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Soon after organizing a 90 day truce last week end at Geneva through three day intensive talks between top officials of the United States and China, President Donald Trump is on a three nation tour covering Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE to pursue his deal making focusing on both trade and security. Simultaneously, the Chinese President Xi Jinping is wooing the Latin American countries to support him in his bid to restore the rule based international order on trade and tariffs.

The banning of the Awami League activities by the interim government of Bangladesh led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus last week has got wider implications for the pro-active political parties in the country in view of the coming national elections expected by early next year. Equally, the decision assumes significance for India which is now left with no friendly political party operating in its neighbouring country.

NEW YORK: In 1964, during the second summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Cairo, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Sirimavo Bandaranaike proposed that the Indian Ocean be turned into a “zone of peace” that was free of military bases and nuclear weapons. In the context of heightened militarization during the Cold War, this proposal was supported by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

For an import-dependent country on critical arms supplies, it may be risky to get involved in a long-drawn war. Ukraine, currently the world’s biggest arms importer, learnt the hard truth after Donald Trump became the US president. Recently, Ukraine had to part with its substantial mineral (rare earth) deposits to secure US arms supplies to fight Russia. Last year, Ukraine displaced India as the world’s largest arms importer. The US accounted for around 45 percent of Ukraine's total arms imports, while Germany and Poland provided 12 percent and 11 percent respectively. Without the US help, Ukraine would have possibly surrendered before Russia within months of the Russian attack.

NEW YORK: The escalating conflict between India and Pakistan is offering the world a glimpse of how Chinese military hardware is scaling up against western military hardware including from ground to air power as China has been the main supplier of military equipment to Pakistan whereas India outsources its military equipment from Russia and the West including USA, UK and France.

The global economy now finds itself in an era of uneasy transition—between the liberal order of the past and the fragmented, transactional world of the present. In this fraught environment, the meeting between China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and U.S. officials in Switzerland (May 9–12) carries implications that stretch far beyond the immediate issue of tariffs. This is no longer just a squabble over trade imbalances. It is a broader test of strategic maturity: Can the United States manage competition without veering into destructive confrontation? And can China engage in reform without viewing every concession as capitulation?

CHICAGO: As America, especially the United States and Chicago celebrated the elect of an American pope, the newly elected pontiff Leo XIV, former Cardinal Robert Prevost , celebrated his first Mass at the Sistine Chapel, a day after being chosen on the second day of the conclave.

The joint declaration issued by the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Chinese President Xi Jinping on the eve of the Victory Day on May 9 upholding longstanding friendship to pursue mutual benefit and win-win outcomes in the new era carries major significance in the present period of global tariff war as also continuation of the war in Ukraine which is still unresolved despite efforts for truce in recent weeks.

It is now official. After waiting for a few days since Donald Trump diluted the U.S. tariff rates for China and announced his intention for talks, China confirmed on Wednesday morning that a high level Chinese negotiating team will be visiting Switzerland for four days beginning May 9 to hold talks with the U.S. high level delegation led by the treasury secretary Scott Bessent. This was a result of back channel discussions carried out in the last few days by the two offices of President Trump and President Xi Jinping.

Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has once again proved that in times of uncertainty, the electorate prefers the comfort of continuity over the seduction of change. With 65.57% of the national vote in the May 3 general election, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has emerged not just with a victory but with a historic reversal of a long-standing electoral trend: every new prime minister before him had seen a dip in PAP’s vote share at their first test. Wong, however, has turned that tide - and decisively so.