LONDON — The world's biggest food and beverage companies on average sell products in low-income countries that are less healthy than what they sell in high-income countries, according to a new report. Products sold by companies including Nestle, Pepsico and Unilever were assessed as part of a global index published by the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI), its first since 2021. The non-profit group found that across 30 companies, the products sold in low-income countries scored lower on a star rating system developed in Australia and New Zealand than those sold in high-income countries. In the Health Star Rating system, products are ranked out of five on their healthiness, with five the best, and a score above 3.5 considered to be a healthier choice.

Monday blues were non-existent at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday (Nov 11) as fans of Blackpink's Lisa strolled into the venue in their Y2K-style outfits inspired by the Thai singer's Rockstar music video. Singapore was the first stop for the 27-year-old's first solo fan-meet tour and needless to say, the excitement could be felt, and heard. Once the lights turned off and Lisa appeared, the screams were deafening. The show started with a bang, fittingly with her self-titled hit song Lalisa. Usually at fan-meets of K-pop idols, the special effects are kept to a minimum unlike concerts. PHOTO: UnUsUaL Entertainment But at Lisa's, the performances were elevated with bursts of pyrotechnics and visual effects. After the first song, she sat down for a few interactive segments. During Welcome Lisa, she tried local delicacies like kaya toast and chicken rice.

BAKU — Global carbon dioxide emissions, including those from burning fossil fuels, are set to hit a record high this year, pulling the world further off course from averting more destructive climate extremes, scientists said on Wednesday (Nov 13). The Global Carbon Budget report, published during the UN's COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, said global CO2 emissions are set to total 41.6 billion metric tons in 2024, up from 40.6 billion tons last year. The bulk of these emissions are from burning coal, oil and gas. Those emissions would total 37.4 billion tons in 2024, up by 0.8 per cent in 2023, the report said. The rest are from land use, a category that includes deforestation and forest fires. The report by more than 80 institutions was led by the University of Exeter in UK. "We don't see a sign of fossil fuel emissions peaking in 2024," said lead author Pierre Friedlingstein, a climate scientist at the University of Exeter. Without immediate and steep emissions cuts worldwide, "we will just go straight into the 1.5C target, we'll just pass it and continue," he said.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is expected to take a slew of executive actions on his first day as president to ramp up immigration enforcement and roll back signature Biden legal entry programs, a sweeping effort that will be led by incoming "border czar" Tom Homan and other Republican immigration hardliners, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The executive actions would give federal immigration officers more latitude to arrest people with no criminal records, surge troops to the US-Mexico border and restart construction of the border wall, the sources said. Homan, who served as acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2017-2018 under Trump, will bring a deep understanding of the US immigration system after a four-decade career that took him from a frontline Border Patrol agent to head of the agency that arrests and deports immigrants in the US illegally.

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM — The Israeli military pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes on Tuesday (Nov 12), mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area, and struck the middle of the country where more than 20 people were killed. Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs starting in midmorning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets in Beirut's Dahiyeh area and later said it dismantled most of the group's weapons and missile facilities. Israel said it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians and repeated its standing accusation that Hezbollah deliberately embeds itself into civilian areas to use residents as human shields, a charge Hezbollah rejects. In northern Israel, two people were killed in the city of Nahariya when a residential building was struck, Israeli police said. Hezbollah later claimed responsibility for a drone attack that it said was aimed at a military base east of Nahariya.

The Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT) will be able to mandate mental health treatment for those who cause unreasonable interferences in the community if a bill to amend the Community Disputes Resolution Act (CDRA) goes through.  The bill was proposed in Parliament by Minister for Community, Culture and Youth Edwin Tong on Tuesday (Nov 12). The CDRT currently hears disputes under CDRA between neighbours involving acts of unreasonable interference with the enjoyment or use of places of residence. Under the bill, the tribunal will be able to issue Mandatory Treatment Orders (MTO) should there be a belief that the acts of disturbance stem from an underlying psychiatric condition. "In those cases, the issue therefore is not just a disamenity one," Minister Tong said. "Hence, the MTO is intended to address the root cause of certain acts that a resident may engage in." Tong added that their priority remains in persuading the resident to go for treatment voluntarily, and that the CDRT-issued MTO is a measure of last resort. There are also criteria that must be met for the MTO to be issued.

