EAM: India, Japan partnership has potential to de-risk global economy

As External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Friday, the two nations decided to launch an AI Dialogue and a new joint working group on critical minerals this year.

After meeting Motegi, Jaishankar posted on X, "Pleased to co-chair the 18th India-Japan Strategic Dialogue alongside FM Toshimitsu Motegi in New Delhi today. Our Special Strategic and Global Partnership is on an upward trajectory and holds immense potential for shaping the world order and derisking the international economy.

In Assam's Kaziranga, elevated corridor lifts hopes of curbing animal deaths

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of a 34.5-kilometre elevated corridor in Assam's Kaziranga, which, according to experts and forest officials, is expected to be a long-term solution to the increasing problem of animals being hit by heavy traffic in the national park.

The Rs 6,950-crore corridor will be part of a major existing highway connecting the national park and Eastern Assam to the state capital, Guwahati, and its aim is to enable safer passage for animals to cross. Currently, the highway disrupts their movement during floods.

'Paracetamol use during pregnancy doesn't increase autism, ADHD risks'

Taking paracetamol during pregnancy does not increase the risk of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or intellectual disability among children, according to a latest study in The Lancet.

This clears the confusion that had arisen from US President Donald Trump's statement in September last year, linking paracetamol use by pregnant women to autism in children.

The latest study, led by researchers from City St George's, University of London, is the most rigorous analysis of evidence till date, based on 43 studies. It has been published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Women's Health.

West Bengal Nipah outbreak: Special team to conduct bat survey from Nadia district

Concerned by the recent Nipah outbreak in West Bengal, the state government has decided to launch a survey of bats in a bid to identify the source of the infection.

Multilateralism à la carte, the Washington way

On January 7, the United States announced it would withdraw from 66 international bodies, including 31 in the United Nations (UN) system. The scale is unprecedented. The message is sharper: Multilateralism, once a pillar of American strategy, is now a menu.

This shift marks the formal embrace of multilateralism à la carte. Washington now selects the institutions that serve its interests, bypasses or disables those that do not, and exits those that impose constraints.

What Richard Haass identified in 2001 as a US tendency is now doctrine. For India, it marks a shift from rules to leverage.

'Return of the Shah' is about history and memory in Iran

The figure of the king has been a powerful cultural motif over millennia of Iranian history, reinforced by propaganda. Moments of Iranian assertion have coincided with, or been driven by, kings' assertions of their own Iranian-ness. 

In Fortress America, a narrowing of spaces, migrants on edge

Some very fundamental changes are taking place in American society and domestic politics that are causing serious concern among Indian immigrants.

To seize Al moment, India needs less jugaad, more precision

AI will shape the 21st century much as steam power, railways, electricity and the telegraph shaped the 19th. Those technologies reordered global power, transformed economies, and elevated nations. Britain rode them to empire; the US built institutions around them to emerge as the dominant global power.

AI is that kind of technology. And for India, the stakes are civilisational. With decisive action over the next decade, it can emerge as one of the world's three major Al powers, alongside the US and China. Without it, the country risks compounding economic, geopolitical and social disadvantages. 

A US attack on Iran may be more show than substance

The 'regime change' question

The US appears to feel that an attack can help catalyse 'regime change' by legitimate protestors.

But there is little evidence that most protestors are seeking an overhaul of the governing system itself, as opposed to reform within the system.

Why SC wants govt to consider a 'Romeo-Juliet' exception for POCSO Act

Under the POCSO Act, a child is defined as any person below the age of 18. The Act does not recognise a minor's consent to sexual acts. So, any sexual activity involving a person under 18 is automatically criminalised, regardless of whether it is consensual or non-exploitative.

In its judgment Friday, the Supreme Court noted that while POCSO is a "solemn articulation of justice", its misuse has created a "grim societal chasm". The court pointed out that the Act is frequently used by families to oppose relationships between young people.