History is not a straight line; it is a rugged path where the eternal conflict between rise and fall, light and shadow, persists. The womb of Fascism breeds a dense, solidified darkness. The world today is passing through such a gloom, which political scientists identify as 'Neo-Fascism.' This is not merely the 1930s story of jackboots and concentration camps; its web is more expansive, and its death-grip more subtle. Thus, today’s struggle is not just of physical might, but parallelly, of the intellect and ideology.

The species of Andes hantavirus that has been in the news is not likely to affect us in India immediately. So far, that species has existed only in South America and on one cruise ship. Right now, large-scale outbreaks are probably not coming for us. The real threat is not hantavirus.  The real threat is the deliberate, systematic dismantling of global and national pandemic preparedness by anti-science regimes in the US and India. The hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius is not an incoming plague – it's a dress rehearsal, a trial.

The Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) has secured a comfortable victory in the State Assembly elections, gaining an absolute majority with 102 seats. The LDF managed to win 35 seats, while the NDA secured 3 seats. The UDF repeated the dominance it displayed in the 2025 local body elections in this assembly poll held three months later. Within the UDF, the Congress won 63 seats, the Muslim League 22, and the Kerala Congress 7.

Technological development and innovation have been the driving force of human civilisation. With change in technologies, the production process, labour process and measurement of human contribution to social product undergoes change. The current phase of digital technology with AI as the emerging general-purpose technology is also going to radically alter the production process.

On May Day, the world’s working classes once again stepped into the streets, not merely to commemorate their past struggles and wallow in nostalgia, but to confront the deepening contradictions of the present. From Santiago to Istanbul, from Paris to Manila, the red banners rose against a horizon darkened by war, inflation, and the tightening grip of capital over life. May Day did not unfold as ritual but erupted as necessity.