How the UN's flagship climate summit lost its direction and what's at stake.
The year 2024 was the hottest year on record, with the global average temperature exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time, according to the European climate agency Copernicus. Every month from January to June was the warmest ever recorded, and from July to December (except August), each month was the second warmest on record. Scientists are warning that the world is entering a new climate reality, with extreme heatwaves, floods, and storms becoming more frequent and severe. The report also highlights the failure of developed nations to meet their climate finance commitments to developing countries, despite the urgency of the situation.
Today humanity is churning the ocean with a thoughtless vengeance -- with toxic wastes, plastics and hazardous substances being dumped into our once pristine seas. And there is no benign Lord Shiva to rescue us from our collective greed, says Shyam Saran.
Pakistan has alleged that India was pursuing conventional, nuclear and missile development programmes which can lead to nuclearisation of the Indian Ocean and can disturb the "balance of power" in the region.
'Keeping the global temperature below not just 1.5 degree Celsius, even 2 degree Celsius is beyond our reach now. Both are impossible.'
As more than 120 heads of government and heads of State gathered in Glasgow for the COP26 summit, climate change activists made their point to world leaders outside the Scottish Event Campus, the designated venue for the global summit.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual and global interests, aimed at further boosting the Indo-US strategic relations in areas like defence, space, clean energy and critical technologies.
Describing the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to America as a "watershed moment" in bilateral ties, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti has said that this week will be one of those moments that can change the course of history as the two democracies get together for peace and prosperity.
The Xi Jinping regime might try to quell internal distress by directing nationalism and militarism against India, warn Ajay Shah and Gautam Bambawale.
India's negotiating posture at the multilateral negotiations should be aligned with a significantly transformed development strategy domestically.' 'The positions the country takes at the negotiations will then carry credibility, says Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary and India's chief negotiator on Climate Change 2007-2010.
'There is no parallel in UN history of an individual terrorist being bailed out by a world power,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
As the world grapples with extreme weather events and climate change becomes the buzzword of contemporary times, author Amitav Ghosh says the crisis has been in the making since the 17th century and it is imperative to take into account history before beginning to tackle the issue.
In a veiled reference to China's aggressive military behaviour, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said exercising self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoiding actions that may further complicate situation will go a long way in bringing sustained regional peace.
Foreign Direct Investment into India rose by 13 per cent in 2020, boosted by interest in the digital sector, and while fund flows "declined most strongly" in major economies such as the UK, the US and Russia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India and China "bucked the trend", the UN has said.
Asserting that there was growing scourge of terrorism in view of fast growing linkages of terrorist groups across the globe, India on Tuesday strongly advocated stepped up cooperation through intelligence exchange and training with 54 African countries.
Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong says the country will spend 20 million dollars to host the summit.
This is the first time North Korea has fired what is thought to be a ballistic weapon over Japan.
Asserting that it has been a strong champion of equity, India on Thursday said developed countries should compensate developing nations for the effects their greenhouse gas emissions have had on climate.
The United States has carried out airstrikes against Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants in Somalia and is now assessing the results of its "operation" against the hardline militia, the White House said.
'Only when China treats India as an equal can we consider them real friends.'
The average global temperature between January and October has been 0.68 degrees Celsius higher than the 20th century's average global temperature of 14.1 degree C.
Swamy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should convene a conference of "insiders" to draw up a new policy especially after the recent Lakhvi episode.
'New Delhi showed itself willing -- at least for a period -- to tolerate the risk of conflict and to withstand Beijing's implicit and explicit threats.' 'But it also continued to try to cut some kind of deal with China to reduce tensions.'
Here is the full text of the joint statement issued by India and the US.
"No other relationship of India has as many layers as our relations with China. We are the world's two most populous countries and among the fastest growing major economies. Our cooperation is expanding," he said.
Rediff.com takes a look at drones as they engage in activities you'd never thought you'd see.
'Over the last two decades, the India-French relationship has grown steadily, no major political difference having darkened the sky between Paris and Delhi,' says Claude Arpi.
Recognising the threat posed by outfits like the Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Dawood Ibrahim network, India and the United States have agreed to deepen cooperation in fighting terrorism and asked Pakistan to bring to justice the 2008 Mumbai attack perpetrators.
'China's actions at the NSG will certainly taint India-China bilateral relations and enhance suspicion of China's intentions. A fresh clear-eyed and objective evaluation of the India-China relationship is necessary, especially as India tries to correct adversely balanced bilateral economic ties and the two countries engage over the long-term,' says Jayadeva Ranade.
Today is World Environment Day; apt then we look at what contribution some of the best-looking people we feature on our pages make to it!
'If prices of everyday consumption don't come down, employment doesn't pick up, 2020 will not be a happy year for anyone but the super rich,' notes Sherna Gandhy.
'Building on the potential for closer ties is the changing narrative in each country about the other. The Chinese narrative on India has become significantly more positive over the past few years,' says Walter Andersen and Zhong Zhenming.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Tanzania where he held talks with Tanzanian President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar expects to see progress in India-US defence relations at the speed of a year per month.
Excerpts from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at the Combined Commanders Conference on board the INS Vikramaditya at sea, off the coast of Kochi.
'This is the first time that the Americans have agreed to refer to "cross-border terrorist attacks" in a joint statement.' 'No wonder Pakistan has called the joint statement "singularly unhelpful" and has blasted it, and its all-weather friend China has applauded Pakistan's frontline role in combating terrorism,' points out former foreign secretary Ambassador Kanwal Sibal.
'Fearlessness, courtesy, humour, wide interests and wisdom, deep commitment to science and technology, passion for the environment, objectivity and the ability to see many things through not only a national but also an international prism.'
'It is important to note that American officials were trying their best to use the Taliban for their oil games till December 1997 when Mullah Ghous was invited to America. State Department officials did not show any interest in capturing or killing Osama bin Laden even at that time.'
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