Message for India is that its key challenge has to be to avoid falling into the middle income trap.

Pro-Gaddafi forces pounded the port and launched a new armoured incursion into the western besieged city of Misurata on Monday, as the United Nations pulled out its staff from the Libyan capital Tripoli following violence targetting its offices.

In an online chat on April 15 Ryan Pereira, Himanshu Dev and Behrooz Avari, Educational Advisors with United States India Educational Foundation answered readers' queries related to US higher education system, application process, shortlisting universities, admission tests, recommendation letters, effective statement of purpose, applying for financial aid, organising successful applications and classroom culture. Here's the unedited transcript.

Some of the leading, most cutting-edge, designs in India take inspiration from Indian culture and history.

United States President Barack Obama on Friday telephoned Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to discuss the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and killed over 360 people, as the Pentagon geared up for a possible relief and rescue operation in affected areas.

In an hour-long chat with rediff.com, financial planning expert Sailesh Multani offered some valuable tips.

A Pakistani court on Friday rejected a petition seeking a ban on WikiLeaks for releasing thousands of secret United States diplomatic cables, with the judge saying the people must know the facts.

The country was on Thursday put on high alert with additional forces being deployed at public places, especially in Maharashtra and Delhi, on the eve of the second anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack.

While there has been a 15 per cent drop in the number of Americans pursuing studies in India, there is an exactly proportional rise in the number of Indian students in the US.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's youngest son, Kim Jong-un, has been promoted as a military general, the clearest sign yet that he is in line to succeed his father as the country's leader.

In the current sordid saga, it is not the Indian people who have failed. It is India's political leaders who have failed the people, unforgivably, says Sheela Bhatt.

'The British conquered India by Indian money...' Mahmood Farooqui, historian and co-director of Peepli [Live]! in a fascinating interview.

A regional power struggle between India and China, however muted be it, will be more and more evident as China pushes the envelope to be a greater global player. India must prepare for it, says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).

Shishir Bhate believes India has the will and the skill to overcome hurdles and march ahead to become what many already call it: An economic superpower.

The revenues of Mumbai are controlled by politicians, whose constituencies lie deep in the Maharashtra hinterland. Using that money to improve living conditions in Mumbai would do nothing to help them win re-election.

'China has made rapid advances into Myanmar.... Radars have been reported to have been erected on Myanmar's west coast to monitor Indian missile tests.'

Experts on migration have advised the government to learn from other countries in regulating immigration, said Zhang Jijiao, researcher with the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology under the China Academy of Social Sciences.

A Carnegie paper estimates India's GDP will grow at 5.9% p.a. till 2050, compared to China's 5.6%, says Jaimini Bhagwati.

IRCTC group general manager Virendra Singh (Western region) inaugurated the food stall in presence of divisional railway manager, Nagpur division of Central Railway, D K Sharma.

The murder of two Sikhs by the Taliban in the restless tribal belt highlights the plight of the minorities there. Rajeev Sharma reports.

It is imperative that India starts re-assessing its options and think clearly as to what India can do to preserve the balance of power in the Gulf region, writes Harsh V Pant.

Two Indian brothers were murdered allegedly by a compatriot after a dispute over money in the western Australian city of Perth on Friday. The brothers, one aged 20 and the other 19, died after being grievously injured in a fight over money and living arrangements at a rented Crimea Street unit in Morley area, where they were believed to have been staying with two others, 'Perth Now reported.

National Association of Software and Service Companies had a humble beginning.

Australian middle-order batsman Michael Hussey on Monday dethroned India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the top spot in the International Cricket Council's Batting Rankings. Hussey, whose 46-ball 40 was instrumental in Australia's win in the fifth and final ODI against Pakistan in Perth on Sunday, has 825 rating points, three more than Dhoni who also had a good show in the recent tri-series in Bangladesh.

The first solar eclipse of the current year would occur on January 15 and will be visible partially in major parts of the country, a city-based Space Sciences organisation said on Friday.

China experts feel Indian defence strategy treats China, not Pakistan, as priority target, which they also believe provides for a partial border war, writes D S Rajan.

Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) says that Sino-Indian cooperation at the Copenhagen climate summit is the sign of things to come.

Colonel Anil Athale says that a long lasting solution to the Af-Pak situation is balkanisation of the area.

'The US appeared to be looking for Indian concessions for favours received, not to go the extra mile to meet Indian aspirations,' says T P Sreenivasan.

'I think the most important force in Pakistan is the army. We would like democracy to succeed and flourish in Pakistan. But we have to recognise that the power today rests virtually with the army,' PM Dr Singh says in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria

Aseem Prakash, author of the book Midnight Economy: The New Business Order Emerging from the Shadows, argued in a recent BusinessWeek article that economic power is shifting towards the East and that many in business do not need the American dream anymore.

Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that the FBI's probe into a terror plot targeting India has confirmed a definite Pakistan link. Speaking to reporters after attending a passing-out parade of 61st batch of Indian Police Officers at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad on Thursday, Chidambaram said that on the advice of FBI, two or more persons have been arrested in Pakistan in connection with the same terror plot, uncovered by FBI.

The paper "India's Strategic Defense Transformation: Expanding Global Relationship" by Brian Hedrick of Strategic Studies Institute of US Army Department of Defense, was released oN Wednesday, takes a global view of India's rise as a regional and future global military power.

Pakistan believes Afghanistan is developing into an Indian garrison and has been nurturing groups like the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Tayiba over the years to counter it, a key United States Senate Committee has been told. "I am not making any accusations against any given country in the region. All of them are looking out for their vital interests. But India is becoming involved in Afghanistan and Pakistanis consider Afghanistan as developing into an Indian garrison," he said.

Besides violent extremist groups like Al Qaeda, America's top intelligence agency has identified North Korea, Iran, China and Russia as countries which have the ability to challenge United States' interests in traditional and emerging ways.The 2009 National Intelligence Strategy, released on Tuesday, by the director of National Intelligence, said that Iran poses an array of challenges to US security objectives in the Middle East and beyond.

With her on and off experiments with bridal wear, designer Neeta Lulla has definitely become the fashion veteran of Indian wedding.

European cities have emerged as the world's richest and most expensive places. By comparison, Indian cities are amongst the world's least expensive.

Telecommunications icon and entrepreneur Sam Pitroda, who is the chairman of National Knowledge Commission, tasked with building excellence in India's education system to meet the challenges of the 21st century, has said India faces serious problems in its higher education system and that unless it is alleviated expeditiously, the Indian march to become a major global player could be adversely impacted.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has suffered defeats in 2004 and 2009 elections. The party has seen its vote share decline and its "core constituency" weaned away by its opponents. The party with a difference had commissioned the Bal Apte report to analyse its defeat in the 2009 polls.

The Parujanwalas talk about their celebrity bahu, Rakhi Sawant.