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As the polling for the 18th Indian Lok Sabha elections began on April 19, New Delhi is closely monitoring the growing conflict between Iran and Israel. The situation in the Middle East is creating risks for energy, security, and trade that could affect India, now the world's most populous country.

A sudden spike in the oil price in the wake of Israel’s retaliatory missile attack on Iran seemed to have upset the calculations of a relative stability in the crude oil market, but the unexpected development, both in terms of the retaliation and its market impact, appears to have been contained without much damage.

Post a tumultuous national election in Pakistan, a diplomatic overture from this western neighbour towards India was being awaited. And now that it has come, even though from an unlikely quarter, it is welcome.

While pushing the EVM button, the voters who turned up in large numbers at the polling booths in the first phase of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections, overwhelmingly showed their choice and preference for the INDIA bloc and especially Congress. However, they were fairly sceptical of the final result of their democratic exercise, wondering if it was indeed free and fair. Would their vote preference be accurately recorded, or will the final count favour the BJP candidates irrespective of the actual voting pattern. Everyone fears that the Election Commissioner of India Rajiv Kumar will preside over the undue favouring of respective BJP candidates in most seats, whether or not the voters gave him/her the democratic mandate. The INDIA bloc, people fear, would not pass the trial by the unreliable EVM.

The historic fourth Bitcoin halving event came at 00.09 UTC on Saturday (05.39 am IST on Sunday) when the Bitcoin network posted its 840,000th block. The highly-anticipated moment embarks the cryptocurrency industry on a new phase when mining rewards for minting new blocks on Bitcoin are reduced to half. Before the halving, miners were receiving 6.25 BTC for each new block minted on the Bitcoin network. Now, it is reduced to 3.125 BTC. It means miners, who play a critical role in verifying transactions on the Bitcoin network, will receive less for their work.

Tamil Nadu with 39 seats went to the Lok Sabha polls in the first phase on April 19. The DMK supremo chief minister M K Stalin is fully confident in sweeping the polls in 2024 just like 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It was Stalin and Stalin alone who led the DMK headed INDIA front in the rigorous campaign in the last few weeks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday tweeted the BJP had received a "great response" in the first phase of polling in which 60 percent of the electorate voted. It is news Prime Minister Modi considers 60 percent “record numbers”. Modi-bhakt journos did not share the same enthusiasm. One of them settled for the easy way out: Opposition vote-banks did not turn up in good numbers at polling booths because they knew a Modi victory was inevitable.

It is irrefutable fact that women are not getting their dues in India, though we have been hearing PM Narendra Modi’s big talks of women welfare under his premiership. Now in a bid to attract women voters he has assuring a new chapter in rise of women power in his third term.

The Bangladesh government has garnered significant experience in countering insurgency activities in the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT). Through operations like ‘Operation Dabanal’ the Bangladesh Armed Forces have effectively neutralized separatist armed groups. After the peace treaty, to date, ‘Operation Uttaron’ has aimed to uphold law and order and improve the living standards of the Jumma people.

NEW YORK: "De-escalation” is probably the most repeated word in television news broadcasts and newspaper commentary columns over the past 48 hours. But is anyone doing any actual de-escalating?