World

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “not in a good mood,” U.S. President Donald Trump recently declared, as he offered to mediate India’s resurgent border conflict with China. After years of bending over backward to appease China, Modi has received yet another Chinese encroachment on Indian territory. Will this be enough to persuade him to change his approach? While India was preoccupied with the COVID-19 crisis, China was apparently planning its next attempt to change the region’s territorial status quo by force. Last month’s swift and well-coordinated incursions by People’s Liberation Army troops into the icy borderlands of India’s Ladakh region were likely the product of months of preparation. The PLA has now established heavily fortified camps in the areas it infiltrated, in additi...

BAGAN, Myanmar: A squad of armed police patrol Myanmar's sacred site of Bagan under the cover of night, taking on plunderers snatching relics from temples forsaken by tourists due to coronavirus restrictions. Each evening as dusk falls, about 100 officers fan out across the plain of Bagan measuring 50 sq km, sweeping torches over the crumbling monuments to scour for intruders. "Our security forces are patrolling day and night," Police Lieutenant Colonel Sein Win tells AFP. "We have it under control for the moment, but it's a challenge." The central Myanmar city is strewn with more than 3,500 ancient monuments – stupas, temples, murals and sculptures – and was finally added to the prestigious United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Li...

Boeing Co failed to submit certification documents to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detailing changes to a key flight control system faulted in two fatal crashes, a long-awaited government report seen by Reuters has found. WASHINGTON/SEATTLE/CHICAGO: Boeing Co failed to submit certification documents to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detailing changes to a key flight control system faulted in two fatal crashes, a long-awaited government report seen by Reuters has found. The flight control system, known as MCAS, was "not an area of emphasis" because Boeing presented it to the FAA as a modification of the jet's existing speed trim system, with limited range and use, according to the report. The 52-page report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's ...