ARF

Asian Research Foundation (ARF) is an independent research centre focussed on the issues, challenges and opportunities of the #Asia polity.

[YourStory @YourStoryCo]

.@Meta is going to invest ₹8,550 crore ($900 million) in @CRED_club at a $4.5 billion valuation, while founder @kunalb11 transitions to Meta as the new head of WhatsApp, succeeding @wcathcart, who is moving to a new role within the company.

Founded in 2018, CRED has grown into one of India's leading fintech platforms, serving 1.7 crore members, processing over 40% of India's credit card bill payments, and managing ₹24,000 crore+ in lending AUM.

With Shah stepping away from day-to-day operations, @miten will take charge as interim CEO as CRED enters its next phase of growth and moves closer to a potential IPO.

#CRED #Meta #KunalShah #WhatsApp #MarkZuckerberg #Fintech #StartupFunding

[World Cup HQ @WorldCup26HQ]

IT'S OFFICIAL! LIONEL MESSI IS THE ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER IN WORLD CUP HISTORY! PURE HISTORY!

🇦🇷 Argentina 1-0 Austria 🇦🇹

[The Nalanda Index @Nalanda_index]

“India is no longer struggling to attract tourists… it is now struggling to handle the crowd.

From mountains to beaches, every tourist destination is packed. People spend more time stuck in traffic than actually enjoying the journey.

This scene from Sikkim’s Zero Point is not an exception anymore it’s becoming the new normal across India.”

[Dmitry Medvedev @MedvedevRussiaE]

Happy Great Victory Day!

[South African Government @GovernmentZA]

What is Hantavirus?

Hantaviruses are zoonotic viruses that naturally infect rodents and can occasionally spread to people. Here’s what you need to know: what they are, how they spread, the symptoms, and how to prevent infection.

Read more: 🔗https://t.co/jahCSFhTbI @WHO

[Bloomberg @business]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to secure a landmark victory in West Bengal state for the first time ever, exit polls showed, reinforcing his standing as the country’s most popular political leader https://t.co/Ji6u1xHESj

[IMF @IMFNews]

War in the Middle East severely disrupted maritime and air traffic. Even in the best case, there will be no clean return to the way things were. See our latest Chart of the Week blog. https://t.co/7r5azkb7cs

[U.S. Embassy India @USAndIndia]

What exactly is the Quad and why does it matter?
From securing essential technologies to promoting resilient and reliable supply chains, the Quad is working towards building a prosperous Indo-Pacific that remains free and stable for decades to come.

[ADF Magazine @ADFmagazine]

South Africa deploys SANDF to assist with gang-related crime spike in major citiesSouth Africa deploys SANDF to assist with gang-related crime spike in major citiesSouth Africa deploys SANDF to assist with gang-related crime spike in major cities.

[IMF @IMFNews]

IMF Growth Forecast 2026:
🇺🇸 US: 2.3%
🇩🇪 Germany: 0.8%
🇫🇷 France: 0.9%
🇮🇹 Italy: 0.5%
🇪🇸 Spain: 2.1%
🇬🇧 UK: 0.8%
🇯🇵 Japan:0.7%
🇨🇦 Canada: 1.5%
🇨🇳 China: 4.4%
🇮🇳 India: 6.5%
🇷🇺 Russia: 1.1%
🇧🇷 Brazil: 1.9%
🇲🇽 Mexico: 1.6%
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: 3.1%
🇳🇬 Nigeria: 4.1%
🇿🇦 South Africa: 1.0%
https://t.co/Lq0Dsa8Mmp

[Dmitry Medvedev @MedvedevRussiaE]

Russian Defense Ministry’s statement must be taken literally: the list of European facilities which make drones & other equipment is a list of potential targets for the Russian armed forces. When strikes become a reality depends on what comes next. Sleep well, European partners!

[MFA Russia 🇷🇺 @mfa_russia]

🚀 Today marks 6️⃣5️⃣ years since humanity ventured into space – a historic feat accomplished by our cosmonaut, an outstanding Soviet citizen, Yuri #Gagarin.

The 1️⃣0️⃣6️⃣ minutes of Yuri Gagarin’s flight changed the course of world history.

👉 Learn more: https://t.co/3nkf08JHu3

[India in USA @IndianEmbassyUS]

Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri met Director FBI Mr. Kash Patel today. Both had a useful exchange of views on the robust India-U.S. cooperation in countering terrorism, organized crime, and narcotics.

@FBIDirectorKash @MEAIndia

[KITKAT @KITKAT]

Regarding recent press coverage

[WION @WIONews]

Canada PM Mark Carney: How was your Insta after you went to India?

