Politics

Putin's tears in Manezhnaya Square after winning Russia's 2012 election — genuine emotion, staged vulnerability, or something else? What that night meant.

March 4, 2012 · 1 min read

China's 'Interviews Before Execution' put death-row prisoners on prime-time TV for 40 million viewers. The show, its host Ding Yu, and why it vanished.

March 4, 2012 · 1 min read

A 2012 Denver investigation found welfare debit cards used at casinos and strip clubs. The story behind the headlines — and what actually changed.

February 28, 2012 · 2 min read

In February 2012 Pakistan began demolishing the Abbottabad compound where Osama bin Laden was killed — erasing a building that had become an embarrassment

February 25, 2012 · 1 min read

On February 13, 2012, a sticky bomb exploded on the car of an Israeli diplomat's wife near the PM's residence in Delhi — an attack India suspected Iran of.

February 13, 2012 · 2 min read

India told Britain to keep its aid money: the Finance Ministry announced no further DFID funding beyond a transition period, a marker of a changed self-image.

February 4, 2012 · 1 min read

In January 2012, two British tourists were detained at LAX and deported after tweets about destroying America — slang Homeland Security didn't find funny.

January 30, 2012 · 1 min read

Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya lost custody of their two children to Norwegian social workers in May 2011, igniting a clash of two countries' parenting norms.

January 22, 2012 · 2 min read

How India stopped polio: one year with no cases by January 2012, removed from the WHO endemic list in February, and the 2-million-worker vaccination

January 12, 2012 · 1 min read

Stephen Colbert's 2012 South Carolina presidential exploration was part joke, part media event, part real Super PAC exposing campaign-finance loopholes.

January 12, 2012 · 1 min read

In January 2012, Indian media reported intelligence warnings that Lashkar-e-Taiba was training female operatives for attacks on India.

January 3, 2012 · 1 min read

In the 2011 Czech census, 15,070 people declared their religion as 'Jedi.' The Force is strong in Central Europe — and the joke has a serious point about

December 19, 2011 · 1 min read

On December 10, 2011, tens of thousands of Russians filled Bolotnaya Square in Moscow to protest rigged parliamentary elections — the largest

December 10, 2011 · 2 min read

In December 2011, Kapil Sibal asked Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Microsoft to pre-screen content for offensiveness. Why the pushback was immediate — and

December 6, 2011 · 1 min read

In late 2011, the smart money said Barack Obama could not be re-elected with unemployment near 8 percent. Revisiting the case against him — and why it failed.

December 5, 2011 · 1 min read

NATO helicopters killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at Salala on November 26, 2011; Pakistan called it unprovoked, ordered the US out, and froze a critical alliance.

November 26, 2011 · 1 min read

On November 24, 2011, Harvinder Singh slapped Union Minister Sharad Pawar at a Delhi literary function, saying he acted in anger over corruption and price rise.

November 24, 2011 · 2 min read

On November 24, 2011, the cabinet approved 51% FDI in multi-brand retail — then suspended the decision within days. The story of India's most politically

November 24, 2011 · 2 min read

My mornings are sort of incomplete if I don’t devour ‘ The Times Of India ‘ along with my tea . Yesterday’s headlines of Manu Sharma getting a life sentence…

November 23, 2011 · 3 min read

November 2011: the IAEA's toughest Iran report yet, Israeli air-defense drills, and mysterious base explosions — the month the shadow war nearly surfaced.

November 20, 2011 · 1 min read