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TOI Indrani Bagchi November 06, 2017 China's aggressive play in the Indian Ocean region has prompted US and India to coordinate closely in Sri Lanka and Maldives — two countries strategically vital for India. This is a far cry from the years when India worked hard to keep the US out of South Asia, now US and India are working together to counter expanding Chinese influence. Maldives is a matter of particular concern. China has consolidated its hold on the island, building infrastructure with its standard predatory pricing methods. Unlike in Sri Lanka where the Sirisena government is trying to fix its books, president Yameen in Maldives seems perfectly comfortable with growing amounts of debt to China. China's infrastructure push is natural given that China is possibly a world leader in land reclamation — its the add-ons that are of concern to India+ . China's financing mechanisms mean that China could be controlling large areas of Maldives fairly soon. There is ...

TOI Shalabhi November 06, 2017 A 37-year-old Riyadh-based man was arrested on Sunday morning from the Mumbai airport for allegedly radicalising youths in Uttar Pradesh and encouraging them to join the socalled Islamic State (IS). Abu Zaid of Azamagarh district, who faced a lookout notice, was detained at the airport on Saturday night, soon after deboarding a flight from Riyadh. DSP Anup Singh of the UP police anti-terrorism squad (ATS) flew to Mumbai on Sunday to arrest Zaid, ADG (law and order) Anand Kumar told TOI, adding that he was later brought to Lucknow on a transit remand. A police team was sent to Zaid's house in Azamgarh. Zaid, who had been staying in Riyadh for a year, allegedly used a highly-secure chat app, Threema, for his conversations with his targets from western UP, Kumar said. 'Threema' provides random IDs to users without asking them to provide a phone number or e-mail address. The hunt for Zaid began in April after the arrest of fou...