WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-23

About: the world this week, 2 June 2024 to 8 June 2024: Israel and Lebanon; China on the Moon; General Elections – Mexico, South Africa, India.

Everywhere

Israel and Lebanon

While Israel continues its deadly foray into Rafah in the Gaza Strip and the hostage situation remains unmoving, tension is ramping up at the Israel-Lebanon border. This week, the Iran-backed militant organisation Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack in northern Israel that left multiple people injured. In another incident, in Lebanon, a gunman wearing what looked like ISIS insignia was arrested after firing shots at the United States (US) Embassy.

With no sign of progress in mediators’ efforts to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza war, Israeli tanks and warplanes blasted central and southern areas overnight, killing over 20 Palestinians. Qatari and Egyptian mediators, backed by the US, have tried to halt hostilities, secure the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel, and get aid flowing into Gaza to ease a humanitarian crisis. But there are still no signs of a breakthrough.

Late in the week an Israeli air strike on a United Nations school, packed with displaced Palestinians, in central Gaza, has reportedly killed at least 35 people. Israel’s military said it had conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound in the school and killed many of the 20 to 30 fighters it believed were inside. Of course, Hamas denied the claim and accused Israel of carrying out a horrific massacre.

China on the Moon

This Sunday China successfully landed on the ‘far side of the Moon’, the dark lunar hemisphere – an unexplored region where almost no one tries to go. The far side permanently faces away from Earth, is technically challenging to reach due to the distance, has a difficult terrain of giant, deep craters, and few flat surfaces to land on.

The uncrewed spacecraft Chang’e-6 touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin after completing a multi-stage landing process, announced the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Launched on 3rd May, the mission’s goal was to collect the world’s first rock and soil samples from the area and bring them back to Earth.

The landing was fraught with risks, owing to the difficulty in communicating with the spacecraft once it reaches the far side, requiring the use of a Satellite for the purpose.

China is the only country to have achieved the feat before, landing its Chang’e-4 in 2019. This is the second such mission to collect samples from the Moon. In 2020, Chang’e-5 brought back 1.7 kg of material from an area called Oceanus Procellarum, on the Moon’s near side.

After being launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, the Chang’e-6 spacecraft orbited the Moon waiting for the right time to land. The Lander then separated from the Orbiter to touch down on the Moon. During the descent, an autonomous visual obstacle avoidance system was used to automatically detect obstacles, with a visible light camera selecting a comparatively safe landing area based on the brightness and darkness of the lunar surface. The lander hovered about 100 metres above the safe landing area, and used a laser 3D scanner before it began a slow vertical descent. The operation was supported by the Queqiao-2 relay satellite.

After spending two days gathering materials from the Moon’s surface, the lunar probe successfully took off, this Tuesday, to begin its journey back to Earth, carrying the first samples ever collected from the region -in a metal vacuum container. Rocks and soil were gathered using a mechanical arm and a drill to collect about 2 kg of material from a gigantic crater in the South Pole.

Once the samples safely reach Earth, China would become the first country to bring back rock and soil samples from the far side of the Moon, which scientists say could be very different from rock formations on the near side. The CNSA announced the conclusion of taking samples, saying the craft had ‘withstood the test of high temperature on the far side of the Moon’ and was now beginning its return. After taking off, the module then entered a ‘pre-set orbit around the Moon’. The container is then transferred to a re-entry capsule set to return to Earth, landing in the deserts of Inner Mongolia around 25th June.

Elections in Mexico

Mexico has a new kind of President: a woman, a scientist, a noble-prize winner, a mayor, all rolled into one.

This Sunday, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo won a landslide victory to become Mexico’s first female president. She is a climate scientist and a former mayor of Mexico City. She won the presidency with between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote which is the highest vote percentage in Mexico’s democratic history. Sheinbaum was mentored by outgoing leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose popularity among the poor helped drive her triumph.

“For the first time in the 200 years of the republic, I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum told supporters to loud cheers of “President, President”. She is also the first woman to win a general election in the region of United States, Mexico, or Canada.

Victory for Sheinbaum is a major step for Mexico, a country known for its macho culture and home to the world’s second-biggest Roman Catholic population, which for years pushed more traditional values and roles for women.

The Election was the most violent in Mexico’s modern history with 38 candidates murdered during the process. Sheinbaum has vowed to improve security and address massive security problems. Many analysts say organized crime groups expanded and deepened their influence during Lopez Obrador’s term. Sunday’s vote was also marred by the killing of two people at polling stations in Puebla state. More people have been killed – over 185,000 – during the mandate of Lopez Obrador than during any other administration in Mexico’s modern history, although the homicide rate has been inching down.

The ruling coalition was also on track for a possible two-thirds super majority in both houses of Congress, which would allow the coalition to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support.

Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez conceded defeat after preliminary results showed her taking between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote.

Claudia Sheinbaum was born in a secular Jewish family in Mexico City. Her paternal Ashkenazi grandparents emigrated from Lithuania to Mexico City in the 1920s. Her maternal Sephardic grandparents emigrated there from Sofia, Bulgaria, in the early 1940s to escape the Holocaust. She celebrates the major Jewish holidays at her grandparents’ homes. Both of her parents are scientists: her mother, Annie Pardo Cemo, is a biologist and professor emeritus at the Faculty of Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and her father, Carlos Sheinbaum Yoselevitz, was a chemical engineer. Her brother, Julio, is a physicist.

A scientist by profession, Sheinbaum received her Doctor of Philosophy in energy engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She has authored over 100 articles and two books on energy, the environment, and sustainable development. Sheinbaum has a background in environmental policy, having served as Minister of the Environment for Mexico City and worked on the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which would go on to win a Nobel Prize.

Sheinbaum married Carlos Imaz in 1987 and have a daughter, born in 1988. They separated in 2016. In November 2023, Sheinbaum married Jesus Maria Tarriba Unger, a financial risk analyst for the Bank of Mexico.

Elections in South Africa

Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) party has ruled South Africa, in an unbridled run, for three decades. However, this time the ANC faces a mammoth challenge as it needs to form a government with its political rivals: after suffering a seismic blow in last week’s elections, final results of which we declared this Sunday, by the Independent Electoral Commission. For the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994, the once-dominant party will need to make a deal with other parties to form a coalition government.

The Elections were held for the National Assembly, which has 400 seats. 200 seats is required for an outright majority. The ANC won 159 seats with 40.18 % votes; the Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition party, received the second-highest number of seats with 87 and 21.81% votes; the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party won 58 seats with 14.58% votes, and the other parties won a total of 77 seats.

In the previous election in 2019, the ANC had won 230 seats with 57.5% of the votes.

A pivotal factor in this Election is former-President Jacob Zuma’s newly formed 5-month -old party, MK-named after ANC’s former armed wing, meaning spear of the nation. He capitalised on widespread discontent within ANC’s traditional voter base, finishing third. Zuma is a fierce critic of current ANC Leader and President Cyril Ramaphosa, ever since he was forced to resign in 2018. This election saw a dramatic comeback by Zuma.

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) led by John Steenhuisen is seen as a Party of White South Africans.

The Newly Elected National Assembly will have 14 days to hold its first sitting, when members will elect the President for the next 5 years by a simple majority.

Elections in India: The Dance of Democracy

The counting of votes in India’s General Elections to the Lok Sabha happened on 4 June 2024, and it was a stunning verdict, comprehensively defeating all predictions, be it the Exit Polls or the Opinion Polls. The predicted Landslide, for the ruling party, did not materialise.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which targeted a ‘wild majority’ on its own-about 370 seats-and dared an overwhelming majority of over 400 seats with its Alliance Partners in the 543 seated Parliament, was humbled. The slogan ‘Ab ki baar, 400 paar’ (this time 400 seats) saw it struggle to cross 300.

The BJP won 240 seats-32 short of a majority on its own and the pre-poll National Democratic Alliance (NDA) – led by the BJP -won a total of 293 seats well above the majority mark of 272, required to form the Government. The BJP depends heavily on two of its allies in the NDA, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a regional party in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and the Janata Dal (United) – JDU- which rules the northern state of Bihar. Both of them have pledged support to the BJP along with others in the Alliance.

The opposition I.N.D.I.A Alliance (Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance) led by the Grand Old Party of India – the Congress- won 230 seats, more than forecasted. In fact, they consistently said their Alliance would get 295 seats and form the Government. The Congress alone won 99, almost double the 52 it won in 2019 – a surprise jump probably increasing the fortunes of the dynasty, which has had a steel-hand grip on the party, for decades.

The I.N.D.I.A Alliance met in New Delhi and after making some noises and desperate attempts to form a Government, gave-up, and decided to sit in the Opposition.

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi tendered his resignation on Wednesday to President Droupadi Murmu after a cabinet met and recommended the dissolution of the current Parliament. Later, he submitted letters of support from the NDA partners for the formation of a new Government. Modi and his new cabinet are scheduled to be sworn-in on 9th June, for a historic third term.

The BJP lost most of the ground in rural areas where land and labour reforms are still to be unlocked. In Uttar Pradesh (UP), the party lost nearly half its seats, down to 33 from its 2019 tally of 62, while in Maharashtra, India’s richest state that includes financial powerhouse Mumbai, it slumped to a dismal nine seats from its previous tally of 23. Modi’s own victory in his seat of Varanasi, located in UP and considered one of the holiest cities for Hindus, was subdued: his margin of victory down from nearly 5,00,000 votes at the last general election in 2019 to a little more than 1,50,000 this time.

The saving grace for the BJP was a superlative performance in, the State of Odisha where it swept the Lok Sabha Elections with 20 seats and also won a comfortable majority in the State Assembly Elections – held simultaneously. In a first time ever, it comes to power in Odisha ousting the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Party headed by veteran Naveen Patnaik who has ruled for 5 consecutive terms, for over 24 years. The BJP won 78 seats in the 147 seated Assembly, while the BJD won only 52 seats.

In the State of Andhra Pradesh it aligned with Telugu Desam Party (a master stroke – in hindsight) and the Jana Sena, to win 3 seats, the TDP winning 16 seats, and the Jana Sena winning 2 seats. The BJP also won 8 seats in the Assembly, the Jana Sena Party won 21 seats, and the TDP 135 seats – out of 175 seats. The win also marks the remarkable return of three-time Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who has styled himself as a development icon when he first became Chief Minister in the year 1995.

The reduced victory and reduced majority in parliament may not necessarily mean reform paralysis: necessary reforms are entirely feasible. Delivering sustained growth at an accelerated pace can only strengthen the government’s hand in the coming years.

Many world leaders have crawled across the finishing line in their third-term elections, and Modi is no exception. The BJP remains India’s single largest party by seats, and Modi has successfully secured a third term with his Allies matching the record of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister.

But the significant loss of seats for the BJP-more than 50-dims the allure of a third term, especially given the campaign targeting 400 coalition seats, making anything less seem like an under-achievement. The drop in seats could be due to joblessness, rural distress, growing inequality between the rich and the poor, among many other things. This 400 seats campaign has backfired, with such a massive majority probably raising fears of constitutional changes and that reservations to the poorest sections might be spiked. This time the ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ campaign brought back memories of the 2004 ‘overconfident’, India Shining campaign, which saw the BJP lose power to the Congress, despite doing great developmental work. And this time the work done was outstanding, many times over. But it ‘cut no ice’ with the voter. Lots to think about!

