Former US National Security Advisor (NSA) John Bolton has praised India’s growing importance to the United States, emphasising the need for closer bilateral cooperation and recognising New Delhi’s emerging global role.

Writing for the Washington Examiner, Mr Bolton pointed to the joint US-India effort to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a testament to India’s willingness to assert its influence on the global stage. The BRI, a colossal infrastructure investment project by China, has sparked apprehension regarding its potential to amplify Beijing’s economic and political sway across Asia and beyond.

“Beyond doubt, India will be a pivotal player in containing China’s hegemonic aspirations along its vast Indo-Pacific perimeter,” Mr Bolton wrote.

Mr Bolton, who served as the NSA in former President Donald Trump’s administration, also shed light on the ongoing case involving former Indian naval officers in Qatar. He said the case has undoubtedly brought to the forefront India’s complex relationship with the Middle East and its willingness to collaborate on intelligence matters with countries beyond its traditional allies.

“The ramifications for India from Israel’s current war to eliminate Hamas’s terrorism and constrain its Iranian puppet masters are significant, opening opportunities for both countries. But the situation also presents risks in a complex and difficult region,” he wrote.

Mr Bolton pointed out the potential strategic risks associated with a recent US loan of $553 million for a deepwater container terminal project in Colombo.

Mr Bolton praised the involvement of the Adani Group in the project.

“The Adani Group, one of India’s biggest industrial conglomerates, with deep expertise in port construction and management, is the project’s majority owner in this the first significant cooperative effort between India’s private sector and America’s government, one directly competitive with China” he wrote.

“Teaming with a pathbreaking private Indian firm in the Colombo venture is a dramatic example of leveraging US – Indian resources to mutual advantage,” he added.

Mr Bolton additionally underscored the necessity for enhanced cooperation among the US’s Arab partners, affirming that a broader Indian role and partnership with the US on a global scale would be in line with the shared national interests of both countries.

“Just as the Adani Group’s Colombo port project, bolstered by US financial connections, is geostrategically important to counter China’s hegemonic aspirations, so is increasing greater unity among America’s Arab partners. A wider Indian role and cooperation with the US globally will serve both countries’ national interests,” he wrote.

The Garisenda tower in Italy’s Bologna, also known as the ‘leaning tower’, has been steady for nearly 1,000 years. But the tallest tower in the town is now at risk of collapsing due to excessive leaning, according to reports.  

The 150-foot tall tower has been leaning at an angle of 4 degrees since the 14th century when officials tried to remove the top of the building with the aim of stabilising it. The iconic Tower of Pisa leans at 5 degrees.

Over the years, Italy has done extensive work over the years to maintain the integrity of the tower.

But now the tower is leaning excessively and has forced city officials to bring into action a civil protection plan. According to CNN, the tower is at risk of a “sudden and unexpected collapse”.

A metal cordon will now be put up around the tower to contain the debris and reduce the vulnerability of surrounding buildings in case of a collapse.

A protective cordon will be erected to contain debris resulting from a possible collapse, to reduce the vulnerability of surrounding buildings and the exposure to the population, as well as blocking access to the off-limits areas,” the city council said in a statement.

The warning was issued by a scientific committee which has monitored the site since 2019. They have installed sensors that measure the movements of the ancient tower. The committee said that the readings in October 2023 triggered alarm bells, reports CNN.

The ‘high alert’ warning states that an “unexpected and accelerated trend” of “crushing compression” of the base tower has been observed. It adds that the cracks in the stones used in the base could expand to the bricks above.

As soon as the report came out, civic officials shut down the area around the tower and closed all roads leading to it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly wants to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Golda Meir and authorise an ‘Operation Wrath of God’-like mission — kill Israel’s enemies across countries, spanning continents — once its campaign in Gaza winds down.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Netanyahu has instructed Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, to streamline a plan to execute this task. Mossad is reportedly drawing up plans to neutralise high-value targets in Turkey, Lebanon and Qatar – the latter in particular as its capital plays host to a Hamas office. 

Hamas’s political office was “opened in Qatar in 2012 in coordination with the United States government, following a US request to open a communication channel”, news agency AFP quoted a Qatari official in October. 

The Targets 

Former Mossad Director Efraim Halevy has raised concerns about the operations, WSJ claims, warning that such actions could have unintended consequences and further destabilise the region. Halevy said eliminating Hamas targets across the globe would not necessarily eliminate threats to Israel.

“Pursuing Hamas on a worldwide scale and trying to systematically remove all its leaders from this world is a desire to exact revenge, not a desire to achieve a strategic aim,” Halevy was quoted as saying by WSJ.

Some of the big names that may feature in Mossad’s kill list are Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar and Khaled Mashal. 

Ismail Haniyeh

Haniyeh, 60, is a politician who is a former Palestinian prime minister. He was elected as the head of Hamas’ political bureau in 2017.  In 2006, while serving as the Palestinian PM, Haniyeh was the subject of an assassination plot using a poison-filled letter. 

Haniyeh lives in voluntary exile, splitting his time between Qatar and Turkey. 

Mohammed Deif

Deif heads Hamas’ military wing, the Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades, and is Israel’s public enemy number one. Israeli authorities have tried to assassinate him at least six times, as per reports. He has also been on the US list of “international terrorists” since 2015.

The audio message at the start of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, dubbed the “Al-Aqsa Flood”, carried Deif’s voice. His current whereabouts are unknown but Israel believes he is fighting alongside Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.

Yahya Sinwar

Sinwar, 61, is a former commander of the Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades and was elected in 2017 as head of Hamas in Gaza. He has spent 23 years in Israeli jails before his release in 2011 in a prisoner exchange involving French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas.

Some of the Israeli hostages taken to Gaza have spoken about encountering Sinwar during their captivity. 

Khaled Mashal

Mashal is a founding member of Hamas Politburo and was the chairman until 2017. His current whereabouts are believed to be in Qatar.

Mashal was at the centre of a sensational assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997 when Mossad agents, posing as Canadian tourists, sprayed a deadly toxin into one of his ears. The Mossad kill-team was captured and Mashal fell into a coma.

US President Bill Clinton had to intervene and the then Mossad chief Danny Yatom had to fly to Amman with an antidote. 

‘What Justice Demands’

Yoav Gallant. the Israeli defence minister, has mugshots of hundreds of Hams fighters and commanders on a poster that hangs on a wall of his Tel Aviv office. 

“They are living on borrowed time,” Gallant said last week, as quoted by Reuters. 

WSJ claims that some Israeli officials wanted to commence the killing campaign not long after the October 7 attacks. According to the WSJ, a retired Israeli general called Amos Yadlin said a targetted killing campaign “is what justice demands”.