Senior PML-N leader and former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will run the PML-N government as interim prime minister of Pakistan until Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shehbaz is elected as member of parliament, according to Pakistan media reports. The Supreme Court yesterday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office. […]

North Korea fired an unidentified missile on Friday, a provocation that follows its first successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier in July. The projectile was fired toward the Sea of Japan and officials in Japan and the US said they are assessing whether it was another ICBM. The launch took place around 11:41 pm, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a text message. Japan’s chief […]

Christopher Nolan’s epic World War Two film, Dunkirk, which tells the story of the mass evacuation of Allied troops from the northern coast of France in 1940, has been getting glowing reviews in India. But many are glowering over Nolan turning a blind eye to the role of Indian soldiers in the battle. The Times of India wrote that their “significant contribution” was missing from Nolan’s “otherwise brilliant” work. Writing […]

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar resigned on Wednesday, virtually torpedoing the so-called Grand Alliance and setting up a possible new ruling partnership with the Bharatiya Janata Party. (LIVE UPDATES) Kumar’s surprise decision came hours after ally Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad ruled out the resignation of his son and deputy chief minister Tejashwi, who is facing an investigation over an alleged land-for-hotels scandal. Within minutes of Kumar’s announcement, Prime Minister […]

The State-run Chinese media on Friday accused External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj of lying in Parliament that the world community supported India over the Doklam standoff and warned that India will have to face war and lose even its own territory if it fails to pull back troops. A hard-hitting commentary in the Global Times said India had tested China’s patience, whose next move would be war if New Delhi […]

It was a rather interesting phenomenon since the counting started for the Presidential elections. Almost one in every 3 people was asking who is this ‘Ramnath Kovind.’ That’s exactly how low profile this Presidential Candidate was. While many political observers termed his win and his selection as a political masterstroke by the BJP and the Modi-Shah combine, for the average people, it symbolised the victory of middle-class aspirations. Ramnath Kovind’s […]

Ram Nath Kovind, the BJP candidate has now won the elections and is about to sworn in as India’s new President after Pranab Mukherjee’s tenure which is about to end on July 25th of this year. The whole country is curious about the working strategy of Kovind. Right from the beginning, the decision on electing him as the president sounded unanimous. Being the former Governor of Bihar and the BJP’s […]

Amid simmering border tension over Dokalam in Sikkim, China state-controlled media has said that Hindu nationalism risks pushing India into war with China. An article published in China’s Global Times has hit ou at Prime Minister Narendxra Modi saying, “Nationalist fervor that demands revenge against China has taken root in India since the border war. The election of Indian PM Modi has fueled the country’s nationalist sentiments. Modi took advantage […]

The government in the southern Indian state of Karnataka recently set up a panel to explore if the state can have its own separate flag. The BBC explains why it has become such a contentious issue. A ‘Kannada flag’ The state has had an unofficial ‘Kannada flag’ since the 1960s – the red-and-yellow flag is popular with the local people and many Kannada activists also wear it as a scarf. […]

For all China’s belligerent talk on the standoff at the border in Sikkim, its army has not mobilised any additional forces or equipment over the last month, which has seen nearly 300 soldiers from China and India standing 150 metres apart, though with guns pointing down to indicate a lack of intent in escalating hostilities. With the tension sprawling over a month, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said yesterday that given […]