There has been positive news coming from Iraq since the beginning of this year. First it was the largely peaceful provincial elections held in January and now the results of a recent survey conducted by the BBC with other news channels that demonstrate how confident the Iraqi people are about the security situation.

Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, the Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, has never been known to shy away from speaking his mind on issues that concern the well being of Dubai and the UAE. Having led one of the most efficient police forces in the world for many years, he knows what he is talking about.

The President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate time to clear the air and address questions about the country’s economic future.

Justice has finally prevailed in Pakistan. In a late night development, the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was reinstated by an executive order of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani. The decision to reinstate the 
judges, ousted by former President Musharraf 
in November, 2007, was influenced by three 
major factors.

Pakistan continues to totter from crisis to crisis. But this crisis is different in that it appears to be the harbinger of a dawn of hope for the Pakistani democracy and civil society. Whichever way these developments take Pakistan, the 
country will emerge stronger and rejuvenated out of this ordeal.

The G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting - a precursor to the much-anticipated G20 summit on April 2 - provided an opportunity for nations to come together to tackle the worst economic downturn in the last 80 years. And come together they did as has been claimed by the host, UK.

Pakistan is engaged in another existential battle. Thousands of activists—both lawyers and political workers — have been rounded up as part of a crackdown on anti-government protests rocking the country.

INDIA’S electoral politics entered a new phase on Thursday, when a group of disparate — some would say desperate — parties got together at Tumkur, a non-descript city near Bangalore, and announced the revival of the Third Front.

US President Obama’s renewal of the US sanctions against Iran for another year means bad news for the efforts to improve relations with Teheran. The sanctions, initially placed in 1995, ban US companies from investing or trading with Iran. Besides, Iran also faces three sets of UN sanctions.

It seems the planet is heading fast for end times. While there have always been alarmists with ‘end-is-nigh’ talk around, there has never been such a stark rise in projections and predictions about the clear and present danger to life on the planet as the world has seen in recent times.