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NUCLEAR TRUTH: Years of alarmist predictions about proliferation chains, and points of no return have proven faulty. The picture shows the reactor building of a nuclear power plant, outside the southern Iranian city of Bushehr.
AP NUCLEAR TRUTH: Years of alarmist predictions about proliferation chains, and points of no return have proven faulty. The picture shows the reactor building of a nuclear power plant, outside the southern Iranian city of Bushehr.

False nuclear fears cloud judgment on Iran

A rational approach to preventing proliferation could avoid thousands of unnecessary deaths. »

An Iranian oil embargo and a Russian oil boon

For months, the Russian government has opposed the idea of Western petroleum sanctions against Iran. But new threats to Iranian oil flow could have at least one beneficiary: Russia. The R... »
P. Chidambaram

Never any 'agreement' with Raja not to revise entry fee

Union Minister of Home Affairs P. Chidambaram responds to the report "Chidambaram may not be out of 2G thicket yet," that was published in The Hindu on February 16, 2012: »
Related: Chidambaram may not be out of 2G thicket yet
The jump in the number of foreign workers during the last decade has become a contentious political issue.

Singapore seeks to slow surge in foreign workers

Singapore will seek to stabilise the number of foreign workers amid growing discontent about rising housing costs, crowded public transport and stagnant wages for low-income workers, a top ministe... »
LONELY FIGHT: Farooq Mapkar is waging a determined legal battle to bring the policeman involved in the incident to book and ensure justice for those killed in the incident. Photo: Paul Noronha

Not this kind of closure, CBI

Asked by the courts to investigate the infamous Hari Masjid incident of the 1993 Mumbai riots, the country's premier investigation agency has closed the case saying it can find no 'neutral' witnesses. »

RECENT OP-ED ARTICLES

FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION: President Mohamed Waheed at a press conference in Male on February 8, 2012.
February 17, 2012

Elements of a possible way forward in the Maldives

I. Aims There exists an opportunity for all relevant parties and actors to come together in order to ensure: •Stability, safety and security for all in the Maldives; ... »
NOT A CAKEWALK: Working at a U.S. forward military base, even in the kitchen, is fraught with dangers. The picture shows Bharathkumar Sekar of Odaipatti, Tamil Nadu (right), with the cake he baked while employed at an American army base in Iraq.
February 16, 2012

Nation in a State: Meals ready, on America's frontline pressure cooker

Odaipatti may not be aware of it but the far-flung village, tucked away in the foothills of Megamalai in southwestern Tamil Nadu, has played a substantive role in subsidising U.S. war costs in Ira... »
SANCTIONS NOT THE SOLUTION: An anti-war demonstrator in Los Angeles, California.
February 16, 2012

Iran issue needs diplomacy, not crude weapon

By imposing sanctions that aim to throttle Iran's oil industry and exports, the United States and Europe have embarked on a course of action that is likely to backfire on the West and the immediat... »
FORMIDABLE INTELLECT: Former diplomat A.K. Damodaran who passed away on January 31, at the age of 90. Photo: R.S. Iyer
February 15, 2012

Remembering Damu

We were seven. Now we are two. A.K. Damodaran belonged to the 1953 batch of the IFS. So do I. Damu and I were friends for 58 years. It was a privilege to be his friend. He was the best among us. B... »
February 14, 2012

Rally in Somalia for merger of al-Qaeda and al-Shabab

Thousands of Somalis are gathering at a militant-organised demonstration in support of the merger of the Somali militant group al-Shabab with al-Qaeda. Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage t... »
LOW EXPECTATIONS: Mumbaikars expect little to change irrespective of who wins this election. Here, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan campaigning for Congress candidates in South Mumbai on Sunday.
February 14, 2012

Nation in a State: In Maximum City, a high stake election that leaves voters cold

Mumbai's roads came up for dishonourable mention in the Bombay High Court last Friday when a Division Bench said their condition was “unbearable.” The last year saw the worst of the potholes; even... »
Gen Next: Behind Mr. Xi’s rise has been his unique ability to play the role of “a balancing force” between different groups. The photo was taken during his visit to Bangkok in 2011.
February 13, 2012

The year of the princeling

In China, the Year of the Dragon has begun with unusual political intrigue. In recent days, the opaque world of elite Chinese politics has been preoccupied with three events, all strangely interco... »
February 13, 2012

Will Brazil follow India's Rafale bet?

