The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ #SwissLeaks initiative on secret account holders in Switzerland’s HSBC bank has brought the spotlight back on the funding of Al Qaeda leader and 9/11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden. A US Senate report of July 2012 had publicly revealed links between HSBC clients and Al … Read More
Several Chinese cities have been in the news over the past decade for blinding smog that made breathing difficult without surgical masks. Recently, New Delhi’s smog-laden air drew unfavourable attention due to the visit of US President Barack Obama for the Republic Day celebrations. American media reports said the US … Read More
The capital’s Assembly elections have emerged as an uneven three horse race, with each party determined to better its previous record. With barely a dozen days left for polling, it would be foolish to hazard a guess as to the outcome, but some points deserve mention. Contrary to media hype, … Read More
India’s most prestigious agricultural export – Basmati rice – is in danger of being banned in the European Union and other GM-sensitive markets as consignments were found tainted with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in November 2014. Experts at the UK-based GM certification firm, Cert ID, feel the contamination is intentional … Read More
Any attempt to defang Islamic State must first cut off its main sources of funding, says Sandhya Jain. In a bid to legitimise its existence as a new State carved out of vast swathes of territories of Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State has reportedly opened its own bank and … Read More
Pakistan’s policy of nurturing militias as strategic assets came home to roost on December 16 when Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)jihadis shot 148 persons, including 132 students, at the Army Public School in Peshawar in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The victims, mostly offspring of military personnel, were killed as revenge for Zarb-e-Azab, the Army … Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brief visit to India last week was a rewarding climax to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s international outreach this year, deepening ties forged at the BRICS and other summits, satisfying some national security needs, and aligning with Mr Modi’s signature project, Make in India. The visit was … Read More
In an reluctant admission that the brutish, well-funded, and well-equipped Dawlat al-Islamiyah f’al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham (Daesh) or Islamic State (IS) cannot be defeated without the cooperation of Iran, the United States has tactfully shelved plans to oust Syrian President Basher al-Assad, a close ally of Teheran, and has since … Read More
Article 370 has been distrusted from its inception; but until now it could never be discussed seriously because the vested interests in favour of retaining it seemed invincible. Now, however, though it is far from being expunged from the Constitution, a serious debate has been joined. Last December, the then … Read More
An astonishing aspect of the Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir is not the controversy over Article 370 but the revelation that the Bharatiya Janata Party may itself be conflicted over this constitutional provision. After sharply raising the ante, infusing life into the lacklustre National Conference and increasing the dogmatism … Read More
