Morning Digest: Centre to unveil Bharat Forecasting System; India views China as ‘primary adversary’, U.S. report says, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on May 26, 2025

India views China as its “primary adversary” and Pakistan more an “ancillary” security problem to be “managed”, despite cross-border attacks in mid-May by both India’s and Pakistan’s militaries, while Pakistan regards India as an “existential” threat, the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) said in its Worldwide Threat Assessment 2025 report.

The government will on Monday (May 26, 2025) unveil a new ‘Bharat Forecasting System’ that will enable the weather office to provide more accurate and localised predictions. Developed by Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Bharat Forecasting System (BFS) will provide forecasts with a 6 km resolution — the highest in the world — that would allow forecasters to predict small-scale weather features more accurately.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday (May 25, 2025) indicated Dhaka should think of its two “vulnerable” narrow strips of land before threatening to cut off India’s ‘chicken neck’ in West Bengal. The chicken neck refers to the Siliguri corridor, a narrow strip of land between Bangladesh and Nepal that connects the eight northeastern States to India’s mainland.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Sunday (May 25, 2025) had a telephonic conversation with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand and the two leaders discussed strengthening the relationship between the two countries.

A 15-year-old boy from Kerala, who had come to the Nilgiris with his family for a tour, was killed by a falling tree, which was uprooted due to heavy rain on Sunday (May 25, 2025). The victim, identified as P. Adhidev of Kozhikode, was at Eighth Mile, a popular picnicking spot for tourists, when the tree fell on him.

The Madhya Pradesh Police on Sunday (May 25, 2025) arrested Manoharlal Dhakad, a local politician from Mandsaur whose purported video has gone viral showing him indulged in obscene acts with a woman on an expressway, officers said. Mandsaur SP Abhishek Anand told The Hindu that a video had gone viral on May 13 which was taken into cognisance and an FIR was lodged in Bhanpura police station under BNS sections 296, 285 and 3(5) and a probe was launched.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday (May 25, 2025) indicated Dhaka should think of its two “vulnerable” narrow strips of land before threatening to cut off India’s ‘chicken neck’ in West Bengal. The chicken neck refers to the Siliguri corridor, a narrow strip of land between Bangladesh and Nepal that connects the eight northeastern States to India’s mainland.