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War is the one of the most serious threat to public health with catastrophic effects on infrastructure & environment and accounts for more deaths and disability than many major diseases combined. It destroys families, communities and sometimes-whole cultures. It channels limited resources away from health and other social needs.

Strange things do happen when one’s heart in not in the right place. But most ‘well-hearted’ Indians would have felt at least a couple of beats in pain when they heard about the disqualification of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by the country’s Supreme Court in the case relating to the so-called Panama papers. Not that Nawaz Sharif was a great friend of India, ever willing to go the extra mile to mend the genetical discord between the two neighbours. He may have been a little less venomous than most of his predecessors, or likely successors, including Imran Khan, the chief possible option, if it’s not a more plausible military alternative, and on whose petition Sharif has had to suffer the ignominy of having been prime minister for the longest term and yet failing to complete a full tenure.

Union minister Muktar Abbas Naqvi’s remark that not singing Vande Mataram is not an anti-national act seemingly marks a new and somewhat unexpected phase in saffron politics. This is the same Naqvi who advised those who want to eat beef to go to Pakistan and who denied in parliament that the lynching of Pehlu Khan in Rajasthan took place.

No one can find fault with Nitish Kumar for eulogising Narendra Modi. He has followed the beaten track. Often the turn coats sing paean in the praise of their new leader. Nitish is not an exception. He is politically correct in his assessment that no one is capable of defeating Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Looking at the prevalent political situation, with Congress in a bind, it is utopian to expect that it would lead a comprehensive opposition to unseat Modi.

In line with expectations of a cut in interest rates, the Reserve bank of India has complied with the requests. It cut its repo rate (at which banks borrow from the central bank) by a quarter of one per cent. This is neither here nor there.

LUCKNOW: Unable to face the electorate through by-elections, the BJP is looking for safe passage for entry of UP CM Yogi Adityanath and three other ministers through the Legislative Council.

The nineteenth round of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Trade Negotiating Committee held its twelve-day protracted parleys in Hyderabad with Government of India hosting the event. RCEP is a proposed comprehensive regional economic integration agreement among the 10-ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations comprising Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and its six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners namely Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Korea and India.

Nitish Kumar’s departure from the “secular” camp has been a body blow to the Opposition, but it’s even more so for Rahul Gandhi.

In spite of threats from the Trump administration and sometimes violent demonstrations and a boycott by the right wing opposition, the scheduled elections for Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly were held Sunday, July 30.

BHOPAL: A very grave situation prevails in the Narmada valley where people in their hundreds are observing "Jal Satyagraha" by standing in knee and waist-deep water and resorting to indefinite fast. The protest is aimed at forcing the state government to give up the plans to remove them from places that would soon be submerged.