THE 19th World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) was held in October in Sochi, Russia. More than 20,000 delegates from more than 150 countries participated in the festival and pledged to continue their relentless struggle to achieve peace, solidarity and social justice, with uncompromising fight against all imperialist tendencies in the present world order.This year's festival was coinciding with the centenary celebrations of the Great October Revolution and it was because of this precise reason that the International Preparatory Committee (IOC) decided to hold the festival in Russia.

 THE 23rd edition of the annual global climate summit, officially known as the Conference of Parties (COP23) concluded at Bonn in the early hours of November 18, several hours past its scheduled conclusion. This delay, as has happened on past occasions too, was the consequence of last minute confrontations between the developing countries and the developed ones. Notwithstanding the hype surrounding the signature and early ratification of the Paris Agreement by 170 countries, the developed countries continue their well-known tactics in relation to the developing world.

CPI(M ) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on November 22THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its deep grief at the passing away of Comrade Sukomal Sen, chairman of the Central Control Commission and ex-officio member of the Central Committee.  Sukomal Sen died after a long illness.  He was aged 83.Sukomal Sen joined the Party in 1952.  He was the organiser and builder of the State Government Employees movement in the country.  He served as the general secretary of the All India State Government Employees Federation from 1982 to 2008.

CPI(M)  Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on November 23.THE exposure in sections of the media raise serious issues over the circumstances of the death of the CBI court judge, H P Loya, in November 2014. Justice Loya was hearing the case regarding the encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2005.

MANY questions are swirling around the Rafale fighter aircraft deal especially in these politically charged times with various state elections already held or around the corner. There are even dark hints about skeletons in the cupboards. It is not the purpose of this column, and indeed beyond its capability with the information presently available in the public domain, to comment on possible skullduggery.However, there are undoubtedly many problematic issues raised by the Rafale deal as it now stands, as regards both its contours and the procedure adopted to get there.