THE Chinese president and general secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan paid their maiden three day State visit to India. This is the first visit of the Chinese president after his election to these positions in 2012. Sixteen agreements and memoranda of understanding have been signed, eleven of them with the central government and another five with the state governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

THE multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam that has looted crores of rupees from over 17 lakh poor people in West Bengal has now reached such proportions that it is becoming clearer by the day that the ruling Trinamool Congress party in the state and many of its prominent leaders are involved neck deep in this conspiracy.

EIGHT days before it completes its first hundred days, the Modi government and the RSS/BJP suffered a major setback in the recently held by-elections in Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Out of a total of 18 seats, the BJP could only win ten this time. In comparison to the leads that the BJP and allies registered in the 2014 general elections, when they had eight out of the ten seats that went to polls in the by-elections in Bihar, they could win only four seats. And, that too, with very narrow margins. For instance, it won the Banka seat by a wafer thin margin of 711 votes.

THE United States has launched air strikes in Iraq against the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS). President Obama has ordered this military action in Iraq, the first since its withdrawal of ground troops from the country in 2011. The Islamic extremist forces have been advancing towards Baghdad and Irbil in Kurdistan after occupying a substantial part of northern Iraq. The Obama administration had earlier sent special forces who are operating from two centres in Baghdad and Irbil.

THE Modi government has extended a welcome gift to John Kerry, the US Secretary of State who is visiting India. The union cabinet has approved the raising of the FDI cap in the insurance sector from 26 percent to 49 percent. An amendment to the Insurance Laws will be placed in this session of parliament itself. This will fulfill a longstanding demand of the United States, as voiced repeatedly by the India-US business forum which was set-up during the UPA-1 government.