In a country where defence policy has traditionally not been a key aspect of overall foreign policy, seeing a former powerful Foreign Minister assume the Ministry of Defence is certain to raise so... »
LIFE LESSONS: Students interact in a high school classroom in Bangalore. If we want a holistic education, students have to be equipped with skills and techniques to cope with life’s strains and stresses. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
February 11, 2012

What you lose when you 'buy' an education

Shock. Outrage. Fear. The brutal murder of a schoolteacher by a 15-year-old student in a classroom is chilling to the bone. While this atrocious act evokes strong emotions and will rightly be conde... »
BREWING DISCONTENT: After a series of high-profile arrests of bureaucrats, such as Y. Srilakshmi (left), the State’s IAS officers are angry that politicians are not being investigated. Photo: Nagara Gopal
February 10, 2012

Why are politicians not being held accountable, IAS officials ask

Where does the buck stop in government, at the desk of a minister or that of the bureaucrat who signs the files? This question has stirred a passionate debate in Andhra Pradesh, where the Central B... »

Welcome show of judicial muscle

In U.P. polls, local dalit histories vie with BSP's grand storyline

You have to pay for wrong calls too, Telenor

From page three parties to front page politics

Charged with terror, damned by aliases

The good news about cancer

In clash of institutions, Pakistan's Supreme Court sets the pace

U.N. declares Somali famine over but warns of risks

SIEV X MEMORIAL: The impact of visiting the memorial can be measured by the message it hopes to spread — that there exists a spirit of human solidarity, without borders or a 'clash of civilisations.' Photo: Ramesh Thakur
February 17, 2012

In Australia, a memorial to a common humanity

There are times when governments do their best to destroy belief in basic human decency but ordinary people respond in a manner to restore faith. This is a story about compassionate efforts to giv... »
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT: Water policy must not be driven by corporations and global finance. In this photograph, villagers looking for water on the Maneeru riverbed near Singarayakonda in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. Photo: Kommuri Srinivas
February 16, 2012

Turning off the tap on water as a human right

The new draft National Water Policy (NWP) circulated by the Ministry of Water Resources to water experts suggests that the government is poised to withdraw from its responsibilities of water servi... »
MISSING IN BALOCHISTAN: Several hundred political activists have gone missing in Balochistan province since the conflict began in 2004. In this photograph, relatives of the missing demonstrate in Quetta, the capital city.
February 15, 2012

A hearing on Balochistan that stirs up new tensions between U.S. and Pakistan

An extraordinary hearing of the U.S. Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs on February 8 exclusively focusing on Pakistan's restive Balochistan province has triggered new diplomatic tensions... »
CENSORING THE INTERNET: A blanket censorship of content is squarely in violation of the constitutional right to freedom of speech.
February 15, 2012

The curious case of Vinay Rai

On December 23, 2011, in a criminal case filed by Vinay Rai, editor of a Delhi-based Urdu daily called Akbari, the Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House, directed the Ministry of External... »
SHAPING A NEW WORLD ORDER: For BRICS to evolve from being a grouping of individual nations to setting regional and global agendas, it needs a common programme of action. In this 2009 picture, BRICS Finance Ministers (excluding South Africa) are seen at a meeting in London.
February 14, 2012

Giving BRICS a non-western vision

India is all set to host the Fourth BRICS Summit in March this year. The journey from Yekaterinburg to New Delhi has demonstrated that the political will amongst member nations to sustain this con... »
February 13, 2012

CBI would not hound honest officials

There is no question that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) must conduct a credible and fair investigation into the various corruption cases it has taken up in Andhra Pradesh, as stated by... »
February 13, 2012

Dumping a democrat in the Maldives

In solitary confinement for about two years during Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's 25-year-long dictatorship in the Maldives that ended with free and fair elections in late 2008, prisoner Mohammed Nasheed... »
February 11, 2012

Paradise is perched on the edge of hell

The young man in the striped brown t-shirt had patiently waited his turn to put a question at a giant gathering the Mumbai-based neo-fundamentalist preacher Zakir Naik addressed in Malé on May 28,... »
NOT A KISSING MATTER: There is debate in Pakistan over what is perceived as the “supremacist” role of the judiciary. In this March 2009 photo, lawyers greet the Chief Justice after his reinstatement.
February 11, 2012

Pakistan's judiciary faces criticism for ‘overreach'

One photograph that many a Pakistani newspaper had on Thursday morning was of lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan driving the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to court during the lawyers' movem... »
BRUISING FACE-OFF: Political-style posters in support of Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, put up by a supporter from an organisation called ‘Retired Soldiers Forum.’ The posters declare: ‘We support national honour and the Army Chief, what about you?’
February 10, 2012

A battle without winners

Irrespective of the outcome of the Mexican stand-off between General V.K. Singh and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over his disputed date of birth, both the Army and the Defence Ministry are eventua... »

Hollywood likes tree-hugging Dr. Seuss character

For a fair, free trade pact with Europe

In the Maldives, a resignation that keeps democracy afloat

Hell hath no fury like Britain 'scorned'

Dazzling images do not a shining nation make

MFN status, lost in translation

Don't trash this law, the fault lies in non-implementation

Economy Watch (column)

A crisis ignored

The Indian footprint of US firms

An imbalance to address

The industrial downturn

Debt as burden

More »