As the EU moves to court New Delhi, @hrw.org has raised the alarm again, reminding Brussels not to hand Prime Minister #Modi a free pass on #India’s ‘authoritarian drift’ If India is the world’s largest democracy, it should act like one - @claudiofrancavilla.bsky.social

#Apple has perfected the art of selling déjà vu -- year after year. Series 11 runs the same S10 chip as Series 10. No new health sensor. Just sleep scores and hypertension alerts dressed up as “innovation.” At best, the latest #AppleWatch is iterative. At worst, it’s just a repackaged piece of tech.

World is run by old men in a hurry on.ft.com/3IGgA7a

Honor killing remains a national sport in Pakistan. Don’t mistake my sarcasm—I have nothing but contempt for the toxic social constructs that fuel it — misogyny, hyper-masculinity, and the belief that women are mere objects of male ownership. No man is superior to a woman—anywhere, in any way.

The 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel was marked by a flurry of propaganda, disinformation and covert operations aided by artificial intelligence and spread by social media. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/t...

Gisèle Pelicot carved her place in history, and she did it with strength, dignity, and grace. France hasn’t done her a favour — it’s just catching up to the truth. Brava.

Hard to say what’s more dangerous for Kabul — a city running dry, or a regime of paedophiles enjoying Western approval. Either way, the END isn’t waiting politely at the door — it’s halfway through the living room…

Of all things, only human indifference appears untouched by #climate change — tragically comical, to say the least.

Ten years after the signing of the Paris accord, demand for coal is still growing — and shows no signs of peaking. on.ft.com/3HKhDm1

Earth’s warming could trigger sweeping changes in the natural world that would be hard, if not impossible, to reverse. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

#France defends #Israel’s provocation, a preemptive strike against #Iran. Honestly, the French haven’t made sense of anything — including their own existence — since Marie Antoinette tried to feed them cake.

The US—for better or worse—has long presented itself as a promoter of press freedom. So when the US falls short, it becomes much harder to advocate for #pressfreedom abroad, says Katherine Jacobsen of @pressfreedom.bsky.social More in my latest: tribune.com.pk/story/254622...

In every chapter of Indo-Pak hostilities, the presence of a third party has invariably been essential to pull the region back from the precipice. Whatever one’s view of #Trump, it is a matter of record that he played a consequential role in steering South Asia away from the edge.

Expect increased media #censorship from governments focused on extraction to support Donald’s anti-environment agenda.

The brouhaha over #tariffs is justified, but it distracts from a more sinister move— #Trump’s fixation on grabbing critical #minerals & benefits through coercion. For weak #democracies, that means massive #environmental wreckage. It fuels global plunder when the planet can least afford another blow.

W.Rodney’s How #Europe Underdeveloped Africa exposes #colonialism not as a past injustice but as a deliberate system of exploitation that outlived formal rule. Europe didn’t just plunder #Africa’s wealth, it engineered a cycle of dependence, ensuring that so-called independence remained an illusion.

Sinking land, rising seas—and yet denial reaches new heights. How much evidence is enough?

#Sweden has cemented its reputation as a nation that wasted no time in slamming the door on migrants—first under a center-left govt, then with even greater enthusiasm under a right-leaning one. Only shows that when political survival is on the line, the left and right aren’t so different after all.

As gold is smuggled out and weapons pour in, #Sudan’s civil war remains ruthless, relentless, and well-funded—all thanks to the #UAE, which conveniently sits at the heart of the illicit trade, profiting off both blood and bullion, ensuring that conflict stays as lucrative as ever.

Reading about #lithium extraction in #Chile, I’m struck by the irony of #climate / environment reporting—no matter the geography, the patterns of human suffering remain eerily similar, only varying in degree.

Ah, the European tradition of selective outrage. #Humanrights are sacred—until they clash with energy contracts and arms deals. Then, righteous indignation takes a well-timed nap. In the #MiddleEast, the moral high ground gets remarkably slippery, and silence becomes the language of choice. #Bahrain

Don’t we have enough living pharaohs? I mean, look no further—the pharaoh of pharaohs resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…

Biden aides argued dropping out would bring ‘mistake’ of Harris, book claims www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

European concern for #climate, unsurprisingly, begins and ends with #Europe—textbook self-centeredness. But here’s the reality — outsourcing environmental destruction won’t keep #climatechange off your shores.

Rashid Khalidi, whom I interviewed last year for a report on #Gaza, has been one of the more forthright voices on the crisis. He now refers to @columbiauniversity.bsky.social as ‘Vichy on the Hudson’—a description that, quite frankly, feels all too apt. More in his @theguardian.com piece.

