In the gripping game of thrones of Philippine politics, voters have delivered former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte a sweeping mayoral victory in his hometown stronghold of Davao – predictable for a family that has held the job for more than 20 years.

But this latest landslide win creates a predicament for the Philippines, as the mayor-elect is thousands of miles away behind bars awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague accuse the 80-year-old political patriarch of carrying out a brutal war on drugs that killed possibly thousands of people, including many innocents and bystanders. Though he openly boasted about the crackdown, Duterte has long denied accusations of human rights abuses and has repeatedly said he will not kowtow to a foreign court.

His next hearing is in September, but before then experts say he faces a new, complicated legal battle between the ICC and Philippine jurisdiction over whether he will be allowed to take the oath of office.

Duterte can potentially be sworn in by proxy or in absentia – possibly by a video call, but only if The Hague-based court allows it, experts say.

If he’s allowed to assume the role, questions will be asked about how he could administer the southern city from a detention center in another time zone, where he has access to a computer and phone calls to family, but no internet.

Under Philippine law, day-to-day duties could fall to his youngest son, Sebastian Duterte, who was elected as vice mayor of Davao City.

If the senior Duterte isn’t allowed to take the oath, experts say the role of mayor could fall to election runner-up Karlo Nograles, of the Nograles political dynasty, longtime Duterte rivals in Davao, where both families tussle for influence.

Ramon Beleno, a political analyst and former professor from Ateneo de Davao University, said handing the job to Nograles could trigger a separate legal challenge from the Dutertes.

Duterte’s ‘last hurrah’?

Duterte remains a powerful yet divisive figure in the Philippines. In Davao City, where he served as mayor for over two decades before becoming president in 2016, fervent supporters credit his iron grip over the city with bolstering law and order.

Duterte’s lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, was quoted by Philippine news outlet ABS-CBN as saying the “overwhelming” support for Duterte in the 2025 midterm elections showed the public’s “total rejection” of the national government’s “attempt to stamp out” the former president’s legacy.

Beleno said voters saw this election as Duterte’s “last hurrah” and cast their ballot as a final tribute to the aging former strongman leader. Duterte’s arrest had only galvanized voters, he said.

Support for Duterte extended to his family, who re-emerged in the vote with sweeping control of their political stronghold.

All five Duterte family members who ran in this election won by a landslide. Duterte’s son Paolo was re-elected to congress and two of Paolo’s sons also won public office: Omar won as congressman for Davao City’s second district and Rodrigo II, who goes by the nickname “Rigo,” was elected as first district councilor.

Sebastian Duterte, the vice mayor-elect – who could be mayor in his father’s absence – is not as outspoken as the elder Duterte and a lot of political responsibilities are already weighing against him at home, Beleno said.

Is he allowed to be mayor?

The main legal hurdle Duterte faces, despite his landslide mayoral win, is whether he would be allowed to swear the oath during his enforced absence.

All elected public officials are supposed to take their oath within 30 days of their supposed assumption of office on July 1, according to Joel Butuyan, an ICC-accredited lawyer and president of human rights NGO CenterLaw.

Unable to be sworn in at home, Duterte would need to take the oath in the presence of a Philippine ambassador or consul in The Hague, which seems unlikely, Butuyan said.

“I don’t think he’s going to be allowed to get out just to take office because it’s not in the enumerated rights of an accused (person) in the ICC,” he said.

If the ICC grants Duterte permission, the oath will be recognized in the Philippines, but he “will not be able to perform his functions because he’s out of the country and he’s in detention,” Butuyan said.

“It’s not ideal at all,” Butuyan added, of the election result. “It does not serve the interests of the people of Davao that they voted for someone who will not be able to perform his functions as a city mayor.”

The mayor is the face of the city, with administrative tasks such as attending meetings and functions, signing documents and authorizing payrolls – all difficult to do effectively if Duterte is sitting halfway across the world, said Beleno, the political analyst.

Even before the final votes were cast, Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, said that her father’s ICC lawyer and Philippine legal team were discussing how he can take the oath.

