China s military modernization continues unabated To mask its growing military ambitions, China finds new ways to conceal its spending Follow Us
Question of the Day
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Amidst growing territorial disputes with its neighbors and military tensions with the United States, China has projected defense expenditure growth of 6.8% this year.
This allocation is the sharpest increase since 2019 and the third yearly increase during the last decade. President Xi Jinping has already vowed to make the People’s Liberation Army the strongest military globally, and this spending reflects that goal. Moreover, this increased spending highlights the consequences of its continued territorial aggression and hardened military posture. After making the world suffer due to its inept handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese economy is witnessing a recovery, even as the rest of the world is reeling from the recession.
Talks between Iran and world powers have since taken place in Vienna aimed at bringing the parties back together.
Mr Blinken cautioned on Thursday that it was still unclear whether Iran was willing to strike a new deal.
“We’ve been engaged in Vienna for some weeks with our European partners, Russia and China, and indirectly with Iran,” he told BBC’s Radio 4
Today programme.
“We’ve demonstrated our seriousness of purpose in terms of wanting to get back into the so-called JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]. Compliance for compliance. What we don’t yet know is whether Iran is prepared to make the same decision and move forward.”
Antony Blinken: US negotiators don t yet know if Iran is prepared to do deal thenationalnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thenationalnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Analysis of satellite imagery obtained by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
revealed the construction of a new set of seven silos storing advanced new missiles in southern Iran.
Defence analysts at the IISS
told
The National the storage facility is placed on a steep mountainside and is designed to hold dozens of the weapons at a particular slant, for precision targeting of the missiles.
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The imagery given to
The National shows the bank of launch sites set into mountainous terrain close to the southern Iranian town of Haji Abad. The steep mountainside and particular slant of the seven silos strongly point to a limited direction that would cause concern for military airbases
The It Girls of the nineties and noughties were notorious for their antics, flitting from party to party, embarking on scandalous love affairs and wearing skimpy clothing.
However now society bible Tatler has compiled the list of the new generation of socialites who are lighting up the social scene - and asking how they shape up compared to the legends who came before them.
Among those featured are Princess Diana s twin nieces Lady Eliza and Amelia Spencer, 28, who the magazine compared to former model and actress Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, now 41.
Meanwhile supremely popular Evie Henderson is said to be the new iteration of Noughties It Girl Lady Victoria Hervey, and Stella Jones, daughter of the Clash guitarist Mick Jones, is named the new rock chick on the scene after the rebellious socialite Amanda de Cadenet.