Abstaining from voting on a UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka was dictated as much by necessity and self-preservation as by a desire to place bilateralism at the front and centre of New Delhi's ties with Colombo, says Ramesh Ramachandran.
The government told the apex court that the decision whether or not to allow refugees to settle in the country was best left to the Executive.
Expressing dismay over reports of Indian Coast Guard participating in naval exercises with Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to recall the two ships and Coast Guard personnel participating in the event in the island nation.
According to the government's notification, 10 central probe and snoop agencies are now empowered under the Information Technology Act for computer interception and analysis, ministry of home affairs officials said.
'They must be hiding somewhere in a country where the Taliban would not even spare a 4-year-old girl.'
China on Wednesday sought a clarification from Spain over a ruling by a Spanish court issuing arrest warrants against former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and four others for alleged genocide against Tibet, warning that the move would harm bilateral ties.
Justice (retd) A K Ganguly on Friday preferred to remain "quiet" over his resignation as West Bengal Human Rights Commission chief after the Union cabinet approved a proposal for sending a presidential reference to the Supreme Court on the issue saying he hasn't "decided anything".
Singh, who recently said all Rohingyas in India were "illegal immigrants" as none of them had applied for asylum as refugees, asked opposition parties not to make it a "political issue".
The Western powers appear to regard Delhi as the most logical destination in the region in these extraordinary times -- as a counterpoint to the ascendance of political Islam and a rising red star over Afghanistan, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Russia claimed the IAAF's decision to continue its ban of Russian athletics on Friday was unfair and threatened legal action, while the rest of the world welcomed the move and urged the IOC not to go against it.
The plea, filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, termed the notification "illegal, unconstitutional and ultra vires to the law".
Pakistan has said that the Kashmir dispute has international ramifications and rejected India's assertion that the ongoing strife there is an internal matter where Islamabad has no role to play and should have no role to play.
'If the authorities go about completing this project the way they have proposed, this is going to cause a HUGE environmental impact not only on Malabar Hill but also on the rest of the city.'
The interim stay on demolition, granted by the Delhi high court earlier, was ending on Monday.
'It was more than ego.' 'It carried with it a sincere belief that he was the quintessence of the country, that the country's destiny was irrevocably intertwined with his destiny.' An excerpt from T J S George's The Dismantling of India: In 35 Portraits.
'Modi looks to be an effective, result-oriented, purposeful leader, focused on bringing greatness and glory to the nation.'
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So it is best for his critics to give up their sniping and supplement his efforts,' asserts B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant who served three prime ministers.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath issued notice to the Ministry of Defence, saying that "we want to know your response" and listed the matter for hearing on February 3 next year.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Religious tolerance in India is "deteriorating" while religious freedom violations are "increasing", a rights expert has told American lawmakers.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing that "the Indian side should fully recognise the anti-China separatist nature of the 14th Dalai Lama."
India on Wednesday hit out at tweets by global celebrities such as singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg in support of the farmers' protests, the focus of a sharply polarised international debate that saw many Bollywood stars and top ministers rally around the government in its pushback.
Ramesh Menon, the veteran journalist suggests Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi what he should do if he wants to win 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'One police officer told me that trials take forever, conviction rates are low.' 'So one way to judge states' performance on handling crime is through the 'recovery rate' of their police.' 'The fastest way to get recovery is by torturing the accused.'
The 49-year-old jeweller, fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank scam case, has made around six previous attempts at bail at the magistrates' court as well as at the high court level.
Most of the 40 MLAs in the Shinde camp don't have enough legislative experience to conduct business in the House and so the first ministry expansion needed induction of veterans.
British Parliament's Petitions Committee will consider a Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons complex on the issue of farmers protests and press freedom in India after an online petition attracted over 106,000 signatures.
'Pakistan will leave no stone unturned to keep Kashmir on the edge and put the entire blame on the Government of India if there is any untoward incident,' says Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
An inadvertent slip by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav while declaring Bollywood hit PK as tax free has not only earned him criticism on the social media but a social activist has also moved an application for lodging an FIR, accusing him of piracy.
Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the government, said this was the stand of the Culture Ministry.
The comments assume significance in the backdrop of recent disclosures by messaging giant WhatsApp that said Indian journalists and human rights activists were among those globally spied upon by unnamed entities using an Israeli spyware Pegasus.
Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that nearly 500 terror convicts will be hanged to death within the next two to three weeks.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
Islamic State group jihadists have claimed responsibility for twin explosions.
In a bid to bring Pakistan's powerful Inter Services Intelligence under civilian control, the Senate has recommended an effective role of Parliament in monitoring it while giving the spy agency power to arrest and detain.
Thousands of BJP workers from Kolkata and Howrah began marching towards Nabanna to protest the "worsening" law and order in the state.
'They have started an institute, the Academy of Training and Sensitisation, for prison officials near Vellore.' 'This institute has been started by the Union home ministry and it is meant for all the four southern states.'
In his latest response to his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry's fresh invitation of August 19 for talks, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar once again emphasised on the need for earliest possible vacation of Islamabad's illegal occupation of PoK and conveyed that not just India but the larger region is aware that Pakistan is actually a "prime perpetrator" of terrorism.
Islamabad is being bluntly asked not to use the development in Kashmir for cross border terrorism or infiltration across the Line of Control.
India on Saturday voiced "deep concern" over the developments in the Maldives, a day after former president Mohamed Nasheed was sentenced to 13-year imprisonment by a criminal court of that country under anti-terror laws.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