“The ICC lawyer said that once we get proclamation papers, we’ll discuss again how former President Rodrigo Duterte can take the oath,” she said.

In a court filing to the ICC earlier this month, Kaufman said there is no legal basis for the case against Duterte because the Philippines is no longer a member of the Rome Statute.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC, but under the court’s withdrawal mechanism, it keeps jurisdiction over crimes committed during the membership period of a state – in this case, between 2016 and 2019, when the country’s pullout became official.

A political stalemate

The closely watched midterm election was considered a proxy battle between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Duterte-Carpio as ties disintegrate between the former allies turned enemies.

The vice president is facing impeachment complaints in the House of Representatives amid allegations of corruption, which she denies. A two-thirds vote in the Senate is required to convict her, remove her from public office, and ban her from seeking any public post.

To stay in office, Duterte-Carpio needs nine of 24 senators to vote for her acquittal. And neither the Marcoses nor the Dutertes dominate the Senate after the May 2025 vote.

The race yielded a three-way stalemate between Marcos-endorsed candidates, Duterte-allied politicians, and liberal-leaning figures, said Maria Ela Atienza, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines.

“The vice president has more breathing room now … but she should also be careful with how the public perceives her,” Atienza said. “Her popularity ratings have recovered a bit … but we have seen she can make mistakes that can affect the sentiments of the people.”

In reality, the Filipino public is also becoming impatient with the drama in high places, Atienza said. “They’re getting tired of having the Dutertes always fighting with the Marcoses,” she said.

For now, political bickering is in gridlock. But Rodrigo Duterte’s stronghold still stands and his supporters long for the day he is officially declared mayor and comes back to serve his home country.

Austria won its third Eurovision Song Contest after a glittering grand final in neighboring Switzerland, with singer JJ earning the continent’s votes for the operatic pop anthem “Wasted Love.”

The song, which showcases the classically trained Austrian-Filipino singer’s remarkable vocals and was staged in a dramatic style that evoked a shipwreck, dazzled the crowd in Basel and saw Austria triumph for the first time since Conchita Wurst’s victory in 2014.

Israel came second in the leaderboard, with Yuval Raphael – a survivor of Hamas’ October 7 attacks – winning support for her performance of “New Day Will Rise.” Estonia was placed third, while San Marino earned the last-place spot.

“I had a pretty tough year, and I wanted to write about my personal experience with wasted, unreciprocated love,” he said, adding that if he won Saturday’s final, he would “probably break down, start crying and then call my family.”

The Eurovision grand final is a defining event on the LGBTQ+ calendar and attracts interest across the continent, showcasing some of Europe’s most talented, eccentric and varied performers.

Taking to the stage on Saturday were a Latvian ethno-pop six-piece, whose bewitching track melded a folk chant with fairytale imagery; a Ukrainian glam rock-inspired group; a gimmicky Estonian artist who caricatured Italian coffee culture; and an Albanian double act whose haunting track “Zjerm” became a fan favorite.

A rumored appearance by Celine Dion, who won Eurovision for Switzerland in 1988 and who, along with ABBA, is the contest’s most celebrated alumni, failed to materialize.

Though organizers insist Eurovision is an apolitical event, the contest has long been embroiled in the continent’s tensions. Russia and Belarus were banned following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and the participation of Israel has been opposed by segments of the fanbase due to the country’s ongoing war in Gaza.

The Israeli contestant Raphael — who was attending the Nova music festival when Hamas launched its cross-border attacks in October 2023 — sang to an arena where Palestinian flags were flying, following a rule change by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

As a missionary and bishop in Peru, the future Pope Leo came face-to-face with one of the most serious and far-reaching scandals in the church in Latin America.

For years, there were allegations of abuse within the hugely influential Catholic society Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), which had deep ties to Peru’s powerful and wealthy.

The scandal came to a head in 2015, the year after Leo, then known as Robert Prevost, was appointed bishop in the northern city of Chiclayo. A book written by one of the victims, Pedro Salinas, with journalist Paola Ugaz, “Half Monks, Half Soldiers,” described alleged beatings, humiliation and sexual assault in stark detail from 30 anonymous victims that enflamed the country.

