WORLD

India will not be an ally of the United States but will be another great power, a top White House official said Thursday asserting there is no other bilateral relationship that is being “deepened and strengthened” more rapidly than between the two countries over the last 20 years. Responding to a question on India during his appearance at the Aspen Security Forum meeting here, Kurt Campbell, the White House Asia coordinator, said that in his view India is the most important bilateral relationship for the United States in the 21st century.

Universities in the UK are paying education agents that recruit Indian students to lure them with an offer, which allows them to bring along their families to the country, a media report said.

According to the Telegraph, commissions are paid to agents who market "graduate visas" and help potential Indian students get visas for their spouses and children.

A graduate visa, previously known as a post-study visa, gives one permission to stay in the UK for at least two years after successfully completing a course in the country.

An Afghan man convicted of murder was executed in public Wednesday, the Taliban said, the first confirmation of such a punishment since the hardline Islamists returned to power.

Last month, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges to fully enforce aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings and floggings, and the amputation of limbs from thieves.

They have carried out several public floggings since then, but Wednesday's execution in Farah -- capital of the western province of the same name -- is the first the Taliban have acknowledged.

Every crisis brings with it an opportunity for change and a better future. It was India’s balance-of-payments crisis in 1991 that led to the sweeping economic reforms initiated by then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and his Finance Minister, Manmohan Singh. That changed the direction of India’s economic and foreign policies and subsequent governments, including the Narendra Modi Government today, have been trying to bring in greater economic reforms and liberalization to attract fresh investments from abroad and help create jobs by the millions.

In a rare move, the US military informed its allies as well as adversaries of the docking of a US Navy nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine for the first time at the remote island of Diego Garcia, located in the Indian Ocean, as part of the months-long deployment.

The Navy, in its message, revealed the USS West Virginia's docking in the Indian Ocean and its visit to the port from October 25 to 31. When Navy submarines are in the sea, their specific movements remain highly classified, so the submarines would have got the required time to transit to a different location in the Indian Ocean because of the delayed announcement.