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It seems as if finally, the three years old Russia-Ukraine might end after the US President Donald Trump’s pompous intervention. The Russian President Vladimir Putin has assumed a noticeably favourable tone, downplaying Trump’s economic threats, while Trump blames Ukrainian President Zelensky squarely as the one who started the war.

NEW YORK: “The reckless approval of an agreement with the Hamas terror organization . . . represents a disgraceful surrender. This deal forfeits the IDF’s (Israel Defense Forces) hard-won achievements in the war, involves withdrawing forces from Gaza, and halts the fighting in a manner that capitulates to Hamas,” read the statement by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Jewish Power party, as he resigned from the post of minister of national security earlier this week.

Just six days have passed since the inauguration of Donald Trump as the second term President of the United States of America and his policy announcements on the first day in office. The impact varies from country to country but nowhere it is more panicky than in the European Union countries, especially Germany and France. The process further intensified on Thursday when Trump elaborated on his policies through his interaction with the World Economic Forum at Davos.

The Trump administration's exploration of creating a national Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) may usher in a new era of global financial strategy, one defined by digital assets rather than traditional monetary instruments. This concept marks a potential seismic shift in how nations perceive and secure wealth, akin to the historical role of gold reserves in fortifying national economies. By anchoring such a reserve in Bitcoin, the United States is not only signalling its readiness to embrace the decentralized financial revolution but also positioning itself at the forefront of a burgeoning ‘crypto arms race’.

Ever since the inauguration on January 20 of Donald Trump as the U.S. President for the second term, the series of announcements made by the far right American President targeted its neighbouring countries Mexico and Canada as a part Trump’s expansionist agenda, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and imposed 25 per cent tariff on Mexico and Canada on their exports to the U.S. with effect from February 1 this year.

In Bangladesh, a bunch of unelected interim 'rulers' led by economist Mohammad Yunus is desperately anxious to cosy up to Pakistan, from which their country had seceded violently only five decades ago. In a strange reversal of their own (instant?) history, Bangladeshis have shown an apparent inability to exist and function as an independent, sovereign country in South Asia — only, the irony of the present situation has been lost among Dhaka-based authorities for the moment.

Debt is a crucial source of financing for development. However, when debt becomes burdensome, it can threaten the very sovereignty of a nation. This is the situation that many African states are facing today. I have learned about Africa’s rich mineral wealth from my students from various African States who come to study in India. While Africa is abundant in mineral resources, its people remain very poor.

More than six weeks have passed since the visit of Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri to Dhaka on December 9 and his wide ranging talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart to improve the worsening bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries. Latest indications, however, suggest that the interim government headed by Dr. Mohammad Yunus is courting Pakistan in a big way through collaboration in the area of defence sector which poses a security threat to India.

The inaugural speech of Donald Trump and the flurry of executive orders issued by him on the first day as president, show that Trump does what he said he will do. In claiming to make America great again, Trump has threatened to take over the Panama Canal, the control of which had been handed to Panama by a treaty in 1977. He has renamed the `Gulf of Mexico’ as the `Gulf of America’ and promised more imperial steps to expand American territory as no US President has done in recent history. Trump has ordered an emergency in the southern borders with Mexico and deployed the army to check immigrants crossing the border. Other anti-immigrant measures, including annulling the right of citizenship of persons by birth in the country, are bound to heighten xenophobia and whet the appetite of the far-right.

WASHINGTON: Monday January 20 was, as hard as this may be to remember, Martin Luther King Jr Day. An enormous number of schools all around the country were either closed or had assemblies where students heard about the life and accomplishments of the martyred civil rights crusader.