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The German conservatives under the leadership of Friedrich Merz finally clinched a deal with the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) for forming a coalition which will run Europe’s largest economy for the next four years amidst new global scenario following Donald Trump taking over as the U.S. President for the second time. The deal concluded on Wednesday was preceded by weeks of bargaining by the two traditional parties of governance in Germany. The agreement was signed after both sides agreed for a flexible approach diluting some of the demands made earlier.

This year’s World Health Day falls against the backdrop of strained multilateralism and a crisis in global health funding. World Health Day serves as a stark reminder that good governance, sustained financing, and collective action are essential to safeguard public health worldwide. It is crucial, at this juncture, to reflect on the United States planned withdrawal from the World Health Organization (‘WHO’) and dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (‘USAID’).

NEW YORK: Wednesday at midnight, China faces 104% tariffs, perhaps the steepest in Sino-US trade in history, as President Trump decided to heave another 50% tariffs over the 54% tariffs announced earlier to total 104% in retaliation for China's imposition of 34% tariffs on US made goods.

Humanitarian crisis is at its peak as an aftermath of the wars in Middle East and between Russian & Ukraine. Despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas there is no respite from the bombings on hapless citizens of Gaza. If we go by the larger estimates over 100,000 have already been killed, majority of them being women and children. This has in fact turned out to be a blatant aggression by the Zionist regime of Israel to annihilate the Palestinians. The recent killing of Para-medical workers proves the point. U S administration is fully supporting Israel with latest high-powered bombs and is at the back of Israel in all circumstances. It authorized the release of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel in January 2025, a munition that had previously been held back.

In the wake of Trump’s tariffs and restrictive trade practices, a global economic warfare has been sparked off, with all major economies working up stringent measures to teach the newly elected US prescient, Donald Trump, a lesson: Tariffs are a two way instrument. If you impose tariffs on others, others can impose similar or worse measures against you.

With the international rules based order in disarray today and as parameters of governance are undermined across the world, the crisis in health is looming large. Having been through two major pandemics in the recent past - HIV and Covid - it is now instructive for health activists to reflect and understand what the future holds for us.

LONDON: Demonstrations across the United States over the weekend against Donald Trump and his policies give the lie to claims that all is lost in the struggle for people’s rights and social justice against the conservative right and its far-right allies.

NEW YORK: With the third term of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva well beyond its midway point, South America’s largest nation is again suffering from a leadership crisis. The once widely beloved politician’s approval rating has reached the lowest point that we have seen during his many years in office.

President Donald Trump’s declaration of April 2, 2025, as “Liberation Day” marked a seismic shift in U.S. trade policy, with the imposition of sweeping reciprocal tariffs that have sent shockwaves through the global economy. The new measures include a universal 10% tariff on all imports, with punitive rates as high as 54% for China, 46% for Vietnam, and 20% for the European Union, alongside a separate 25% levy on foreign-made automobiles. Framed as a corrective to decades of “unfair” trade practices, the policy has been celebrated by the administration as a rebirth of American industry. Yet beneath the rhetoric lies a complex web of economic consequences, retaliatory threats, and a potential reordering of global trade dynamics that could leave the U.S. and its allies grappling with long-term instability.

LONDON: Buried underneath the Greenland ice sheet is the legacy of a spectacular American failure. Camp Century was a hidden US military base, a network of tunnels that was supposed to expand from its originally limited scope during the 1950s into a sprawling complex of missile silos and troop accommodation.