By gathering 25 opposition parties to fight one party – the BJP – the Congress increased its vote share by 1.55% (19.67% to 21.22%) and cut BJP’s vote share by 1.22% (37.7% to 36.58%). That brought BJP’s seats down from 303 to 240. Almost all 63 seats lost were from Maharashtra (23) & UP (30).

The BJP could not breach the southern States of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were it did not win a single seat, but saw a significant increase in its vote share in Tamil Nadu. Kerala was a hint of times to come, with the BJP winning its first-ever seat from Thrissur. West Bengal continued to awfully tough: the expectations were sky-high and the BJP won only 12 of 42 seats.

Maybe it’s back to coalition politics in India. And the Indian voter is a tough customer. Ultimately, Indian democracy came out shining brightly in the dark background of all kinds of accusations, by the Opposition, on the Electronic Voting Machines and other processes.

More dancing stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Vote for World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-22

About: the world this week, 26 May 2024 to 1 June 2024: Israel gets going in Rafah; landslide in Papua New Guinea; a US President is convicted; India’s Elections, the Heat, Rockets, and Sport; and Cannes 2024.

Everywhere

Israel Tunnels into Rafah

Israel pushes ahead, surgically and clinically, deep into Rafah.

An Israeli airstrike, early this week, triggered a fire that killed about 45 people in a tent camp in Rafah, prompting a wild outcry from global leaders who urged the implementation of a World Court order to halt Israel’s assault. The strike set tents and rickety metal shelters ablaze.

Israel’s military said it was investigating a precision strike it carried out against Hamas commanders in Rafah, which could have caused the fire, and was never intended to cause civilian casualties. In Rafah, about 1 million non-combatant residents have already been evacuated and despite best efforts, something could have tragically gone wrong. More than half of the dead were women, children, and elderly people.

Later in the week, the facts about the airstrike and the fire that followed, emerged, making things clear.

The airstrike that targeted senior Hamas commanders was more than a mile away from the safe zone for Palestinian civilians and more than 550 feet away from the shelters Hamas had falsely claimed were targeted in the incident. The munitions used were the smallest possible, far smaller than what other Western Militaries use in comparable situations. The munitions could not themselves have ignited a fire of the size that resulted in the deaths of Palestinian civilians, indicating that Hamas weapons stored in or near the targeted structure—of which Israel was unaware—may have exploded and caused the fire. Footage of the scene taken by Palestinians and uploaded to social media appears to show secondary explosions, further indicating the presence of weapons in the area. A phone call within Gaza, intercepted by Israeli intelligence, contained the admission that the structure targeted by the airstrike served as an ammunition warehouse, that secondary explosions took place. And that the Israeli airstrike wasn’t powerful enough to have ignited the fire. Hamas has been operating from the area since 7 October 2023; a rocket launcher used to fire rockets into Israel was located 150 feet from the targeted structure, suggesting that additional weapons were likely stored nearby and may have caused the fire.

Israel now controls the entire Philadelphi Corridor – a 14 km narrow strip of land between Gaza and Egypt – uncovering a far great number of tunnels crossing into Egypt than previously discovered.

While ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ was trending on social media, in support of Palestine, wonder why the eyes shifted from the 120 hostages, still under captivity for over 230 days. And the barbarism of 7 October 2023, by Hamas, is still livid.

A Landslide

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a country in the Pacific Ocean that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia -a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean, north of Australia. It shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west, and it is directly adjacent to Australia to the south, and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, Port Moresby, is located along its southeastern coast. The country is the world’s third-largest island country.

PNG is a country of immense cultural and biological diversity known for its beaches and coral reefs. Tucked inside are active volcanoes, a dense rainforest, hiking routes like the Kokoda Trail, and many traditional tribal villages, with their own languages.

PNG regularly experiences landslides and natural disasters but the latest landslide is one of the most devastating it has seen in recent years. Parts of a mountain in the Maip-Mulitaka area in Enga province, in PNG’s north, collapsed in the early hours of last Friday killing more than 2,000 people and affecting up to 70,000 people living in the area. An entire village with shops, a fuel station, a lodge, a church, and a school all went under the rubble.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape blamed extraordinary rainfall and changes to weather patterns for multiple disasters this year, including the landslide.

“Our people in that village went to sleep for the last time, not knowing they would breathe their last breath as they were sleeping peacefully. Nature threw a disastrous landslip, submerged or covered the village. This year, we had extraordinary rainfall that has caused flooding in river areas, sea level rise in coastal areas and landslips in a few areas,” Marape said.

“It’s basically a mountain that has fallen on their heads,” said an officer with the UN development programme. Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate amid further earth slips in the region.

Residents have been using shovels and bare hands to dig through mud and debris almost two storeys high, even as officials said chances of finding survivors were slim. Rescue teams have been slow to reach the site because of the treacherous terrain and tribal unrest in the remote area, forcing the military to escort convoys of relief teams.

Donald Trump of the United States of America

This week, former President Donald Trump earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first US President to be convicted of a crime. A 12-member jury found Trump guilty of falsifying documents to coverup a payment to silence a porn star’s account of a sexual encounter, ahead of the 2016 election. He was found guilty on all counts – 34 of them. Sentencing is set for 11 July, days before the Republican Party is scheduled to formally nominate Trump for President, ahead of the 5 November 2024 Presidential elections. Some said it’s too trivial a matter to warrant such action. And Trump could still go ahead and stand for President.Whatever, ‘Stormy’ times lie ahead, for sure!

India Elections-The End

India’s great Lok Sabha, General Elections finally reached the last phase – the seventh- on 1 June 2024. And it all began on 19 April 2024. The noise, heat and dust of campaigning settles down and candidates go over for a thorough wash, maybe some rest, some may sit on a rock and meditate-making loud plans to develop India- and then appear in their best clothes on 4th June 2024, for the counting and declaration of results. Exit polls will sound the bugle after 6pm on, 1st June.

Great Expectations in the upcoming week. I’m sure it will be a tale to tell. Will it be the best of times, the age of wisdom, the spring of hope? Over to the Voter.

Meanwhile, India’s Prime Minister went into a two-day hibernation at the southern most tip of India at the Vivekananda Rock, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, to meditate over the future of the country.

The Heat in Delhi

This week, India’s Capital New Delhi recorded its highest ever summer temperature of 52.3 degrees celsius. In addition to climate change, could the heat of elections be a reason? Earth’s average temperature has increased by about 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.

In India, a heatwave is declared over a region ‘when the actual maximum temperature remains 45 degrees Celsius or more’.

Earlier, Rajasthan’s Churu region was reported to be the warmest district of the season at 50.5 degrees Celsius. Now, Delhi has broken that record.

India’s Rockets Rock

This Thursday, Chennai-based private space startup Agnikul Cosmos successfully launched its 3D-printed, semi-cryogenic Agnibaan rocket after previous four attempts had been called off. Agnibaan is a customisable, two-stage launch vehicle that can carry a payload of up to 300 kg into orbit of about 700 km. The rocket uses a semi-cryogenic engine with a mix of liquid and gas propellants, a technology that is yet to be demonstrated by the Government’s own highly successful, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in any of its rockets. The Agnilet engine is the world’s first single-piece 3D-printed semi-cryogenic rocket engine.

The mission featured a 6.2 meter tall single-stage launch vehicle with an elliptical nose cone and was equipped with advanced avionics, architecture, and autopilot, developed indigenously.

India’s private sector ‘launch into space’ is coming of age, supported by ISRO.

Indian Sport

Over the past few years Indian sport has been doing spectacularly well in all fields.

This time it’s gymnastics. Dipa Karmakar created history becoming the 1st ever Indian Gymnast to win Gold at the Asian Championships. She topped the Vault with an average score of 13.566.

Then, in a great move, India’s Chess wizard, Praggnanandhaa defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time in Classical Chess. Pragg took down the World no.1 with the white pieces in the 3rd round of Norway Chess 2024. It was a fantastic game by Pragg – he got an advantage out of the opening, and converted in superb fashion. With this win, Pragg now takes sole lead with 5.5/9 points in the event.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL) Cricket Tournament 2024, Twenty-Twenty, finals held in Chennai, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won their third title defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets. It was a dominating performance by the winner throughout the Tournament. Previously, KKR has won the Title in IPL- 2012 and IPL-2014. The most successful IPL teams have been the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians with 5 Titles each.

The Cannes Film Festival

The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival was staged from 14 to 25 May 2024 at Cannes, France. American filmmaker and actress Greta Gerwig served as jury president for the main competition. French actress Camille Cottin hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.

American filmmaker Sean Baker won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize, for the comedy-drama film ‘Anora’, which he had written and directed. It stars Mikey Madison in the title role of an exotic dancer and follows her beleaguered romance with the son of a Russian oligarch.

In a significant milestone for India, Actress Anasuya Sengupta became the first Indian to win the Best Actress award at the ‘Un Certain Regard’ segment of the Film Festival. This segment presents 20 films with unusual styles and non-traditional stories seeking international recognition. She received the award for her role in the film ‘The Shameless,’ directed by Bulgarian filmmaker Constantin Bojanov, which premiered at Cannes on 17th May.

‘The Shameless’, forays into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery. Two sex workers, one who bears the scars of her line of work, and the other a young girl, days away from ritual initiation, forge a bond and seek to break the shackles of their condition. Sengupta plays the central character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death and takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India. There she meets Devika, a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.

Sengupta was born in a Bengali family in Kolkata, West Bengal. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Jadavpur University, but wanted to establish herself as a journalist. She played a supporting role in the 2009 movie ‘Madly Bangalee’. She dabbled in theatre for some time before shifting to Mumbai in 2013 where she started working as a production designer. And eventually she landed ‘The Shameless’ role.

Then, in another lights-on moment at Cannes, Indian Filmmaker Payal Kapadia scripted history as her spellbinding drama ‘All We Imagine as Light’ won the Grand Prix award at Cannes 2024. The film bagged the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d’Or, during the closing ceremony. Kapadia’s feature directorial debut received glowing reviews in the international press. It registered its name in the history books after it became the first Indian film in 30 years and the first ever by an Indian female director to be showcased in the main competition. The screening of the film received an eight-minute standing ovation from the audience members.

“All We Imagine as Light”, a Malayalam-Hindi feature, is about Prabha, a nurse, who receives an unexpected gift from her long-estranged husband, who lives abroad, that throws her life into disarray. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a private spot in the big city to be alone with her boyfriend. One day, the two nurses go on a road trip to a beach town where the mystical forest becomes a space for their dreams to manifest. International critics have given the film a thumbs up and praised Kapadia’s storytelling prowess.

Going back into history, the first and only Indian Film to win the top prize of Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, in 1946, was Chetan Anand’s ‘Neecha Nagar’ (a lowly City area) with music composed – in a first – by Pandit Ravi Shankar. It starred actress Kamini Kaushal, Zora Sehgal, and Chetan Anand’s wife, Uma Anand, among others. The movie is about the gulf between the rich and the poor in society. Ironically, the film was never released in India but was telecast on India’s national Broadcaster, Doordarshan in the 1980s.

In 1982, Mrinal Sen was the very first Indian to join the Cannes Film Festival Jury. And his movie ‘Kharij’ won the jury prize. Many of his movies were showcased at the festival. Sharmila Tagore has also attended as a jury member, in 1962 with Satyajit Ray. Between Sen in 1982 and Deepika Padukone in 2023, the Cannes jury had invited filmmaker Mira Nair (1990), novelist Arundhati Roy (2000), actresses Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan (2003), Nandita Das (2005), Sharmila Tagore (2009), filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (2010), and actress Vidya Balan (2013).

