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A US federal trade court based in Manhattan, New York, has blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency powers law.

https://thewire.in/trade/trump-tariffs-blocked-by-federal-trade-court-white-house-to-appeal 

Trump announced across-the-board tariffs on April 2, setting off waves of global trade uncertainty.

Shortly after the court’s decision, the White House responded that it was “not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency.”

As expected, the government also filed a notice of appeal to the ruling from the New York-based US Court of International Trade.

29/05/2025

https://thewire.in/education/eroding-scientific-rationality-is-undermining-knowledge-production-in-india 

In India, the assault is ideological and motivated by religious zealotry. Since the current political regime assumed power, India’s ranking on the Academic Freedom Index, developed by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, has sharply declined. In its 2024 update, the report categorises India among countries where academic freedom is deemed ‘completely restricted’. The report suggested that ‘it is primarily anti-pluralist parties in the government that contribute to the decline in academic freedom’.

While the incumbent regime primarily targets social sciences and humanities to reduce them to inconsequential subjects, research in the sciences and medicine could not escape State scrutiny. They have been particularly effective in peddling pseudoscience and bringing its status on par with evidence-based modern science. They have also been successful in branding Hindu scriptural epistemology as ‘Indian Knowledge System’, and making it a part of the educational syllabus, legitimising Hindu metaphysics and mythology as science and history. At the same time, criticism from educators regarding the National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) decision to remove Charles Darwin’s theory of biological evolution from the 10th-grade science textbook was dismissed, with the move being justified as part of a ‘curriculum rationalisation exercise.’

Why would the government advance bovine dung and urine as a panacea for ailments, including cancer? Why would ministries broadcast the misguided views of self-styled experts as scientific fact and confuse the public? The Ministry of AYUSH has been vigorously campaigning for research on cow products, which it believes have medicinal properties. Aside from some antiquated beliefs, these claims had nothing else by way of support, especially no peer-reviewed research or clinical tests. Researchers from major institutes recently gathered at a temple in Madhya Pradesh with their equipment to determine the efficacy of fire rituals in bringing rain. This tells a lot about the abandonment of scientific rationality in contemporary India to suit the whims of the establishment. Such instances reflect the diminishing quality of scientific research in India and draw our attention to how the state instrumentalises knowledge to serve political ends.

by Swarati Sabhapandit and C.P. Rajendran

Russia’s Balancing Act: Navigating the Indo-Pak Rift Post-Pahalgam https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/russia-s-balancing-act-navigating-the-indo-pak-rift-post-pahalgam   the incident also signals a slight shift in Moscow’s approach to the Indo-Pak calculus, suggesting a marked neutrality in Russia’s diplomatic stance between New Delhi and Islamabad. This shift appears to be influenced by the growing Russia-West contestation as well as regional geopolitical realignments, which have elevated Pakistan’s importance in Russia’s strategic outlook..

Moscow’s careful and balanced navigation of India-Pakistan tensions is not new. In 2019, Russia struck a similar balance following the terrorist attacks in Pulwama. Much like after the Pahalgam attack, Russia was deliberately cautious in its choice of words.. Moscow has also prioritised its partnership with Islamabad in the context of developments in Afghanistan, operating on the assumption that Pakistan wields considerable influence over Afghan affairs.