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Things in the course of development of Artificial Intelligence have come to such a pass that the General Secretary of the United Nations António Guterres had to warn the world about the impending danger to the entire humanity. And any delay in putting in place international guardrails could heighten the risks to global peace and security.

Apparently heeding his corporate “handler,” multibillionaire Elon Musk, Republican President-elect Donald Trump torpedoed a spending agreement covering the federal government from now through March 14 unless congressional Democrats raised the U.S. debt ceiling.

France is struggling with political gridlock, economic uncertainty and public discontent. The new prime minister, Francis Bayrou has to run an obstacle race in this scenario. Bayrou is a seasoned centrist with decades of political experience. It is pragmatic on the part of President Emanuel Macron choosing him to negotiate a political minefield. The ability of the new prime minister to negotiate a fractured parliament is likely to define his period in office. It would be a pointer to Macron's legacy too.

After months of deadlock, Israel and Hamas appear to be moving closer to a ceasefire 14 months into Israel’s invasion of Gaza. So far 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that began on October 7 last year. Earlier also reports came out about possible truce but this did not take place. This time, under the changed political environment, Donald Trump taking over the U.S. President on January 20 and the Syrian President Assad ousted as the President, both sides are trying to arrive at an early agreement to end the war.

Shoresh Ismail Abdulla is the Minister of Peshmerga affairs in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The Peshmergas are the military forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and one of the most capable forces in the region, which pushed back ISIS from its strongholds. Currently, Peshmerga is also playing a vital role in counter-terror operations against ISIS. In an interview, Abdulla speaks about the reemergence of ISIS in the context of developments in Syria, planned reforms of Peshmerga, and expectations from the incoming United States administration of President-Elect Donald Trump.

Leftwing Democratic senator Bernie Sanders is a veteran self proclaimed socialist who has been consistently fighting for drastic cut in the budget of the U.S. military since his election as a young senator from Vermont decades ago. In the November elections, he won his seat for the fourth time for another six year term. The maverick senator has all through opposing the high allocations of the US funds to the war efforts supporting Israel and Ukraine. However, all his efforts failed and the massive funds inflows continued.

KOLKATA: Current Chief Adviser to the Bangladesh Caretaker Government, Dr Mohammad Yunus as a Nobel-winning economist, is known to have many friends in high places, starting from Mrs Hilary Clinton. Unfortunately, he has not yet succeeded in influencing too many people in Bangladesh on present indications, four months after taking over in his new job as the top policymaker.

The ongoing wars in different parts of the world is a cause of serious concern. The recent Russia Ukraine war which began on 24th February 2022 is not coming to an end. The consequences are dire for civilians as well. According to a recent statement by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky some 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 370,000 injuries had been reported. According to United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) nearly 4 million people have been driven from their homes and are internally displaced and 6.8 million people have crossed into neighbouring countries in the region including Poland, Hungary, Moldova or other countries globally. Nearly 20 million people now require urgent humanitarian aid, many facing life-threatening shortages of essential medicines and food.

The fall of Assad-regime in Syria has given birth to antagonisms amongst its earlier allies like Iran, Turkey, and Russia. On the other hand, the leverage gained by Israel, ostensibly on American support, does not augur well for the region.

KOLKATA: Now that Indian Foreign Secretary Mr. Vikram Misri's trip to Dhaka is done and dusted, it can be safely asserted that during the somewhat tense bilateral exchanges that followed , despite their poor governance in dealing with the recent anti-Hindu riots, there was no noticeable cringing on part of Bangladeshi officials.. Seven days have passed since December 9 meeting but the trends tell that the instead of restoring trade ties, Yunus regime is looking for Pakistan and other countries for replacing Indian goods imports.