Mathura, Sep 2 (PTI) The Congress has asked the Narendra Modi government why it inked a deal with France's Dassault Aviation to buy just 36 aircraft when 126 fighter jets were required.

The party's national spokesperson, Priyanka Chautrvedi, asked if there's any urgency, why the government did not ask the French company to supply all the aircraft in one go.

"The first lot of the aircraft will be supplied in 2019 and the rest in 2022. If there is any urgency, the whole lot should have been supplied by 2019," she said here Saturday.

BOCHAROV RUCHEI, September 1. /TASS/. Azerbaijan has purchased Russian-made military-technical products worth more than $5 bln, President Ilham Aliyev said on Saturday following talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

"We discussed further cooperation in the military-technical sphere. It has great traditions. The cost of the military-technical products purchased by Azerbaijan from Russia exceeds $5 bln, and this tends to grow," he said.

BANGUI, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Central African Republic (CAR) stands ready to join the Belt and Road Initiative and wants its central location in Africa to be an advantage, President Faustin-Archange Touadera said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

In the run-up to the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Touadera said the Belt and Road Initiative is "the important subject of connectivity."

New Delhi, Sep 1; GANASHAKTI: Sudha Bharadwaj, one of the five activists arrested in multi-city raids by the Maharashtra Police, has outrightly rejected the claims made by the investigating agency and said a purported letter implicating her was "totally concocted" to criminalise her and human rights organisations.

The police had Friday claimed that Bharadwaj had written to one "Com. Prakash".

By Yoshita Singh

United Nations, Sep 1 (PTI) UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed regret over the US' decision to provide no further funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, urging other countries to help fill the financial gap.

His remarks came after the US decided to stop funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

by Ronald Ssekandi

LUWEERO, Uganda, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- At a middle school called Everest College in Luweero town of the Luweero district in central Uganda, Smith Mugisha said that he already has learned the Chinese language for nearly one year.

Customs in the Chinese culture must be followed in Chinese language learning, just like chopsticks have to be used when eating food, Mugisha said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Mugisha is among the 500 students at this middle school who have enrolled to learn the Chinese language.

These could have been the sequence of events Rahul Gandhi seem to be saying, based on an Indian Express report.

Crooked deal was all worked out beforehand.

French President Francois Hollande was invited to New Delhi as the Republic Day chief guest.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to pull his country out of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a move that could further undermine the global trading system and economic stability.

"If they don't shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO," Trump said during an interview with Bloomberg News at the Oval Office.

The comments came as Washington's trade disputes with other economies continue to put global economy at risk, as pundits urge them to be addressed via multilateralism, including the WTO.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Russia will hold drills in the Mediterranean Sea on September 1-8 with the involvement of 25 warships and 30 aircraft, the Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

In accordance with the training plan of the Russian Armed Forces, large-scale drills of the grouping of forces (troops) of the Russian Navy and the Aerospace Force will be conducted on September 1-8, 2018 in the Mediterranean Sea under the direction of Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Korolyov," the ministry said.

New Delhi, Aug 30; GANASHAKTI: Calling raids on prominent activists and intellectuals an attempt by the government to strike terror among those fighting for the marginalised, Jharkhand's civil society members, including economist Jean Dreze, have demanded the immediate release of the people arrested.

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Sea trials of China's second aircraft carrier have been conducted safely and smoothly and achieved the anticipated goals, China's Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.

Wu Qian, spokesperson for the ministry, said at a regular press conference that the aircraft carrier left a dock at Dalian Shipyard in northeast China's Liaoning Province in recent days for the sea trials to test its equipment platform and facilities.

MALE, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, the first cross-sea bridge in the Maldives, opened to traffic on Thursday evening.

Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen and representative of the Chinese government and head of China's International Development Cooperation Agency Wang Xiaotao attended the bridge opening ceremony.

Speaing at the occasion, Maldivian President Yameen said the bridge is an embodiment of the long relations between the Maldives and China.