More screen stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Watch the world with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-21

About: the world this week, 19 May 2024 to 25 May 2024: arresting Israel; Death of a President; Elections – UK and India; and irresponsible driving in India.

Everywhere

Arresting Israel

This week, in a public statement, the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced that he is asking the ICC to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The Court has asked ICC member states (called State Parties) to arrest the two Israeli leaders for war crimes committed against the civilians in Gaza, which he says is in the ‘State of Palestine’.

The Prosecutor has also requested, in a separate proceeding, that arrest warrants be issued against Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar (Head of Hamas) Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri – known as DEIF -(Commander-in-Chief of the military win of Hamas) and Ismail Haniyeh (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) – war crimes and crimes against humanity, for the ‘7 October 2023 incident’.

The Prosecutor said he was grateful for advice received from, Elizabeth Wilmhurst, Baroness Helena Kennedy, Danny Friedman, Special Advisor Amal Clooney, and Theodor Meron, among a list of other ‘renowned people’ associated with international law.

Amal Clooney, a lawyer and activist, is the wife of Hollywood star George Clooney. People were outraged by her advice and she was slammed on social media for being insensitive to the plight of Israel victims of the brutal massacre of 7 October, and lacking impartiality – the hallmark of a great lawyer.

The Prosecutor of the ICC, in the news, is Karim A A Khan KC, who was sworn in to the job in June 2021. And his job is, ‘trying individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression’.

The Court’s founding treaty, called the Rome Statute, grants the ICC jurisdiction over four main crimes: first, genocide-specific intent in whole or in part of eliminating a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, by killing its members; second, crimes against humanity-serious violations committed as part of large-scale attacks against any civilian population; third, war crimes which are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions; and fourth, crimes of aggression – use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, integrity or independence of another State (Russia, rings a bell?)

As a judicial institution, the ICC does not have its own police force or enforcement body: it relies on cooperation with countries worldwide for support, particularly for making arrests, transferring arrested persons to the ICC Detention Centre in The Hague, freezing suspects’ assets, and enforcing sentences. It is not a United Nations(UN) Organization, but has a cooperation agreement with the UN. State Parties support the Courts, accept ICC’s jurisdiction, and also work to incorporate the rules stipulated in the Rome Statute in their own judicial systems. A country – on its choice – can become a State Party, joining with other State Parties, which gathers once a year to provide oversight management for the Court – establishing a budget, providing funding and electing the Court’s Judges and Prosecutor.

Israel reacted quickly, calling the public statement by the Prosecutor, an absolute outrage. The clear message of the joint announcement being that Israel and Hamas are deemed to be equally culpable for the events of 7th October and the aftermath. Israel added that this is unprecedented in the history of international law.

In another development, the countries of Ireland, Norway, and Spain announced they would recognise the State of Palestine on 28 May 2024. The governing body at the basis of the recognition will be the Palestinian Authority. The three European countries said they wanted to help secure a halt to Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive and revive peace talks that stalled a decade ago.

Israel reprimanded the Ambassadors of Ireland, Norway, and Spain over their intent to recognise a Palestinian State, scorning the initiative as a bid to, ‘resurrect old, failed policies’. It called the Ambassadors for a special screening of the Hamas barbarism of 7th October – not previously shown in the public domain.

Close to the end of the week, Israel found three more dead bodies of hostages, in Jabalya, northern Gaza. All of them were killed on 7th October and their bodes were taken into the enclave by Hamas. The identified were Hanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum, and Orion Hernandez.

At the end of the week the International Court of Justice issued an Order – on a vote of 13 to 2 – calling on Israel to ‘immediately halt’ its military operation in Rafah. Israel called the ruling ‘lack of impartiality’ and carried on its operations. Hamas welcomed the ruling.

A Hardline President Dies Hard

Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, 63, died in a helicopter crash this Sunday. The Helicopter, a Bell 212, was carrying the President, the Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Commander of the President’s protection unit, other bodyguards, a Provincial Governor, and the crew – a total of nine. All of them died in the crash.

The charred wreckage of the helicopter was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions. Raisi is the second Iranian President to die in office. In 1981 a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Al Rajai in the chaotic days after the Iranian Revolution.

Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz in the northwest of Iran after returning from an Iran-Azerbaijan border area, where he had gone to inaugurate the Qiz-Qalasi Dam, a joint project with Azerbaijan. The helicopter went down in Varzeqan region north of Tabriz when it flew into difficulties in heavy fog, in poor weather conditions. It slammed into a mountain peak, and crashed in the mountainous, forested area. Two other helicopters, in the convoy of three, made it safely to Tabriz.

Ebrahim Raisi is a hardliner and formerly led the country’s judiciary. He is seen as a protege of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a possible replacement for the 85 year old Khamenei when he resigns or dies. Raisi won Iran’s 2021 Presidential Election in one of the lowest voter turnouts in Iran’s history. His victory in the closely-managed election brought all branches of power under the control of hardliners, after eight years, when the presidency had been held by pragmatist Hassan Rouhani and a nuclear deal negotiated with powers including the United States.

Since taking office, Raisi had ordered a tightening of morality laws, oversaw a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.

Raisi is sanctioned by the United States over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. This earned him the infamous title of the ‘Butcher of Tehran’.

Raisi was born in Mashdad, northeastern Iran, a religious hub for Shia Muslims. He underwent religious education and was trained in a seminary in Qom, studying under prominent islamic scholars including Khamenei. He wears a black turban, which signifies that he is a Sayyid – a descendant of Prophet Muhammad.

In recent times, Iran has been having all kinds of problems beginning with the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini over Islamic dressing issues. In the aftermath the security crackdown the followed and the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.

The cause of the helicopter crash is not known, but Iran has a poor air transport safety record: made worse by decades of US sanctions, which have made it hard for Iran to obtain spare parts or upgrade its aircraft.

Supreme Leader Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme, said First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, would take over as interim president. Presidential Elections to choose Ebrahim Raisi’s successor is to be held on 28th June. Khamenei’s own son, Mojtaba Khameini, 55 could be in the race.

United Kingdom Elections- at the Beginning

This week British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the UK would hold a General Election on 4 July 2024. Sunak’s Conservative Party is up against Keith Starmer’s Labour Party.

Sunak inherited a mess, but it seems unlikely that he has cleaned up that mess enough to earn the Conservatives another term in Office.

Opinion Polls have placed the Conservative Party way behind the opposition Labour Party. And as things stand, Keith Starmer is set to not only win power but secure a massive parliamentary majority.

India Elections – nearing the End.

This week, the juggernaut of India’s Lok Sabha General Elections rolled-on with the 5th phase on 19th May and the 6th phase on 25th May. That leaves the last and final phase – the 7th – going to the polls on 1st June. The week was reasonably quiet in comparison to the sound and dust of the previous weeks.

Driving in the Fast lane

Late last week in an outrageous incident in the city of Pune a, 17 year old juvenile Vedant Agarwal, son of a Builder, Brahma Realty, caused a fatal accident in Kalyani Nagar in the early hours on Saturday. Illegally (18 years is the age eligible for a motorcar driving Licence) driving a Porsche car at high speed, Vedant lost control, colliding with multiple vehicles. The car dragged one of two persons on a motorcycle and finally came to standstill after hitting another two wheeler and a car. The crash resulted in the immediate deaths of two IT professionals Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24 years old, who were on the motorcycle. Earlier the boy had left a pub in Kalyani Nagar shortly before the incident.

The next day a Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Pune in a bizarre judgement granted bail to the 17-year-old boy. And besides imposing the usual condition of parental monitoring, imposed a unique condition directing the boy to submit a 300-word essay on road accidents after studying all the rules and regulations on traffic at the Regional Transport Office (RTO). The boy was released on bail on executing a personal and surety bond of INR 75, 000. The parents were directed to take care of the boy and ensure that he is not involved in such offences in the future and ‘kept away from bad company’. Going deeper, the boy will assist a RTO officer and study traffic rules for 15 days and submit a report to the JJB. He will visit a de-addiction counselling centre and the counselling report will be submitted to the JJB. He has to consult a psychologist and psychiatric doctor at the Sassoon hospital in Pune and that report is to be submitted within 15 days.

There was immediate and spontaneous outrage on social media, and outcry by the people of Pune on grant of bail – and the conditions – in such a horrific case where two people have been mowed down and killed. This resulted in the boy’s father being arrested and the bail of the boy being cancelled and remanded to a teenage observation home. Meanwhile, the family of the victims suffered in silence.

Then in another twist, a Driver ‘was produced’; as being in the car – and said to be actually driving the car. And conforming the same was the boy and two of his friends! But there are tens of witnesses who dragged the boy out of the driver’s seat, after the crash, and bashed him up on the street!

In yet another finding, the boy’s grandfather who stood surety for bail, and who started the family construction business has underworld connections. The name of convicted (and now jailed) gangster Chhota Rajan who one worked with major crime syndicate boss Dawood Ibramin was doing the rounds. This surely is the proverbial can of worms.

Everyday, somewhere in India such unfortunate incidents keep happening, but the ones which gets gets mass attention are almost always Mercedes, the BMWs, or the Porsches. What about the many lives lost, being responsible, and following and enforcing rules?

More road stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Follow the rules and drive safely with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-20

About: the world this week, 12 May 2024 to 18 May 2024: Israel tunnels on; Russia pushes in Ukraine; Darfur-a forgotten war; Netherlands swings right; Slovakia’s PM is shot; India’s Elections, and a Billboard crash; and the Eurovision 2024 results.

Everywhere

Israel in Rafah

Israel has amassed enough troops at the edge of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to move forward with a full scale invasion while conducting precision strikes in the region. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) attacked and destroyed a Hamas Command & Control Center, located within a United Nations (UN) Compound. Video footage showed Hamas Terrorists liberally using UN Vehicles, as if it belongs to them.

Meanwhile, Israel ordered evacuation of civilians in many areas of Rafah for the moves ahead. And the rockets kept coming into Israel from Lebanon, and from Hamas inside the Gaza.

In a turn-around, the United States (US) resumed supply of weapons to Israel, perhaps seeing the steely resolve of Israel to enter Rafah. Then, there is talk about the ‘Day After’, when all this is over, and what happens next in the Gaza Strip.

Across the world Jewish people – especially in America and Britain – continue to be targets of pro-Palestinians, preventing them from going about their work and even attacking them, only because they are Jews. Anti-semitism getting a stranglehold in these parts.

Towards the end of the week, on entering Rafah, the IDF recovered the decomposed bodies of three Israeli hostages who were kidnapped from the Nova Festival on 7th October 2023, and held by Hamas in Gaza, Amit Bouskila (28), Shani Louk (23), and Itzhak Gelerenter (53). Israel was shocked and devastated. The also found numerous tunnels, and 50 of them ‘effortlessly’ crossing the border into Egypt. More, next week.

Ukraine

In the other war, in Ukraine, Russia is pushing into north-eastern Ukraine after making major advances over the past week. This is Russia’s most significant gains since Ukraine re-captured the Kharkiv region in 2022. More than 7500 people have been evacuated from the region. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, made a surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and reassure support. He announced that US military assistance has started arriving in Ukraine after months of delays.

