May 17, 2026
45 articles published on this date
U.S., China, and the search for stability
Following two days of high-level negotiations in Geneva, the United States and China announced a 90-day mutual tariff reduction as a temporary truce in their...
PM Modi’s visit to Netherlands secures 17 strategic pacts
An Indian Prime Minister visited the Netherlands in May 2026, where bilateral ties were formally elevated to a Strategic Partnership, backed by 17 agreements...
Rail-led industrial corridors
India's Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) has fundamentally shifted the economics of freight movement by providing high-speed, high-capacity, ele...
India, Sweden agree to elevate ties to Strategic Partnership
At a delegation-level summit in Gothenburg on May 17, 2026, India and Sweden agreed to elevate their bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership, forma...
Ordinance to up SC judges from 33 to 37 promulgated
The President promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, notified in the Gazette of India on May 16, 2026. The ordinance ame...
ET Graphics: BoP stability tested by outflows & Rupee fall
India's external accounts faced simultaneous stress in FY2025-26: a widening current account deficit (CAD), net foreign portfolio investor (FPI) outflows, an...
Boost for tech, trade & defence as India, Sweden become ‘strategic partners’
India and Sweden elevated their bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership on May 17, 2026, during a summit in Gothenburg, adopting a Joint Action Pla...
Kharif output dips by over 10% across states in El Niño years: Study
A recent study found that El Niño years cause kharif crop output to fall by more than 10% across numerous districts in multiple Indian states. Paddy (rice) a...
RBI tightens scrutiny of overseas investments as outflows surge to $27 billion in FY26
Overseas Direct Investment (ODI) outflows from India — including equity infusions, loans, and invoked guarantees — climbed from approximately $14.5 billion i...
India, Netherlands seal historic 17-pact strategic partnership on chips, defence
India and the Netherlands formally elevated their bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership on May 16, 2026, during high-level talks held at the Cats...
GNI project recipe for ecological disaster, expand existing defence assets on Great Nicobar: Jairam to Rajnath
Experts — including ecologists, geoscientists, and defence analysts — have described the proposed Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island (GNI) as a rec...
Chips to clean energy, India and the Netherlands upgrade ties
An Indian Prime Minister visited the Netherlands in May 2026, where bilateral ties were formally elevated to a Strategic Partnership, backed by 17 agreements...
Forest Rights and the Great Nicobar Mega-Project: The case before the Calcutta High Court
Three connected Public Interest Litigations (PILs) challenging Forest Rights Act violations in the Great Nicobar Island development project were admitted as ...
US, China, and the Thucydides Trap: Why Xi used the term, what Trump’s response reveals
At the US-China summit in Beijing on May 14–16, 2026 — the first visit by an American president to China since 2017 — the Chinese side formally raised the co...
The latest Ebola outbreak is now a global health emergency. Do we have a cure yet?
On 17 May 2026, the WHO Director-General declared the Ebola disease epidemic caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and...
China This Week | Not tariffs or West Asia war, why Taiwan is ‘most important issue’ for China in ties with US
The May 2026 Beijing summit between the US and Chinese heads of government has brought the Taiwan question back to the centre of global strategic discourse, ...
Experts Explain | Make in India in defence sector: Challenges, bottlenecks, and the way forward
Despite a 34-fold surge in defence exports over the past decade, structural bottlenecks continue to constrain India's ability to transition from a net defenc...
Modi hails 17 new agreements, says India-Netherlands ties will gain ‘unparalleled momentum’
During the India-Netherlands state visit on 16–17 May 2026, two headline outcomes stood out: the signing of an MoU between Tata Electronics and ASML for Indi...
India taps Oman to rescue $11.8 billion food exports to West Asia
With the 2026 Iran war creating sustained risk of disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, India is actively exploring the use of Omani ports and overland land br...
List of Outcomes: Prime Minister’s visit to the Netherlands
The state visit to the Netherlands on 16–17 May 2026 produced 17 specific outcomes organized across political, economic, security, technology, sustainability...
‘Calm before storm’: Donald Trump’s warning sparks alarm over possible Iran strikes, signals escalation in West Asia
Escalating US-Iran tensions in May 2026 reached a flashpoint when warnings of imminent military action were issued, prompted by Iran's continued closure of t...
Trade, energy, discussions on global conflicts to top agenda for Modi’s Nordic visit
The Third India-Nordic Summit was held in Oslo, Norway on 19 May 2026, bringing together the Prime Minister of India with counterparts from Norway, Sweden, D...
