VD Satheesan named Kerala chief minister; EC expands nationwide SIR exercise, and more

VD Satheesan has been chosen as Kerala’s next chief minister after the Congress-led UDF secured a decisive election victory. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping projected a cooperative tone during their Beijing summit amid efforts to stabilise US-China ties. The Election Commission of India has announced Phase III of the Special Intensive Revision exercise covering 16…

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Care, courage & clinical excellence take centre stage

Judging excellence in maternal healthcare is not like judging most things. The numbers, whether around delivery volumes, success rates, bed counts, etc., are the starting point, far from the verdict. When the jury members for the Times Future of Maternity Awards 2026 convened for final evaluation of nominees across 13 categories, the tougher questions were…

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Who pays for motherhood in India?

Despite a mandate for free maternal services in public healthcare, out-of-pocket expenditure for maternal care remains a significant burden on Indian families, primarily incurred for medications and diagnostic procedures, as per a journal published at the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine last year. In public health centres, the largest proportion of…

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Is Tamil Nadu headed for a Shiv Sena-like drama?

NEW DELHI: Do fractured mandates fracture parties? The crack in AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, much like the splits in Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, suggests they often do.In June 2022, Eknath Shinde led a rebellion in Shiv Sena and took away two-thirds of the party’s MLAs, toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The coup vertically split…

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EAM slams unilateral sanctions, says pressure can’t replace diplomacy

BRICS: EAM slams unilateral sanctions, says pressure can’t replace diplomacy (Image credit: ANI) NEW DELHI: The BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting began Thursday with external affairs minister S Jaishankar denouncing “increasing resort’ to unilateral coercive measures and sanctions inconsistent with international law and the UN Charter. Delivering India’s national statement, Jaishankar said such “unjustifiable” measures, which…

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