Very many years ago, when I was just starting out in journalism as a copyboy at The New York Times, I wrote a letter to David Halberstam. I told him how much I'd enjoyed reading his book, "The Best and the Brightest." I told him that I thought that I'd never read a more compelling work of nonfiction, and that I found his style totally engaging. To my surprise, I received a hand-written thank-you note from David. I still have it. Over the next four decades, I got several opportunities to me...

The Times of India has an excellent article today (April 24) in which the paper says that although coalition politics might require parties to make compromises on their ideology, the parties haven't by any means jettisoned their driving ideology. Here's a telling quote: "Even Congress is unable to shake off much of its ideological baggage. For most of Man mohan Singh's tenure as prime minister, Congress has been harping on economic reform and growth. However, Congress hasn't been able to aban...

Shashi Tharoor, an established author and self-styled celebrity -- and unsuccessful candidate for UN secretary general -- is now taking on India's minister of commerce and industry, Kamal Nath. Tharoor committed himself to responding to questions for Nath's forthcoming book, "India's Century: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Energy in the World's Biggest Democracy," to be published by McGraw-Hill in August. When those questions were e-mailed to him, he suddenly decided he was too busy to respond. H...

Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry for India, and its chief representative to the World Trade Organization, will be writing a new book tentatively entitled India's Century, to be published by McGraw-Hill Professional. In the book, aimed at the world's economic elites and general readers, Nath will use his insider's experience to explain India's climb to superstar status and provide a primer on doing business with the world's largest and fastest growing middle-class. The book ...

It's been a while since I was last in New Delhi. I'm astonished by the acceleration in energy. Change is everywhere -- from the new roads and buildings, to the shopping centers. Most of all, there's a new attitude toward economic progress. It's also winter in Delhi, a time of crisp mornings and bracing evenings. How lovely to be in India again.

World Bank's Report on South Asia's prospects From the World Bank report at: www.worldbank.org/sar: In 2006, GDP in South Asia is estimated to have expanded at a very rapid pace of 8.2%. Factors contributing to this trend: * Progress in promoting private sector–led growth * Improved macro-management * Greater integration with the global economy * Loose monetary and fiscal policies and strong remittance inflows have boosted domestic demand * Restrictions on Chinese exports of t...

Interview: Kamal Nath (Forbes Asia, November 27, 2006) By Pranay Gupte Kamal Nath, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, is widely credited with raising his country's profile in the global arena – and with persuading ever increasing numbers of foreign sources to invest in the booming Indian economy. A longtime member of the Congress Party, Nath has served as Minister of the Environment and Forests, and of Textiles, in prior administrations. He's believed to be particularly close ...

After years of trying to crack the $300 billion Indian retail market, Wal-Mart has received permission from the government of Prime Minister Singh to form an alliance with one of the country's largest telecommunications consortiums and launch stores to serve India's 1.1 billion people. The deal between Wal-Mart and the consortium, the Bharti Group, has been cleverly structured to get around the government's continuing ban on foreign companies operating independent retail stores. Under the ...

(By UNAIDS) Geneva, 21 November 2006 – The global AIDS epidemic continues to grow and there is concerning evidence that some countries are seeing a resurgence in new HIV infection rates which were previously stable or declining. However, declines in infection rates are also being observed in some countries, as well as positive trends in young people's sexual behaviour. According to the latest figures published today in the UNAIDS/WHO 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update, an estimated 39.5 millio...

Gerald Boyd, the first African-American to serve as managing editor of The New York Times, died of lung cancer yesterday. He was a terrific journalist, and a good man at heart. My prayers and sympathies for his wife Robin Stone, and 10-year-old son Zachary.

There is no "Third World" model of political or economic development any more -- if ever there was a credible one. Indeed, the very term "Third World" is no longer en vogue -- it's as though there was a race and "we" of the "Third World" (meaning, of course, denizens and citizens of the world's 135 developing countries) came in third. Third to whom? The East Europeans and Soviets, notionally the "Second World"? Third to the "First World," the 30 members of the OECD, the Paris-base...

The assassination in Beirut yesterday of a prominent leader of Lebanon's anti-Syrian Christian community, Pierre Gemayel, deepened the country's sectarian crisis, and created a new opportunity for Hezbollah to transform the secular state into an Islamic theocratic one irrevocably opposed to the existence of Israel. The murder also triggered new concern on the part of the Bush administration about a region that has already been burdened with uncertainty over the Iraq war, Syria's bellicosit...

The assassination in Beirut today of a prominent leader of Lebanon's anti-Syrian Christian community, Pierre Gemayel, deepened the country's sectarian crisis, and created a new opportunity for Hezbollah to transform the secular state into an Islamic theocratic one irrevocably opposed to the existence of Israel. The murder also triggered new concern on the part of the Bush administration about the region's stability. It had supported Gemayel, citing him as representative of a new breed of L...

The talks between high-level diplomats of India and Pakistan in New Delhi this week on security issues have been mainly make-nice, a well-intentioned effort aimed not so much at domestic constituents but at a faraway player whose beneficence both countries covet. That player, of course, is President Bush. More than any American president, he has engaged Washington more closely with the two countries – both nuclear powers – whose bitter mutual enmity has been exceeded only by their riva...

I belong to a formidable list called "Gulf 2000" (G2K), whose members include well-known academicians, diplomats, policy-makers, journalists, lawyers, and others. The membership -- which is by invitation -- focuses on Middle East issues, but primarily those relating to the Persian Gulf region, and on American foreign policy concerning that region. Recently, the administrator of G2K, Professor Gary G. Sick of Columbia University, was critical of a posting on the Web site of the highly influ...