A high-level panel on 'One Nation, One Election' studied election processes in seven countries including South Africa, Sweden and Belgium before recommending simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and state assemblies in India. The other countries where simultaneous elections are conducted are Germany, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The Union Cabinet approved bills to implement 'One Nation, One Election', and the draft legislations are likely to be introduced in Parliament in the ongoing Winter session.
A UN Security Council report states that The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack and published a photograph of the attack site. The report also cites assertions that the attack could not have happened without the support of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT).
'Pakistan wanted India out of Afghanistan to which again the Taliban told Pakistan to take a walk.' 'Six months after they came back to power in 2021 India was back in Afghanistan at the request of the Taliban.' 'The Taliban realised that India has no agenda of its own in Afghanistan.'
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.
A drunk South African lawmaker tried to open an aircraft's emergency door while on a flight to India. Dirk Feldman, who was part of a group of parliamentarians headed for Mumbai, allegedly tried to open the emergency exit of the plane in a drunken state during the flight on Saturday.
The grilling of Brigadier-General Dyer by Akshay Kumar's Sir C Sankaran Nair, as shown in Kesari 2, is purely an imaginary sequence, proves Utkarsh Mishra.
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
Leaders and members of the Hindu community rue the fact that they are not given proper representation and many are not even registered as voters.
Asif Ali Zardari was overwhelmingly elected as the 14th President of Pakistan on Saturday, becoming the only civilian President of the coup-prone country for a second time.
'Everyone is unhappy with the lieutenant governor's administration, which is ignorant, high-handed, and inaccessible.'
In a breakthrough that could end the political uncertainty in Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party have agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a new coalition government after intense negotiations following a fractured poll verdict.
Taking to Twitter, United Nations Human Right Council said, 'At its 35th special session, the @UN Human Rights Council decided to create a new fact-finding mission to investigate alleged #HumanRightsViolations in the Islamic Republic of #Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022.'
Weeks before Canada made an explosive allegation implicating Indian officials in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Canadian officials sought public condemnation of the murder from their allies, including the United States, but were met with reluctance, The Washington Post reported.
Canada has expelled an Indian diplomat as it was investigating what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called 'credible allegations' of the involvement of 'agents of the Indian government' in the killing of a Sikh extremist leader in Surrey in June, claims outrightly rejected by New Delhi as 'absurd' and 'motivated'.
IS-Khorasan was sanctioned for its links with Al Qaeda and involvement in several deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan that killed over 150 people.
Sri Lanka's Minister for Economic Development, Basil Rajapakse's visit to New Delhi on Thursday for what is described as "regular high level consultations" comes shortly before a scheduled meeting of a Parliamentary Select Committee for Constitutional Amendments on July 9.
Insurgents opposed to the election have threatened to kill anyone who visits the polling stations on Sunday, while three senior aides of Al Qaeda frontman Al-Zarqawi were arrested.
The report came amid speculation on social media that JeM founder has died.
A former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam child soldier-turned-politician was acquitted by a court in Sri Lanka on Wednesday in the 2005 murder case of a senior ethnic Tamil lawmaker at the height of the country's bloody civil war.
Addressing a health card distribution ceremony in Peshawar, Chief Minister Khan said the government has issued orders to rebuild the temple. The attack on the temple in Terri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's (KP) Karak district on Wednesday drew strong condemnation from human rights activists and the minority Hindu community leaders.
Qureshi urged for unity among political parties in Pakistan on Kashmir and warned that doing politics on the issue would harm the cause.
Rubbishing Pakistan's claim of a victory in the case, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Islamabad has its 'own compulsions to lie' to its people.
At a time when China is trying to make its foray into South Asia, India should use its shared history to strengthen its ties in the region, says Dr Rup Narayan Das.
In a Sri Lankan House of 225 members, the cut-off figure comes to 113. With Wickremesinghe side touching 102 and Rajapaksa's team at 101, the three-party Tamil National Alliance with 16 members and the left-leaning Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna with 6 members hold the key. But with the latter declaring that they will not support either formation in a vote count,that leaves the TNA as the deciding factor, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The country has a fiendishly complicated electoral system that is a combination of population-based proportional representation and party-based national lists, says Aditi Phadnis
'What if Kim is alive as the latest reappearance suggests, but unable to rule?' 'Will his sister be installed as the leader to continue with the Kims's hereditary dynasty that began with the present ruler's grandfather?' asks Dr Rajaram Panda.
Unlike in the presidential polls, victory might not have been complete, at least as yet, for Mahinda Rajapaksa's electoral rivals. While his one-time aide and confidant, Maithripala Sirisena, became president without any issues after defeating him, incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who again may not command an absolute majority in the 225-member parliament, would have to count on his 'national government' concept to carry the day and the nation with him, this time round, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Iran's decision to keep India out and welcome China to the scene is a huge strategic setback for India, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'Our policy seems to be to give away part of J&K, even though we are entitled to the entire state.' 'The Congress has done so, and the BJP is following the same policy.' 'No one is applying their mind to the legal position.' 'Kashmir is not a part of Pakistan under its own constitution.'
A realistic assessment will tell us that not much has changed between India and Pakistan; the relationship remains as fraught as before with little prospect of reconciliation, notes Ajai Shukla.
China's desire to have India as part of its ambitious Maritime Silk Route makes strategic sense for both nations. However, it would involve substantive assurances from Beijing, says Dr Rahul Mishra
Negotiations between the BJP and the PDP to finalise the Common Minimum Programme have intensified
'The Olympics postponement may not be a political body blow to Abe Shinzo, but it is no denying that the economic cost of the postponement of the Games will be heavy for Japan,' observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'New Delhi feels that given the internal dynamics in Pakistan and the overwhelming powers wielded by the army, one will have to wait for better times to see any meaningful progress in the India-Pakistan relationship,' says Ambassador G Parthasarthy.
Imagine being a part of a country, but being discriminated against by the majority community and atrocities being committed against you by the state. This is the deplorable conditions that the Rohingyas of Myanmar live in where they are cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and have little or no access to relief aid. In order to understand the situation and the genesis of the tragedy unfolding, Rediff.com's Archana Masih speaks to Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations' Chef de Cabinet (Chief of Staff), who had served a long stint with the UN in New York on the issue.
'If India employed a strategy of a 'thousand cuts', Pakistan will wither away.'
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