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The scale of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s victory in the Philippine presidential election on May 9, where he gained a record 58.74 per cent of the votes cast, has stunned many observers. By contrast, his closest rival Leni Robredo, current vice-president and the main hope of the political and economic establishment, could manage only 27.99 per cent.

On May 18 UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres sounded the alarm. For him “the spectre of a global food shortage” looms and he fears “this dangerous situation could tip into catastrophe.” “It threatens to tip tens of millions of people over the edge into food insecurity, followed by malnutrition, mass hunger and famine, in a crisis that could last for years.”

There is a 95 per cent chance that the number of people facing food insecurity will rise in the range between 142 million and 243 million by November, from roughly 1.6 billion in mid-May. Moreover, the upward pressure on food prices due to export bans by several countries including India may make the humanitarian toll much worse.

These are heady days for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. With King Salman home after a week in hospital during which he had a colonoscopy, rumours are rife that succession in the kingdom may not be far off.

The 75th World Health Assembly, currently in progress in Geneva, Switzerland, that began on May 22 and will conclude on May 28, 2022, has already made a history by adopting a new financial model for global health, but the key to success lies in good governance across the countries of the world even if we presume the member states would honour their commitments in respect to their contributions, especially when the world knows that annual global corruption loss in health sector is $455 billion a year.

In recent weeks, the value of Bangladeshi Taka (tk) has been declining sharply, as the US dollar has emerged as the strongest currency in the aftermath of the Ukraine war. According to reports from Dhaka this morning, the Bangladeshi tk further declined by 40 paise vis-à-vis the US $.

The announcement made in Tokyo on Monday by the United States President Joe Biden about the formation of a new economic block named Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) has signalled the arrival of a new economic arrangement in the India-Pacific region to counter growing influence of China. This block of 13 initial partners including USA, Japan and India is also a challenge to the five nation BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) which have been holding summits regularly and holding discussions for economic cooperation.

“Neither war that destroys us, nor peace that oppresses us.”

This historic anti-war slogan of the Spanish feminist movement holds one of the fundamental keys to building a horizon of peace. It claims that peace is not just a ceasefire, nor is it surrender, or silence before those who impose their wars on others. Rather, peace is the building of a foundation for fostering relations based on mutual respect and co-operation.

In 2012, then United States President Barak Obama announced the so-called “Pivot to East Asia.” The United States started to focus less on the Middle East and more on East Asia. The main catalyst for this policy change was a fear of a rising People’s Republic of China. Today Biden warned China that if it makes any move on Taiwan, the U.S. will respond militarily.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) visited Cuba on May 8-9. He began by highlighting regional unity as good for equal promotion of economic development for all states. AMLO addressed themes he had discussed previously when Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visited Mexico City in 1921.