The Forgotten Conflict

Over the past four years, the remote Sudanese region of Darfur has been the scene of a bloody conflict that has led to the death of thousands and the displacement of more than two million people.

The United Nations (UN) calls it ‘the world’s worst humanitarian crisis’ and the United States calls it ‘genocide’. Some 9 million people require humanitarian assistance and about 4,000 people have been targeted and killed because of their ethnicity. The UN says a staggering 24.8 million across Sudan-almost one in two people in the country-now require help from the UN and aid partners.

Darfur lies in the western part of the Sudan, Africa’s third largest country, bordering Libya, Chad, and the Central African Republic. The population of Darfur estimated in 2002 was about six million, 80% of whom live in the rural areas.

The name ‘Darfur’ is derived from the word, ‘dar fur ‘, meaning the ‘Land of the Fur’, in Arabic. The Fur tribe once ruled the Islamic Sultanate of Darfur until the killing of the last Sultan of Darfur in the year 1916, after which the Sultanate was incorporated into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and came under British-Egyptian rule. Today, Darfur is home to approximately 80 tribes and ethnic groups consisting of nomadic and sedentary communities.

Labelling the ongoing conflict as one between ‘Arabs’ and ‘Black Africans’ could be misleading: there are no visible racial or religious differences between the warring factions in Darfur. All parties involved in the conflict are equally indigenous, equally black, and equally Muslim. Darfurians represent a multitude of ethnic and linguistic groups that include non-Arabic speaking groups such as, the Fur, Masalit, Zaghawa, Tunjur, and Daju, as well as Arabic-speaking such as Rizaiqat, Missairiyya, Taisha, Beni Helba, and Mahamid, among others.

A long history of internal migration, mixing, and intermarriage in Darfur has created remarkable ethnic fluidity: ethnic labels are often used only as a matter of convenience. For instance, in the Darfur context, for the most part, the term ‘Arab’ is used as an occupational rather than an ethnic label, for the majority of the Arabic speaking groups are pastoralists. On the other hand, most of the non-Arab groups are sedentary farmers. However, even these occupational boundaries are often crossed.

For several centuries, the Fur was the dominant political power in the region, particularly in the pre-colonial era. In the seventeenth century they established a kingdom that shared many of the characteristics of other Muslim states in the Sahelian belt (the region south of the Sahara Desert, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west, to the Nile basin in the east.) From its capital at Al-Fasher, the Darfur kingdom established extensive political and commercial links with these states as well as with Egypt and North Africa.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when rebels launched an insurrection to protest what they claimed was the Sudanese Government’s disregard for the western region and its non-Arab population. The situation escalated when rebels, particularly the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), took up arms against the Government, protesting the unequal distribution of economic resources.

In response, the government headed by then President, Omar al-Bashir, equipped and supported Arab militia-which came to be known as Janjaweed-to fight the rebels in Darfur. The militias, however, also terrorised the civilians in the region and prevented international aid organisations from delivering much-needed food and medical supplies.

This conflict clearly pitted Sudanese Government forces, supported by the Janjaweed, against rebel groups resisting the autocratic rule of President Omar al-Bashir. The result was a devastating toll on Darfur. About 300,000 people lost their lives, and millions were displaced, including 400,000 refugees who were forced to flee to camps in the neighbouring country of Chad. In response to these atrocities, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against several Sudanese senior officials, including Omar al-Bashir, on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

Despite a 2004 cease-fire and the presence of African Union (AU) troops that followed, by 2007 the conflict and resulting humanitarian crisis had left hundreds of thousands of people dead and more than two million displaced, internally as well as externally, as they were forced to flee from the fighting. In July 2007, the United Nations Security Council authorised a joint UN-AU peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) to replace the AU mission, although UNAMID troop deployment did not begin until 2008.

In July 2008, an International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor alleged that Bashir, as President of Sudan, bore criminal responsibility for the crisis in Darfur. The prosecutor accused Bashir of orchestrating genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in the region and sought a warrant for his arrest; the Sudanese government denied the charges and proclaimed Bashir’s innocence. In March 2009, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not genocide. The warrant marked the first time that the ICC had sought the arrest of a sitting head of state. A year later, in July, another warrant was issued for Bashir on the charge of genocide.

Bashir was removed from power in 2018, which led to the formation of a Transitional Government under a Transitional Military Council (TMC) in September 2019. It carried out ambitious economic reforms and engaged in peace negotiations with armed groups leading to the signing of the Juba Peace Agreement in 2020, with almost all opposition groups. However, a year later in October 2021 the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) took over the country in a military coup. The then Prime Minister of the Transitional Government stepped down in January 2022 after efforts to reach a political settlement failed. A second attempt was made in January 2023. However, a consensus could not be reached and the political deadlock continues. The failed political process saw an eruption of a yet another conflict between the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which continues to this day.

The RSF evolved from the Janjaweed militia in the year 2013, and was used as border guards. And in the year 2015 it was granted the status of a regular force. In the year 2017, a law was passed legitimising the RSF as an independent security force. The Army and pro-democracy voices have demanded the RSF’s integration in the regular Armed Forces, which the RSF has resisted as this would lead to loss of power. The RSF is commanded by General Mohamed Hamden Dagalo commonly know as ‘Hemedti’ or ‘Little Mohamad’. He is one for the most powerful persons in Sudan and was formerly Deputy-Head of the TMC.

The once emerging potential of Sudan now lies in tatters, with conflict after conflict consuming the country. For most of its independent history, Sudan has faced substantial internal conflict rending it unable to play a leadership role in the region. This includes some of the longest lasting civil wars in Africa running in the country. South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 and became an independent state of Africa.

This week, heavy fighting in and around the Town of El Fasher between the SAF and the RSF resulted in death of dozens of civilians.

Netherlands

This week, anti-Islam firebrand and populist leader Geert Wilders announced that he has managed to form a coalition government with three other right-wing parties veering Netherlands towards the hard right. This is the culmination of almost 6 months of tumultuous negotiations – after the General Elections. It is still unclear who would be the next Dutch Prime Minister, but it will not be Wilders, who gave up the chance in a bid to secure a deal. Wilder’s, Party of Freedom (PVV), will go into government with the conservative Liberal Party (VVD), the centrist New Social Contract (NSC), and the Farmer Citizen Movement (BBB).

The PVV, led by Geert Wilders, won a shock victory in the Netherlands’ Parliamentary Elections, six months ago, winning 37 of the 150 seats, but it was not good enough to form a government on its own.

Slovakia

This week, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, 59 was shot and injured outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova, where he had been meeting supporters. A suspect was quickly detained. Four shots were fired after a government meeting, with one hitting the PM in the abdomen. He was rushed to Hospital when Emergency services dispatched a helicopter to air-lift him to the nearest hospital where he was operated upon. He is out of danger and on the road to recovery.

Handlova is located some 150 kilometres north east of Solvakia’s capital Bratislava. Security personnel were quick to cart the PM to safety while others grappled with the attacker, later identified as 71 year old Slovak poet Juraj Cintula. The reason behind the attack appears to be a politically charged one, with Cintula blaming Fico’s media policies for his drastic action.

Robert Fico is known for his pro-Russia, pro-Putin stance and has been a controversial figure in European politics. He has opposed supporting Ukraine against Russia’s aggression. Starting his fourth term as PM, Fico stopped arms shipments to Ukraine. Critics were concerned that he might steer Slovakia – a NATO member – away from its pro-western trajectory towards a path similar to that of Hungary under populist PM Viktor Orban.

India Elections

India’s Lok Sabha General Elections meander to the upcoming last three Phases of 20th May, 25th May, and 1st June. Four Phases have been completed and the wait for counting day on 4th June is excruciating. The high-voltage campaigning dropped down a few volts but the charge was steady. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to brim with confidence in a winning a third consecutive term and gathering numbers of over 400 seats in the 543 seated Lok Sabha.

India’s Billboard Crash

In India, 16 people were killed and dozens injured when a giant 30-metre-tall Billboard, located next to a busy road in the Chheda Nagar area of Mumbai City’s Ghatkopar, fell over a petrol station and adjoining buildings crushing cars and trapping over 100 people underneath. This was caused by strong winds and rains during a thunderstorm on Monday, which also uprooted trees in the area. The storm brought traffic to a standstill in parts of the city and disrupted operations at the Mumbai Airport with at least 15 flights diverted.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a statement saying the Billboard was illegal – constructed without their permission and standing for over a year at the location. Previously, the Billboard had been red-marked by Civic Authorities due to various violations, but no action was taken. The first notice, issued in March 2023, addressed non-payment of license fees. A second notice, highlighted damage to trees caused by Installtion of the billboard. The third notice, issued on the same day the structure collapsed, cited ‘unauthorised advertisement panels’. While the agency was responsible for the hoarding’s structural stability, records showed BMC’s garden department had separately registered police complaints that the Agency ‘killed’ trees that were planted on the periphery. The complaint was filed after holes were found drilled in the trunks of the dead trees in an attempt to inject poison into them. This had led to around 40 trees losing their leaves and eventually dying…a slow death.

The director of Ego Media Agency, Bhavesh Bhinde, who owns the Billboard was later arrested after a man-hunt. The 120×120 feet holding defied the permissible size of 40×40 and was erected on a 10 year lease and its weight was an astonishing 250 tons. The company had applied to the Limca Book of Records to recognise it as the largest commercial Billboard in India.

Eurovision 2024

The Eurovision Song Contest – the 68th Edition – staged in Sweden’s Malmo city ended late last week with the finals held on Saturday.

The winner was Switzerland’s Nemo -Nemo Mettler-a Swiss singer, who plays the violin, piano, and drums. His song ‘The Code’ won the contest giving Switzerland their first win since 1988. The Runner-up was Marko Purisic, a Croatian singer-songwriter, and music producer, known professionally as Baby Lasagna for the song ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’. In the third place was Aliona Olehivna Savranenko, known by her stage name Alyona Alyona, a Ukrainian rapper and songwriter along with Yana Oleksandrivna Shemaieva, known professionally as Jerry Heil, a Ukrainian singer, songwriter and You Tuber for the song ‘Teresa & Maria’. The fourth place went to Slimane Nebchi, a French singer-songwriter known professionally by the mononym, Slimane for the song ‘ Mon Amour’. Coming in at fifth was Israel’s Eden Golan for her song, ‘Hurricane’.

More historical stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Sing with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-19

About: the world this week, 5 May 2024 to 11 May 2024: Crossing into Rafah; Russia’s forever President; All-in-one India; Heat of the World; Brazil’s Floods; Eurovision; and the Met Gala 2024.

Everywhere

Crossing into Rafah

Israel has, for weeks, said that it would enter the city of Rafah in the Southern Gaza Strip to flush-out the last remains -hopefully-of the Terrorist Hamas and rescue the 130 hostages still being held. Over a million displaced Palestinians are holed-up in the city, which also ‘conveniently serves’ as a ‘natural’ human shield for Hamas.

This week Israel moved-in. This is a cliffhanger in the seven-month-old war as Israeli forces struck Rafah from the air and the ground and ordered residents to leave parts of the city. And Israel quickly secured control of the Rafah Crossing after its forces eliminated 20 terrorists in a raid, intercepted a car bomb headed towards troops, and conducted airstrikes on 100 targets.

Meanwhile, Hamas after rejecting many past proposals by Israel, seemed in a hurry to accept the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators. But Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with its dash into Rafah, while planning to continue negotiations on a deal.