SINGAPORE – The police are investigating deepfake nude photos of Singapore Sports School (SSP) students that were created and spread by other students. In response to queries from The Straits Times, school principal Ong Kim Soon said SSP is “aware of the incident involving the creation and sharing of deepfake photos by our student-athletes”. “The school does not condone such harmful behaviour,” he said, adding that it has launched an investigation and lodged a police report. The police, in response to queries from ST, confirmed that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing. A reader who identified himself as a parent of a victim had alerted ST in an e-mail on Nov 12 about the deepfake nude images that were being circulated. “Many parents of affected female students in Singapore Sports School are making police reports about deepfake nude photos of their daughters generated by male students from the school,” the parent said. When contacted, the parent said that female teachers were also targeted, and that the school has offered affected students counselling.

LAHORE — Pakistan's Punjab province banned most outdoor activities and ordered shops, markets and malls in some areas to close early from Monday (Nov 11) to curb illnesses caused by intense air pollution. The province has closed educational institutions and public spaces like parks and zoos until Nov. 17 in places including Lahore, the world's most polluted city in terms of air quality, according to Swiss group IQAir's live ratings. The districts of Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujranwala have seen an unprecedented rise in patients with respiratory diseases, eye and throat irritation, and pink eye disease, the Punjab government said in an order issued late on Sunday. The new restrictions will also remain in force until Nov. 17. "The spread of conjunctivitis/ pink eye disease due to bacterial or viral infection, smoke, dust or chemical exposure is posing a serious and imminent threat to public health," the Punjab government said.

May 12, 2022

Commercial international port terminals owned and operated by Chinese firms provide dual-use capabilities to the People's Liberation Army during peacetime. They enable China to project power into critical regions worldwide by providing military logistics and intelligence networks.

Nov 2, 2022

U.S. power extends beyond the military and economic spheres to include policing. The United States has used its global policing power to capture terrorists, warlords, and drug kingpins. But extradition is not simply a bureaucratic tool. States’ geopolitical interests shape their willingness to cooperate with others in extraditing fugitives. 

Feb 9, 2023

In the first comprehensive post-mortem analysis of the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project (NKMCAP), Reine Rambert and Amanda Sardonis examine how NKMCAP failed to live up to its potential, by focusing on three different dimensions of partnership effectiveness: 1) the sustainability of the partnership, 2) the effectiveness of the collaboration process itself, and 3) the achievement of the planned objectives. Rambert and Sardonis extract several transferable lessons from the challenges faced by NKMCAP that are highly consequential to partnership effectiveness.

Dec 15, 2023

Calder Walton writes that if proved, Victor Manuel Rocha's espionage would place him among the longest-serving spies in modern times. Allowing him to operate as a spy in the senior echelons of the U.S. government for so long would represent a staggering U.S. security failure.

Mar 12, 2024

After a century of rebellion, South America experienced a rapid decline in revolts in the early 1900s. Historical narratives and an analysis of a comprehensive new dataset show that the decrease stemmed in large part from the expansion and professionalization of the region’s militaries, which were driven by an export boom and the threat of interstate conflict. 

In recent years, a stream of books and articles have appeared seeking to analyse the theory and practice of Hindutva. They have sought to alternatively explain, critique, or justify the rising influence of the BJP and the RSS. Some have focused on organizational questions, on the building of social networks on the ground and how [...]

As the November 2008 Mumbai attack has shown, LeT is capable of launching attacks that can directly undermine Pakistan,s relations with its neighbors and regional stability generally.

‘India does not want to play into the hands of terrorists by shunning dialogue.'

The estranged DMK M.P. spoke about party's corrupt image & predicted its downfall; criticised ‘freebies'; praised Rahul Gandhi; was ‘very downbeat' about United Progressive Alliance's electoral prospects

The resignation drama has helped distract attention from the DMK party's woes in advance of next years Parliamentary elections.

U.S. Mission in New York raised concerns about Pakistan's voting on key issues such as counterterrorism and human rights

In a surprise development, the GOI has told us that it would welcome US participation as an Observer to SAARC.

Pending post verification are claims that total $279 million for the March-May 2007 period. The areas of greatest concern to us include costs for helicopter operations ($83 million annually), radar maintenance ($65 million annually) and Joint Staff operations ($5 million annually).

Between August 2006 and July 2007, we received a claim for 26 million USD in barbed wire and pickets. While these items are no doubt helpful in protecting outposts, the claim figures are highly suspect.

Deputy Director Shen acknowledged the message but offered no further comment.

While the BJP-led NDA won resoundingly in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, it has lost power in five major State assemblies since December 2018.

Among those on the list to be deported, the maximum 76 are from Haryana, followed by 56 from Punjab; 12 from Gujarat; five from Uttar Pradesh; four from Maharashtra ; two each from Kerala, Telengana and Tamil Nadu; and one each from Andhra Pradesh and Goa.

