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The second wave of COVID-19 pandemic situation across the country is becoming alarming. With nearly 1.52 lakh new cases being reported daily (as on April 10) and the death toll mounting, health situation takes a turn for the worse. Amidst the deadly chaos, various states report vaccine shortages and people being sent home from the vaccination centres. With spike in infections people have started thronging vaccination centres as the demand has suddenly soared.

US President Joe Biden’s $1.9trillion rescue package is one of the most ambitious measures to revive the US and, with it, the world economy. Coming on the heels of Trump’s $2trillion package last year and a further$900 billion package announced in December 2020, it seeks not just to provide relief from the pandemic but to start a new boom in the US which, it is expected, will have spillover effects for the world as a whole, notwithstanding the protectionist measures against imports introduced in the US under Donald Trump. It will also raise the US fiscal deficit to GDP ratio to a level unprecedented in its post-war history.

The most auspicious and poignant cultural identity of the Bengalis, the Poila Baisakh ,which heralds the beginning of the Bengali new year has become the victim of the evil machination of the RSS and BJP. April 15 was the day and the Bengalis, throughout the world, numbering more than 23 crore including the population of Bangladesh, were stunned to see a new interpretation of that auspicious day by the Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh giving communal colour.

Daily spikes in incidents of COVID-19 infections, caseloads on health facilities, active cases, and deaths have been worsening every day since the first week of February 2021, and so the more and more stringent containment measures are being put in place to control the outbreak day after day. Within four weeks from now, the present trajectory suggests, the daily infection could be 2.5 times and death around three times, which are now around 2.17 lakhs and 1185 a day respectively. To defeat this assessment India will have to implement even stricter measures sooner than one may expect. The urban poor and the migrants, who are already between the two grinding stones – the disease and the poverty – may find themselves between the devil and the deep sea.

US president Joe Biden has announced that his country’s full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan will be completed by September 11 this year, bringing to an end a 20-year long war which has cost the American taxpayer $2 trillion and taken a toll of 2,312 US soldiers. What will this mean for India? It is common knowledge that without US troop support, the Government of Ashraf Ghani cannot hold out against the Taliban for long. During the last year, the Taliban launched several attacks against government troops, bringing more and more territory under its control. Once the remaining 2300 US troops leave, the Taliban will overrun the whole of the country with lightning speed. A Taliban-controlled Afghanistan will also give Pakistan the strategic depth against India that it desperately needs.

The year 2020 of the Christian era would be noted by history as the year of China and its superior strategy of allegedly terrorizing the rulers of 190 nations of the world and respond in panic. Without wasting a single bullet, it allegedly used the tiny and invisible but infectious germ to make most rulers across to respond in panic even though they have more advanced scientific and technological ability than their predecessors who had to face epidemics without advantages of advanced medical sciences.

A war that never should have happened is finally coming to an end. By Sept. 11, 2021—twenty years to the day since the 9/11 terrorist attacks—the final U.S. troops will supposedly be leaving Afghanistan, according to an announcement coming from the Biden administration. It is the longest war in U.S. history.

A recent poll suggesting Labour could lose Hartlepool byelection has sent tremors through the party. A major section of the labour leaders, who played key role in installing Keir Starmer as the leader of the party feel that he has not been able to lead it from the front and deliver the result. This has also led to murmuring inside the party that he does not possess the political acumen and foresight which Jeremy Corbyn has.

Solar energy costs, which have been consistently coming down over the past several years, are suddenly reversing the trend, with the result that the cost of setting up solar farms is again going up. This is attributed to an increase in the cost of modules, shipping as well as the higher labour costs.

An accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, Professor Dr. Shoma Sen, has petitioned the Bombay High Court challenging her prosecution under the stringent anti-terrorism Unlawful Activities (Prevention) (UAPA) Act.