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It appears likely that the criminally corrupt former Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be returning to power, despite being under criminal indictment. On Tuesday, Israelis cast their votes in the fifth national election in three years. The more than 4.5 million Palestinians who live under Israeli military occupation have no rights and therefore were not able to participate in the elections.

Rishi Sunak has made history by becoming the first person of colour to become British prime minister. The biggest challenge for him, however is economic as the UK faces a looming economic crisis made worse by the Ukraine war. In his first speech after taking over charge, Sunak warned that difficult decision would soon follow. Sunak needs to ensure that the upcoming winter does not turn out to bea winter of discontent for British people and the Conservative Party.

Economic slowdown triggered by multiple and overlapping economic and political crises has threatened labour market recovery across the world. Inequalities in the labour market set to increase further. Certain group of workers and firms are disproportionally impacted. Slowly recovering developing countries are now facing less policy space to protect hard-hit workers and enterprises. The worst is that informal job growth is outpacing the formal work reversing the 15 years trend of formalization of work, jeopardizing the social security coverage of the workforce.

Religious leaders gather in Bali this week for their first Religion Forum 20 summit (R20) under the auspices of the Group of 20 or G-20 that brings together the world's largest economies.

On Sunday, October 30, Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva achieved a historic victory over the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. In the closest race since the restoration of Brazilian democracy in the 1980s, Bolsonaro became the first incumbent to ever lose reelection.

In a development of historic significance for Latin American politics, the Brazilian voters on Sunday, October 30, ousted far-right President Jair Bolsonaro after just one term and elected the leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by a narrow margin. The Presidential runoff between the moderate Left and the far-right incumbent was most the polarized in Brazil’s history. The fierce campaign since the October 2’s indecisive first round saw bloody clashes between the rival groups and also deaths due to shooting by rightwing extremists.

The threats to Israel’s existence as a democratic Jewish state have multiplied and could weaken or undermine a pillar of Israeli national security: unquestioned US support. Rising anti-Semitism among Christian nationalists, together with Evangelicals, the mainstay of US grassroots support for Israel, threatens to drive a wedge between the community and Israel.

In a meeting of foreign ministers of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries on Thursday, ways to reduce conflict in Myanmar were discussed. The regional block that comprises 10 member countries including Myanmar held its meeting without Myanmar, which has been barred from participating in any high-level ASEAN engagements. In a press release, Myanmar’s military government warned the ASEAN forum that giving it a time frame to initiate or conclude any peace plan in Myanmar would have negative implications and will not be binding on Myanmar as the ASEAN held its meeting with only 9 members.

The most intriguing question with regard to Liz Truss’ resignation as the prime minister of Britain after a mere 44 days in office is this: what is it about her economic programme that the “market” (read “finance capital”) found unpalatable? At its core after all was tax-cuts for the rich, which the “market” should have lapped up. True, the tax-cuts were to be financed through a fiscal deficit which the “market” generally does not like; but since the fiscal deficit was meant to finance transfers to the rich, and not any direct stimulation of aggregate demand by the State, there should have been little objection from the “market”.

Brazil’s Presidential frontrunner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula is set to win in the crucial elections on October 30. Just seventy-two hours before the elections, the opinion polls give Lula a handsome margin of six to seven percent as against the incumbent far right candidate Jair Bolsonaro.