Experts worry that Syrians will have increasing problems accessing food in the coming months, as prices rise, conflict disrupts supply lines, dwindling finances strain subsidies and imports face challenges.Nearly one year of unrest in Syria has made it difficult for aid workers to assess the exa...

Iran is presently the centre of international controversy with Israel leading a strong campaign against it. As per the logic of Tel Aviv, the nuclear programme of Iran poses an existential threat and it is ready to take all measures to ensure its survival. Similarly, Washington and the European Unio...

By Prasanta Kumar PradhanThe visit of A. K. Antony to Saudi Arabia on February 13-14, 2012 is the first ever visit by an Indian Defence Minister to the Kingdom. The visit was intended to further strengthen the bilateral relationship, the foundation of which was laid by the high level visits by K...

By A.K. BanerjeeThe sudden resignation of President Nasheed in Maldives on February 7 took many by surprise. The media in India reported it as a coup, a military takeover, the President was forced out, etc. Nasheed's description of the change as a coup gave it a particular flavour. India is alle...

By Michael LelyveldChina is examining plans for raising state-controlled fuel prices as it weighs the risk of disruptions in oil supplies from Iran.On Feb. 8, state media reported that officials are studying quicker responses to market pressures after the National Development and Reform Comm...

By Robin NiblettInternational order within a system of more or less sovereign states implies the absence of major conflict between those states. It implies their general acceptance of norms of international behaviour that preserve the peace and enable them to pursue their objectives in a competi...

The magnetic bomb – attached to his car – that killed Professor Mustafa Ahmadi Roshan in Tehran on January 11, 2012 is the latest in a series of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the Israeli secret service, ...

At least eight persons were killed as four suicide bombers attacked the District Police Officer’s (DPO) office in Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on January 14, 2012. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Akbar Hoti disclosed, “Three suicide bombers detonated themselves...

By Tushar Ranjan MohantyAt least 40 Shias were reportedly killed, and another 24 injured, on February 17, 2012, after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the Imambargah (Shia place of worship) in the Kurmi bazaar of Parachinar, the main town of the Kurram Agency in the Federally Admin...

By Ajit Kumar SinghThe steep and continuous decline in terrorist violence in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) continued through 2011, bringing fatalities to a new and dramatic low. 2010 had been described as the “most peaceful year” in over two decades of insurgency in the State, with 375 terrorism...