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Manipur was like trump card for the BJP. Since their first ascendance to power in 2017, with the calculated plan of a conquest they treated Manipur as their spring board for North East. BJP's gaining of power in the state itself was through crooked ways. It had only 21 MLAs in the 60 member Assembly, where as the Congress had 28 members. Purchasing MLAs and manipulation of Governor's office helped BJP to manage their foot hold in Manipur. From there they extended the tentacles of hatred politics to nearby states one after another.

Amidst the conjecture making round the political circle that the next meet of the opposition leaders for taking forward the process of unity, would take place in Patna on May 18, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashvi Yadav left for Mumbai on May 11 to meet NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray. Nitish's Mumbai visit comes on a day when the Supreme Court gave his verdict on the Shiv Sena split lasting the Governor’s action but simultaneously stating that the Uddhav Thackeray government could not be restored.

The Chilean far right scored a major victory in Sunday’s elections for the newly reconstituted constitutional assembly, all but extinguishing any remaining hope of a new, progressive constitution in Chile.

The sudden arrest of Imran Khan by Pakistan military has come as the final straw for the people who were at the receiving end of fundamentalism, terrorism, and a collapsing economy. Thousands of irate mob vandalized public properties and expressed their frustration against the country’s ruling elite, including the defence forces. The charges against Imran Khan, a popular leader who has been stoking his street fight with regular rallies and protests, are not grave ones. Corruption charges against people in power can often be motivated and difficult to prove.

With long experience of chaos, violence, and dysfunctional governance, Haiti looks now to be on the verge of a new crisis in the form of foreign military intervention. U.S. and United Nations decision-makers have held back, but now they look to be moving, again.

Despite timely steps taken by the Government to avert a Sri Lanka-type of economic meltdown, general concern for the Bangladeshi economy continues. While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) promised a $4.5 billion loan to Bangladesh to help it shore up declining forex reserves, there are worries in Dhaka as to whether Bangladesh will face new pressures to implement deep-going economic reforms.

Notwithstanding Supreme Court glare on the release of Bilkis Bano convicts, the chances are quite bleak that their release would be declared null and void and they would ever be sent back to the prisons.

There’s this voter who was born in Mangalore and he has lots of BJP “karyakarta” friends. Good fellows who do the booth management for the world’s largest-richest political party. The commitment of such people wins elections. But, this time in Karnataka, the BJP did not have the confidence that booth management alone would deliver to them the goods.

The decision by the Union government to tie local gas prices to international prices comes at a time when global prices are on a downward trend and this is great news for consumers who have hitherto been at the receiving end of higher prices as well as their administration.

America to the rescue. In a twist of irony, that may be Central Asia's only alternative, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine upsetting the region's security apple cart. The question is whether the United States, already rejiggering its commitment to security in the Middle East, has the will and wherewithal to engage. Depending on one’s analysis of the Middle East’s strategic importance, the glass is either half full or half empty.