Recently ‘Bush and Co’ visited Asia to solve the nuclear riddle of North Korea. But along with discussions on nuclear issues at different forums they also attempted to ‘educate’ Asians on various other issues. President Bush had issued a carefully calibrated call for greater liberty throughout Asia, implicitly comparing the "free and democratic Chinese society" in Taiwan with repression in Mainland China. Talking in context of spread of Avian (Bird) Flu, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had also taken an indirect potshot at China.

The Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a UN body on maritime issues, had called upon contracting states to work on two Protocols and introduce substantial amendments aimed at strengthening the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation also known as the SUA Convention. The SUA convention has been adopted by 126 countries representing 82 per cent of the world's merchant fleet. It provides for an appropriate response to the risks posed to maritime navigation by international terrorism. 

The recent announcements by Madhav Kumar Nepal, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal – United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), that Maoists are willing to give up arms and join the mainstream necessitates neighbouring India to have a fresh look at the crisis. According to him the Maoists are ready to lay down their arms under UN supervision if there is a consensus for the election to a constituent assembly.

More than 60 people were killed and over 200 injured in one of the bloodiest-ever terrorist attacks that shook New Delhi with three synchronized explosions on October 29. The first blast occurred in the evening at 5.38 p.m. outside a Jewelers shop in the Paharganj area, close to Delhi’s main railway station. At 5.52 p.m., a bag was spotted inside a public transport bus in Govindpuri, which exploded when thrown out. A powerful explosion hit Sarojini Nagar’s crowded mini market at 5.56 p.m.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), otherwise known to the world as North Korea has indicated its willingness to go to the fifth round of the six-party multilateral nuclear talks in Beijing in November 2005 as it had promised. However, the green signal came with a accusation that the United States has been using words and deeds contrary to the joint statement issued in September this year.

The deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) killed over twelve hundred people in less than four months in northern India and neighboring Nepal. The disease has gripped more than 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh, some parts of Bihar in India and Kailali, Banke, Bardiya districts of the Himalayan Kingdom. The situation has deteriorated due to an unexpected revival of monsoon in mid-September across north India, coupled with a shortfall of vaccines and life-saving drugs.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, has warned that the country would resume enriching uranium and restrict United Nations inspectors from critical information if the United States and its allies used the "language of threat" by referring Iran to the Security Council. The negotiator's threat came as a confidential draft resolution circulated at the governing board of the global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Wasting no time after the ban was imposed in Andhra Pradesh, Naxals launched an attack in Chhattisgarh early this month by triggering a landmine, which left at least 23 security personnel dead. This blast, near Padeda village in Dantewada district, was powerful enough to awaken the State government from deep slumber and complacency. A ban on the Communist Party of India –Maoist (CPI-Maoist), the perpetrator, and its front organizations followed after an emergency meeting of the Cabinet in the State capital, Raipur. 

It took the Andhra Pradesh government at least thirteen months to realize that its much-publicized honeymoon with the Naxal groups was a damp squib. Instead, the Naxals used the period as an opportunity to regroup, rearm, and consolidate in new areas. 

The Strategic Forces Command of India, which forms part of the country’s Nuclear Command Authority, is responsible for managing and administrating strategic and tactical nuclear arsenal. Commensurating with the recommendations on national security management, the SFC came into existence on January 4, 2003. While acknowledging the onerous tasks SFC was undertaking, more transparent measures have been recently declared to clear certain anomalies and create more transparency on aspects of India’s nuclear policy.