As India and the United States inch closer to a long anticipated trade deal, recent developments offer a rare window of opportunity that the two nations would do well to seize.
United States Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to deliver a key speech on India-US bilateral relations at the Rajasthan International Centre on Tuesday.
The renewed talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions mark a cautious but notable shift in a long-fraught relationship.
In the old and new Great Game, Afghanistan has held a central position. Peter Hopkirk, in his path-breaking book The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, chronicled the 19th-century geopolitical chessboard involving Britain and Russia.
After years of hostility, the recent resumption of talks between the United States and Iran marks a fragile but noteworthy moment in international diplomacy.
In a statement issued this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated Pakistan, Iran, China, Nigeria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Myanmar and Eritrea as countries that engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom” under the country’s International Religious Freedom Act.
Laid low by the consequences of a deadly virus that was first reported at about this time last year in China, and convulsed by a bitter election fought in the United States whose effects will really begin to be felt with the change of guard early in 2021, the world’s economies have gasped for breath, with no ventilators around to rescue nations hit by increasing joblessness, fall in demand and disrupted supply chains.
'The idea that we have a 94.5 percent effective vaccine is stunningly impressive. It is really a spectacular result that I don't think anybody had anticipated would be this good.'
Global infections have soared past 54 million with more than 1.3 million deaths, and the worrying spikes have forced governments to reimpose deeply unpopular and economically devastating restrictions on movement and gatherings.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to congratulate the 77-year-old Biden soon after he was declared the winner in the keenly-contested election against Donald Trump.
