India granted 'observer' status in Arctic Council

India has been granted the status of an observer in the Arctic Council, an organisation of global nations that coordinates Arctic policy. With the melting of Arctic ice, new waterways are emerging, creating opportunities for countries to tap the region’s so far inaccessible resources. There is growing competition over the untapped oil, natural gas, minerals and fish resources of the region.

Wrist against risk

A hi-tech bracelet could soon be helping civil rights and aid workers at risk of being abducted or killed. When triggered, the personal alarm in the device uses phone technology to warn that its wearer is in danger. Warnings are sent in the form of messages to Facebook and Twitter.

Hills of despair and hope

At one point in his memoir, A Writer’s People, V S Naipul notes, “All my life I have had to think about ways of looking and how they alter the configurations of the world.” The celebrated writer's method holds true for not only a novel but also an academic work, especially when it is set in a politically volatile and culturally diverse region.

Explicit message

An exhibition at the Belgrade Cultural Center’s Podrum Gallery uses X-rays, medical reports, and personal testimonies to document the role of violence in Serbian society.

Two for tangle

Letters - February 28, 2013

Hello Lantana

Rage over asbestos

A year of leadership failure

The last image of 2012 is protesters storming the bastion of Delhi, outraged at the brutal rape of a young girl and the culture of violence against women. This outburst by the educated middle class, many of them young women, was spontaneous as much as it was leaderless. But as we move to the next year, we need to think about the response of the government to this protest and others.

News Snippets

>> Machinery that helped create the Goldfields’ mining and pastoral industry in Australia will be on display at the Western Australian Museum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The exhibition, which will begin mid-November, includes early mining drills and timber cutting machinery.

The panchayat outrage