India has become the world's fourth largest spender on defence, following a 13.1 percent increase in its 2016-17 defence budget, according to IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), the leading global source of critical information and insight. India's climb in the rankings - from sixth position last year - is a result of an increase in expenditure to $50.7 billion combined with cuts to military spending by other countries, namely, Russia and Saudi Arabia, where low oil prices have put considerable strain on their finances.
"Growth in the Indian budget is expected to outpace that of all other major defence spenders over the next five years. This position is only likely to strengthen further," said Craig Caffrey, Principal Analyst at IHS Jane's.
According to IHS analysis, short-term pressures, caused by increases to military pay and the introduction of One Rank, One Pension (OROP), are the main reason for the higher rate of budget growth. As a result, spending on the acquisition of military equipment remained largely static in real terms and remains lower than its 2013-14 peak, despite an increase in the overall budget.
"There are definitely strains with regards to the 2016-17 defence budget, not least that last year's medium-term guidance suggested India would see a growth of 17-18 percent this year. The pressure on the capital budget will be the main concern from the perspective of both domestic and foreign defence suppliers," said Caffrey.
Nonetheless, longer-term budgetary prospects have improved and are expected to strengthen further over the next five years. The Indian defence budget is expected to reach $64.8 billion by 2020 with procurement expenditure expected to grow faster than overall spending, according to IHS Jane's Defence Budgets.
"The strain on the equipment budget was inevitable given the pressures of OROP and the seventh pay commission, but we should now see a period of sustained growth in procurement spending," said Caffrey.
Increases in capital expenditure will be driven by extensive modernisation requirements across the Indian armed forces. IHS has observed that the majority of the armoured vehicle inventory of the Indian army has passed their service life whilst the Indian Air Force possesses 34 active combat aircraft squadrons against a sanctioned requirement for 42. As a result of these pressures, procurement spending is expected to rise from $10.4 billion this year to around $15 billion by 2020.
Fort Worth, TX - A Fort Worth officer who says his shotgun accidentally discharged when he shot a man holding a barbecue fork has been indicted.A Tarrant County grand jury indicted officer Courtney Johnson on Tuesday on a charge of aggravated assault by a public servant.
Johnson, 33, is accused of injuring Craigory Adams, 55, by recklessly handling his shotgun. Specifically, he is accused in the two-count indictment of taking his gun off safety and sliding the pump action back, then forward as it was pointed toward Adams. The shotgun fired, hitting Adams in the arm.The officer thought Adams was holding a knife, but it was actually a barbecue fork.
Jim Lane, Johnson's defense attorney, said he was shocked that his client was indicted. He said a video of the shooting clearly showed it was an "unintentional discharge.""This was an accident. Just pure and simple, it was an accident," Lane said.
Johnson, who has been with the department since 2013, was booked into the Tarrant County Jail late Tuesday morning and immediately released on $25,000 bail.
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On Mar.26, North Korea released a propaganda video that depicts a nuclear strike on the USA. The propaganda move comes amid the latest series of North Korean missile tests and South Korea's reports that Pyongyang is ready to carry out its fifth nuclear weapons test detonation. The recent developments show that North Korea has boosted its efforts to develop a deployable nuclear weapon and a long-range missile delivery system.
The political impact holds a prominent place in North Korea's goals pursued by the nuclear program. The North sees nuclear weapons as the only tool which will allow it to defend itself from the military defeat in a conventional conflict against the South and its allies. This is why Pyongyang is drawing attention to the progress of its nuclear program by different means. In addition to the underground nuclear tests and attempts of satellite launch atop a Taepodong/Unha rocket, which can also be used as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the North has released photos of an alleged miniaturized nuclear warhead and a ground test of a rocket nose cone.
However, If North Korea wants to prove its claims of possessing a long-range nuclear deterrent, it will need two more things: conduct active re-entry tests to verify the viability of a nose cone and conduct a test of a guidance system for re-entry. It could be difficult because of the country's poor developed military industrial complex. This is why Pyongyang doesn't attempt to match current U.S., Russian or Chinese technologies. In this case, it will be enough to demonstrate technologies from the 1950s and 1960s.
After the recent developments, North Korea may believe it has a viable launch system, at least to provide the range of an ICBM. This is why it will shift its attention to developing a resilient nose cone and accurate guidance system. The both things require live tests, even if nuclear devices do not necessarily need an extremely fine guidance system. The success of those tests marks the difference between having a nuclear device and having a long-range nuclear weapon.
Indeed, Pyongyang will likely not achieve its stated goal of creating a demonstrable nuclear device capable of reaching the United States. But who does say this is a real goal? A deployable short- or intermediate-ranged nuclear-armed missile will be more then enough to reverse the balance of power in the Korean peninsula and make any attempts to solve the North Korean problem with force hardly possible.
A flyover under construction in Kolkata, India, has collapsed killing at least 14 people.
A 100-metre slab of metal and cement crashed onto moving traffic below, pinning down dozens of people.
