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Half of Israel’s Arms Exports Go to India

Israeli soldiers patrolling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 20, 2014. AFP file photo
Israeli soldiers patrolling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 20, 2014. AFP file photo
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Half of Israel’s Arms Exports Go to India

Israeli soldiers patrolling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 20, 2014. AFP file photo
Israeli soldiers patrolling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 20, 2014. AFP file photo

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has said that Israel was the world's eighth largest arms exporter, a 55 percent increase in weapons exports in the past five years.

The report of Swedish-based SIPRI said India imports 49 percent of Israel’s arms.

Arms imports in the Middle East increased by 103 per cent in the past ten years, representing 32 percent of the volume of arms transfers in the world.

The largest customers for Israeli arms between 2013 and 2017 were India (49 percent) followed by Azerbaijan (13 percent) and Vietnam (6.3 percent), the institute reported.

Israel’s exports, included missiles, radars (and other sensors) and unmanned aerial vehicles, it said.

India and Azerbaijan procured loitering munitions from Israel, according to the report.

It added that Israel is the 17th largest importer of arms in the world, 60 percent of which came from the United States, followed by Germany (30 percent) and Italy (10 percent).

Israel’s arms imports also increased by 125 percent in the past five years, SIPRI said.

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World

Australian Far-Right Leader Sorry Over ‘Primitive’ Indigenous Comments

Australian Senator and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson reacts as a banner appeared during her address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia, June 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Australian Senator and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson reacts as a banner appeared during her address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia, June 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Australian Far-Right Leader Sorry Over ‘Primitive’ Indigenous Comments

Australian Senator and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson reacts as a banner appeared during her address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia, June 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Australian Senator and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson reacts as a banner appeared during her address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia, June 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Australian far-right leader Pauline Hanson offered a rare but qualified apology on Tuesday after she described the country's Indigenous people as "primitive".

For years a political outsider, Hanson's One Nation has surged this year to become one of Australia's most popular parties, according to opinion polls.

Long known for racist and inflammatory statements about minorities, Hanson drew outrage from across the political spectrum on Monday for describing Indigenous Australians as the "most primitive race on Earth".

She told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday that "if I've offended people by using that, then I will apologize for that".

The senator for Queensland said in a separate interview with News24 that she was "not the most eloquent speaker".

"I've always put my foot in my mouth in the way I come out and say things," she said.

"I regret saying that because I don't want to upset people. That wasn't my intention to hurt people."

Indigenous Australians, whose ancestors have lived on the continent for more than 60,000 years, have average life expectancies about eight years shorter than the rest of the population.

Several factors contribute to the disparity, with chronic health issues, higher poverty rates, more limited access to healthcare in some communities and complex socio-economic causes often blamed.

Indigenous people are also far more likely to be incarcerated or die in custody than other Australians.

Hanson also said on Tuesday she was sorry if she had offended Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with recent comments in which she disparaged the leader's late mother for living in public housing.

Albanese condemned the "mean and nasty" remarks, which sparked calls from an opposition lawmaker to "leave mums out of it".

Hanson's long history of provocative comments appears to have done little to dent her popularity.

An opinion poll conducted by Resolve Strategic on behalf of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers released on Sunday showed 27 percent of Australians would vote for Hanson's party -- one percentage point behind the ruling Labor Party.

World

China Imposes Travel Curbs to Protect ‘National Security’

A person rides a bike on a street in Beijing, China, 15 September 2026. (EPA)
A person rides a bike on a street in Beijing, China, 15 September 2026. (EPA)
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China Imposes Travel Curbs to Protect ‘National Security’

A person rides a bike on a street in Beijing, China, 15 September 2026. (EPA)
A person rides a bike on a street in Beijing, China, 15 September 2026. (EPA)

China imposed sweeping travel restrictions on its citizens on Tuesday, including exit bans on those deemed to endanger the country's "industrial or technological security".

Citizens who violate technology import and export regulations could be banned from leaving China, the State Council said.

Those who engage in illegal activities abroad could be "prohibited from leaving the country for a period of six months to three years from the date of their return to China".

China and the United States have been locked in a tech race, with both sides accusing the other in recent months of stealing the capabilities of locally developed artificial intelligence models.

The new rules, first released in July but in effect from Tuesday, were formulated to "safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests", the State Council said.

However, analysts warn that the travel rules give China a "wide remit".

Security and criminal activities "can be vaguely defined and easily adjusted", Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore told AFP.

"The outside world will only know how it applies that remit after there are cases of implementation," he said.

Chong pointed to reports of exit bans on foreign nationals, including the recent case of US citizen Min Zin.

The US government has said the political analyst was taken into Chinese custody in Yunnan province on June 3 and was held improperly.

China refuted the accusations in August, saying Min Zin was suspected of violating Chinese law.

"The case of Min Zin is a reminder that the range of people (that China) could restrict from exiting could be quite wide -- and potentially arbitrary," Chong said.

Dylan Loh, an associate professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, told AFP the travel restrictions "send a message" that China will take action to prevent "leaks in security or national interest-sensitive areas".

World

Iran Rejects Any Talks with US After Trump Remarks

Iranians drive past a billboard of Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a street in central Tehran, Iran, 13 September 2026. (EPA)
Iranians drive past a billboard of Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a street in central Tehran, Iran, 13 September 2026. (EPA)
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Iran Rejects Any Talks with US After Trump Remarks

Iranians drive past a billboard of Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a street in central Tehran, Iran, 13 September 2026. (EPA)
Iranians drive past a billboard of Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a street in central Tehran, Iran, 13 September 2026. (EPA)

Iran's security chief on Tuesday rejected any talks with the United States after President Donald Trump said he was open to resuming discussions on the Middle East war.

"Don't get distracted by the US president's mixed signals -- from 'no negotiations' to 'we're ready to talk'," the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, posted on X.

"The stakes around oil and the straits have changed. Damage control won't stop what's coming. No talks until Iran's conditions are met. Period!" he added.

Trump on Monday said he was open to holding talks with Iran, after weeks of saying it was too early to make a deal to end the war.

"The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the USA. will choose to engage -- The concept of which we are open to," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Iran has repeatedly listed demands including war reparations and the lifting of sanctions as preconditions for ending the war and its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.