WHO declares international emergency as Ebola outbreak kills more than 80 in DR Congo
On 16 May 2026, the WHO Director-General declared the Ebola disease outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and...
Great Nicobar project a recipe for ecological disaster: Jairam Ramesh
The Central government has been asserting strategic national interest as the primary justification for proceeding with the Holistic Development of Great Nico...
Shivraj wants an overhaul of ICAR’s 113 research institutes
The Union Minister for Agriculture has called for a comprehensive overhaul of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and its 113 research institu...
Return of Leiden copper plates should spark efforts for further repatriations, say Indian archaeologists
The Netherlands formally returned the Anaimangalam copper plates — also known as the Leiden copper plates — to India on 16 May 2026 during an official diplom...
Prime Minister holds official talks with Prime Minister of Netherlands
Formal bilateral talks between the Indian and Dutch heads of government took place at Catshuis, the official residence of the Dutch Prime Minister, in The Ha...
NCB cracks major India-Myanmar drug syndicate, arrests kingpin
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested a Myanmar-based drug kingpin, identified as Thancintuang alias Chintuang alias Tluanga, in Delhi — a second major...
Iran media says ‘no tangible concessions’ in U.S. response to Iran proposal
Following a two-month armed conflict between the United States-led coalition and Iran, nuclear negotiations resumed but have reached an impasse, with Iranian...
India-Netherlands Joint Statement on the visit of Prime Minister of India to Netherlands
India and the Netherlands issued a Joint Statement on 16 May 2026 at The Hague, formalizing the elevation of their bilateral relationship to a Strategic Part...
Taiwan won't be sacrificed, U.S. arms sales a commitment: President responds to Trump
Taiwan's president issued the island's first formal response to the Beijing summit, asserting that arms sales from the United States are a security commitmen...
Trump met Xi Jinping in Beijing. He came back with doubts on Taiwan's $14 billion arms deal and lesson in Greek history
A high-stakes bilateral summit in Beijing between the US and Chinese heads of government produced significant uncertainty around a pre-approved $14 billion w...
Another step towards strengthening Amaravati’s quantum technology ecosystem
SRM University-AP (Andhra Pradesh), in collaboration with C-DOT (Centre for Development of Telematics) and Amaravati Quantum Valley, announced the establishm...
WHO declares Ebola global emergency as death toll hits 87. Is there a vaccine? What we know
On 16 May 2026, the WHO Director-General declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of In...
Online compliance to speed up environmental clearance for industrial expansion
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has made the Certified Compliance Report (CCR) process fully digital through the existing PAR...
Roadmap of India-Netherlands Strategic Partnership [2026-2030]
During a state visit to The Hague on 16–17 May 2026, India and the Netherlands adopted the Roadmap of India-Netherlands Strategic Partnership (2026–2030) — a...
Field Operations for Houselisting and Housing Census commences in Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and MCD area of Delhi
House-to-house field operations for the Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO) — Phase I of Census 2027 — commenced on May 16, 2026, in Rajasthan, Meghalaya, ...
Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges by 4
An ordinance was promulgated on May 17, 2026, amending the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the apex court ...
Why PM Modi visited Netherlands’ Afsluitdijk dam: The Dutch model India may need
During the India-Netherlands bilateral visit in May 2026, the Indian Prime Minister toured the Afsluitdijk — the Netherlands' iconic 32-kilometre sea barrier...
India, Chile expedite CEPA negotiations and critical minerals cooperation
Chile's Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna visited India in May 2026, imparting fresh momentum to bilateral ties and accelerating negotiations toward ...
North America, NE Asia, Latin America account for over 35 pc of India's exports in FY26
India's merchandise exports reached USD 441.78 billion in FY2025-26, registering modest growth of approximately 0.93% year-on-year. North America, North-East...
India and Netherlands ink 17 pacts, elevate ties to strategic partnership
India and the Netherlands elevated their bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership during a state visit to The Hague on 16–17 May 2026, marking India...
India, Netherlands elevating ties to strategic partnership, says PM Modi
India and the Netherlands formally elevated their bilateral relationship to a "Strategic Partnership" during an official visit, signing a comprehensive decla...
Silver imports restricted; licence now must for select categories
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, imposed mandatory import licensing for select categories of sil...
MoSPI proposes framework to measure India's knowledge economy contribution
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released a base paper proposing a framework to measure the contribution of the knowledge ...