News Report: India to Seek US Support for Its Nuclear Suppliers Group Membership

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try to win support for his country's bid for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) during his upcoming visit to Portugal, the US and the Netherlands.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — India's quest for NSG membership will be of prime concern when the Indian Prime Minister will be in the US for bilateral talks. In fact, India wants to ensure same support from the Trump administration which Obama administration gave for India's membership for the NSG. Further, India will also persuade the present US administration to use its influence to seek support for India's membership for the NSG.

Similarly, during his visit to Portugal and Netherlands, Prime Minister Modi will try to garner support for India's bid for NSG membership.

News Report: Australian Commander - IS Changing Tactics

An Australian Soldier training an Iraqi Army Unit

Sharon Behn

As part of VOA's ongoing reporting on Iraq, correspondent Sharon Behn interviewed Air Vice Marshal Tim Innes, national theater commander for all Australian forces deployed to the Middle East region, including Afghanistan. Innes assumed command of Australia's Joint Task Group 633 on January 25, 2016. The following article is based in part on that interview.

Islamic State extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria have proven themselves experts in modern warfare. They create diversionary fronts, use suicide bombers with devastating effect, and constantly change their offensive and defensive tactics.

Countering and defeating those tactics is one of the main objectives of thousands of U.S. and coalition soldiers currently training Iraqi forces — not only in bases, but walking alongside them as they enter the battleground.

"[IS militants] are definitely changing tactics," Air Vice Marshal Tim Innes, the national theater commander for all Australian forces deployed to the Middle East region, told VOA, using an acronym for Islamic State. "We try to stay inside their adaptation loop."

Despite those efforts, Iraqi and coalition forces have been caught off guard.

Editorial: Should Timor-Leste Turn to Portugal?

By Jordan Peterson

Rather than waiting for ASEAN, the less conventional option might prove more effective.

Timor-Leste, the nation birthed out of a traumatic twenty-five year struggle for liberation from Indonesian occupation, remains one of Southeast Asia’s most vulnerable states. As Timor-Leste continues its long wait for membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (a prospect that looks dim) it would do well to consider another less conventional option that has a higher likelihood of success: an enhanced relationship with Portugal including limited political unification. Counterintuitive though it may appear to a superficial observer, looking to Lisbon makes just as much sense for Timor-Leste as looking to Jakarta or Canberra, or Beijing for that matter. Southeast Asia faces a tumultuous decade as it prepares for economic, political-security, and socio-cultural integration. Timor-Leste remains marginal in the minds of ASEAN leaders and faces a Godot-like wait for a membership that will occur too late, if ever. Timor-Leste shares centuries of history with Portugal. The cultural, religious and linguistic orientation of the country is oriented towards many poles and Lisbon is one of the strongest. A modus vivendi political arrangement, similar to those of other overseas territories and collectivities of European states, including France and Portugal itself, would help Timor-Leste to grow economically and strengthen the state-building project it has embarked upon.

Even the most optimistic observers would admit that the microstate of Timor-Leste faces challenges that threaten to unravel the progress made in the first 13 years of independence. It is true that Timor-Leste has been more successful than other post-conflict countries in erecting state institutions and creating a sustainable economy. When compared with other newly independent states, such as crisis wracked South Sudan or the politically paralyzed non-state of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Timor-Leste looks to have done remarkably well in mitigating ethnic conflict; this is even more remarkable considering that Timor-Leste has speakers of more than 33 different languages from two separate language families and dozens of distinct ethnic and local identities.

Read the full story at The Diplomat