View Articles

NEW YORK: There are moments in a presidency of no turning back, decisions made and actions taken that are so consequential and far-reaching, they mark a fundamental turning point. George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, for example, poisoned Bush’s presidency and reshaped the Middle East for the worse in ways that are still reverberating. The war that Israel started on June 13 with Iran may well be another.

“We made a great deal with China. We’re very happy with it.” So declared President Donald Trump in his familiar tone of triumphant ambiguity on June 11, fresh off what was touted as a breakthrough agreement to restore a trade truce between the United States and China. But if history has taught us anything, it is that “done deals” in the Trumpian lexicon tend to be either dangerously fragile or conveniently fungible.

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States, has virtually shaken the world with his aggressive domestic and foreign policies – anti immigration involving massive deportation of so-called aliens spending at least $100 billions of taxpayers' money, it will cost $750 billion before the end of his term. He is talking of a third term even.

LONDON: Israel’s illegal and unprovoked bombing of Iran, killing military leaders, scientists and numerous other civilians, puts us on the brink of catastrophic conflict.

Yet to be fully implemented resolution “the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204)” adopted by the International Labour Conference (ILC) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) even after 10 years of its adoption, gets another resolution in its support on June 13, 2025, at ILC’s 113th session held during June 2-13, 2025, while the International Convention on Decent Work in Platform Economy was deferred for 114th session to be held in 2026.

NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump went to town with his announcement that his Art of the Deal with China on trade and tariffs was a Done Deal even as China chose to downplay it as the negotiations finalised at a uniform tariff of 55% tariffs for all Chinese goods imported into the USA, a far cry from the 135% tariffs imposed on the Asian giant in the trade war where US was slapped with reciprocal 125% tariffs.

Israel’s attacks on Iran could lead to a catastrophic potential full-scale war, further destabilising an already volatile Middle East, with serious implications for global security. Such a conflict could disrupt global oil supplies, involve international powers, and deepen regional instability.

Pakistan’s foreign minister for a short while Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is emerging as the top diplomat of South Asia. This is the view in the western world just getting to know that Pakistan is peacenik and India is warmonger, led by foreign minister S Jaishankar, who, according to Bilawal Bhutto aficionados, is not made for diplomacy!

The South American nation Columbia is in political turmoil as the left wing President Gustavo Petro went to the people of the country with his proposal for labour reforms through referendum after the Senate rejected his proposal. The Senate is dominated by the anti-Left parties. Petro is fighting them since he took up the presidency in 2022 as the first left wing President. He was involved in the revolutionary group that fought the Columbian authoritarian regime in earlier years.

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles anti-immigration riots continued unabated for the third day as the city’s mayor Karen Bass clamped curfew on downtown LA and the protests spread to other blue states demonstrating an uneven fight between the democrats and the republicans.