India's population has hit 146.39 crore: UNFPA

India's population is estimated to have reached 146.39 crore by April, says a new UN demographic report, which adds that the country's total fertility rate (TFR) has declined to 1.9, falling below the replacement level of 2.1

Blaze on cargo vessel sparks oil spill alert off Kerala coast

Authorities issued a potential oil spill advisory on Tuesday even as explosions and a massive fire rocked the M.V. Wan Hai 503, a Singapore-flagged vessel that caught fire nearly 88 nautical miles off the Kerala coast near Kozhikode on Monday. Efforts to control the fire were still on through Tuesday and four crew members are still reported missing, while six others have been admitted to hospital.

Maximum Mumbai

The railways have proposed automatic sliding doors with ventilation louvres in all Mumbai suburban trains by next year in response to the Mumbra train tragedy on Monday - four people died and nearly a dozen others were injured. Sliding doors could potentially force people inside and prevent footboard travel, a factor in the accident. They could ensure that passengers do not get down at unscheduled stops and put themselves in danger of being mowed down by passing trains. The proposed vestibules connecting the coaches may also help to evenly distribute the crowds. As in Japan, each station may then need a few enforcers who could shove the crowds in so that the doors could shut and the trains move. While footboard travel is indeed a dangerous safety issue, it is only an outcome of the dangerous overcrowding in Mumbai trains. For vast numbers of people, the trains offer the least expensive travel option. Not too long ago, the dangers of overcrowding resulted in the infamous stampede at the Elphinstone Road station bridge in 2017. Multiple deaths are common along the three arteries that are the lifelines of Mumbai - the Central, Harbour and Western rail-way lines. Many are hit by trains while crossing tracks instead of using roads or bridges. While rail safety is an immediate issue that needs to be addressed, it is also time city leaders engineer in-expensive, alternative travel options to the trains. 

The hazards of going global on India-Pakistan issues

Operation Sindoor and subsequent events thereafter have, once again, highlighted the futility of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy in resolving differences between India and Pakistan. An entangled web of frozen ideas has enveloped the situation making it impossible to separate the different strands. The developments following the Second World War and the evolution of the Cold War have also impacted heavily on the situation. Thus, any initiative, however sincere and logical it may be, will be hampered by the existing literature formulated by the United Nations and other international bodies, not to speak of Pakistan's stubborn position that Kashmir is the core issue. It is for this reason that Pakistan finds the smokescreen of resolutions and concepts relating to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), terrorism, self-determination, non-proliferation and peaceful settlement of disputes spread over the last 70 years or more. 

Polarised Poland

When Donald Tusk's diverse coalition came to power in Poland in 2023, ending the eight-year rule of the right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS), the veteran centrist promised "to chase away the darkness". Two years on, with the Tusk government still struggling to deliver on key reforms, Polish voters have elected a conservative backed by PiS as the country's next President. Karol Nawrocki, a 42-year-old historian and former boxer with little political experience, won the June 1 presidential run-off with 50.89% votes, narrowly defeating the liberal Mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski, who secured 49.11%. Mr. Nawrocki, endorsed by Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, presented himself as an outsider populist, and promised a 'Poland first' approach that echoed Trumpian rhetoric. During its rule (2015-23), the PiS had implemented sweeping reforms that were aimed at tightening its control over state institutions and media, and recasting the Polish society along its ideological lines. It curbed abortion rights, overhauled education and filled the judiciary with party loyalists, often clashing with the European Union. Mr. Tusk attempted to roll back some of these measures, but met with strong opposition from the outgoing President, Andrzej Duda, also a PiS ally. As legislative logjam derailed Mr. Tusk's reform agenda, Mr. Nawrocki capitalised on public resentment, attacking the Polish establishment and Brussels. 

The endgame in the Russia-Ukraine war

On June 1, Ukraine executed 'Operation Spiderweb' drone strikes on Russian bases. They sent shock waves just ahead of the second round of peace talks in Istanbul and NATO'S Eastern Flank summit in Vilnius.

As the Russia-Ukraine war is in its fourth year, with mounting human and economic costs and rising global pressure for a diplomatic resolution, an endgame is in place. The revival of the Istanbul peace process and renewed engagement by key international players have reoriented attention towards diplomacy. Yet major questions persist: Will Ukraine's audacious strikes shift the war's trajectory? Can Ukraine endure the prolonged conflict? And can the main actors - Ukraine, Russia, the U.S., NATO, and the European Union overcome entrenched divisions to forge a durable peace? 

Why the Alcaraz-Sinner final is among the most epic battles

Grand Slam finals carry an unmistakable aura. When a Slam final stretches into a five-setter, it signifies an enthralling contest between evenly matched rivals. Add multiple tie-breakers into the mix, and the sense of parity intensifies, turning the match into an absorbing duel between superior equals. These epic battles become historic.

Erdogan's neo-Ottoman foreign policy

Türkiye, a long-standing Cold War ally of the West, has significantly expanded its presence and influence across West Asia and the Caucasus in recent years. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara has pursued an Islamist-leaning foreign policy aimed at building stronger ties with Muslim-majority countries and repositioning Türkiye as a regional power all while maintaining its alliance with the Western bloc. The rise to power of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria has helped Ankara expand its reach close to the Israeli border. Türkiye already maintains a military presence in Qatar, the rich Sunni Gulf kingdom, underscoring its growing strategic footprint in the region.

During the recent flare-up between India and Pakistan, Türkiye stood by Islamabad. Is this blend of Islamism with a pro-Western tint helping Türkiye remake itself in a volatile world? 

Thirdspace: how spaces are experienced and remade

Have you noticed how in cities, we see places like Chinatown, Afghan Street, or Bengali corners? These are not the official names of those places, but the moment you enter them, you notice how different they are from the formal city around them. They are culturally vibrant and largely built by and for communities that don't belong to the region or country where the city exists. Such spaces, rich with life and meaning but unaccounted for in maps, are best understood through the concept of Thirdspace.

Thirdspace tells us that space is not just something we live in; it's something that lives in us. Shaped by emotion, identity, power, and resistance, it urges us to see how places such as street corners or protest sites are far more than physical locations. They are lived, remembered, and reimagined. 

New 'weight-loss' drugs have lower impact in real life: study

A recent study done in the U.S. showed that semaglutide and tirzepatide - injectable GLP-1 drugs for obesity produce lower weight loss in a real-world setting than during the clinical trial, because patients dis-continue treatment or use lower maintenance dosages. 

New NCERT textbooks don't carry 'poverty and colonised' narratives, says panel member

The new social science textbooks developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have broken away from the "old poverty and colonised narratives", said Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC) and Chairperson of NCERT's Curricular Area Group Economics, on Tuesday. 

'Targeted policy intervention to boost green mining vehicles'

India requires targeted and well-defined policy interventions to drive the adoption of alternative fuel Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM) in mining operations, according to the "Study on Adoption of Cleaner Vehicles for the Indian Mining Industry".

The study was undertaken by the Sustainable Mining Initiative, a division of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries in association with Deloitte which prepared a detailed report.