuel prices in Myanmar since the February 1 military coup risks undermining the ability of poor families to feed themselves.

Ihar Losik, a popular blogger and RFE/RL consultant jailed in Belarus since last June on charges his supporters say are trumped up, has ended a hunger strike and is now in solitary confinement.

At least 25 people were shot dead Monday as anti-coup protesters in multiple cities braved increasing violence by security forces following a bloody weekend that killed scores of protesters in Myanmar's largest city, witnesses said.

Defiant anti-junta protests in Yangon and cities across Myanmar were suppressed by military gunfire that killed five protesters Tuesday, as grieving families buried their dead from violence in Yangon and China issued a warning to protect Chinese businesses after dozens were vandalized, looted and burned in previous days.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday it is "deeply disturbed" that the crackdown on peaceful protesters in Myanmar "continues to intensify", with a soaring death toll on the streets, increasingly aggressive use of lethal force, arbitrary arrests, and reports of torture in custody.

A Russian military court has postponed a hearing into a lawsuit filed by jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny for the refusal by Russian military investigators to open a probe into his poisoning with a nerve agent in Siberia last August.