India-Pakistan relations are not on the mend. They are deteriorating. Invitations to the heads of SAARC countries to attend the inauguration of Narendra Modi was really meant to signal that a new kind of leadership in India was at the helm, one with a different vision and approach to national and international affairs.

If reaching a permanent agreement by next month’s deadline proves impossible, the West must lock in the status-quo.

India’s economy could be a catalyst for development if the region can open up.(...) Modi’s foreign policy, like that of many of his predecessors, is greatly reliant on South Asia. India’s role in the larger world has often been constrained by turmoil in its neighborhood. 

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam announced that he asked Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for “Iran’s help in holding presidential elections because a vacant presidency weakens the country.” He clarified that Rouhani stressed his country’s keenness on maintaining Lebanese national unity. 

We must hold regular dialogue and seek common ground, even if there are issues that are onerous to resolve. We hope to see a return to this standard practice of diplomacy. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung Se, have held talks in New York, where they agreed on “the importance of continuing and deepening high-level communication” for Japan-South Korea ties. 

A marquee has been erected on the driveway of the United Nations to deprive potential snipers of a line of site, as world leaders lever themselves out of their limousines. Even inside the headquarters building, blue partitions have been put up, presumably to sequester the leaders from the journalists who work here day in day out. With some 140 heads of state and government scheduled to attend, a record-breaking number, leaders' week at the United Nations is like no other.

Surveillance and spying on world leaders and the general public across the globe have crushed people’s trust in the Internet and other high-tech equipment. More importantly, these actions have infringed on human rights. There was skepticism last week when the UN General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee issued a resolution to protect the people’s right to privacy against massive and unlawful surveillance.