A secret brotherhood

When Oscar Osterling formally joined SCV in 1992, he was instructed not to tell his parents about his loyalty oath – a secrecy that appealed to the then-teenager. He would go on to spend more than two decades with SCV, only breaking out in his mid-thirties as the first allegations began to surface.

Founded in 1971 in Peru as a lay group, the Sodalitium was politically driven as a fight back against the rise of liberation theology in Latin America, a radical movement which began in the 1960s and focused on supporting the poor. The society controlled several communities and ran religious schools in the southern part of the country, its members and students mostly drawn from the country’s elite.

At one point, SCV had 20,000 members across South America and parts of the United States – and went on to develop strong ties with Denver and Colorado, including links with conservative Catholic media.

But hearing the others’ accounts, Osterling says he realized the strangeness of his own experience; he alleges that Figari would film him and other young converts standing in their underpants in the middle of the night during a spiritual retreat.

“In my case it did not escalate to a full sexual assault,” he says. He now believes he and his cohort were being groomed.

While dozens of young Peruvians have alleged they were victimized or bullied by Figari and other senior members of SVC, the topic remains taboo in ultra-Catholic Peru, and only a few have chosen to make details of their allegations public.

Prevost, who lived in Peru as a missionary in the 1980s and the 1990s, would have heard about these accounts while serving as Bishop of Chiclayo starting in 2014, especially following the publication of Ugaz and Salinas’ bombshell book.

Ugaz and Salinas also accused José Antonio Eguren, an archbishop in the coastal diocese of Piura – where Prevost worked as a young priest and which neighbors his diocese of Chiclayo – of protecting the SCV despite knowing about alleged abuses within it.

Eguren fought back with a defamation lawsuit alleging this was untrue and harmed his honor and reputation, though he later dropped the case.

According to Ugaz, who has faced a long campaign of legal actions and death threats around her reporting on the Sodalitium case, she received a message of solidarity during this time from Prevost and two other bishops.

A shocking report

In 2017, a probe ordered by SCV revealed stunning allegations. The group, which had already begun a series of internal disciplinary actions, found that Figari sodomized his recruits and forced them to fondle him and one another. He liked to watch them “experience pain, discomfort and fear,” and humiliated them in front of others to enhance his control over them, the report alleged.

The next year, more than a dozen alleged victims of the SCV from across Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica, held a meeting with five high ranking prelates at the Peruvian Episcopal Conference in Lima. Prevost was one of the meeting’s organizers; according to Ugaz, he acted as a “bridge” between the victims and the SCV and helped secure financial settlements.

When the meeting finally took place, Orbegozo recalls, “Prevost recognized me immediately. ‘You are the guy from the email!’ he told me.” “He wanted to know everything about our correspondence …and showed real empathy,” Orbegozo said.

Osterling and Ugaz recall that the bishops they met agreed to write a letter to the Vatican, pushing to investigate the alleged crimes and asking for the personal involvement of then-Pope Francis. But higher church officials declined to move the case forward.

Ugaz, who first met Prevost in 2018 and remained in contact with him, said the stalled outcome of the meeting caused Prevost “great frustration” although she added “his character is not one to burn down the house. He accepted what had happened, made his frustration clear.”

Though that meeting initially seemed to lead to little, Orbegozo and Osterling believe it was the first crack in a wall destined to crumble.

“(Prevost) knew — he knew about many things — but he couldn’t act because he had people above him. So much so, that as soon as he could, he did — when they made him prefect,” says Osterling.

A cascade of action

Everything seemed to accelerate in early 2023 after Prevost was named prefect of the influential Dicastery of Bishops – a role that suddenly catapulted him into a much more powerful position than the archbishop next door in Piura.

The job gave him a crucial role in the appointments and oversight of bishops, holding regular meetings with fellow cardinals and Pope Francis to discuss episcopal nominations.

It’s hard to say exactly what happened in the halls of the Vatican after Prevost moved to Rome. But the next year, two top investigators from the Vatican were finally sent to Lima to establish what had happened within SCV – a probe that led to the expulsion of 14 members of the society, including Figari.