#Pakistan’s federal and provincial cabinets—the centre of executive power—remain overwhelmingly male. Why do these glass ceilings hold firm? More in my latest: tribune.com.pk/story/253638... | #gendergap | #equality |

If there was ever a way to reassure allies of America’s steadfast commitment, it’s #Trump openly admitting they get the bargain-bin jets—just in case they start thinking for themselves. A brilliant way to inspire confidence and trust — no doubt. asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Tr...

Hong Kong has laws, but let’s be honest—they all serve the same master. Jimmy Lai’s journey from a boy who loved chocolate to a media mogul-turned-political prisoner isn’t just a tale of success & repression. It’s a reminder that in today’s #HongKong, the price of speaking freely is set by Beijing.

If your lecture is just a scripted performance & students are mere spectators,call it a keynote,not a class.If you’re too famous to take questions,stick to book tours.Learning isn’t a spectator sport—if students can’t engage, they’re not being taught, just talked at- @columbiauniversity.bsky.social

Hillary #Clinton’s class at @columbiauniversity.bsky.social was more like a limited series. Staged, recorded, and barely interactive. Next semester, you won’t need to enroll — just stream it on #Columbia+. Office hours? Sorry, that’s premium content. www.huffpost.com/entry/hillar...

More than 17 million women in #SaudiArabia live under a system that treats them as second-class citizens—no rights, no autonomy without a male guardian. Meanwhile, #MBS, known for silencing critics with bone saws, is rolling out a female ‘royal’ for a PR stunt. Try harder! youtu.be/JvHdJ-sB8DQ?...

#Modi celebrating 1 billion tonnes of coal in 2025 is nothing short of reckless. While the world pushes for a sustainable future, #India is digging its own grave with fossil fuels. Energy security? More like self-sabotage in the face of a #climate crisis.

Ah yes,“renews ground operation” — such a delicate, almost poetic way to describe the overnight slaughter of 400 unarmed #Palestinians. The editors at @financialtimes.com must have quite the talent for making war crimes sound like a routine maintenance check.

The deportation of #Afghans reflects strategic myopia. For decades, #Pakistan instrumentalized these #refugees for geopolitical leverage—now, their expulsion under #Taliban rule weakens its own position. Short-term calculus, long-term fallout. bbc.com/news/article...

In rural #India, guarantees of equal representation on village councils are easily thwarted. But some #women are pushing back against “boss husbands.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/w...

Nothing displays liberal credentials like slashing the Women & Gender Equality Ministry in the name of efficiency. When the left starts borrowing from the right’s playbook, you have to wonder—was there ever a difference,or just better branding with the same level of contempt for equality and rights?

At this point, #Gaza could really use more than just the world’s well-practiced expressions of outrage.

UN’s World Meteorological Organization said signs of human-induced climate change “reached new heights” last year, with record greenhouse gas levels. on.ft.com/42cocWa

Netanyahu has not allowed any food, water, or fuel into Gaza in two weeks. Now he has resumed bombing, killing hundreds of people and breaking the ceasefire that had given Gaza a chance to live again. NO MORE MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL.

A climate strategy built on floodwaters and monsoons as “green assets.” Nothing quite captures #Pakistan’s leadership’s detachment from reality like attempting to address a #climate crisis with fairy tales and wishful thinking. www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/...

EVs as the future? In #Pakistan, they’re a luxury few can afford, with charging infrastructure as rare as a functioning public transport system. Govts,including many led by the one-term climate minister’s own party,have ignored the latter. But yes, let’s place our hopes on prohibitively costly cars.

A new Gallup poll shows young Americans’ confidence in government has plummeted since #Trump turned it into a spectacle. on.ft.com/41WFqFD

Over the past 40 years, a quarter of a billion people have lived in cities that have swung from one extreme to another. If #climate change isn’t real, I’d love to hear what reality you’re living in. on.ft.com/43QQ57m

Oh my, does this “crackdown” on “immorality” cover the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, or is that still considered business as usual for Mohammed bin Salman? #MBS | #Saudiarabia | on.ft.com/3FvF8y0

Saudi Arabia’s latest innings in reputation laundering — a $500 million cricket league to distract from an oil empire that’s warming the planet faster than a T20 run chase. www.tbsnews.net/sports/saudi...

#ElonMusk, the self-proclaimed champion of #freespeech, was raised under the comforting blanket of apartheid's racial hierarchy. No wonder he fits right in with today's #far-right conspiracies.

Even our ‘cool’ years today are hotter than ‘warm’ years of the past. The #climate baseline has shifted, and extreme heat is becoming the new normal. This isn’t cyclical—it’s the consequence of human-driven #warming. Source: @ourworldindata.org

‘Global weirding’: climate whiplash hitting world’s biggest cities, study reveals