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The 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit held in Moscow on July 8-9 2024 will go a long way in re-embellishing one of the most enduring friendships in the geopolitical theatre. Moscow and New Delhi have seen many ups and downs together, no matter who has been in power in the Grand Kremlin Palace or in the Parliament House. Fortunately, India-Russia ties are still regime change-proof, and have withstood the serial ideological onslaughts from the United States-led ‘rules-based order’ of the West.

As global economic dynamics shift, emerging economies seek new opportunities for growth and influence. A notable development is the BRICS coalition, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. With its recent expansion, the BRICS framework has introduced the concept of BRICS+, aiming for deeper and more flexible economic integration. This article explores the differences between BRICS and BRICS+, and examines the potential benefits for Bangladesh should it join this influential group.

WASHINGTON: After Nato’s catastrophic, illegal invasions of Yugoslavia, Libya and Afghanistan, on July 9, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO) begins its three day summit in Washington. The British will not burn down the US Capitol as they did in 1814, and the Germans are still meekly pretending that they don’t know who blew up their Nord Stream gas pipelines. So expect smiling photo-ops and an overblown orgy of mutual congratulation.

On Thursday, June 26, troops occupied Plaza Murillo in La Paz, where the Bolivian government headquarters is located. Commander Juan José Zúñiga, head of the army, invaded the plaza with a hundred soldiers and a group of armoured vehicles, breaking down the door of the Palacio Quemado, where President Luis Arce and his ministers tried to resist by blocking the entrances with furniture.

French voters made history in the second round of national elections on July 7 by dashing all hopes of the far right party of Marine Len Pen RN to grab power by giving the highest number of seats — 182 to the New Popular Front (NFP) followed by President Emanuel Macron’s centrist alliance at 163 by pushing the far right RN to the third position at 143 seats. Thus, in a house of 577, the Left and the Macron led centrists have a total strength of 345 as against the majority figure of 289..The other parties including right and fringe left groups have together got the remaining 89 seats.

U.S. President Joe Biden's underwhelming performance in the 2024 presidential debate last week raised concerns due to his apparent fatigue, forgetfulness, and confusion. This has caused uncertainty among supporters despite Biden's attempts to reassure them in the post-debate period. Even last week, during a speech in Madison, Wisconsin, he initially said he would "beat Donald Trump again in 2020" before correcting himself to "2024," which added to the uncertainty.

Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist candidate, won Iran's presidential election on Saturday, July 5. He defeated the hard-line candidate Saeed Jalili, securing over 53.3% of the votes from more than 30 million ballots. This snap election was held after the previous president, Ebrahim Raisi, tragically died in a helicopter crash in May.

Recently, cryptocurrency entrepreneur and investor Balaji S Srinivasan posted a small cryptic message about the US presidential election on X (formerly Twitter). He wrote “Polymarket is the news,” and shared a screenshot of the prediction betting website, where the chances of Joe Biden winning the election was shown to be 25% while his chances of losing was 70%.

The progress towards achieving SDG 8 targets aiming at full and productive employment and decent work for all by 2030 is threatened by numerous roadblocks. Though global unemployment hit a historic low of 5 per cent, women and youth face higher unemployment rates. Informal employment poses significant global challenge with over 2 billion workers in informal jobs lacking social protection in 2023. In the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia, nearly 9 in 10 workers are informally employed. Alarmingly, over one in five young people are not in employment, education, or training (NEET). Compliance with fundamental labour rights has deteriorated.

It is a tale of two cities: London and Washington. It is the tale of two politicians who have been thrown up from amongst the crowd of claimants and confusion. It is a tale of the current contrast.