'Uttar Pradesh, our largest state by population and the most powerful, is also the worst governed.'
Europeans believe that what is under attack is their way of life, their secular faith, the long-fought right to keep religion out of the public sphere, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Afghanistan's political district was rocked by violence on Thursday when Taliban terrorists blew up a British embassy vehicle and later gunfire broke out at an army base.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Tibetan nation still lives under the yoke of the Chinese Communist Party, and Beijing today has a guilty conscience; this creates a great uneasiness for Xi Jinping and his colleagues observes Claude Arpi.
We bring you a collection of some of the best photographs taken this week by ace photographers.
Beyond the barbed wire and watchtowers, though, lies a story that casts more than a little doubt on whether this dream will ever be realised. Praveen Swami reports.
In recent years, China has refrained from taking a public stance on the India-Pakistan ties, expressing hope for resolution of the disputes through dialogue.
China's growing concern over the existence of terror training camps in Pakistan, establishment of an energy corridor and firming up of nuclear energy cooperation will come up for discussion during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's talks with the Chinese leadership in Beijing.
'Islamic State has declared that the liberation of Islamic Xinjiang from China is an objective. Beijing may well find that Pakistan is unable to assist in any meaningful way,' says China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
'Amit Shah and his fellow travellers need to realise that India was divided because of competitive communalism of forces like Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League, prodded, aided and abetted by the colonial power,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'The BJP's all-India plans can be expected to become clearer around 2022-2023, particularly if -- as some anticipate -- the senior Congress leadership cracks, broadly as between the Nehru-Gandhi loyalists and those who may be termed 'pro-changers',' observes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
Sri Lankans on Thursday voted in large numbers in the bitterly contested presidential election in which incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa is seeking a record third term against his friend-turned-foe Maithripala Sirisena, with an unusually high voter turnout in Tamil and Muslim areas.
Here's a collection of some of the best photos from around the world shot in the last 24 hours.
There is an "infinitely" greater chance of the cash-rich Islamic State smuggling its first nuclear weapon from Pakistan to attack the United States within a year, according to the latest edition of the dreaded group's propaganda magazine.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week.
Four knife-wielding persons on Tuesday went on the rampage at a busy railway station in China's Guangzhou city injuring six people, including two women and a foreigner, in the third such attack in over two months with authorities blaming the first two on militants from Xinjiang.
The officials said they had no information other than that Azhar was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure.
'During disengagement, you don't find violence.' 'And that, too, the killing of a commanding officer.' 'This indicates that this is more serious than previous incidents.'
Khan's visit evoked considerable interest in Beijing as it comes in the wake of his past criticism of the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects and remarks by his ministers to cut down some of the projects over debt concern.
'The Modi government's grandstanding has hardened the reflexes in Beijing, Islamabad and Kathmandu and complicated India's relations with these three countries, which were even otherwise highly problematic.' 'Whatever prospects existed for a fair and balanced resolution of the territorial disputes may also have receded,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Jalaluddin Haqqani died a year ago due to prolonged illness and was buried in Afghan province of Khost.
The onus today is on China, but it also requires a little diplomatic finesse from India, backed by a modernised armed force, argues BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in this excerpt from his new book, Himalayan Challenge: India, China And The Quest For Peace.
Some believe she should no longer be the face of the struggle to free Myanmar from the new military dictatorship, observes Prakash Bhandari.
The terror group vowed to avenge his death.
'After a longish time being on the defensive on the Muslim issue, Mamata found in the Centre's surgical strike just the kind of battle in which she specialises -- hand-to-hand combat.' 'Having routed the once formidable Marxists by her trademark, no-holds-barred belligerence, she is now ready to employ the same tactics against the BJP,' predicts Amulya Ganguli.
Describing Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province area as the "fountainhead" of terror activities in the region, India on Thursday said use of terrorism as state policy with deep roots in military establishment there is a major obstacle for peaceful bilateral ties.
He was the army commander who planned Operation Bluestar. As army chief he planned Operation Brasstacks which rattled the Pakistan army. General K Sundarji was brilliant, ambitious and controversial, remembers Rahul Bedi.
The Islamic State terror group plans to seize Iran's nuclear secrets, unleash a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing and Nazi-style eugenics to consolidate and expand its self-declared caliphate, according to a seized policy manifesto of the dreaded outfit.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said those killed in the town of Khan Sheikhun, in Idlib province, had died from the effects of the gas, adding that dozens more suffered respiratory problems and other symptoms.
The trilateral alliance between India, Afghanistan and Iran on the strategic Chabahar port is a security threat to Pakistan, defence experts in Islamabad have said and asked the government to use diplomatic manoeuvres to avert falling into an "abyss of isolation".
The Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Persian Gulf nations southern coast, lies outside the Persian Gulf and can be easily accessed from India's western coast, bypassing Pakistan.
The total investment in the three farms of Leeu Estates is said to be $35 million.
In a major breakthrough in China's worst terrorist attack at the Kunming railway station, police on Monday captured three militants from the restive Xinjiang province who fled the scene of slashing rampage that killed 33 people and injured 143 others.
Women make up 40 per cent of the entire Kurdish militia
The two Indians, who were not identified, have been taken to a military camp for questioning, The Nation quoted the police as saying.
Poe alleged that Taliban is still based in Pakistan and it came as no surprise when a US drone strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor.
Modi said he was glad that his trip "is one to wipe tears from the eyes of those who suffered".
'Rajapaksa's victory poses a serious foreign policy challenge for the Modi government,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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