In a sign of how desperate the situation has become on the US-Russia front, the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, was forced to up the ante against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, by announcing new sanctions targeting two of Russia’s largest oil companies and postponing his planned meeting with Putin in Budapest indefinitely.
It is an opportunity for both India and Canada to make gains from the crisis that the world is going through by reaffirming trust in each other
In international relations, pauses have a value of their own. Be it misunderstanding, estrangement, skirmish or even a war, a temporary freeze can allow the much-needed legroom for countries to step back and reset. As Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand arrived in New Delhi for a three-day visit, it is precisely such a moment for India-Canada relations.
India’s recent defence engagement with Australia reached a new milestone during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Canberra and Sydney earlier this month for the inaugural Australia-India Defence Ministers’ Dialogue. The visit, the first by an Indian Defence Minister to Australia in over a decade, produced key defence agreements that upgrade the relationship from declaratory strategic convergence toward greater operational cooperation. The discussions included a Joint Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap to advance maritime cooperation, as well as renewing and strengthening the Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation.
Beijing’s new export curbs on rare earths and other tech materials mark a new phase in its bid to weaponize its supply dominance. As Xi tightens control over inputs critical to the US and Trump threatens China with a 100% extra tariff, who will blink first?
Beijing is tightening its clamps on components that are integral to technology supply chains. Lithium batteries and related material, artificial diamonds that have industrial uses and rare earths like holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium have been put on China’s export-control list.
India is experiencing rapid urbanization, with over 35% of its population now residing in cities—a figure projected to reach 40% by 2035. While urban growth drives economic development, it has also intensified ecological stress, reducing green cover and increasing vulnerabilities to climate change.
The story of urbanisation in the Global South – and particularly in India – is not one of industrial expansion or prosperity. It is a story of pauperisation. Cities today are swelling not because factories are hiring, but because the countryside is expelling. This new urbanisation is driven by desperation rather than development – by the push of agrarian collapse, not the pull of industrial promise.
Although GST rate rationalization was lauded, another low-hanging fruit that could come next is disinvestment.