LOW oxygen levels (Hypoxia) can be a problem but surprisingly also beneficial at times. New medical research has revealed that antibiotics, essential to combat bacterial infections, can inadvertently promote potentially lethal fungal overgrowth in the gut due to low oxygen levels. This also highlights the influence of the molecular environment on drug action. Antibiotics disrupt the gut's delicate microbial balance, leading to low oxygen levels and promoting the expansion of disease-causing fungi like Candida albicans.
THE year-long heroic struggle of the Samsung workers at the Sriperumbudur plant on the outskirts of Chennai culminated in a significant victory on May 19, 2025, with the signing of an agreement with the notoriously anti-union Samsung management. This marks a landmark event in the history of contemporary trade union struggles in India.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statements Stop the Genocide in Gaza THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its deep anguish at the continuing Israeli aggression on Gaza. It demands an immediate end to Israeli attacks and enforcement of a ceasefire.In April 2025 alone, 2,037 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air and ground attacks. In the last two days, more than 200 Palestinians lost their lives.
JOSÉ "Pepe" Mujica, the former president of Uruguay, passed away on May 13, 2025, at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife, Lucía Topolansky, a fellow former guerrilla and senator. Mujica’s life was a remarkable journey – from guerrilla fighter to becoming a president, from years of solitary confinement to earning global recognition as a man of the masses. The Latin America he once led, and the Latin America he leaves behind, are not the same. Mujica was born on May 20, 1935, in Montevideo, Uruguay, into a middle-class family.
ON April 30, Vietnam celebrated the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification. The defeat of US imperialism and its retreat from Vietnam on April 30, 1975, marked the end of the 30-year long resilient struggle for independence, freedom, and reunification of Vietnam.
“WE have waited, we have been abandoned, we have been tested—but the people who stood by us have brought us here. We, who have waited 65 years for one goal, will surely succeed in building this country.” These were the words of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, President of Sri Lanka and leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) as well as the National People’s Power (NPP), the broad political front formed by the JVP.
VIJAY Shah, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh, currently serving as the cabinet minister for tribal affairs, is once again making headlines. And rightly so – because infamy, after all, is also a form of being in limelight. If that's the measure, then Vijay Shah has certainly earned his share of fame.Nearly a decade ago, while serving as a minister, he made an obscene remark about the wife of then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan – and shockingly, from a public stage in his very presence. The incident caused a public uproar.
Notwithstanding the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for reasons best known to him, chose to stay away from the two all-party meetings convened in Parliament to discuss India’s possible response to the gruesome killings in the Baisaran Valley in Pahalgam – meetings attended by leaders of various political parties – all parties present unequivocally condemned the killings carried out by terrorists linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist outfit designated by the relevant UN agency. They also extended their support to the government in taking appropriate measures in response.
RECENT press reports, e.g., Indian Express, May 19, indicate that the Modi government is moving towards changing Indian laws in atomic energy to help easier entry of US private capital in this sector. This is not only for the import of nuclear plants and machinery but also to take ownership of such plants. The two laws, according to the reports, are The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010 and The Atomic Energy Act 1962.
THE Haryana State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in a statement issued on May 18, has strongly condemned the arrest of Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad of Ashoka University, Sonipat.