United States (US) President Joe Biden threatened to stop supply of arms to Israel if it goes ahead with its Rafah ground invasion plan, which is a back-stabbing, back-track by the strongest ally of Israel. The American University wokeism has reached the very top-the White House. God Bless America!

Who benefits? The terrorist Hamas, of course. Emboldens them.

“If we must, we shall fight with our fingernails,” said Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, “But we have much more than our fingernails.” Earlier the US had delayed a shipment of arms to Israel and there is a simmering and escalting friction between the closest of allies.

In Gaza, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad kept at their act: firing anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli tanks amassed on the eastern outskirts of the city for the ground invasion.

Russia’s Forever President

This week, Vladimir Putin took oath for a record fifth presidential term as President of Russia. The unique Putin swag was unmissable, as two huge gold-plated doors opened and he almost ‘cat-walked’ alone towards the oath-taking podium, greeting people lined up on both sides of red-carpet barricade with a cheshire-cat smile. There is no stopping this man?

All-In-One India

India’s marathon General Elections has run three phases and there are four more to go, 13th May, 20th May, 25th May, and 1st June. The results will be declared on 4th June. Every week releases a ‘new gas’, in addition to the Green House Gases and other climate changers, that turn on the heat.

Last week a sex-scandal fired the headlines. This week, racist comments raced to the top. The Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda, sitting in faraway United States while describing India’s diversity said, “people in the East look like the Chinese, people in the West look like the Arabs, people in the North look like, maybe, White, and people in the South look like Africans”. He added, “ It does not matter. All of us are bothers and sisters”.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to seize the opportunity, calling the comments racist and divisive. In cricket parlance, it was full-toss bowled at the BJP and they smacked it out of the ground.

Sam Pitroda resigned amid the huge political row that erupted over his controversial remarks. A statement said he decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, of his own accord. And the Congress President has accepted his decision- as if he was waiting outside his door. Sam Pitroda has been a habitual, incorrigible offender having a history of making controversial comments. He was once advisor to the late Rajiv Gandhi and in recent times has been mentoring the dynasty’s scion, Rahul Gandhi, who himself has been equally liberal with the tongue.

Meanwhile, on a lighter vein, the BJP was disappointed…losing a ‘star overseas Arab campaigner’. Now it has to look at other White, Chinese, and African campaigners. Of course, they still have a ‘White’ Rahul Gandhi doing a great job for them!

Heat of the World

The world just experienced its hottest April on record, extending a 11-month streak in which every month set a new temperature record. Including April, the world’s average temperature was also the highest on record for a 12-month period at 1.61 degrees Celsius, above the average in the years 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.

The rising temperatures are brought about by the infamous ‘climate change’ for which Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from burning fossil fuels are the main cause. GHGs trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the planet. They absorb the heat radiating from the Earth’s surface and re-release it all directions including back to the Earth’s surface. The chief culprits in the ‘Earth warming business’ are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulphur hexafluoride. Add water vapour too.

In recent months, the natural El-Nino phenomenon, which warms the surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, has also raised temperatures.

Brazil’s Floods

Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul is being inundated like never before – its worst flooding in 80 years. Heavy rains and floods resulting in killing of over 100 people, injuring over 750 and displacing over 16 400 rendering them homeless. At least 134 people are still missing. Rains are expected to persist over the weekend.

Intense rain is expected to pummel Brazil, between the east and center-north of Rio Grande do Sul, with some areas expecting 100 mm.This, as the South American nation grapples with the deadly fallout of last week’s extreme weather, which submerged whole neighbourhoods.

The catastrophic floods have been accompanied by social upheaval, with least 45 people arrested for looting and other crimes amid the chaos. Six of those arrested are suspected of committing sexual abuse in shelters for people whose homes were impacted by the floods.

The latest storms have also flooded parts of neighbouring Uruguay, leaving some 1,340 people displaced and thousands more without electricity.

The Sun and Rain dancing in full glory!

Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest often known simply as Eurovision or as ESC, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed live and transmitted to national broadcasters via the Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries’ songs to determine a winner.

This week, Israel’s Eurovision entry officially qualified to be in the Eurovision finals, to be held this Saturday in Malmo, Sweden, after singer Eden Golan’s impressive performance in the semi-finals. The 20 year old singer received huge cheers from the audience after her performance of ‘Hurricane.’ Originally titled ‘October Rain’, the song had alluded to the Hamas attacks on southern Israel last 7th October. Israel’s public broadcaster agreed to modify the lyrics, and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which is responsible for the contest, gave the song the green light.

There have been several campaigns to block Israel from taking part in this year’s contest following the outbreak of war in Gaza. Eden Golan’s victory came hours after thousands of pro-Palestinian protestors gathered in the streets of Malmo to show their support for Gaza. A night before, the 20-year-old singer had been booed during dress rehearsals. There was a mixture of cheering and booing again during the semi-final.

Security is being tightened for the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden’s Malmo city, with large demonstrations planned to coincide with the event and the country already on high alert. Police and organisers say they’re well-prepared and hoping for a ‘joyful’ event. The annual feel-good celebration of pop and showbiz is this year shrouded by complaints from some quarters over Israel’s participation amid the war in Gaza. Sweden was already facing heightened security challenges, and Malmo is expecting one of the country’s biggest ever policing efforts.

As many as 100,000 visitors are set to descend on this city on Sweden’s south-west coast for the world’s largest live music contest. Colourful Eurovision banners decorate many of the city’s streets, and it’s the third time that Malmo is playing host, after Swedish artist Loreen won last year’s competition in Liverpool, with her hit song Tattoo. Commentators say that it is one of the most politically-charged Eurovisions ever.

Met Gala 2024

The Fashion World’s biggest night, the 2024 Met Gala was held this week at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA. The Gala fundraises for the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute and is held every year in the 1st week of May, almost always ‘at the steps’ of the same venue. And dresses to a theme and a dress code.

This year’s exhibit theme was ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion’, to examine how technology can breathe new life into garments that are too old and fragile to be worn again. The dress code was the ‘The Garden of Time’ named after the 1962 short story by J G Ballard.

In the story, an aristocratic couple living in a walled estate with a magical garden try to stave off an unruly mob trying to break in. To keep the mob at bay, the husband picks flowers trying to turn back time until there are no blooms left. The mob eventually breaks in, ransacks their place and the couple turns to stone. Guests were told that outfits should represent ‘fleeting beauty’ and embody ‘the beauty of the natural world- its fragility and its inevitable decay’.

The Gala, is known to have a very secretive guest list with the names of attendees kept tightly ‘under wraps’ and then released with all the sheerness and nakedness one can see-through on the Gala Red Carpet.

This year Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, and Zendaya, served as co-chairs alongside Vogue’s Anna Wintour. The rest of the attendees—which includes the world’s top singers, actors, models, athletes, and artists—revealed themselves on the Red Carpet.

Indian Actress Alia Bhatt attended wearing a stunning floral saree by Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee. She brought the ‘timeless’ saree to the Met carpet and in doing so, nailed the theme ‘The Garden of Time’. Her dress was ethereal, a scene-stealer that took a total of 163 dedicated individuals investing 1965 man-hours to make.

Singer and Actress Jennifer Lopez, known for her show-stopping red carpet appearances, took glamour to new heights. Stepping onto the red carpet the 54-year-old dazzled in a custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture creation. The mermaid-style gown, crafted from sheer tulle, shimmered with a plethora of sparkling rhinestones and pearls, cascading into a flowing train.

Supermodel Gigi Hadid continued her streak of theme mastery, flawlessly embodying the essence of this year’s theme alongside Designer Thom Browne’s vision of the dress code. Stepping onto the Met Gala carpet, Hadid donned an unmistakable Browne ensemble—a white off-the-shoulder corset dress with exaggerated hips, layered beneath a white silk moire coat adorned with 3D yellow roses and intricate thorn appliques.

American Rapper, Cardi B’s Met Gala philosophy has consistently been ‘the bigger, the better,’ and her jewellery choice for the 2024 event perfectly embodied this sentiment. Arriving on the Met steps, she made a dramatic entrance ‘wrapped’ in a voluminous tulle gown designed by Windowsen. The Garden of Time dress code was styled with a diamond necklace featuring a 141-carat Colombian emerald by the Indian jewellery house Kamyen. Complementing this centrepiece were her striking earrings, boasting dual emeralds and diamonds that featured a cascade yellow and white mini-briolette cut diamonds. She accessorised her hands with large emerald rings and a bangle bracelet on her wrist, with more emeralds and diamonds.

Kamyen, the Indian jewellery brand, was founded in 2010 by Pooja Gandhi, who comes from a lineage of three generations of ‘Diamantaires’. Renowned for its one-of-a-kind designs incorporating large gemstones, particularly yellow and pink diamonds, the brand has garnered global acclaim through Cardi B’s appearance at the Met Gala this year.

Some of the best dressed were: American Actress, Elle Fanning in an iridescent Balmain column with sculpted birds at the shoulders and Cartier jewellery; ‘Dune’ Actress Zendaya – in four outfits – the first a custom Maison Margiela Gown by John Galliano; Actress Gabrielle Union in mermaid inspired Michael Kars Collection with Tiffany & Co jewellery; Actress Demi Moore in a show-stopping Harris Reed oversize floral-print gown with detachable back panel and padded hips plus a massive Cartier necklace; Actress Michelle Yeoh wearing sculpted aluminium Balenciaga Coutre, plus Cindy Chao jewellery. Other memorable appearances were by Singer Shakira, South African Singer and songwriter Tyla, and ‘Baywatch’ Pamela Anderson.

The other Indians at the Gala were: Heiress Natasha Poonawalla in a custom Marigela designed by John Gallino; Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Mona Patel in a off-shoulder, body-hugging Iris Van Herpen gown inspired by flying butterflies – 3D butterflies were flying on her sleeves, lending a magical touch; Actor & Producer Mindy Kaling in a sculptured nude couture gown by Gaurav Gupta – with cape and train; Actor Ambika Mod in a monochromatic black and white gown from Loewe; Vouge India Cover Star and Bridgerton Actor, Simone Ashley, in a cut-out navy blue dress designed by Prabal Gurung; Hyderabad based based Indian billionaire, Sudha Reddy, in a custom Tarun Tahiliani ivory silk dress. Reliance heiress Isha Ambani in a bespoke hand-embroidered sari-gown by Rahul Mishra.

It was a feast of flesh, colour, fabric, and pure magic, dancing in the Garden of Time. Would be hard to sleep with all those images flying like butterflies in your dreams!

More striking stories coming in the weeks ahead. Dress yourself with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-18

About: the world this week, 28 April 2024 to 4 May 2024: an extraordinarily generous proposal; India’s Elections and a sex scandal; Old Beauty; and a lifetime in the movies.

Everywhere

The Hostage Situation

The ever going-on behind-the-scenes diplomatic drive to bring at end to the Hamas-Israel war saw booming activity this week. Hamas was urged to swiftly accept Israel’s latest proposal, called an ‘extraordinarily generous’ one by the negotiators, for a Gaza truce and to secure release of the hostages. Israel offered a deal to accept the release of fewer than 40, of the 130 hostages, still held in captivity, in exchange for freeing Palestinians jailed in Israel, and a second phase of truce consisting of a ‘period of sustained calm’. Hamas has been insisting on a permanent cease-fire. And there is no word from them, as yet, on the decent proposal.