Archbishop Eguren also resigned in April 2024 at the age of 67 – several years before the normal retirement age of 75 – without specifying the reasons.

Eguren has denied Prevost’s involvement in his resignation, emphasizing that he offered his resignation directly to Pope Francis. After stepping down, the archbishop also said in a statement that he rejected Ugaz and Salinas’ allegations, and had “sought to fulfil the mission entrusted to me with justice, honesty, and fidelity to the teachings of the Church, with special concern for the well-being of the poorest and most needy.”

Another expelled member was Alejandro Bermúdez, founder of the Denver-based Catholic News Agency, who was found by the Vatican investigation to have committed “abuse in the exercise of the apostolate of journalism.”

Bermudez, known for a combative style on social media, has countered that he was kicked out for simply “telling the truth.” More recently, he worked as a contractor with “Catholic Vote,” an organization which sought to bolster support for US President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. (The group’s president Brian Burch is President Trump’s pick to be the next US Ambassador to the Holy See.)

The Sodalitium still retained powerful supporters. Following the news of the expulsions, the Archdiocese of Denver said it was “shocked and saddened” while an adviser to a former Archbishop of Denver wrote that “something is deeply wrong” with the “Rome’s latest treatment of the SCV (Sodalitium).”

Nevertheless, in early 2025, then-Pope Francis went even further, taking the very rare step of suppressing the society entirely.

The move was formally decreed on April 14 – just a week before Francis died. Afterwards, the SCV released a statement asking “forgiveness from the entire Church and society for the pain caused” and “forgiveness for the mistreatment and abuse committed within our community.”

Prevost has been accused of mishandling abuse allegations in two other cases, in Chicago and in Chiclayo, Peru. But in the case of the SCV, Ugaz says she is certain that Prevost “took action” to help ensure the Sodalitium was dissolved. She and Salinas met with him in the Vatican in October 2024, and she says he arranged their meeting with Pope Francis two months later.

After years of fighting to be heard, Osterling says he never lost his Catholic faith – but that Francis’s eventual crackdown reinvigorated it.

As Francis’ successor, Pope Leo seems to have left little doubt about his stance on the end of SCV. A few days after his election, Leo was photographed greeting Ugaz with a broad smile, as she handed him a box of chocolates and a Peruvian scarf from the country he called home for years.

Leo XIV, the first ever American pope, will be formally inaugurated as the 267th pontiff Sunday during a special Mass in St. Peter’s Square attended by world leaders, royalty, and thousands of believers.

The May 18 service will be rich in symbolism and include the formal bestowing on Leo of the symbols of office including the pallium – a lamb’s wool vestment symbolizing his pastoral care for the church and role as shepherd to his flock – and the fisherman’s ring, which symbolizes the Pope’s authority as the successor of St. Peter, a fisherman by trade and who Catholics hold to be the first pope.

Among those expected to attend Sunday’s two-hour long liturgy include US Vice-President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the President of Peru, Dina Boluarte, the leader of the country where Pope Leo served as both a missionary and a bishop for several decades. Countries from across the globe will be represented, with the Vatican hosting delegates from more than 150 nations.

The 69-year-old Chicago-born pontiff is expected to greet delegations from different countries after his inauguration Sunday, a Vatican spokesman said.

Although Leo was elected as pope on May 8, the official beginning of his papacy begins on May 18, with his first general audience with the public scheduled for May 21.

In his first Mass as pontiff on May 9, Leo called on the clergy to show humility, has made repeated appeals for peace and explained his choice of name. Later in the week, he used his first Vatican address since his election to call for peace in Ukraine and Gaza, saying “Never again war!”

The first American pope, who is an avid tennis player, has also met with journalists and men’s tennis number one seed, Jannik Sinner.

Symbols of office

On Sunday morning , Pope Leo will use the popemobile for the first time and greet people in St Peter’s Square before heading inside the basilica for the Mass.

He will be joined by leaders of Eastern Orthodox churches for the first part of the service as he descends to pray at the tomb of St.Peter. The pallium, the ring and a book of the gospels will then be taken by two members of the clergy towards the altar in the square.

