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Following the 1973 US-backed military coup in Chile, the country became a testing ground for neoliberal economics that was forcefully administered at the point of a bayonet. Fifty years later, on the other side of the Andes, Argentinian President Javier Milei is seeking to introduce sweeping economic reforms that make the Chilean model seem relatively tame by comparison. Unlike Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Milei did not seize power by force but was elected by a substantial majority in November of last year.

Julian Assange, easily the world’s most persecuted and famous journalist, is free at last. At the moment of writing this column, Assange is onboard a private plane that is costing him half a million dollars (which his family plans to pay off via crowd-funding donations appeal), to fly from Saipan, the capital of Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, to Canberra, Australia, where his family awaits his return as a free man. His 14-year-long ordeal with the Anglo-American national security juggernaut that witch-hunted him most perniciously for his incredibly impactful guerilla journalism exposing countless crimes of the US-led “rules based order”, at last ends. However, the plea bargain that he was compelled to accept because of his failing mental and physical health, of pleading guilty to one count of felony under the obsolete US Espionage Act of 1917, exposes the ongoing injustice by the American empire of grotesque malfeasance.

The choice of Russia as the destination of the first official visit in his third term heading a coalition government is laden with symbolism and strategic implications, encompassing political messaging to coalition partners and a reinforcement of economic ties between India and Russia.

A new era has begun after a decade in the 18th Lok Sabha with election of Om Birla as Lok Sabha Speaker for the second term, who was welcomed jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi after shaking hands to the Chair of the House of the People. Having a Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the House after a decade signals ushering in the new era of “the opposition capable of holding the Modi 3.0 government accountable” for their decisions and actions.

‘Who hasn’t heard of Julian Assange?’ Legions of Indians haven’t. Those few who had heard of Julian Assange soon forgot the taste of his name swirling on their tongues. In fact, who was Julian Assange — journalist, publisher, WikiLeaks founder; Internet sensation, despicable foreign agent, what — harbinger of Arab Spring? For 12 years Julian Assange lived in “confinement and detention”. Some would say confinement of his own making. Not many think of him now even if they had heard of him.

Finally after two decades of ‘will she, won’t she’ Priyanka Gandhi is going to make her election debut now. She will contest the Lok Sabha bypoll from Kerala’s Wayanad, the constituency that her brother Rahul Gandhi has vacated so as to retain Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh instead.

It has been a dream run for developers and investors in Delhi NCR over the last two years in luxury residential real estate. The year-on-year price rise of new launches has been no less than 20%. A steep and steady increase in prices has brought cheers to developers and investors alike. Higher prices and larger residential units have continued to sell like hot cakes, thanks to NRI investments in the luxury segments of NCR, emboldened by India's growth story and the weak rupee compared to the dollar. The party lasted until May 2024, when the sentiment began to take a downturn, with a limited number of sales queries in the ultra-luxury segment indicating that prices have peaked and the market can no longer support further price increases. This has resulted in limited new launches and developers, including branded ones, offering back-door discounts.

Even by Israeli standards, Uri Tzafon (Awaken North) is a far-right fringe group. Amid mounting tension with Lebanese Shiite political group and militia, Hezbollah, along the Lebanon-Israel border, Uri Tzafon is calling for Israeli settlement of southern Lebanon.

LONDON: Julian Assange is free, or soon will be. For 12 years he has been a prisoner: for seven of them holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy as a political asylum-seeker, for five in HMP Belmarsh, his treatment compared to torture by international experts.

The 18th session of Parliament began on June 24 with two ominous signals for the third time Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party BJP, the leader of the NDA coalition. The first, the massive scandal over the question papers leak in the NEET examinations involving lakhs of students of all regions of the country, and the second was the leaking of water from the roof of the new temple at Ajodhya which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister on January 22 this year. The chief priest of the Ram temple Acharya Satyendra Das complained the same day the Prime Minister was addressing his BJP members about the programme of the new regime.