A US-based Sikh rights group has filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking documents relating to the Obama administration's decision to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a meeting at the White House in September.
Defiant employees from multiple US government agencies are fighting the Trump administration's gag orders on climate change and penchant for "alt facts" with rogue Twitter accounts.
'The lessons from tiny New Zealand about mobilising to prevent an environment going up in flames around us and combatting the feral Whatsapp politics of hatred are in many ways Gandhian,' says Rahul Jacob.
Seeking to minimise the impact of the recent headline-grabbing moves, he said there had only been one instance of compulsory licensing.
Deadline to submit convincing reform plans is this week.
The US president was most likely chewing Nicorette, a nicotine gum.
As the threat of a showdown between Russia and the West over Ukraine loomed large, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has deplored Moscow's military build up on the Crimean peninsula and called on President Vladimir Putin to respect the country's territorial integrity.
'China's vulnerability on the global stage has given an opening to India to push for its own interests,' notes Harsh V Pant.
'Obama's visit to Hiroshima must generate a fresh debate in the international community about how to reduce the salience of nuclear weapons in international politics and how to disarm the world from these monstrous weapons forever,' says Sanjeev Shrivastav..
Reflecting the strong bipartisan support to the India-US relationship, the lawmakers welcomed the decision of the House Speaker Paul Ryan to invite Modi to address the joint meeting.
President Pranab's four-day visit to China that saw him meeting the top Chinese leadership and discussing the sticky boundary issue and cooperation in combating terrorism besides the need for a predictable nuclear regime.
The US president-elect met Silicon Valley's most powerful executives -- CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk from Tesla, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Alphabet -- parent company of Google among others.
'Indian diplomacy faltered amidst multiple failures of statecraft.' 'The functionaries responsible must be held to account for their abject failure,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Modi-Xi and Modi-Obama meetings, with an interval of just 12 days, are juxtaposed superbly at a crucial point in the prime minister's life. Can Modi carve out a win-win situation with the superpower and the emerging superpower at the same time?'
Modi may take satisfaction from his display of considerable political skill in managing a mercurial, temperamental and unpredictable US president and nudging him into uncharacteristic restraint and even carefully orchestrated remarks. This personal chemistry will come in handy if Trump returns as president in the November elections, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
"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.
'They are geopolitical, commercial, educational, cultural and about innovation.' 'Also, they are about a common value system.'
A round-up of our favourite photographs from the week gone by.
The American side also committed itself to treat Pathankot attack at par with 26/11 terror strike in terms of ensuring punishment to perpetrators based in Pakistan.
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday made a historic visit to the former war zone of Jaffna to "shine a light on the chilling events" during the last phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, hours after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa cautioned against turning the Commonwealth into a "punitive and judgemental body".
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
'Trump's anti-trade, anti-immigrant rhetoric reminds me of Chinese history,' says A V Rajawade.
This was the first dinner hosted for a foreign dignitary at the White House under the Trump administration.
'By the time he came out after nearly five hours, he had a one-to-one conversation with the President, a delegation-level meeting, a reception, a dinner, a tour of the White House and a joint statement of a kind none of his predecessors ever had,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India's food security concern at WTO needs solution: Modi
'India appears to have stood its ground on strategic autonomy by resisting US pressure on Russia, China and Iran, but succumbed to the temptation to walk into a tighter embrace in defence cooperation, a high priority of the Trump administration,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
'Russia's interest lies in boosting Pakistan's grit and capacity to withstand US pressure,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
With an unexpected new turn in Kashmir, an ominous Afghanistan, a reliably unpredictable Trump, and an unfathomable reversal with RCEP, Modi may have to reinvent his character, suggests Ambassador B S Prakash.
The question really is whether the US can be persuaded to embark on a path of calibrated and stronger sanctions on Pakistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit is an attempt to move the Indo-Singapore relationship to the 'next level'. Singapore has been one of the top investors in India. India-Singapore bilateral trade has already crossed the $15 billion mark. As per the official records, Singapore has emerged as the second largest source of Foreign Direct Investment in India, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
'India's worst fears have come true because the Pakistan investigating team has, obediently and dutifully, done its masters' bidding by giving a clean chit to Pakistan, the Jaish, the ISI and all other well known actors,' says Rajeev Sharma.
As 2018 draws to a close and the white noise of 24-hour news cycles and Twitter storms fade into the background, it is already clear that history will remember only a handful of those people, each of whom has taught us something about ourselves and the rapidly changing world in which we live.
'There appears to be greater convergence of interests between China and the US in the Afghan-Pakistan theatre than between India and the US. This is hardly a recipe for a super-alliance,' says former foreign secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran.
'It is very significant that the president and the prime minister discussed Pakistan's efforts to take action against Lashkar-e-Tayiba and its affiliates.' 'This is something new and it demonstrates a recognition of Pakistan of the threats these terrorist groups pose to Pakistan and pose to other countries.'
"The Chinese side has always been in communication with relevant parties on the listing issue," he said hinting that China is also in touch with India on the issue.
The move comes a day after China lifted the 76-day lockdown in Wuhan, where the pandemic originated. China's National Health Commission (NHC) on Thursday reported 63 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 61 imported ones taking the total to 1,104 cases.
'I was present at a meeting where he decided to permit the IAF to strike at Pakistan positions in Kargil, with the caveat that they should not cross the LoC.' 'Confident that the Indian Army would succeed, Mr Vajpayee was positioning himself to tell the world after the Kargil conflict was won that India did not violate the 'sanctity' of the LoC,' recalls Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's envoy in Islamabad in that eventful year, 1999.
In a rare admission, the White House said the US should have sent 'someone with a higher profile' to join world leaders in the unity march in Paris but maintained Secretary of State John Kerry skipped the rally as he was preoccupied with "some important work" in India.
