On Wednesday, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) announced that it will have operational control over the chopper given by India and the civilian crew operating it. A senior MNDF official stated that talks on the departure of Indian troops are in progress. He highlighted that President Mohamed Muizzu's administration has decided not to allow any foreign forces to remain in the Maldives past 10 May.
India has deployed 10,000 soldiers along the border with China as part of a new fighting command, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The soldiers, previously stationed at the western frontier, will strengthen India's disputed boundary with China, an Indian official told the news agency. Furthermore, a contingent of 9,000 soldiers already serving at the Chinese border will be brought under the command.
On Thursday, Sweden officially became the 32nd member of NATO as it submitted its accession document to the North Atlantic Treaty with the US Government in Washington D.C. “This is a historic day. Sweden will now take its rightful place at NATO’s table, with an equal say in shaping NATO policies and decisions,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. “After over 200 years of non-alignment, Sweden now enjoys the protection granted under Article 5, the ultimate guarantee of Allies’ freedom and security,” he added. Sweden’s flag will be raised alongside the other 31 Allies during a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels on 11 March.
The US on Thursday joined the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children as a member state, pledging to assist in the safe return of all Ukrainian children who have been unlawfully deported or forcibly relocated by Russia. “Supporting efforts to bring those responsible for organising the illegal deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to justice consistent with international law,” the State Department stated in a release.
Chinese companies Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) reportedly utilised US tech to create advanced chips last year. SMIC employed technology from Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp. for a 7-nanometer chip obtained before the US sales ban in October 2022.
The US Justice Department arrested and charged Korbein Schultz, a US Army intelligence analyst, with conspiring to sell sensitive defence information to China. Federal prosecutors accused Schultz of disclosing national defence information, exporting defence articles without a license, and bribing a public official. Schultz allegedly received around $42,000 for providing information about US plans in the event of a military attack on Taiwan to an individual he believed lived in Hong Kong.