Political

Defence

Living beyond means: The Maldives may follow the Sri Lankan financial woes

June 12, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Being politically anti-Indian and pro-Chinese ruins a whole country. Sri Lanka’s ruling Rajapaksa clan realized it in 2022; the Maldives’ pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu may soon realize that his Indian Ocean archipelago nation is slipping into the same pit. When the then Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the anti-government uprising […]

Business

Roving Periscope: During Modi 3.0, India to remain the world’s fastest-growing economy

June 12, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government, which kicked off on a positive note for a third consecutive term of five years on June 9, is likely to lead India’s economic success on a global scale in the coming years, according to various growth projections. After the United Nations recently upgraded […]

Business

AI’s risks: An ordinary downturn can spiral into a severe economic crisis, says Gopinath

June 11, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: As the positive and negative impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) unfold worldwide, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) second in command has warned that it (AI) also has the potential to turn an ordinary downturn into a severe economic crisis worldwide. The disruptive effects of AI on the economy and financial markets […]

Business

Tit-for-tat: After China’s ‘renaming’ spree in Arunachal, India to rechristen 30 places in “Occupied Tibet”

June 11, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: For centuries, an expansionist and imperialist China has practiced the subtle art of cartography and quietly renamed foreign territories as its first and second moves to annex them. That was how it rechristened and grabbed the Muslim-majority Eastern Turkestan as “Xinjiang”, and, more recently, renamed several places in Arunachal Pradesh which […]

Business

Six days later: Finally, Pakistan’s Sharif Brothers congratulate PM Modi!

June 10, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: India’s distant neighbor, Pakistan, finally caught up with the world and, six days after the Lok Sabha elections results came, congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his third consecutive term that commenced with the swearing-in of his Council of Ministers on Sunday. Of late, Pakistan, whose economy is in a dire […]

Business

Pakistan: Budget may seek yet another bailout deal with the IMF!

June 10, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Pakistan, which is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a fresh loan of between USD 6 and 8 billion to avert a default for its nearly bankrupt economy, is now preparing a budget for the current financial year that would reflect these contingencies. Islamabad’s coalition government, led by […]

Business

EU election debacle: Macron dissolves French Parliament, announces snap polls

June 10, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: In a surprise move, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly, the Lower House of France’s Parliament, sending shocked voters back to the snap polls in the coming weeks to choose new lawmakers, after his party was handed a humbling defeat by the far-right in the European Parliament elections on Sunday. […]

Business

Roving Periscope: Modi 3.0 gets going with Canada, the Maldives, and others

June 10, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: A day after beginning his government’s third straight term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his likely External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday started refreshing India’s relations with other countries, especially with Canada and the Maldives with whom New Delhi’s bonhomie took a nosedive in the last few months. PM Modi […]

Business

Pakistan: Police claim to foil attacks, arrests 15 alleged “terrorists” in Punjab

June 8, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: In a country known as the global terror nursery, heavily infested with extremists, militants, and terrorists of all hues—masquerading as “freedom fighters” for various causes—police said it foiled a major attack and arrested 15 alleged terrorists of banned outfits in the Punjab province of Pakistan, the media reported on Saturday. Islamabad […]

Business

The Gaza War: Israel rescues 4 hostages alive, says its army

June 8, 2024 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Eight months into the ongoing Gaza War since the Hamas invasion of Israel, when the Palestinian terrorist group killed nearly 1,300 Israelis, raped several women, and took over 250 hostages, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that it has, in a rare case, rescued four hostages alive from Hamas […]