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The Nigerian presidential election on March 28 was nothing short of a historic turning point in the rather fragile democracy. An incumbent Nigerian President was voted out in a general election which was, on the whole, free and fair barring a few technical glitches.

Elections-2004 has thrown up a question without addressing it, leave alone answering it. By drumming up on the Vajpayee leadership, the BJP-NDA may have kept the nation¿s focus away from the obvious question, but the latter does remain, however much in the background as they may deem fair: After Vajpayee, Who?

While there was no question of any rapprochement between Bangladesh and Pakistan, there are Muslim diehard elements in Bangladesh who draw their inspiration from Pakistan. These elements aim to strike at the very basic concept of Bangladesh.

Is India stepping into global and regional leadership mode?

For Beijing, the coronavirus outbreak is more than a health crisis; it is a credibility challenge, domestically and globally.

Iran is being treated more like North Korea, even though it is one of the world's great civilisations, with major historical and scientific achievements. And, as anyone who has deeply analysed the personalities of Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Un knows, they don't look like one another. Or like one another.

A one-on-one Trump-Putin meeting being proposed by sections of the Trump Administration would be a big win for Putin who desperately wants recognition as a global statesman

Baghdadi, who has led the ISIS since 2010, has acquired significant financial and military power and influence among Sunni foreign fighters. But the ISIS's violent and extremist methods have alienated Sunni militias and Baghdadi's unwillingness to share power is likely to limit the group's territorial expansion.

India's decision to allow corporates to borrow yuan denominated loans is guided by many factors. There is a big demand for Yuan loans from companies who are importing equipment and machinery from China for infrastructure development.

After months of painstaking deliberations, Afghanistan's draft Constitution was finally made public on November 3, 2003. However, the road to the final document would in all probability prove to be a daunting process as the formation of the draft was, and might end up being an inconclusive battle for supremacy between the liberals in charge of the country at present and the radicals who once called the shots.

The confirmations about the death of Mullah Omar, who is said to have died in 2013, may not have taken many by surprise. His absence from the public domain for years led to various theories about his possible whereabouts.

Sections of the Spanish media, quoting the authorities investigating the Madrid blasts of March 11,2004, have reported that the terrorists, who orchestrated the blasts, had used the mobile telephones as timers for the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) along with copper detonators, different from the aluminium detonators used in the past by the ETA, the Basque terrorist organisation. According to one report, the IEDs had the alarms set for 7-39

One grieving mother camping outside the ranch where President Bush is on vacation has made her countrymen sit up and introspect about the war the US is waging in Iraq. Cindy Sheehan, mother of army specialist Casey Sheehan who died in the Sadr City section of Baghdad on April 4, 2004, and other family members who too have lost their loved ones, have become the new face of opposition to the war in Iraq.

India is assured of an ally in the United States on the Kashmir issue; the US — under the tenets of Westphalian sovereignty — has chosen to back India unequivocally. Yet it was not always so. There was a time soon after India’s Independence that the US government, through the State Department, was actively consorting with National Conference leader and Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah to look for ways by which to secure

It has historically been assumed that while the nature of war remains the same—i.e., violence inflicted on the adversary to bend them to one’s will—the character of warfare changes with technology, organisation, politics and culture. This notion has changed. Over the past decade, the nature of war has also changed, with increased use of non-contact and non-kinetic modes of warfare expanding the battlefield spatially and temporally.

The Al Qaeda in Iraq, headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is of Jordanian origin, has reportedly claimed responsibility for the blasts directed at three hotels in Amman on November 9,2005, in which about 60 innocent civilians, the majority of them Jordanian nationals, were killed. There is no valid reason for doubting the claim.

Uncertainties will mutate for a long time.

What is bewildering is the stone silence on the part of ordinary Americans who are being hoodwinked by the Obama administration into believing that funnelling money and weapons to Pakistan's rogue military would help in winning strategic goals. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Some economists argue there is an overlap between the demands of the stock market and the emerging aspirational classes. The new FM has said, sacrifices will have to be made to correct the fiscal path. The question is who will make the sacrifices -- big capital or ordinary people?

The current wave of protests sweeping across the Arab world has the Obama administration worried, particularly about Egypt. Interestingly, each protest in the region has targeted rulers who have been allied to the US for long. The US thus finds itself in a delicate situation.

The October 29 serial blasts in Delhi are a warning to all of us who are basking in the afterglow of a make-believe harmony across the Line of Control. Opening bus routes, transit points, good wishes, hugs, flowers, smiles are all fine and necessary in one way to engage a neighbour who has been more of an adversary in the past half-a-century of its existence.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can improve various aspects of healthcare. It can help reduce annual expenditure,[1] allow early detection of diseases, provide round-the-clock monitoring for chronic disorders, and help limit the exposure of healthcare professionals in contagious environments. The use of AI in healthcare systems in Africa, in particular, can eliminate inefficiencies such as misdiagnosis, shortage in healthcare workers, and wait and

The emerging faultlines in the Indo-Pacific are clear: An illiberal China intent on shaping a unipolar Asia, pitted against a ‘concert of democracies’ who seek a multipolar and rules-based alternative.

A closer look at the emerging naval dynamics in Asia makes clear that the maritime 'quad' isn't still a wholly viable proposition

Assembly Elections 2023: There is justice in the poll promises that political parties are making to women voters, whose assertion at the polling booth in terms of turnout and independent choices is only too evident to these parties.