The AIADMK spent the highest share in spreading the party’s propaganda (99.5%) and relied only on media and advertisements

The victims were identified as Shamshad and Faizan Qasri from Bihar's Batya Zila

Who controls India’s water resources: Centre, States or both? How are inter-State river disputes settled? Who supplies drinking water to Indian citizens?

The Data Point is a bi-weekly newsletter in which The Hindu’s Data team decodes the numbers behind today’s biggest stories.  

National parties’ unknown income rose from 66% to 71% in the three years before and after the scheme’s introduction

Polling was held on December 4 and the results were announced on Wednesday.

MLAs in Karnataka have on average assets worth ₹34.6 crore, the highest among all the States

Elections in Karnataka have increasingly become bipolar, with 77% of the seats recording bipolar contests in 2018

The columnist puts the spotlight on India’s star female wrestlers who have accused Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of serial sexual harassment

As many as 3.32 crore voters will cast their votes in 37,809 polling stations across State

Nov 16, 2023

This report, by Maxwell Simon (MPP '23) and Jayaram Ravi (MPP '23), explores the drivers of setback and success that China has encountered in the process of developing dual-use and military-dedicated naval installations abroad. It looks at cases where China has considered or actively pursued military-dedicated installations to characterize Beijing’s general approach to overseas naval base acquisition.

Jun 10, 2024

As India concluded the world’s largest election on June 5, 2024, with over 640 million votes counted, observers could assess how the various parties and factions used artificial intelligence technologies – and what lessons that holds for the rest of the world.

Oct 21, 2022

Colin L. Powell was a great American. A brilliant soldier, statesman and patriot, he devoted his life to public service, and he cherished the United States, his family and his many friends. While acknowledging America’s challenges, he drew inspiration from its noble purpose and promise. “America remains the last best hope of Earth,” he said in his 1994 Howard University commencement address “You are its inheritors, and its future is today placed in your hands.” The trajectory of his life—from humble beginnings as a Jamaican immigrant’s son growing up in the Bronx to the highest levels of government—is a true American dream. 

Dec 1, 2022

A conversation hosted by the Faultlines Podcast with Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky covering her career at the U.S. State Department and current geopolitical issues like the Russia-China strategic alignment.

Dec 3, 2022

Recent guest speaker at the Future of Diplomacy Project, Ricardo Zuniga, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, was quoted in Folha de Sao Paulo describing Brazil as "a great multilateral actor and has a long legacy of involvement in peace processes, in the search for multilateral solutions to one of the most complex security problems."

Feb 20, 2023

U.S. President Joe Biden spent five hours in the Ukrainian capital on Monday, meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky and even taking a stroll through the streets of Kyiv – despite the sound of air sirens – to visit The Wall of Remembrance, which displays portraits of the approximately 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers who have died since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

The trip was kept under a media blackout until a few hours after Biden’s arrival, with the president’s official schedule only saying he would fly in the evening to Warsaw for a planned visit. The New York Times reported, quoting an anonymous official source, that Biden arrived in Kyiv early this morning after making the same 10-hour long journey from Poland that every world leader visiting Ukraine since the start of the war has.

Apr 10, 2023

The following is an event write-up about the recent Future of Diplomacy Project (FDP) seminar on “The Geopolitics of Latin America amid the War in Ukraine and China-U.S. Tensions” moderated by Negah Angha, Fellow at the Institute of Politics, on March 29, 2023.

Jun 1, 2024

How can scholars write effective policy recommendations? Despite the potential importance of academic work to the policy debate, many scholars receive little training on why and how to make policy recommendations. To remedy this problem, here are steps to guide scholars as they begin developing policy recommendations for their articles. 

Jun 4, 2021

The last time Joe Biden met Vladimir Putin, the two did not exactly hit it off. During the March 2011 meeting the-then vice president of the United States urged the then-prime minister of Russia not to return to the Kremlin, and then claimed to have reached unflattering conclusions about his Russian counterpart’s soul after the meeting was over. Putin too seems to have no love lost for Biden, even if he has been less blunt in showing it.

Jun 21, 2022

Simon Saradzhyan was invited to publicly brief the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee addressing the adequacy of strategies to prevent, counter, and respond to nuclear terrorism, and identify technical, policy, and resource gaps. The consensus study is a congressionally mandated analysis included in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (Section 1299I) sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy).  Nearly 60 stakeholders concerned about this topic from the Department of Defense, US Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, State Department, National Security Council, US Congress, the National Labs, and many non-governmental organizations were in attendance. The briefings are available at the NAS event website. Video of the presentation can be found here.

Dec 8, 2016

"The goal of the book was to invest in thinking. It doesn't have a list of recommendations but generates options for action that are backed by evidence. We chose to forgo credit by adopting this approach, but it’s been very encouraging to see some key impacts that acknowledge the book."