A profile of veteran Nepali politician K P Sharma Oli, detailing his rise to power, his various stints as prime minister, and his impact on Nepal's political landscape.
China on Tuesday retaliated US President Donald Trump's imposition of 2nd round of ten per cent tariffs on its export by slapping an additional 15 per cent tariffs on American goods and initiated legal action against Washington in WTO while leaving the door open for talks to address each other's concerns.
In trade negotiations, as in chess, sometimes you need to accept a temporary disadvantage to secure a better long-term position, points out Sonal Varma, chief economist (India and Asia ex-Japan) at Nomura.
Taking to social media platform X, Dmitriev said, "Russia confirms Putin-Trump summit may happen next week and summit preparations are ongoing. This can be a historic meeting. Dialogue will prevail."
'Indian refiners can operate without Russian crude from a technical standpoint, but the shift would involve major economic and strategic trade-offs'
'Trump's desire to withdraw the US from some arenas on the global stage will result in ceding space to China.'
The Quad grouping has called for bringing the perpetrators, organisers and financiers of the Pahalgam terror attack to justice without any delay and urged UN member nations to extend cooperation for it.
For India, the challenge is to strike a balance between tactical necessity and economic priorities, point out Pravin Krishna and Monil Sharma.
'...they always address problems superficially, never tackling root causes.' 'Currently, the policy response will focus on immediate relief -- getting people to safety, providing facilities, clearing debris.' 'This is necessary, but once immediate relief operations end, everything returns to 'normal' without addressing underlying vulnerabilities.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu held talks focusing on trade, defence, and infrastructure cooperation, signaling a turnaround in relations after a period of strain.
'The biggest point of contention is market access for US agricultural and dairy products.'
The United States announced a 25 per cent tariff on India as the White House released an expansive list of duties that Washington, DC will impose on exports from countries around the world.
Trump has played throughout his career as a deal-maker who could deliver where others could not, and Ukraine represents the ultimate test of that image, notes Manish Dabhade.
India needs to be technologically and militarily prepared to defend itself from both Pakistan and China, alerts Ramesh Menon.
Indian OMCs have not been buying Iranian or Venezuelan crude which is actually sanctioned by US. OMCs have always complied with the price cap of $60 for Russian oil recommended by the US.
'Just as we cannot surrender the interests of our farmers and dairy industry, Trump is also looking for markets for the produce of the farmers in the Midwest, which are his support base.'
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
The Galwan clash occurred six months after the Doklam disengagement and two high-profile meetings. India should not be caught by surprise once again, asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Trump is confident the US will eventually emerge the winner from whatever turmoil his policies cause, notes T T Ram Mohan.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he "helped settle" the tensions between India and Pakistan and that he told the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours that America would do a "lot of trade" with them if they stopped the conflict.
DeepSeek is a case in point on how economic interdependence between nations are utilised for geopolitical ambitions and global domination efforts, observes China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has called upon China to expand its economic influence in Bangladesh, controversially mentioning that India's northeastern states being landlocked could present an opportunity. Yunus, who recently visited China and met with President Xi Jinping, highlighted Bangladesh's role as the "only guardian of the ocean " in the region, suggesting it could be a pathway for Chinese economic expansion. This statement has sparked debate, with Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic advisory council, questioning the relevance of India's landlocked states in Yunus' appeal to China. Yunus, however, emphasized the importance of a strong friendship with China, viewing it as a counterbalance to India. During his visit, Yunus signed nine agreements with Beijing and secured USD 2.1 billion in investments, loans, and grants from the Chinese government and companies.
The announcement on expansion of CPEC was made following a meeting among Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar and Afghanistan's Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Beijing, according to a Pakistani readout.
'India's farmers will be unable to compete with the US, given the subsidies that the latter provides its farmers.'
Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong urged that the government should launch a crackdown against all anti-China terrorist groups after two deadly attacks took place in Pakistan within only six months, The Express Tribune reported.
Vice President V V Giri's resignation in 1969 triggered political upheavals that saw the ruling party defy its own presidential nominee, the expulsion of a sitting prime minister by her party president, and a historic split in the Indian National Congress, recounts Utkarsh Mishra.
FBI director Kash Patel confirmed the arrest on X and called the case a "sobering reminder" that the CCP is working to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target the food supply in the US.
The foreign degree no longer sells itself, families are doing the math, and for many, the numbers just don't add up.
'The President-elect firmly believes we can avoid conflict with the Chinese Communist party because they need our markets.'
On the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, Utkarsh Mishra recalls the conditions under which the Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, launched the final struggle for independence.
'Pakistan is economically very weak and will not be able to sustain a war for long.'
The BRICS nations condemned the Pahalgam terror attack, advocated for a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism, and criticized rising tariffs during their summit in Rio de Janeiro. They also addressed global challenges and called for reforms in international institutions.
In a statement, the Chinese ministry of commerce said that it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organisation against the US for its "wrongful practice," the Global Times reported.
Finding solutions to address non-tariff barriers would be important for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU) and both sides are actively working on resolving these issues, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. He said the two sides are "pretty" close to finalising the talks for the proposed free trade pact.
China and Pakistan are in a tight strategic alliance. India must deal with them one at a time, but be prepared in case they decide to collude, points out Shekhar Gupta.
He said that the two nations will have issues in the foreseeable future. However, there are ways of addressing those issues and what happened in 2020 was not the way to address those issues.
'India enjoys conventional superiority, but nuclear deterrence imposes clear boundaries.'
When asked whether both armies talked to each other, initiated by the Pakistani army, Jaishankar said, "Yes, we have a mechanism to talk to each other as a hotline. So, on the 10th of May, it was the Pakistani army which sent a message that they were ready to stop firing, and we responded accordingly."
'Given China's past behaviour and their territorial claims, should we be sceptical regarding China's willingness to adhere to these agreements fully? The answer is yes.' 'As Ronald Reagan famously said in the context of the SALT talks, 'Trust, but verify!' India should also do the same.' 'This has already begun with foot patrolling, drones, satellite imagery and so on. India's military deployment did mirror China's and will continue to do so in the future.'
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
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