WORLD

Just days before polls in Taiwan, the Chinese military has warned that it would 'crush' any attempts for 'Taiwan independence'. In other news, the debris of Indian Air Force An-32 K-2743 aircraft which had gone missing in 2016 has been found in the Bay of Bengal. Read this and more in our Top 10 world news.

China's statement came a day before the scheduled polls on the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims is part of its territory.

On July 22, 2016 the aircraft went missing en route Port Blair to Chennai. All 29 people were presumed dead or missing.

Barred from giving his own closing argument, Donald Trump took in his lawyer’s summation as a glowering, arms-folded spectator at the end of his New York civil fraud trial Thursday, hours after authorities responded to a bomb threat at the judge’s house.

Police checked out the threat at Judge Arthur Engoron’s Long Island home, which came a day after he denied the former president’s extraordinary request to deliver his own courtroom close, officials said. The proceedings were not delayed.

China and the Maldives upgraded their relationship on Wednesday during newly elected President Mohamed Muizzu's first state visit to Beijing, following a campaign in which he cast China's regional rival India as a threat to sovereignty.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking at the Great Hall of the People, called Muizzu "an old friend" as the Asian giant set the stage for further investment in the Indian Ocean archipelago by agreeing to a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership".

Ajay Bisaria, the former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, has underscored the gravity of the February 2019 developments when it comes to India-Pakistan ties, stating, "There was a distinct probability that India would escalate the situation if Pakistan had not returned the captured Indian pilot or if he had come to harm. That was certainly a point which was clearly made by India."

Following the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, India conducted surgical strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps near Balakot, leading to a dogfight between Indian and Pakistani air forces and the subsequent capture and later release of Indian IAF Pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman by Pakistan.

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters.

The security sources identified him as Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the Radwan force. They said he and another Hezbollah fighter were killed when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.

"This is a very painful strike," one of the security sources said. Another said, "things will flare up now."