Kolkata flyover collapse: Saving trapped people top priority, says NDRF DGhttps://t.co/r6UZc4ikp0 pic.twitter.com/aPErpYUOZT- Times of India (@timesofindia) March 31, 2016
The death toll is expected to rise as up to 70 people are believed to be trapped in the debris, according to a disaster management official.
Locals and rescue workers alike could be seen trying to help those under the rubble.
Reports: At least 8 dead, dozens hurt in India bridge collapse in #Kolkata: https://t.co/x1R3aLqVDM (Photo: AP) pic.twitter.com/aatd56G0jF- USA TODAY (@USATODAY) March 31, 2016
A senior police officer confirmed at least 15 critically injured people had been rescued.
The bridge has missed several completion deadlines since construction began in 2009.
31 March 2016 - The deal struck between the EU and Turkey to manage the refugee crisis is a "spectacular failure," Greek politician Dimitris Papadimoulis, who heads the ruling Syriza party's MEPs, tells DW.
Dimitris Papadimoulis: The first and largest mistake of Europe is that it considers that a European Union with a population of 500 million population is facing a refugee crisis when it's faced with 1 or 1.5 million refugees. Lebanon is facing a refugee crisis. Jordan is facing a refugee crisis.
The second mistake is that it seemed to be caught off guard, while it was perfectly predictable that the ongoing war in Syria would create these refugee flows.
The third mistake is that Europe failed to apply its own decisions. The decision of the EU last September for the relocation program has a current implementation rate of under one percent.
It also made the mistake of tolerating unilateral actions from certain member states. When last year Greece asked for some more flexibility on the issues of economic policies, we were told that only joint European decisions apply. Now, when joint European decisions should be applied to the issue of refugees, it's permissible, without any ratification, for a few countries to throw joint European decisions out the window. This is an a la carte Europe.
In light of its slow pace, should the relocation program be abandoned?
The relocation program must be applied, not cancelled. The process must be sped up. The countries that refuse to participate in this voluntary program should take part on an economic basis and pay the equivalent cost to the European Central Bank.
It's not possible for Poland to have accepted taking 7,000 refugees and now for them to say they won't take even one under the excuse of the terrorist attack in Brussels.
What are the mistakes that the Syriza government has made in handling this crisis?
It would be pointless for me to try and hide the mistakes, the delays and the weaknesses. I'll use the words of Fabrice Leggeri, the director of Frontex. Having experienced the refugee flows on Greek islands, he said that any country, even with perfect administration, that would find itself in Greece's place would have had problems.
Right now, Greece has covered most of its obligations, when Europe as a whole has done very little, and Turkey has essentially not even started applying the agreement.
What do you think of the current agreement between Europe and Turkey?
This deal is a spectacular failure of the European Union in its handling of the refugee crisis. The EU had a solution - the decision of last September - and was unable to apply it and so it decided to give Turkey the role of a subcontractor.
We've been given assurances that all aspects of human rights will be respected, which would be good if it turns out to be true. I think the criticism of the deal helps us put pressure on the Turkish authorities to do what they have agreed to.
For Greece, with Europe refusing to apply its decisions, and the failure of Erdogan to curb the activities of the smugglers, this agreement, even with its grey areas, takes some of the pressure off. We need this relief from the pressure, because, don't forget, we are a country going through two crises - an economic crisis and a refugee crisis.
We've received praise for our approach as a country, but if we can't take off this pressure, it won't last. We have the issue of the party of Golden Dawn and far-right propaganda. This is a poison that spreads, and it would be a mistake for us not to realize that it needs to be dealt with in a timely manner.
What does it say about the European project that Turkey had to be brought in to work on this, since European countries together could not reach a solution? Should the EU be negotiating with the government of Erdogan given its track record?
I would prefer that the EU had implemented its own decisions for a European solution to the refugee problem and then to negotiate with Turkey from a stronger position with regards to the issue of respecting human rights.
What are the issues with the current agreement of relocating one Syrian refugee to Europe for each one returned from illegally crossing into Europe, and why has the basic problem of people smugglers not been addressed and the risk that they'll make people use newer and more dangerous routes?
In the agreements that have taken place, the priority is to crush this circle of people smugglers. If they wanted to, Turkey could have done so already. That's where the pressure needs to be applied, because if we leave the refugee flows to remain high, this system of one in/one out will turn into a dead end.
When it comes to the deal's application, there are a lot of questions about how the Turkish authorities will correctly apply it. For example, would they send a Syrian Kurd as a refugee to Europe or will they push him right to the bottom of the list? Beyond that, the deal is limited to 72,000 people, after which the deal no longer applies.
So it's crucial that the smuggling rings are broken up - and this is an issue of the government of Erdogan and Davutoglu - because then the refugee flow will stop and people will stop drowning in the Aegean.
The flow of refugees arriving in Greece has slowed to a trickle in the last week - is this a sign that the new deal is working?
I think it's a small, encouraging sign, but we must wait to see what happens, because we have the experience from the past to see that these flows stop and start. We have to see the successful and correct application of the deal from all sides at an appropriate time in the future. It's too early to say that the deal is working.
Dimitris Papadimoulis is a vice president of the European Parliament and heads Greece's Syriza MEPs in Brussels.
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