Considering that Qatar is a trusted ally of Washington for decades, it is expected to be a steady influence on the Taliban leadership, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Did Trump hint at US military intervention in Qatar?' asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The United States on Thursday put Iran "on notice" for test-firing a ballistic missile and warned of consequences for its "malign actions", signalling a more hardline stance against Tehran that could set the stage for renewed confrontation between the two nations.
Trump becomes first sitting US President to pray at the Western Wall.
A 32-year-old US-returned engineering graduate was arrested in Hyderabad when he was allegedly on his way to Dubai to join the Middle East terror group Islamic State, the Cyberabad police claimed on Friday.
As far as India is concerned, the danger is the potential of the IS to create mischief rather than its actual capability as of now, says Rajiv Kumar
'What's happening in Gaza is another ethnic cleansing, a repeat of what happened in 1948.' 'That is why people do not want to evacuate. Either you evacuate or you die.'
A defiant United States President Donald Trump on Friday denounced as "disgraceful" an appellate court's decision blocking his controversial ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.
With Modi's international image seriously damaged -- perhaps, irrecoverably -- and Indian foreign policy finding itself in drift, we move on to the New Year in a depressing scenario, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Rediff reader Prof Dr Ahmad K shares an experience from his formative years.
El-Sisi welcomed Modi, who is on a two-day state visit to Egypt, at the Presidential Palace where the two leaders were closeted for one-on-one meeting after which the two sides signed a memorandum of understandng.
'The NIA has shared with states concerned a list of 125 suspected activists who have close links with the JMB leadership'
At an event at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai, Modi first flagged off the the CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express and later another semi high-speed train linking the financial capital to Sainagar Shirdi temple town in Ahmednagar district.
A tribute to an incomparable photojournalist who was slain by the Taliban on Thursday night.
Online reports said there were at least 40,000 protesters in the rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
'History will repeat itself after a decade or so and historians will point to the folly of May 2017 as the event that sowed the seeds of another 9/11,' warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Pakistan found itself in the cross hairs of Middle East politics after Saudi Arabia included it in a 34-nation military coalition of Muslim countries to combat terrorism without getting Islamabad's consent, media reports said on Wednesday.
The concern about such an explosive hidden in a laptop or an electronic device prompted the US and the UK to prohibit travelers flying out of 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and Africa from carrying laptops and other large electronic devices aboard planes.
For the first time, the Islamic State terror group has released its propaganda song in Mandarin calling on Chinese Muslims to wage Jihad, escalating pressure on security forces battling Uyghur militants in volatile Xinjiang province.
The attack is likely to be launched by British-born Islamist terrorists travelling back from Syria, Paul Cruickshank, the terrorism analyst for American news channel CNN, has said.
On the sixth anniversary of the 2008 Batla House encounter on Friday, terror group Ansar-ul-Tawhid Fi Bilad Al Hind has issued a threat to avenge the killings of Indian Mujahideen members who died in the encounter.
Europe will have to make some hard choices if it wishes to take on the militant group responsible for the horrible attacks in Paris.
Her motto: Why blend when you were made to stand out!
'Modi has visited all these three countries (the UAE more than once, inexplicably) but has left out Kuwait and Oman, the two Gulf countries that are closest to India in their political, cultural and civilisational ethos,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Saudi Arabia's Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died on Friday and his half-brother Salman took over reigns of the world's top oil exporting nation in a smooth transition of power, calling for "unity and solidarity" among Muslims.
'Unsurprisingly, the joint statement issued after Modi's visit contains a paragraph on terrorism.' 'It is on the usual lines that India would have with, say, Croatia.' 'The surprising part is that it shies away from getting into specifics,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The RSS had nothing to do with organising the event,' senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar tells Rediff.com
'So a number of people are drawn in along with members of their friends' circle or their relatives.' 'A number of individuals find that they have more in common with the 'imagined community' that they discover online as opposed to their own physical community and indeed, even the majority Muslim community elsewhere.'
Trump clarified that not all Muslims fall into this category but said he means "a lot of them".
'By annoying the Arabs and cozying up to Iran, Pakistan may end up losing Arab economic support, annoying the Americans and increase Shia-Sunni tensions domestically,' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) points out.
A 26-year-old Australian woman has allegedly abandoned her two children to join the Islamic State in Syria.
By maintaining that all Indians are tolerant, the Pew centre appears to have skimmed over the surface of its subject matter without delving deep, asserts Amulya Ganguli.
US President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's King Salman amid the Arab world's biggest diplomatic crisis in years over Qatar's alleged support to extremists, reports Lalit K Jha.
In a historic moment, Pope Francis met the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque at the Vatican.
The Islamic State terror group may have developed a nuclear device by using radioactive uranium stolen from Iraq's Mosul University after seizing control of the city last June, according to a British media report.
"Make no mistake: this ban does not keep us safe. It puts American lives at risk while isolating the Muslim community at a time when we need to address the threat of homegrown extremism. No matter the changes, this executive action remains immoral and fundamentally un-American," California Senator Kamala Harris said.
Obama made no reference to any country in his speech but said that his administration works to promote religious freedom around the globe.
'No other terror organisation has valued popular consensus as the Islamic State does -- instead of repressing people, IS wants to gain their support. This is a major innovation in terrorism,' says terrorism expert and author Dr Loretta Napoleoni in an interview to Archana Masih and Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.
'The humanity displayed by ordinary, lower middle class residents of north east Delhi -- Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs -- will be remembered perhaps even more than the evil wrought in the riots,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
'None of these three countries -- Turkey, Iran or Malaysia -- ever made a hostile move against India to support the Pakistan-based terrorist elements,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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