Meanwhile, the unrest in University Campus’ of the United States continued with woke, pro-Palestine students creating ruckus’ and preventing Jewish students from entering Colleges. The Police swung into action, making arrests and getting tougher with the protesters.

India’s Elections: the Gowdas

The heat around India’s ongoing long General Elections only grows hotter almost every week. And most often, a new match lights a new fire, which rages on until it gets doused on its own, and then forgotten – until the next fire story burns the headlines.

Over the past week, a massive sex scandal has shaken the southern State of Karnataka. The grandson of ‘accidental’ former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and a sitting Member of Parliament (MP) from Hassan, Prajwal Revanna, 33, is in the eye of the storm, of a horrendous scandal. He is accused of sexual harassment and abuse of numerous women, over many years, going by leaked videos of the man himself, in action. A former car-driver of the MP, who leaked the videos, has confessed that he handed over a pen-drive containing the videos to a Party leader.

Prajwal Revanna’s father, HD Revanna, is Deve Gowda’s elder son and a former minister, also the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the State’s Holenarsipura. Revanna’s mother Bhavani Revanna was a member of the Hassan Zilla Panchayat. His brother, Suraj Revanna, is a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). Prajwal Revanna is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-of which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a part – candidate in the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls, in the second Phase, on 26th April.

Prajwal graduated in mechanical engineering from Bangalore Institute of Technology in 2014. He joined a master’s degree programme in Australia but discontinued to join politics. In 2019, he was appointed as the State General Secretary of the Janata Dal (Secular) Party – JD(S).

The accusation is that girls and women from various backgrounds – government officials, TV anchors, models, minors, maids-have been sexually exploited, with graphic details of the acts recorded on video – shot by Prajwal himself. Apparently the faces of the victims are shown, while Prajwal remains hidden in most of the scenes. Why would an MP do this?It turns out that he not only molests women but also enjoys recording their humiliation on camera, going by media reports of thousands of videos circulated through pen-drives in Karnataka. By some estimates, there are at least 3,000 video clips in circulation. It is hard to say how many women feature in the videos, but the number is estimated to reach hundreds.

A 47-year-old woman who worked as a house-help at Prajwal Revanna’s residence has accused him and his father of sexually assaulting and harassing female workers. She claimed that women would be summoned the storeroom where they would be touched inappropriately, and sexually assaulted by removing their sari pins (allowing the sari to fall). “After four months of joining, Revanna kept calling me to his room. There were six women workers in the house and everyone said that they were scared when Prajwal came home. The male workers in the house also alerted the women workers to be careful,” She said.

There are women of all ages, from teenagers to those in their 60s. What they have in common is that they are mostly vulnerable and largely defenceless. The molestations seem to be a symbol of Prajwal’s power over them. In one video, an elderly woman is heard begging him not to assault her, saying that she has served his family for years and has even fed his father.

The JD(S) has suspended Prajwal from the party until further investigation. His uncle and former Chief Minister of Karnataka, HD Kumaraswamy has distanced himself from the MP. The Government in Karnataka has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations of sexual abuse.

The case is yet another example of the moral bankruptcy of politicians and abuse of their positions. The disgrace and horror is heightened when it involves democratically elected representatives like MPs and MLAs, whom people approach with their grievances expecting resolution. The selective outrage of political parties and their leadership against crimes against women is equally abhorrent. Prajwal Revanna is perhaps the sleaziest MP in the history of India.

All over the country, men abused, molested, hurt, raped, and killed women because they thought they could get away with it — and most of them did. The Indian justice system is so lax that they rarely faced the retribution they deserve. And politicians do nothing to make the streets safe.

The Gowda family is not new to controversy. Recently, Prajwal Revanna’s mother, Bhavani Revanna hit the headlines for taking on a biker for crashing into her luxury Sports Utility Vehicle. She told him, “If you want to die, you should have gone under a bus but not under my car. It costs INR 50 lakh to fix the damage. Will you give it ?” The Gowda family later had to clarify her behaviour, calling it a ‘post-surgery stress’. Wow, innovative things only politicians can come up with!

In the year 2006, the then 19-year-old Nikhil Kumarasamy son of HD Kumaraswamy created a ruckus in a Bengaluru Hotel for not serving him and his gang of friends food late at night, when they came riding-in. His father was then the CM of the State. Nikhil threatened the hotel with, “I am the CM’s son, I will get this hotel blown up”.

Now, let’s blow onto something cooler!

Old Beauty

Alejandra Marisa Rodriguez, a 60-year-old lawyer from Argentina, emblazoned her name in the history books, after she was crowned Miss Universe-Buenos Aires. With this, she became the first woman of her age to win such a prestigious beauty title. She contested with 34 others, ranging from 18 to 73 in age, to win the beauty pageant that was held on 24th April.

Next, Alejandra begins preparations to represent Buenos Aires in the upcoming national selection for Miss Universe Argentina title in May 2024, which takes her to the Miss Universe 2024 Title Competition to be held in September in Mexico. Mexico has hosted the pageant four times in the past: 2007, 1993, 1989, and 1978.

In September 2023, the Organisers of the Miss Universe Pageant announced that there would no longer be age limits for contestants. And starting in 2024, every woman over the age of 18 can participate: in the past, only women aged between age 18 and 28 could contest.

Alejandra is from La Plata, the capital city of Argentina’s Buenos Aires Province. After completing high school, she embarked on a career in journalism before pursuing a law degree. Later, she transitioned into a role as a legal advisor for a hospital.

Nothing much is known about her family – for the moment, she is single and stunningly beautiful for her age.

Alejandra believed she had long aged-out of the worldwide beauty pageant, but when the rules changed in 2023 she thought she had a chance.

She credited her lifestyle to her appearance. Alejandra keeps her diet, and works-out three times a week; does intermittent fasting and includes copious amounts of fruits and vegetables in her diet.

“The basic thing is to have a healthy life, eat well, do physical activity. Normal care, nothing too extraordinary and a little genetics.” She said. “What I try to do is intermittent fasting, I think that helps a lot. Then I try to eat organic foods, a lot of fruit, a lot of vegetables, and use good creams.”

Will this take her to the Miss Universe Title? Why Not?

A Lifetime in the Movies

Late last week, on Saturday, Hollywood legends gathered to celebrate Actress Nicole Kidman, 56, receiving the American Film Institute (AFI) Lifetime Achievement Award at the 49th Gala Tribute, Hollywood, California.

She is the first Australian to receive the Award. Previous winners, which the AFI calls the ‘highest honour in American cinema’, include Meryl Streep, Julie Andrews, Denzel Washington, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, and Steven Spielberg.

Actress Meryl Streep presented the Award and praised Nicole Kidman’s formidable talent and stunning range of work.

During the ceremony, Kidman teared up as her husband, singer Keith Urban, who came-up on stage, said she showed him “what love in action really looks like” when his substance abuse problems emerged soon after they married in 2006. “Four months into our marriage, I’m in rehab for three months,” Urban said, addressing Kidman and their two teenage daughters, Sunday Rose, 15 and Faith Margaret,15 who joined their mother on the red carpet for the first time. “Nic pushed through every negative voice, I’m sure even some of her own, and she chose love. And here we are 18 years later.”

Australian actors Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Cate Blanchett also gave video tributes to the first actor from their country to win the award.

Nicole Kidman appeared on stage looking regal in a glamorous custom Balenciaga gown, from the Fall ’24 Collection. The fitted gown was embroidered with gold sequins and featured a long gold train. Her long strawberry-blonde hair was made in a side part with loose waves framing her face. And she looked irresistible, in a vision of gold.

Kidman was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001 with who she shares two children, Isabella and Connor. She married Keith Urban in 2006.

Nicole Kidman won an Academy Award for Best Actress in ‘The Hours’ (was nominated for ‘Moulin Rouge’, ‘Rabbit Hole’, and ‘Being the Ricardos’). In addition, she won two Prime-time Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Awards and a BAFTA Award. She also won a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Nicole Kidman’s breakthrough in the world of movies came with lead roles in ‘Dead Calm’ and the Australian mini TV series, ‘Bangkok Hilton’, both in the year 1989.

Pure Gold!

More old and new beautiful stories coming in the weeks ahead. Wear gold, win awards with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-17

About: the world this week, 21 April 2024 to 27 April 2024: the world’s war-front; India’s Charged Elections; an Ex-President’s Woes; and India’s moves in World Chess.

Everywhere

On the World’s War-front

Israeli strikes intensified across Gaza in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, and the Israeli army ordered fresh evacuations in the north, warning civilians they were in a dangerous combat zone. Non-stop bombardments also continued in the Central and Northern parts – mostly strikes by air and shelling from tanks on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Hamas psychopaths published a new propaganda video of a hostage, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, showing the 23-year-old Israeli-American saying he has been held captive for nearly 200 days. Hersh is seen in the video missing one of his hands. It was blown off from the elbow down when terrorists lobbed grenades into a shelter, where he and others who tried to escape the 7 October 2023 Nova party massacre., were hiding.

On another front, Israel’s military is poised to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and assault Hamas hold-outs in the southern Gaza Strip city, despite international warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel is clearly moving ahead with a ground operation. Israel’s Defence Ministry bought 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10 to 12 people, to house Palestinians relocated from Rafah in advance of an assault.

In a new streak of ever-growing wokeism in America, mass chaos broke out at college campuses across the United States of America as pro-Palestine protests intensified. Columbia, Harvard, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, and others were swarmed by protesters. Harvard Yard was also been taken over by pro-Palestine protesters who set-up camp after the university threatened to take action. Police had a tough time managing the footloose, unruly, university students as protests turned violent.

Their support should naturally be for Israel and a shout-out to release the over 130 hostages in the captivity of the terrorist Hamas.

In the other warfront in Europe, far from the trenches, at orderly new centres across Ukraine, civilian recruiters armed with laptops and info packs offer patriotic volunteers opportunities to join the war. As Ukraine’s efforts to conscript enough men to fight Russia are stymied by public scepticism, defence officials and military units are embarking on a multi-pronged charm offensive to recruit a citizens’ army to resist the invasion. Candidates can select their precise unit and roles suiting their skills, as well as how long they will serve.

On city streets, billboards of Ukrainian soldiers implore citizens to join up and defend their homeland, offering QR codes for convenience. For e.g., online, the 93rd Mechanised Brigade assures countrymen that ‘everyone can do it!’ in a glossy video campaign showing civilians, such as a chef and tractor driver, switching to analogous army roles as battlefield cook and tank driver.

On another front in Iran, the same day it launched its first ever direct attack on Israel, it embarked on a less-noticed confrontation at home. Police were ordered in several cities to take to the streets to arrest a growing number of women accused of flouting its strict Islamic dress code. Under Iran’s sharia, or Islamic law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. Offenders face public rebuke, fines, or arrest.

India’s Super-charged Election

This week, on 26th April, India passed the second phase of General Elections-Lok Sabha Elections 2024 -to elect a new Government at the Centre for the next five years. A total of 88 constituencies across 13 states and a Union Territory voted in this phase. The votes were cast in all 20 Lok Sabha seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 6 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu & Kashmir.

This week the high-pitch, ever-decibel growing election campaign revolved around the Congress Party’s wild thinking of introducing ‘Inheritance Tax’ in India. This on the lines of that in America, where the children inherit 45% of the family wealth, on the death of the family wealth creator, and the Government grabs the balance 55%. This comes in the backdrop of the Congress Party’s Election Manifesto talking about tackling growing inequalities in wealth and income through suitable change in policies. Also as a prelude, economic and institutional surveys along with a caste census would be conducted to ‘redistribute’ wealth.

