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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.

NEW YORK: According to a new analysis by Swiss Re Institute, insured natural catastrophe losses globally could reach $145 billion this year, primarily driven by “secondary perils” such as floods, wildfires, and severe thunderstorms. This follows a five to seven percent long-term annual growth trend, the institute said.

Following the shocks of the last five years, global fragility remains at a near-record high level. The diversity of fragility profiles, according to the States of Fragility 2025 report, across all contexts is striking. About 2.1 billion people, or 25 per cent of the world’s population are living in context with high and extreme fragility in 2025. This figure is projected to grown to 2.3 billion by 2030 and 3.2 billion by 2050.

Donald Trump got a jolt in the latest national elections in Canada and Australia, but in Europe, pro-Trump George Simion, the leader of the far right alliance AUR won in the first round of Romanian Presidential elections held on Sunday May 4 getting 40.5 per cent of the votes as against the second placed Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan who got 20.89 per cent. The third candidate, the ruling coalition’s Crin Antonsu got 20.34 per cent. Simion will now be fighting against Nicusor Dan in the final round of elections scheduled for May 18.

Conservatives have been the biggest loser in the local council elections in Britain held on last Thursday but it is the looming threat perception of ultra-rightist forces taking control of the destiny of the Britons that has forced the Labour leaders and its cadres to rebel against their leader Prime Minister Keir Starmer and seek his removal from the office.

Since 2021, seizing power yet again after a gap of 20 years, Afghanistan's Taliban rulers were termed as ‘pariahs’ and shunned by the international community, but recently the hard-line militants have notched up some big wins in their diplomatic efforts to forge international ties.

Britain’s politics witnessed a shakeout leaning towards far right as the pro-Trump Nikel Farage’s Reform Party UK trounced both the entrenched Tories and the Labour Party in the local council elections held on Thursday signalling the arrival of new leader Nikel Farage who triumphantly announced after the results were out on Friday that’ there are no Tories, We are the opposition. We will form the next government”.