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There is political turmoil in India and American politics is coming to a boil. The fate of democracy, yeah? Should it bother us, common Indians, what happens in the USA? The excitement and the daily rumblings. If in India, it is theatrics on the steps of Parliament, in the United States, it is Donald Trump whose Tele-series ‘The Apprentice’, with its tag-line ‘You’re Fired’, appears to be still running and the latest episode has Trump fired from the Colorado ballot by the Supreme Court of Colorado courtesy “insurrection” charge against him.

A high-flyer at the centre of efforts to negotiate temporary pauses and Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swaps, Qatar is catching flack for its relationship with Hamas that has enabled its mediation endeavour. Even so, the flack, for now, has been drowned out by the Gulf state’s indispensability, established with the tacit endorsement of the United States and Israel.

In early 1980s, a sixth semester mechanical engineering student at the Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering in Kerala’s Kollam district, made an unusual request to his Head of Department, F.V. Albin. He wanted the department to introduce an elective in population engineering. Such a course was then rare, if not non-existent, in the state and nobody in Albin’s department had the expertise to teach it.

Nostradamus, a French seer and astrologer, predicted five hundred years ago that in 2024, severe flooding due to climate change would occur. He also foretold significant economic, environmental, political, and social changes. He predicted conflicts with China and war in the Middle East and that there would be a new Pope in the Vatican and a new King in England.

Strikes and threats of strikes extracted contracts ranging from good to excellent from employers across the country this year. Half a million US workers walked out — machinists, teachers, baristas, nurses, hotel housekeepers, and autoworkers — with much of the motion coming from unions led by reformers.

Having exhausted its arsenal to inflict damage on the credibility of the INDIA bloc and the Congress, the BJP political circuits, purely with the mission to secure victory at 2024 Lok Sabha elections, are now floating the maxim that Narendra Modi is the Iron Man of India who can ensure the safety and preserve the integrity of the entire country.

Confusion has deepened over the alleged recruitment in the Russian army of Nepali youths to fight in Ukraine. While Kathmandu-based officials have just reported yet another death of a soldier from the Ukraine front , raising the Nepali death toll to seven so far, for the first time Russia has officially denied such claims.

Differences persists among Directors within International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding Staff’s recent reclassification of India’s de facto exchange rate regime for the period December 2022 to October 2023 as “stabilized arrangement” from “floating”, which meant Reserve Bank of India’s interventions in the foreign exchange market “likely exceeded levels necessary to address disorderly market conditions” and the comparative stability thus achieved does not reflect improvements in India’s external position. India’s economic performance was praised but they broadly said “India has potential for even higher growth, with greater contributions from labour and human capital, if comprehensive reforms are implemented.”

As many as 92 opposition MPs were suspended till the day before. And, then, the next day another 50 from the Lok Sabha. What's happening, does the Narendra Modi government and the BJP want an Opposition-free Parliament? Does the 'Sengol' mean a free run for the Modi government? Such a thing hadn’t happened in 34 years. Many of the suspended MPs gathered on the Parliament front Tuesday and generally had a good time celebrating their suspension with mimicries of Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President of India Jagdish Dhankar. Definitely, there is a load of hidden talent in our lot of non-BJP MPs.

In countries where recipients of titles like Rai Bahadur and Khan Bahadur were once much looked upto and in another country where holders of knighthood and peerage still enjoy a status of their own have a common link- the English language. Small wonder, heads turn to have a better look at a man, a noted English language poet when he refused to accept Order of the British Empire (OBE) from none other than the British Prime Minister and the Queen.