WORLD

India and the US are gearing up to actively share maritime military intelligence through a recently concluded pact, even as New Delhi has also inked ‘white shipping’ agreements with 21 countries to enhance “situational awareness” in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

The bilateral pact, called the Maritime Information Sharing Technical Arrangement (MISTA) lays down the protocols for the exchange of intelligence in real time, and will significantly enhance the level of cooperation between the Indian and US navies, sources said.

The ‘white shipping’ pacts, operationalised with countries ranging from the US, UK, France and Australia to Brazil, Israel, Vietnam, Oman and Mauritius, primarily involve dynamic exchange of information on merchant ships traversing the high seas.

The US has approved India's request to purchase USD 90 million worth of military hardware and services in support of its fleet of C-130J Super Hercules aircraft.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to strengthen the US-Indian strategic relationship and improve the security of a "Major Defence Partner", said Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) of the Department of Defence.

In a major sales notification to Congress, DSCA said that India continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia region.

Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are volunteering to get their Covid-19 vaccines on camera to promote public confidence in the vaccine's safety once the US Food and Drug Administration authorizes one.

The three most recent former presidents hope an awareness campaign to promote confidence in its safety and effectiveness would be a powerful message as American public health officials try to convince the public to take the vaccine.

Freddy Ford, Bush's chief of staff, told an international news agency that the 43rd President had reached out to Dr. Anthony Fauci -- the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the nation's top infectious disease expert -- and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, to see how he could help promote the vaccine.

Nepal’s foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali is set to visit India this month for a meeting with his counterpart S Jaishankar aimed at boosting efforts to restore normalcy to bilateral ties hit by a border row earlier this year

Gyawali will be the senior-most Nepalese leader to visit India since ties were derailed in May, when Kathmandu issued a new political map that included Indian territories. The map was issued in response to India opening a strategic road to the Lipulekh border region, which is claimed by Nepal.

After months of rancour, Nepal signalled its intention of resetting ties when Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli reached out to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on telephone on August 15 to exchange greetings on Independence Day.

Moderna Inc plans to request clearance for its coronavirus vaccine in the United States and Europe on Monday, after a new analysis showed the vaccine was highly effective in preventing Covid-19, with no serious safety problems.

The primary analysis, which included 196 cases, found the vaccine was 94.1 per cent effective, in line with preliminary findings released earlier this month. None of the participants in the trial who’d received the vaccine developed severe Covid-19. All 30 severe cases observed in the study occurred in participants who received placebo shots, according to a company statement. The shares extended their gains to as much as 12 per cent before US markets opened, hitting a record of $142.85. They have risen more than six fold since the year began.

The new results put the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company on track to have one of the first Covid-19 vaccines to be cleared in the US. A similar vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech was submitted to US regulators earlier this month and is scheduled to be reviewed ahead of Moderna’s shot.