Somali rebel leader calls for an increase in suicide bombings.

Until it hit the headlines after the Mumbai attacks, India did not tend to receive much attention in the international press - at least not as much attention as China, Asia's other major rising power. Even with the Olympics over, China has been the subject of innumerable recent news stories and feature pieces. In noting this, I am not trying to suggest that China gets too much attention; my point is only that India could use a little more. (To this end, openDemocracy has just launched a new editorial section on India, which had been planned for some time.)  In the absence of detailed reporting on India, three images of the country have tended to coexist (somewhat uneasily) in Westerners' imaginations.

Uttar Pradesh bombs and West Bengal protest expose a polity's failures

The Atocha massacre trial leaves many questions unanswered

The 28 defendants of the Madrid bombing trial face their verdicts, plus much more in today's toD update

Geopolitics will make needed negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban impossible

An effective strategy towards al-Qaida must grasp the movement's own transformation

Washington will miss yet another opportunity if it fails to support Iran's deal with the IAEA

In today's security brief, Beijing and New Delhi are urged to cut ties with Burma

A change in Palestinian language is more than just rhetorical

Playing into Tehran's hands and much more in today's security briefing

Sarko cools talk of war with Iran, Lebanon buries Ghanem...

A slip-up in US nuclear weapons controls is cause for global concern

Europe risks irrelevance if it doesn't soften its approach to Iran

Ramadan brings with it spiritual reflection and political possibility

The battle of ideas requires policies and serious dialogue, not just rhetoric

As India celebrates its 60th birthday, the bubble of liberal Indian Islam may burst under pressure from without and within

In toD's daily "security brief", India forgets its Muslims, Kurds play tug-of-war, and Congress spies on foreigners

The seductions of militant Islamist rhetoric can be met by an appeal to reason founded in Islamic and democratic ideas

With Kerkuk's contentious fate to be decided in December, Sheth Jerjis lays out the Turkmen case against the referendum