Both the governments of Bangladesh and India can come out with policies that promote renewable energy sources, which will help to improve air quality and human health, writes Safen Roy for South Asia Monitor
Escalation around Iran narrows diplomatic manoeuvring room across South Asia. India has cultivated strong defence ties with Israel, expanded strategic cooperation with Washington and maintained pragmatic engagement with Tehran, particularly in connectivity and energy sectors. A widening US–Iran confrontation complicates this balancing act.
There is a darker side to AI, it is now seen. Firms have established that AI can manipulate, blackmail and threaten. Findings by Anthropic have revealed that advanced AI systems can resort to blackmailing and threatening human users to achieve assigned goals or ensure their survival. As AI writes better versions of itself and big business powers it to seek new frontiers to occupy, will India re-skill and re-arm to keep its independence or run the risk of becoming a digitised colony?
Bangladesh has previously demonstrated its ability to decisively dismantle militant infrastructures. The question now is whether that momentum can be sustained amid shifting political and regional dynamics. If left unchecked, Islamic State Bengal’s evolving model - family cells, criminal financing, cross-border sanctuaries, and technical bomb-making sophistication - could reintroduce a phase of asymmetric violence not only within Bangladesh but across parts of South Asia.
The killing of Ayatollah Ai Khamenei is not an isolated headline; it is a defining chapter in the evolving story of Middle Eastern and regional geopolitics. It forces a reckoning with questions of power, legality, and consequence. Whether this moment becomes the spark of broader conflict or a catalyst for renewed diplomatic urgency will depend on decisions made now, in Tehran, in Jerusalem, in Washington, and beyond. One era has undeniably ended. What begins next will shape the region for years to come.
Both the governments of Bangladesh and India can come out with policies that promote renewable energy sources, which will help to improve air quality and human health, writes Safen Roy for South Asia Monitor
Attracting Japanese companies shifting out of China thus is consistent with Bangladesh’s Look East policy. To facilitate this a Special Economic Zone is being built, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
The US-Taliban peace deal also needs to be rejected, as it is a disaster in the making for Afghanistan, the region as well as for America since it would turn Af-Pak into a terror cauldron and a springboard to launch terror attacks on the US and its allies, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor
Can the EU hope for forward-looking language on at least a limited trade deal between India and the EU?, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The Supreme Court of India has categorically held that criticism of the government, however harsh, does not amount to sedition unless violence is incited, writes Rahul Machaiah for South Asia Monitor
Fifty years of bitter experience should prompt the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to initiate a major paradigm-shift in India's defence-industrial programmes, writes Admiral Arun Prakash (retd) for South Asia Monitor
India must seek a larger role for the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration in the international arena, write Pradeep S. Mehta and Jithin Sabu for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh should keep raising the Rohingya issue in all international forums. It should continue its efforts in various diplomatic arenas to exert more international pressure on Myanmar for a quick Rohingya repatriation, write MD Sakib Hossain & Kawsar Uddin Mahmud for South Asia Monitor
Asia has significant scope for regional cooperation and collaboration among its energy-deficient and energy-sufficient regions to enhance its overall energy security, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Communal or sectarian violence poses a serious threat not only to India’s secular and democratic spirit but also wreaks serious havoc on its economy, writes Asif Rameez Daudi for South Asia Monitor
The Shahtoot Dam project will be India’s second-largest in Afghanistan after the Salma Dam project. This would invariably help mitigate water scarcity in the country, writes Amb Tahir Qadiry for South Asia Monitor
Brexit could translate into an opportunity for India to reset the legal terms of its trade with the UK and EU at the multilateral level as well as through free trade agreements (FTA). This remains a formidable challenge, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor
India's much weaker economic clout in comparison to China's, its controversial and polarising domestic policies, and the lack of dependability have all prompted the rest of its neighbours to embrace the Dragon, helping strengthen its "string of pearls" strategy, writes E D Mathew for South Asia Monitor
Being Asia’s third-largest economy, India has been criticized by the US, China, and the EU for rising trade barriers and restrictive investment policies at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Policy Review, writes Manjari Balu for South Asia Monitor
It is critical for India to make some uncomfortable choices to safeguard its strategic interests in Afghanistan, write Prashant Rastogi and Swati Sinha for South Asia Monitor