Japan Awaits Hostages’ Fate After Islamic State Deadline Passes
Japan’s government and public await the fate of two Japanese captives threatened with execution, 24 hours after the passing of a deadline on Islamic State’s demand for a $200 million ransom. The government considered the cutoff point to have been 2:50 p.m. Tokyo time on Friday. Islamic State... read more »
In Gujarat, all schools asked to perform ‘compulsory’ Saraswati...
Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad School Board has whipped up a controversy with its circular asking all schools to hold ‘Saraswati Vandana’ on Vasant Panchami on Saturday, drawing accusations of promoting ruling BJP’s Hindutva agenda and warnings of legal action and protest by... read more »
Death of ‘reformer’ King Abdullah: Why Saudis will remain frene...
The death yesterday (23 January) of Saudi King Abdullah – widely acclaimed as a “reformer”, albeit a one only in the context of the glacial pace of change in this semi-mediaeval kingdom – changes nothing for anybody anywhere. While the optics of geopolitical political correctness... read more »
US and India Appear Ready to Try to Hash Out Differences
Differences that the United States and India have been grappling with for years are expected to dominate talks between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they meet in New Delhi next week. Climate Change India is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases,... read more »
