THE G7 foreign ministers of G7 countries met in London this week and issued a joint statement painting Russia as a malicious actor and China as a bully. It had little substance in its communique, apart from ticking all the “right” boxes in its anti-China and anti-Russia campaign: Uyghur’s, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Crimea, Ukraine. It ended with arrogating to itself the mantle of being the “rules-based international order”, distinct from what the real lawful international order is, the United Nations and the Security Council.

THE graphs are painful to look at, the surge of cases in Brazil extraordinary, but the surge in other countries (Colombia, Argentina, Mexico) not lagging behind. The focus of attention in Latin America is Covid-19, with many states floundering to manage the spread of the virus, but more so to manage the social chaos it has created.

ON March 28, caravans marched in Havana, Cuba and another 50 cities around the world demanding an end to the US-imposed blockade on Cuba. In addition to demanding an end to the blockade, the caravan in Havana was dedicated to thanking the world for the solidarity and opposition to the hostile policies of the US government. The caravans began in Miami, US and were held in many cities in the US and in other continents on the last Sunday of every month, since the last nine months. These ‘caravan protests’ concluded on March 28.

ON February 25, 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China has achieved a ‘complete victory’ in its fight against poverty, with the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line lifted out of poverty. With this, all 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 villages have been removed from the poverty list. President Jinping made the announcement while addressing a gathering to mark the nation's poverty alleviation accomplishments and honour model poverty fighters.

THE 13th National Party Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) was held in Hanoi from January 26 to February 1, 2021 with the theme: ‘Strengthening the building and rectification of the Party and the political system into purity and strength; rousing the will and determination for national development and promoting the strength of the great national unity bloc in combination with the power of the era; continuing to comprehensively and synchronously accelerate the cause of reform; constructing and firmly safeguarding the Fatherland and maintaining