We all know growth is the only way to reduce inequality, but the Congress seems to have other ideas.

Surely a regressive kind of thinking, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seized the opportunity to take the Grand Old Party of India to the cleaners. The Congress was forced to ‘disown’ a statement made by its overseas In-charge. But I reckon no one was listening – with people looking at safeguarding their wealth.

Another talking point was former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh having said in the year 2009, that ‘minorities, especially poor Muslims, should get priority when it comes to the nation’s resources’. Haunting times for the Congress, indeed.

With five more phases to go we can expect more fireworks in the days to come.

This week the Supreme Court of India rejected a plea for 100% verification of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) Slips with the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). This comes in the background of the various parties in India – especially the opposition – crying for a return to the old Paper Ballot and Manual Counting System. It also rejected a plea to allow the voter to take the VVPAT slip and deposit it in a ballot box. And it rejected the plea to revert to Paper Ballot Voting.

The Supreme Court added some strictures such as the sealed containers of the Symbol Loading Units should be kept in storerooms with the EVMs for least 45 days post-declaration of results. And gave some futuristic ideas such as, exploring the possibility of machine-counting of VVPAT slips.

Once a voter presses the vote button on the EVM- Ballot, a printed slip is generated in the adjacent VVPAT machine. This shows the choice of the voter, and as is visible for 7 seconds – after which it drops down into a sealed compartment. This enables the voter to confirm that his vote has been recorded correctly.

EVM’s were first used in the State of Kerala in 1982 and progressively used all over India, starting in the late 1990s. The VVPAT was added in 2013 to confirm that electronic voting is accountable and reliable. The EVM was developed for the Election Commission of India by the Government owned Electronics Corporation of India and Bharat Electronics. EVMs are standalone machines built with ‘write once read many (WORM)’ -information once written cannot be modified- are self-contained, battery powered and do not need any networking capability. They do not have any wireless or wired internet components and interface. Hence, impossible to hack or manipulate.

Donald Trump’s Woes

In America, The US Supreme Court weighs Ex-President Donald Trump’s bid for immunity from prosecution. The Supreme Court’s conservative justices signaled support on Thursday for US Presidents having some level of protection from criminal charges for certain acts taken in office as it tackled Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution for trying to undo his 2020 election loss.

Trump, seeking this year to regain the White House, appealed after lower courts rejected his request to be shielded from four election-related criminal charges. This was on the grounds that he was serving as President when he took the actions that led to the indictment.

With a colourful variety of cases piled-up on him, Donald Trump is spending a lot of time in the Courts. And seems to be enjoying it.

World Chess and India’s Moves

These days hardly a move is made in the world of Chess without an Indian being behind it. This week, India’s 17-year-old Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest player to win the men’s chess tournament after a draw against his opponent Hikaru Nakamura, in the final day of the 2024 Candidates Tournament held in Toronto, Canada, from 3rd April to 22nd April. It’s an eight-player chess tournament, held to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2024. The event was held alongside the Women’s Candidates Tournament.

Gukesh effectively wrapped up victory in the tournament after American Fabiano Caruana blundered a winning position against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi to be held to a draw.

The previous youngest winner of the men’s Candidates Tournament was Garry Kasparov, who was 20 when he prevailed in 1984, a year before winning the world champion title against fellow Russian Anatoly Karpov.

Gukesh, who was one of three Indian players in the tournament, will face China’s Ding Liren for the title later this year. World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, a five-time classical chess world champion, relinquished his title last year, citing a lack of motivation.

Gukesh became a Grandmaster at the age of 12, the third youngest person to have done so. If he beats Ding Liren this year, he will become India’s second world chess champion after Viswanathan Anand who won the title five times.

China’s Tan Zhongyi dominated the women’s tournament and will face her compatriot Ju Wenjun for the world title.

Gukesh lives in Chennai, Tamil Nadu studying at the Velammal Vidyalaya school, Mel Ayanambakkam, Chennai. His father, Dr Rajinikanth, is an Ear, Nose, and Throat surgeon, and his mother, Dr Padma, is a microbiologist.

Gukesh won the Under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015, and the World Youth Chess Championships in 2018 in the Under-12 category. He also won five gold medals at the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championships, in the U-12 individual rapid and blitz, U-12 team rapid and blitz, and the U-12 individual classical formats. He completed the requirements for the title of International Master in March 2017 at the 34th Cappelle-la-Grande Open.

On 15 January 2019, at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days, Gukesh became the then second-youngest grandmaster in history, only surpassed by Sergey Karjakin with 17 days. Since then the record was beaten by Abhimanyu Mishra, making Gukesh the third youngest.

More fighting stories coming in the weeks ahead. Make your moves with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-16

About: the world this week, 14 April 2024 to 20 April 2024: Israel & Iran; knives out in Australia; UAE goes underwater; India begins voting; and keeping a Princess & Future Queen safe.

Everywhere

Israel – Iran

In an insane move and probably a serious miscalculation, Iran attacked Israel launching over 300 drones and missiles into Israel. But, in an unbelievable military defence operation almost 99% of them were knocked-out by the combined might of the United States (US), United Kingdom(UK), and Israel. Actually, it was a multinational coalition consisting of, among others-a huge surprise-Jordon and Saudi Arabia!

Obviously, Iran’s action is a follow-through on its vow to avenge Israel’s attack on a ‘building next to it Consulate in Damascus, Syria’, which had resulted in the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps Commander and his deputy.

Iran’s strike began with over 100 ground-to-ground missiles being fired from Iran into Israel. Simultaneously, drones and ballistic missiles were fired from its partners-in-crime, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

Tens of Israel fighter jets were immediately scrambled, which included F15, F16, and F35 planes. The Israeli planes flew deep into the airspace of the Middle East and began hunting the missiles and drones, detonating them one after the other. In parallel, fighter jets from the US and UK, along with other countries also took off from various Bases, and began to ‘hunt down’ the missiles. Whatever survived the fighter jet attacks and managed to reach Israeli airspace were immediately taken out by Israel’s Air defence systems including the Iron Dome, Hetz (Arrow) 2, Hetz 3, and more.

Israel and its allies mostly shot down all the missiles and drones and there were no deaths, but Israel says it must retaliate to preserve the credibility of its deterrents. Iran says it views the matter as closed but will retaliate again if Israel does.

What Israel will do next is yet to be seen, but the Iranian regime was humiliated that night, and to top that off, they are now waiting in fear to see how badly Israel punishes them.

Then late in the week, Israel carried out a surprise attack deep inside Iran’s territory, hitting an Iranian military base at Isfahan. The base is used by combat aircraft and military transport planes, likely with air defence systems – which seems to have been ‘defanged’ by the surgical strike. It is also close to a major Iranian nuclear facility for uranium enrichment. This strike was symbolic, sending a message that Israel is capable of targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities or anywhere in Iranian soil.

Israel had a point to make and it made it. What next?

Australia: Knives Out

Last Saturday in Australia, a knife-wielding man went on a stabbing rampage at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs, before a woman police inspector shot him dead after he turned and raised a knife.

The attacker identified as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, was known to police in the neighbouring state of Queensland. Cauchi, wearing shorts and an Australian national rugby league jersey, ran through the Westfield Mall with a knife. He fatally stabbed six people and injured at least 12 before he was killed by Inspector Amy Scott who ran into the shopping centre by herself, confronted the terrorist and killed him. Incredible heroism on display.

The man first stabbed a mother and her baby. The mother Ash Good, 38, died from her injuries while her baby who was also stabbed has undergone surgery and is in serious condition. The knife rampage lasted 15 minutes.

It was revealed that police knew the attacker and was and on their radar. He had mental health issues in the past and there is no indication ideology was a motive in the attack.

Quick on the heels of the knife attack on Monday another stabbing incident took place at a Sydney church, which Police have declared as religiously motivated and a terrorist act. A 16-year-old boy attacked a Bishop, a priest and churchgoers during mass at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, which was being streamed online.

Four people suffered ‘non-life-threatening’ injuries. The attacker was also hurt. Police arrested the boy after the stabbing at the Church that injured Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, 53, and a priest. Both are expected to survive.

The video online showed the Bishop being repeatedly stabbed in the head and upper body during the service. He sustained lacerations to his head after being lunged at. And underwent surgery. A 39-year-old man also sustained cuts and a shoulder injury while attempting to intervene.

Ordained by the Assyrian Orthodox Church in 2011, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel is seen as a popular and a controversial figure. His sermons have received millions of views on social media. But the Bishop has had a turbulent relationship with the Assyrian Church, reportedly being suspended for disobeying canons and forming a breakaway church. In 2021, Mar Mari Emmanuel became a vocal opponent of Covid-19 restrictions, describing lockdowns in Australia as slavery and arguing that vaccines were futile.

The teenage boy arrested after the stabbing attack inside the Sydney church was placed on a good behaviour bond after facing Court for a knife crime just three months ago. Police know the identity of the 16-year-old boy, but have chosen not to publish his name. The boy was charged with a range of offences, including possessing a knife, in November last year after an incident at a Sydney train station involving other teenage boys. The boy was found in possession of a flick knife and charged with being armed with a weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence, stalking and/or intimidation and recklessly destroy or damage property. He was on bail until his last court appearance in January, where his case was ‘proven’ but dismissed with a good behaviour bond.

Police said the suspect’s comments pointed to a religious motive for the attack.

“We’ll allege there’s a degree of premeditation on the basis that this person has travelled to that location, which is not near his residential address, he has travelled with a knife and subsequently the Bishop and the priest have been stabbed,” Police said. “They’re lucky to be alive”.

Dubai: Desert Storm

How many times we have heard this often repeated line – almost a cliche-‘The whole year’s rain came down in a single day’. The rain, tired of conquering the seas, the costal areas, and fertile hills and valleys turned its sights on the Desert and United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Dubai, and Oman ‘came under its wing’.

This week the UAE was drowned in unprecedented rains brought by a storm that brewed over the desert, the heaviest experienced by the country in the 75 years. It brought much of Dubai to a standstill and caused significant damage. The storm hit neighbouring Oman on Sunday and then pounded the UAE on Tuesday, with 20 reported dead in Oman and one in the UAE.

While some roadways in hard-hit communities remain flooded, delivery services across Dubai, whose residents are used to ordering everything at the click of a mouse, slowly began returning to the streets.

Rains are rare in the UAE and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, which is typically known for its dry desert climate. Summer air temperatures can soar above 50 degrees Celsius. Following Tuesday’s rains, questions were raised whether cloud seeding-a process of manipulating clouds to increase rainfall- that the UAE frequently conducts, could have caused the heavy rain. A UAE government agency that oversees cloud seeding denied conducting any such operations before the storm. But climate experts blame global warming for such extreme weather events.

Researchers anticipate that climate change will lead to heightened temperatures, increased humidity and a greater risk of flooding in parts of the Gulf region. Countries like the UAE where there is a lack of drainage infrastructure to cope with heavy rains can suffer the most.

Dubai, a city in the desert proud of its modern gloss, faced the towering task of clearing its water-clogged roads and drying out flooded homes. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, struggled to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of Tuesday’s deluge.

