THROUGH a statement issued from New Delhi on November 4, 2013, the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) protested in the strongest possible words the character assassination against Ms Shweta Menon, a film actress from Kerala, by Congress leaders after she lodged a complaint against a Congress MP, N Peetambara Kurup, for molesting her in public during the inauguration ceremony of president’s boat race at Kollam, Kerala.

THE US has once again reverted to the Asia Pacific region as the focal area in its efforts to assert “full spectrum dominance” and arrest the growing influence of a rising China. It should be remembered that the US has fought two wars in the region since 1950 --- first in the Korean peninsula and later in Indochina. Before that the US army had fought in the Philippines, first against the Spanish colonial rulers and then against the Filipino nationalist forces. The US did of course play a leading role in ousting the Japanese imperial forces from the region during World War II.

WTO Bali Ministerial Conference

AS the next round of climate negotiations opens in the Polish capital of Warsaw, there is generally no expectation of any dramatic development. This nineteenth Conference of Parties (COP 19) of the United Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) is not the deadline for any particular piece of negotiation to be finalised, finished or simply wound up. However despite the absence of such deadlines, there are a number of significant issues on the agenda.

THE world capitalist crisis which began in 2008 not only persists but is worsening. The second half of the current year was supposed to be the period when growth in the major advanced countries would gather momentum. The IMF had predicted in spring that activity would “gradually accelerate”. But the latest figures show that instead of a recovery we have an actual deceleration in growth. In the Eurozone, quarter-to-quarter growth which had been 0.3 percent in the second quarter of this year fell to 0.1 percent in the third quarter.