PORTUGAL, Austria and Poland had elections to their respective parliaments recently. While the Social Democrats were victorious in Portugal, Conservatives won in Austria and Poland. A noteworthy feature is the decrease in the vote share of the far-right party in Austria, a coalition partner of the Conservatives in the previous government; the entry of Left into Polish parliament and the marginal setback to the Left parties in Portugal.In Austria, the ruling Conservative Austrian People's Party won 37.5 per cent of the votes, retaining power.

THE week-long 10th India-Vietnam People’s Friendship Festival was held in Vietnam from August 12-18, 2019.

THE ninth Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Solidarity with Cuba, was held in Kathmandu, Nepal on July 26-28, 2019. 154 delegates, including the 35 delegates from India, from 15 countries representing different progressive forces in the region gathered together in solidarity with Cuba while the world is preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the heroic Cuban revolution.

THE US had invoked the Title III of Helms-Burton Act on Cuba for the first time since its enactment in 1996. This is yet another attempt by the US to subjugate Cuba and run its dictates on the socialist country. The US ruling establishment thinks that it can decisively come out of the global economic crisis only by capturing the natural resources and markets of all the developing countries. It is with this objective that the US hawks are flying to all the corners of the world.

IT is now exactly five months since the mass protests in Sudan (started on December 19, 2018) had started that led to the deposition of the dictator Omar Al-Bashir. For all these five months, the people of Sudan have continued with their protests with lot of determination. They did not rest after Al-Bashir had stepped down as the ruler of the country and the military took over. They demanded the immediate transfer of power to a civilian administration representing all sections of the Sudanese society.