Inking India’s Finger

This week, Friday 19th April, marked the beginning of the biggest Festival of Democracy the world has seen. The first phase, of the seven-phase polls, decides 102 seats in 21 Indian States for India’s 543 member Lower House of Parliament, the Lok Sabha. And after meandering through the rest of April and May concludes on 1st June 2024.

An average of 60% of voters in various States got their finger inked with indelible ink – to mark that they have voted. The aggregate voter turnout till 9pm was 62.37 % with the highest percentage in Tripura at 80.17%. In the previous Elections in 2019 the aggregate was 69.43% in the first Phase.

The process was by and large peaceful, except for incidents in the State of Tamil Nadu, and others, that names have been left out of the Voters List despite having a valid Voter Identification. The Election Commission of India needs to get its tails-up to resolve this problem. Violence was reported in some parts of West Bengal and Manipur and the voter turnout fell from the figure in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Tough being a Princess and a Future Queen

The Netherlands, a country of 18 million people, has low rates of violent crime – a safe country. Its royal family are sometimes called ‘the bicycle monarchy’ for their informal approach to royal duties. But there is a problem. Princess Amalia, 20, the future Queen of the Netherlands, has been living outside her country for the past year over security concerns. Amalia is the eldest daughter of the Dutch King Willem-Alexander and his Argentine-born wife Queen Maxima and will one day ascend the throne as the country’s next monarch.

However, the young Princess has been forced to leave the Netherlands due to kidnapping threats. This is based on intelligence reports indicating Amalia was mentioned in communications by organised crime groups, sparking fears she could be a target of attacks. Amalia has been living in Madrid, Spain for the past year but recently relocated to the palace after new measures were taken to ensure her safety. She made a rare appearance at a state banquet at the royal palace in Amsterdam with her parents in honour of the Spanish royal family.

In September 2022, the Princess began studying at the University of Amsterdam and briefly lived on campus with other students as she pursued a bachelor’s degree in politics, psychology, law and economics. However, soon afterwards the royal family said she had been forced to leave her student housing, citing similar concerns for her safety, and she moved back into the palace and became a virtual recluse. “She can’t live in Amsterdam, and she can’t really go outside (the palace),” Queen Maxima told journalists at the time. The Netherlands needs a Princess Shield.

More Princess stories coming in the weeks ahead. Build your Palace with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-15

About: the world this week, 7 April 2024 to 13 April 2024: War Vows; EU immigration; a brand new young Prime Minister; a Swiss Victory; corrupted in Vietnam; and a total eclipse of the sun.

Everywhere

Israel, Hamas, and Vows

This week the terrorist Hamas rejected yet another ceasefire proposal made by Israel, at talks in Egypt. Israel and Hamas sent teams to Cairo for talks that included Qatari and Egyptian mediators as well as CIA Director William Burns.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We are constantly working to achieve our goals, first and foremost the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas. This victory requires entry into Rafah (Gaza’s last refuge for displaced Palestinians) and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen – there is a date”. However, a date was not specified.

Meanwhile, it’s becoming deadly clear that most of the Israeli hostages taken on 7 October 2023 have been murdered in captivity and Hamas is unable to ‘produce them’. Hamas acknowledges it lacks ‘sufficient living Israeli hostages’ for a deal – that confirms that most hostages are deceased. Hence, Hamas delays negotiations fearing exposure of its deceit about the captive status. Officials believe hostages who are still alive are being used as human shields surrounding the Hamas leadership, hidden deep in the tunnels of Gaza.

Towards the end of the week, Israel got into a high alert mode, on a possible attack by Iran, who have vowed to avenge Israel’s attack on a ‘building near its Consulate’ in Syria. Amid these fears, the United States in its turn, vowed support for Israel.

Poland and Immigration

This week more than 250 illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East tried to storm the Polish border from the Belarus side. Polish riot police and the Army managed to push them back into Belarus. This comes in the backdrop of Russia and Belarus – who are great friends – using weaponised migration as a form of hybrid warfare.

In recent times, Poland has taken in the largest number of Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s invasion of the country in 2022.

European lawmakers voted this Wednesday on a revamp of the European Union’s (EU) migration policy: to cut the length of time for security and asylum procedures, and increase returns of migrants to reduce unwanted immigration from the Middle East and Africa, a high priority on the EU’s agenda.

The EU Asylum and Migration Pact has been in the works since 2015, and following its approval by the European Parliament, it will come into force in two years’ time. It will require EU member states to share responsibility for asylum seekers. The EU’s 27 countries will be required to either take in thousands of migrants from ‘frontline’ countries such as Italy, Greece, Spain, or provide extra funding or resources instead, called ’solidarity payments’.

The EU’s migration pact has become a highly charged political issue in Poland. Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk said his government would not accept any relocated asylum seekers under the EU’s proposed new migration pact and is opposed, in general, to the introduction of such a system.

Poland does not accept refugees from Muslim countries – from Africa or the Middle East: it accepts refugees from Christian countries.

Ireland’s New Prime Minister

In March this year, Irish Prime Minister (PM) Leo Varadkar, 45, in an unexpected shocking decision, resigned as the leader of his party, Fine Gael, and as PM. And Ireland’s Government had to scramble its lawmakers to find a replacement.

This week Simon Harris, 37, was elected as taoiseach (Irish PM), by members of the Dail (Irish Parliament). He is also the new Fine Gael party leader and becomes the youngest person to lead the Republic of Ireland. Simon Harris was elected after a vote in which 88 Dail members supported him while 69 voted against him. He was officially installed as taoiseach this Tuesday, after meeting President, Michael D Higgins, to receive the Seals of Office. Harris was the only candidate to seek the party leadership, after Varadkar’s decision to quit.

Simon Harris grew up in the coastal town of Greystones, in County Wicklow. He is the eldest of three children, the son of a taxi driver and a special needs assistant. His younger brother Adam is autistic – a fact which Harris said kickstarted his own involvement in political campaigning when he was just 16.

In 2009, he became a Councillor in Wicklow obtaining the highest individual vote of any candidate in the County. When Fine Gael swept to power in 2011, to lead a new coalition government, Harris won a parliament seat for the party in Wicklow. He entered the 31st Dail in 2011 at the age of 24 – the youngest member and the ‘baby of the house’. Since then, he has had a rapid rise through the party ranks, landing his first cabinet role before his 30th birthday, in 2016. He took on the prestigious but difficult role of Health Minister. The following summer he married his long-term girlfriend, children’s cardiac nurse, Caoimhe Wade, and is now father to two children. As minister for health, he oversaw Ireland’s vote to overturn its abortion ban and was in-charge of the country’s initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Swiss Victory

This week, in a stunning verdict The European Court of Human Rights’s (ECtHR) ruled that the Switzerland government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change. The case was brought by more than 2000 Swiss Women, known as KlimaSeniorinnen, all aged over 64.

The decision will set a precedent for future climate lawsuits and is expected to resonate in court decisions across Europe and beyond, and to embolden more communities to bring climate change cases against governments.

But in a sign of the complexities of the growing wave of climate litigation ECtHR rejected two other climate-related cases on procedural grounds. One of these was brought by a group of six Portuguese young people against 32 European governments, and another by a former mayor of a low-lying French coastal town.

The KlimaSeniorinnen said their government’s climate inaction put them at risk of dying during heatwaves. They argued their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to such climate change impacts. In the ruling, the Court President said the Swiss government had failed to comply with its own targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and had failed to set a national carbon budget.”It is clear that future generations are likely to bear an increasingly severe burden of the consequences of present failures and omissions to combat climate change,” the President said.

The verdict in the Swiss case, which cannot be appealed, will have international ripple effects, most directly by establishing a binding legal precedent for all 46 countries that are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights.

It indicates Switzerland has a legal duty to take greater action on reducing emissions.

If Switzerland does not update its policies, further litigation could follow at the national level and courts could issue financial penalties.

Switzerland has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, from 1990 levels. The country had proposed stronger measures to deliver the goal, but voters rebuffed them in a 2021 referendum as too burdensome.

Vietnam and Corruption

A court in Vietnam sentenced real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death over her role in a 304 trillion dong (USD 12.5 billion) financial fraud case, the country’s biggest on record. Vietnam imposes the death penalty not only for violent offences but also for economic crimes. The country has executed hundreds of convicts, in recent years, mainly by lethal injection.

Lan’s trial, which began on 5th March and ended earlier than planned, was one dramatic result of a campaign against corruption, which the leader of the country’s ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, has pledged for years to stamp out.

Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat (VTP) Holdings Group, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery, and violations of banking rules at the end of the trial in the business hub of Ho Chi Minh City. Her’s is a story of rising-up, from selling perfumes to the world of high finance.

Lan started as a cosmetics trader at the central market in Ho Chi Minh City, helping out her mother. She later founded her real estate company VTP in 1992, the same year when she got married.

Lan was found guilty, with her accomplices, of siphoning off more than 304 trillion dong from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank, or SCB, which she effectively controlled through dozens of proxies despite rules strictly limiting large shareholding in lenders. From early 2018 through October 2022, when the state bailed out SCB after a run on its deposits triggered by Lan’s arrest, she appropriated large sums by arranging unlawful loans to shell companies. The bank is currently propped up by the central bank. And faces a complex restructuring under which authorities are trying to establish the legal status of hundreds of assets that were used as collateral for loans and bonds issued by VTP. The bonds alone are worth USD 1.2 billion. Some of the assets are high-end properties, but many others are unfinished projects.

Before her fall from grace, Lan had played a key role in Vietnam’s financial world, getting involved in the previous rescue of troubled SCB more than a decade before she contributed to the bank’s new crisis.

She was found guilty of having bribed officials to persuade the authorities to look away, including paying USD 5.2 million to a senior central bank inspector, Do Thi Nhan, who was sentenced to life in prison.

Vietnam’s graft crackdown, dubbed ‘Blazing Furnace’, has seen hundreds of senior state officials and high-profile business executives prosecuted or forced to step down. Corruption is so widespread that in some provinces many people say they pay bribes just to obtain medical services in public hospitals, according to a recent survey by the United Nations Development Programme, and other organisations.

Total Eclipse of the Sun

Throngs of skywatchers spread across North America gazed upward at a blackened sun in the midday dusk this Monday, celebrating with cheers, music, and matrimony the first total solar eclipse to darken the continent in seven years.

From a Mexican beach resort, close to where the eclipse made landfall, to the banks of the Ohio River, and farther north beyond the roaring cascades of Niagara Falls at the US-Canadian border, spellbound crowds reacted to the sight of ‘totality’ with jaw-dropping expressions of awe and joy.

Where clear skies prevailed, observers along the direct path of the eclipse were treated to the rare spectacle of the moon appearing as a dark orb creeping in front of the sun, briefly blocking out all but a brilliant halo of light, or corona, around, the sun’s outer edge.

It was first total eclipse to sweep across a large swath of North America since 2017, and will be the last one visible from the contiguous United States until 2044.

Mexico’s beachside resort town of Mazatlan was the first major viewing spot for totality. Thousands in solar-safe eyewear perched in deck chairs along the coastal promenade, and an orchestra played the ‘Star Wars’ movie theme as skies darkened under the approaching lunar shadow.

More jaw-dropping stories coming in the weeks ahead. Join forces and vow to stay with World Inthavaaram.

This is my Blog where I essay stories on life about and around me, on subjects that stir and shake me up, as I turn, and make life's pages count: hoping to inspire you to live your own story!

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India Elections-The End

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