THE election of Rodrigo Duterte to the Philippine presidency could mean the realisation of America's worst nightmare in the region coming true. The Philippines is the lynchpin of the Obama administration's military “pivot to the East”, aimed at militarily encircling China. Now within a few months after being sworn in as president, Duterte is threatening to upset the American applecart by not only cosying up to China but also threatening political and military “separation” from the United States. Philippines is America's oldest military ally in the region.

GIVEN the republican thrust of the Indian constitution, the above title might look quite anachronistic to some. This is because Indian constitution does not allow for such a reading as its republican character eliminates the need for hierarchical or parallel conception of sovereignty. The republican character of the Indian constitution makes people uniformly sovereign thus ruling out any competing conception of sovereignty.

THE Mock trial of Narendra Modi held in all district head quarters of Kerala on January 24th evening sent a strong message to the central government against  digitisation of transactions. Thousands of people gathered at all centres to register their protest against the hardships caused by demonetisation. People demanded the removal of all restrictions on cash withdrawal and a halt on imposing digitised money transactions.The mock trial was organised at the call of CPI (M) Central Committee which was held in Thiruvananthapuram in early this month.

 The Delhi Union of Journalists, in a statement issued on January 21 expressed alarm in this context to see the Times of India, which has set itself up as a battering ram of newspaper industry interests, seek through its editorial pages to delegitimise the wage board process which has been a vital part of the protective legislation for press freedom.

ON the completion of hundred days of Mahajana Padayatra of the CPI(M) in Telangana, Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) addressed a public meeting held in Eturu Naagaram district. She congratulated the people for making the padayatra a success despite the cash crunch caused by demonetisation. She accused the Telangana state government of suppressing tribal population be foisting false cases on more than 800 tribal activists. She said that the CPI(M) played an important role in the passage of the Forest Rights Act.