(The studio's spy universe keeps casting India and Pakistan as a family divided by a few bad men. The trouble is that the real subcontinent has stopped believing in that story.) A poster from the promotions of the film Alpha headlined by Alia Bhatt and produced by YRF. I went to see Alpha because I am an Alia Bhatt fan, and I admired, again, the fact that Hindi cinema’s most bankable female star keeps pushing the boundaries to the extent that she can. But watching the film was instructive in...

(Is India taking a new kind of sea-based nuclear turn?) India’s evolving nuclear posture is often described in the language of arsenal size, missile range, and doctrinal continuity. That account is not wrong, but it misses the most interesting transformation that might be now underway. The deeper change is that India appears to be moving from a model of hidden deterrence – where nuclear capability existed but was kept ‘recessed’, de-mated, and largely out of operational view – toward a model...

The revitalisation of Sagrada Familia, coming soon after Pope Leo's note on AI and Catholicism, is showing that he is serious about a leadership role for Catholicism in the AI age. Other traditions should note the ambition and the speed. Pope Leo XIV greets faithful as he presides over the Midday Prayer at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia in Barcelona. Photo: Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media via Vatican Pool. The year 2026 has emerged as an unexpected inflection point in global...