'If the Trump administration could gain access to the nuclear weapons, they would be satisfied -- at least they could control them.'
Karex, the Malaysian company that makes roughly one in five of the world's condoms -- about five billion a year, supplying Durex and Trojan among others -- announced this week that it is raising prices by up to 30 percent. The reason is the Strait of Hormuz.
Following a joint attack by the US and Israel on Iran, India is calling for restraint and de-escalation to avoid further military confrontation in the Middle East.
For India, much is at stake: Crucial energy supplies traversing the Strait of Hormuz, the fate of its 10 million citizens living and working in West Asia -- who send generous remittances home -- and its major trade links with the region.
The US-Israeli military campaign, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury" by Washington, has entered its third day, with US President Donald Trump stating that operations would continue "until all of our objectives are achieved."
Pakistan will continue the development of its nuclear and missile programmes, which are the minimum level of deterrence required for the country's defence, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani said on Thursday.Gillani made the remarks during a visit to the Strategic Plans Division, the tri-services body that maintains Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, and the Joint Staff Headquarters at Chaklala in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
'American stature has been reduced because they have not been able to achieve their aims.'
The prime minister made it clear that no constraint had been placed on India's right to construct new facilities for strategic purposes.
Pakistan launched its nuclear weapons programme after its 1971 military defeat to India in order to 'augment its inferior conventional forces,' a Congressional report has said."Pakistan's nuclear energy programme dates back to the 1950s, but it was the loss of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in a bloody war with India that probably triggered a political decision in January 1972 (just one month later) to begin a secret nuclear weapons programme," the Congressional report said.
Amid growing international instability, folks all over the world are wondering if there is any country that can be considered a secure refuge, should this conflict expand into a larger war, drawing in many more nations.
'What we have yet to see on either the US or the Iranian side is willingness to compromise on their ultimate demands and the flexibility to reach an agreement to end the war.
What we are watching is something different: A fog manufactured and maintained by the people who started the war, so that the question of why it was started never has to be answered, observes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the war in the Middle East.
'To suddenly give the impression of taking a position that is hostile to Iran, or, at least, not friendly to Iran, is not a good thing.'
Amid escalating tensions with Iran, President Trump is urging nations dependent on Middle Eastern oil to deploy warships to the Strait of Hormuz to safeguard critical global energy supplies.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh inaugurated a new biotechnology facility and dedicated a national facility for recombinant cells and sensors at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Thiruvananthapuram, highlighting India's focus on biotechnology and its potential for economic growth.
The purge in Washington does not pause the war. Strikes continue, Hormuz remains closed, and Brent crude is still dancing around $109 a barrel. For India, the command chaos in the Pentagon is another layer of uncertainty piled on five weeks of conflict that was already straining every buffer Delhi has.
In a dramatic escalation of tensions, Israel launched airstrikes early Friday targeting key nuclear facilities in and around Iran's capital Tehran.
For weeks, the war skirted the edge of catastrophe without tipping over. Missiles flew, there was much destruction, commanders were assassinated, cities across the Gulf and even in Israel struggled to absorb the shock. But one line held: Energy infrastructure, the arteries of the global economy, remained largely untouched. That is no longer true. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
While the final military and intelligence assessment has yet to come, Trump has repeatedly claimed to have "completely and totally obliterated" Tehran's nuclear programme.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserts that the joint US-Israel campaign against Iran is progressing successfully, highlighting Israel's strengthened position and hinting at new regional alliances.
Rejecting some critics' argument as to what message the US was sending to Iran by signing a nuclear energy deal with India, Burns said, "We don't see the connection between what Iran is doing and what India seeks to do."
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) said it struck several targets in Tehran, Shiraz and Ahvaz simultaneously over the past 24 hours, targeting sites linked to Iran's ballistic missile programme, air defence systems and military headquarters.
'The next two to three weeks will not be decided in Washington.' 'They will be decided in Tehran, in whatever calculation Iran makes about the costs of continued resistance against the costs of appearing to have yielded.'
Fuel loading at India's first prototype fast-breeder reactor in Kalpakkam is expected to start next week, marking a significant step in the country's nuclear program.
Fight on toward goals that keep receding, or exit with most objectives unmet. Trump is agitated, his poll numbers falling below the Plimsoll line, his base fractured between those who back the war and those who remember that he campaigned on ending them.
In a major diplomatic breakthrough, the foreign ministers of United States and Iran will hold talks on Tehran's controversial nuclear drive at a landmark meeting on Thursday -- the first between the two states in more than 30 years.
The country is planning to increase its nuclear power generation by about 60,000 mega watts (Mw) within the next 25 years. This planned capacity addition is being executed by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). Its head, Chairman and Managing Director SK Jain, tells P B Jayakumar about his plans and expectations.
CIA director George Tenet personally briefed Musharraf that AQ Khan "was betraying Pakistan's nuclear secrets to at least the Libyans and maybe others," prompting an explosive reaction before Khan was placed under years-long house arrest.
60 years ago, on January 24, 1966, Dr Homi J Bhabha, the father of India's nuclear programme, died in an air crash on Mont Blanc. The official inquiry said the plane went off course in bad weather, but coincidences, missing evidence, and later unproven claims have kept conspiracy theories alive. A fascinating excerpt from Bakhtiar Dadabhoy's book, Homi J Bhabha: A Life.
2025 had some interesting performances on OTT series and films. Deepa Gahlot picks the Top 10 Male OTT Performances.
While nuclear engineers cheer KNPP's first full operation, on nine other sites which house atomic reactors, scientists spend sleepless nights.
Iran is fighting a different war: Older, slower, and in some ways more dangerous. Iran doesn't need to shoot down an F/A-18. It only needs to make the Strait of Hormuz feel dangerous long enough for insurance markets, shipping companies, and oil futures traders to do the rest. Prem Panicker continues his must-read daily blog on the war in the Middle East.
Applauding United States President Donald Trump's 'bold decision' to hit Iran's nuclear facilities, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that it demonstrated 'peace through strength' and will lead to a future of peace and prosperity in the region and beyond.
Expressing concern over the continuing buildup of nuclear weapons in South Asia, the United States has asked India and Pakistan to restrain their atomic and missile programmes and play a positive role in the global non-proliferation community.
Israel and the United States had a plan. Iran punched back. And now the Gulf is reeling, the world is beginning to feel the pain and, as on date, no one in Washington or Tel Aviv appears willing to admit that the punch has landed, notes Prem Panicker, continuing his must-read blog on the war in the Middle East.
International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have discovered that Iran had produced and experimented with Polonium.
"I have tried to be a friend to India. But, as long as there is breath in me, I will never support the lifting of the Glenn amendment sanctions on India unless they abandon all nuclear ambitions."
In 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor, a multi-domain combat mission against Pakistan in response to cross-border terrorism. The operation involved precision strikes, military retaliation, and diplomatic measures, marking a significant shift in India's security policy.
Sustaining 8 per cent-plus growth rates is necessary if we are to reach high-income status by 2047, points out Amitabh Kant.
The India-US nuclear deal was aimed at ending India's nuclear isolation and nuclear apartheid, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
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