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Last Friday Democratic candidates took the stage at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to attend the first LGBTQ presidential forum. The gathering was historic in that it was the first time that Presidential nominees got together to discuss the prevailing issues affecting LGBTQ communities across the country. The event was co-hosted by GLAAD, One Iowa, The Gazette and The Advocate.

The rightist political and social forces are out to extinguish the democracy and democratic ethos from the world map. They are intolerant and averse to listening to decent counselling and advice. The words and speeches of the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson explicitly manifest this.

The period from June, 1975, to March, 1977, was undoubtedly the darkest in independent India’s history. Till the midnight of June 26, 1975, Indians could take pride in being the citizens of a free country in spite of the prevailing poverty.

India, in recent years, might have acquired the dubious distinction as the world’s biggest arms importer, but times seem to be changing. The country may soon become an exporter of high-tech rockets and missiles and join the small distinguished league of missile manufacturers, strictly following the voluntary missile technology control regime (MTCR). Over the years, India’s defence scientists have researched and developed an internationally recognised robust missiles manufacturing programme, producing a series of guided ballistic and cruise missile systems with longer targets. They include Prithvi, Dhanush, Agni, Prahar, Pragati, BrahMos and Nirbhay missiles.

TORONTO: While we’re on the theme of fascism and Nazism, it should be noted that there were several other new films at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) that addressed this increasingly popular subject.

Senior allies of Boris Johnson have warned him of the threat of civil unrest on a major scale if he failed to deliver Brexit. This warning from the MPs came on Friday just after Johnson tried to incite hatred towards MPs.

It would be hard to spot even one person who hasn’t had a bad experience with an ATM transaction, payment at a point of sale (PoS) machine or an online payment. It often happens while withdrawing cash from an ATM that the message from the bank arrives on the phone that the money has been deducted from the account, but no cash comes out of the ATM.

After the abysmal performance in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala, the bye-election results, particularly, Pala constituency of Kerala provide a big relief to the Left. The Pala constituency, which has been a Kerala Congress (Mani) stronghold electing late party founder KM Mani for the last 54 years, will now be represented by NCP's Mani C Kappan of the Left Democratic Front. On the other hand, although CPI(M) failed to wrest the Badharghat seat of Tripura from the BJP, it, however, managed to emerge once again as the main opposition party in the state — pushing the Congress to the third position. No doubt, these results have their own significance in the politics of Kerala and Tripura.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: September 27 is a Red Letter Day in the annals of left politics in Kerala. The day saw the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front(LDF) score a historic victory in the Pala assembly by-election.

Believe it or not, Congress has improved its position in election-bound Haryana and Maharashtra. Giving reigns of the party to Shelja and Bhupendra Singh Hooda, the Congress has consolidated its position electorally in Haryana. In Maharashtra, the Congress-NCP alliance poses a challenge to BJP-Shiv Sena. In what looks political vendetta, the Enforcement Directorate has registered a case of money-laundering against NCP chief Sharad Pawar on the eve of elections. If there is a case against NCP supremo, why the ED waited for so many months? Why it remembered the alleged case when elections are so near? Evidently, the BJP wants to tarnish Pawar’s image to get his votes. Will this move succeed? Perhaps not, because electorate has become too mature to see through the game.