Over the last three decades, Australia and China have established mutually beneficial economic ties. However, Australia’s decision to ask for an independent enquiry into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, has led to a backlash from China. This brief examines the more important developments since 2015 that persuaded Australia to take measures aimed at protecting both its open economy and its democratic polity against China’s sys

With India's annual inflation rate rising to a near four-year high on a point-to-point basis on the back of rising food prices, the search for policies to combat the price rise poses unusual challenges. The nature and causes of the current spiraling inflation in India has become a subject of intense debate, primarily because of the ostensible role of `imported inflation' in driving the domestic prices north. Issues like poor performance of the Pu

While there has been considerable commentary in Pakistan about what happened to jounalist Hamid Mir, there is silence about the fast unto death by a young Baloch, Latif Johar who has been seeking the release of Zahid Baloch, Chairman of the Baloch Students' Organisation.

The re-rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan is a stark reminder of how the more the world changes, the more it remains the same. In the end, America will move on and India will manage. But it is the ordinary Afghans who had placed their faith in the goodwill of these nations that are left to fend for themselves.

A lively and frank debate on India-Pakistan relationship marked the meeting between a high-powered delegation from Pakistan led by former Prime Minister Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain and an Indian team of senior diplomats, strategic analysts, commentators and policy makers led by former Indian Foreign Secretary M Rasgotra, who is presently, International Affairs Adviser, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi, at ORF, Campus on March 31, 2005.

Bhutan has announced its support for Japan's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. This was announced by Bhutan's Prime Minister, Tshering Tobgay, who completed his official visit to Japan on July 2.

If Modi is a strong leader who is bringing greater purposefulness to India's China policy, Xi is even more powerful at home. He has conveyed a strong interest in transforming relations with New Delhi and is willing to explore opportunities with Modi.

As IndiaChain, the Indian government’s blockchain initiative remains in beta stage, private companies like BanQu are demonstrating small-scale successes in linking blockchain technology with the agriculture industry. Blockchain technology connects buyers and sellers and allows farmers, especially those without access to formal financial institutions–who tend to be female–the opportunity to create digital identities and build credit historie

Kerala outbreak sparks calls for improved communication and targeted action

Perhaps, the most critical issue for the five BRICS leaders, who will meet at the sunny shores of Fortaleza, will be practical goal-setting. This will be an exercise in planning and coordination to maintain continuity as well as honing in on objectives for the long term. If there is an opportunity to be seized in cross-leveraging political and economic ties, it will be in the coming years.

This was a budget without many surprises. Maybe we have evolved to being an economy, in which the budget is a mundane, technical exercise, of interest to economists and accountants, but of little immediate consequence for those who live in the real world.

The Narendra Modi government's 'Make in India' campaign, on the whole, seems out of sync with today's world where it doesn't matter where a product is made because even high exporting countries like China basically assembles parts made elsewhere in the world.

Peaceful international partnerships in crucial sectors, like healthcare, continue to inspire India’s global vision.

In Sri Lanka, whoever wins or loses the parliamentary polls, and whoever forms the government afterward, it's President Maithripala Sirisena who would be at the centre of all post-poll politics over the ethnic issue, political solution and 'accountability issues' of the UNHRC kind.

AUKUS adds another layer of deterrence against China. The group is likely to strengthen the military dimension, contrary to the belief that it undercuts Quad.

The Nepalese government¿s offer of surrender and rehabilitation to Maoist insurgents¿announced by Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa on December 18, 2003¿¿whose deadline concluded on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the Maoist ¿People¿s War¿, on February 12, 2004, has met with partial success.

The media in India enjoys a great deal of freedom and when it is threatened, the response is vociferous. Nevertheless, there is the need to maintain a balance between free expression and other community and individual rights; this responsibility should not be borne by the judiciary alone, but by all those who enjoy these rights.  

A transformation is sweeping Saudi Arabia, and certain elements of it can be attributed to ‘Vision 2030’, a strategic plan launched in 2016. The vision—framed by a paradigm shift in the country’s economic, social, and cultural landscape—will have implications beyond Saudi Arabia itself, given the country’s position as leader of the Arab and Islamic world. The biggest challenge to such a metamorphosis is adoption among citizens, who wi

Under the 2008 Constitution, President Nasheed is to be succeeded by Vice-President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who would complete the remaining two-and-half years of the presidency, until elections in October 2013.

Digital labour platforms—or online marketplaces that connect work providers and work seekers—will undoubtedly help shape the future of work. This brief studies the platforms targeted at online gig workers (or freelancers), who use them to find digital work opportunities in their home market or elsewhere, and then produce and deliver their services remotely. The brief explains the underlying technological and economic drivers and how the Covid

It is not only President Obama who feels boxed in by the Lindsay Grahams and John McCains of his country but Rouhani too has formidable set of foes to fight, before either can climb down from his stated position. Not everyone in Iran wants his President to negotiate the country out of its present misery.

The Chinese side noted that the explosion incident and back-to-back targeted killings triggered serious concerns among consumers in Arab countries about the security of electronic products produced in or whose supply chains are controlled by the West.

India has seen a huge jump in screen time by 25 per cent (4.9 hours pre-COVID to 6.9 hours) during the pandemic.

This brief makes an assessment of the data-sharing arrangement between China and India as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding for sharing hydrological information on the Brahmaputra river system, aimed at facilitating advance warning for floods in India during monsoon. Using hydro-meteorological data, this brief assesses the arrangement and identifies its limitations, primary of which is the wrong choice for the location of measuring stat

Three months since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the health crisis has wreaked havoc on people’s lives and livelihoods across the globe. Can state responsibility be apportioned for the pandemic, under the current international legal system? What would the elements of such responsibility be? This brief explores the concept of “state responsibility” under public international law and exam