VIF Information Alerts - 12 March 2019

After 10 years, India no longer world’s top weapons importer
Published: Hindustan Times

12 Mar 2019

India is no longer the world’s largest importer of weapons, a position it held for over a decade, with Saudi Arabia topping the global share of arms imports between 2014 and 2018, a leading Stockholm-based think tank that measures weapons imports over five-year periods said in a new report on Monday.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 12% of the global share of arms imports in that period, followed by India in second place with a 9.5% share, reveals the new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). With imports pegged at 4.2% of the global share, China is the world’s sixth-largest buyer of weapons.Click here to read... [2]

US agents faked trail to infiltrate as LeT recruits
Published: The Economic Times

12 Mar 2019

US intelligence agents laid a cyber trail all the way to a fake terror camp in Pakistan, mastered idioms and style of Islamic terrorists giving a convincing portrayal of jihadis in a bid to infiltrate a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) recruitment ring.

In what seemed to read like a spy-thriller their strategy led to the arrest of an American teenager, who was at the centre of an alleged conspiracy to recruit fighters for the Pakistan-based LeT, and a suspected co-conspirator, who was stopped on his way to join the terrorist group.Click here to read... [3]

Pakistan elected deputy chairman of OIC, days after India invited as guest of honour
Published: The Statesman

12 Mar 2019

Pakistan has clinched the slot of the deputy chairman of the general body of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC), media reported on Tuesday. According to an official announcement, Pakistan has been elected deputy chairman of the PUIC’s general body on the first day on Monday of its four-day conference being held in Rabat, Morocco, reports Dawn news.Click here to read... [4]

India seeks investment from Saudi Arabia for strategic oil reserve
Published: The New Indian Express

11 Mar 2019

With an aim to resurrect a $44 billion (Rs 3.08 lakh crore) refinery project, India has invited Saudi Arabia to invest in the former's strategic oil reserve. Saudi energy minister Khalid Al Falih, on his second visit to India in three weeks, discussed with its Indian counterpart Dharmendra Pradhan on the 60 million tonne (MT) a year mega oil refinery cum petrochemical complex in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district.
Click here to read... [5]