Finland President Alexander Stubb: It was huge after I said I watched 'Dhurandhar'

(Video: Alexander Stubb/X)

[India in Qatar @IndEmbDoha]

Update/Advisory, 1730 hrs, March 14, 2026

• Qatar Airways operated two flights to India today, one each to New Delhi and Mumbai. In total, about 850 Indian nationals travelled out of Qatar on these and other flights today. Qatar Airways has announced one flight to India on March 15 (to New Delhi) and three flights on March 16 (to New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi).

• The option of travelling out of Qatar to Saudi Arabia is also available. Indian carriers have also increased their flights from Saudi Arabia to India. We have issued another Advisory today explaining the process for travelling through Saudi Arabia.

• Embassy of India, Doha continues to operate its three 24x7 helplines, whose numbers are [phone], [phone] and [phone]. Queries can also be addressed to email [email protected] .

• There are two links available for registering with the Embassy for passengers on transit or short-term visas for Qatar who wish to travel to India. These are as follows.

(i) Indian Tourists/ Short Term Visitors requiring temporary Transit visa for Saudi Arabia: https://t.co/jPEfiSdQmF

(ii) Indian Tourists/ Short Term Visitors holding Hayya A1 Visa for travelling to Qatar:
https://t.co/srToAsRKeq

• Please continue to follow all guidelines issued by Qatar's Ministry of Interior and other authorities. In one of its advisories earlier today, Ministry of Interior clarified that temporary precautionary evacuation measures previously announced applied only to residents in the specific areas who received notifications through the national alert system. It also said that if such individuals required assistance or had queries, it could be addressed on telephone number 4044-2999.

****

[U.S. Pacific Command @USPACOM]

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles on March 14th, 2026.  We are aware of the missile launches and are consulting closely with our allies and partners. Based on current assessments, this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies. The United States remains committed to the defense of the U.S. homeland and our allies in the region.

[Russian Embassy in Kenya/Посольство России в Кении @russembkenya]

🚑#Russia becomes the first country to send humanitarian aid to #Iran
An Il-76 aircraft delivered more than 13 tons of medical supplies to Azerbaijan which will assist in transferring it to the Iranian authorities.

[Mahesh Jethmalani @JethmalaniM]

One detail from this Iran war should make every serious state sit up: credible reporting says Israeli leaders were shown an image of Khamenei’s body after it was recovered by Mossad agents - and that Israel had visibility on his fate faster than Iran could even confirm the death of it's supreme leader and shape the narrative. That’s not “tech”. That’s HUMINT + penetration.

Satellites don’t tell you who is in which room at what time. Signals don’t always survive encryption and discipline. What wins you wars and prevents surprises is human access so-urces, moles, defectors, recruited assets - the messy, thankless work of being inside the enemy’s bloodstream.

Israel has no luxury of being lazy at intelligence. It sits in a hostile neighbourhood with actors who openly want it erased. So it builds networks that aren’t “near the border.” They’re near the decision-makers. That’s what survival looks like when geography is unforgiving.

Now bring that lens to India. When you live next to Pakistan’s terror ecosystem and a Bangladesh theatre that keeps throwing up radical modules, you don’t get to be sentimental about “soft power” as a substitute for hard intelligence. You need early warning, deep penetration, counter-infiltration, and ruthless disruption - before the plot becomes a headline.

And this is exactly where the armchair moralists fail India. They love questioning operations after the fact. They hate the boring investments before the fact: intel budgets, source protection, language capability, field tradecraft, inter-agency fusion, and the political spine to back covert work without leaking it for TRPs.

Pop culture and superhit movies like Dhurandhar tells the story really well but makes it look stylish - one hero, one mission, one punchline. Real HUMINT though is the opposite: years of patience, ugly risks, zero credit, and often no medal because the best outcome is “nothing happened.”

This is not about chest-thumping. This is about statecraft. The world is moving into an age where wars are decided by who sees first, knows first, and shapes first. Israel gets that. India must get that - permanently. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and our intelligence apparatus, NEW INDIA definitely gets it.

Because 'terrorist harbouring neighbours' don’t send calendar invites before they strike. They send handlers, money, propaganda, and sleepers. The only answer is being inside that machinery early enough to break it.

If you want deterrence, stop thinking intelligence is an accessory. It’s the foundation.

[Narendra Modi @narendramodi]

At the world’s largest and most historic AI Impact Summit in New Delhi!

@LulaOficial

@anuradisanayake

@ParmelinG

@KBM_ALNAHYAN