The scripture readings at the Mass will largely focus on the figure of St. Peter and the central passage from John’s Gospel, a text seen as foundational to the pope’s ministry as St. Peter’s successor.

Following this reading, three cardinals will then present the pope with the symbols of office.

Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, who announced the news that Leo had been elected, will place the pallium over the new pontiff. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will say a special prayer. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines will present Leo with the signet “ring of the fisherman,” which was traditionally used to seal official documents but is now ceremonial.

The Vatican has released details of the ring, which has an image of St. Peter on the outside band, with “Leo XIV” and the pope’s coat of arms engraved on the inside.

All bishops wear rings to show their bond to the local church they lead and the ring of the Pope, as Bishop of Rome, symbolises his “betrothal” to the entire church.

After receiving the symbols of office, representatives of ordinary Catholics from across the world will show their “obedience” to the pope, something that in the past was done by cardinals. The decision to include non-cardinals in this part of the service shows the pope’s commitment to a church which seeks to deepen the involvement of Catholics who are not part of the hierarchy. The inclusion of ordinary Catholics in the ceremony is also a nod to Leo’s intent to continue reforms started by his predecessor, Pope Francis.

During the Mass, Pope Leo will also give a homily, where he will likely set out some of the key themes of his pontificate, something he would have spent time considering carefully.

After the Mass ends, the pope will lead the Regina Caeli, or “Queen of Heaven” prayer before meeting the international delegations inside the basilica.

Papal inauguration ceremonies have changed over the years. For centuries it also involved a “coronation,” which included placing the papal tiara on the new pope’s head. The last papal “coronation” was of Paul VI in 1963. He however, decided to sell the tiara and give the proceeds to charity. Catholics in the US bought that tiara, which is now on display at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

Russia and Ukraine’s first direct talks in three years began Friday with hopes as dim as the gray Istanbul skies.

And while the weather brightened as the talks went on, the prospects for peace did not.

In the end a large prisoner swap (one of many in this war) and two discussion topics for future talks – a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, and the contours of a ceasefire – were the only deliverables, as the press pack at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace thinned out and the sun sank over the Bosphorus.

The issue of a ceasefire is where the intractable differences are clearest.

Russia, by proposing these talks last weekend, had managed to sidestep an ultimatum from Ukraine and its allies to sign up to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face major new sanctions.

Ukraine, meanwhile, was “ready to have a ceasefire agreed today,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, told reporters in a hastily arranged briefing late Friday afternoon, suggesting this wasn’t achievable because Russia’s low-level delegation “probably has (a) limited mandate.”

Not a new demand, but one which is both unacceptable to Kyiv and led US Vice President JD Vance to state earlier this month that Russia was “asking for too much” in its requirements to end the war.

As the diplomatic cars slipped through Istanbul’s crowded streets, US frustration seemed to mount. After US officials met with both sides soon before their direct talks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Istanbul with a scathing assessment of their prospects.

“We came because we were told that there might be a direct engagement between the Russians and the Ukrainians; that was originally the plan,” he told reporters.

“That was not to be the case, or, if it is, it’s not at the levels we had hoped it would be at.”

And so, the Ukrainian side moved quickly to control the narrative.

Barely had the delegations emerged in Istanbul before Zelensky, at a summit in Albania, convened a call with US President Donald Trump and key European allies.

“Ukraine is ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace,” Zelensky wrote on social media after the call. But he also made it clear that it was not just Ukraine that must act, adding “if the Russians reject a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings, tough sanctions must follow.”

Ukrainian officials in Istanbul took a similar tone.

“The tentative success of today’s negotiations is still to be consolidated,” First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya told reporters later in the afternoon. “That means that the pressure on the Russian Federation must continue.”

There was also a clear effort to emphasize the positives. “If we managed to agree on 1,000 for 1,000 exchange we think this was already worth it” said Tykhyi, the foreign ministry spokesman, referring to an agreed prisoner swap. “This is a great achievement by the Ukrainian delegation.”

Yet in a week where Russia has again rejected a ceasefire, ignored calls to send top-level officials to talks, and come to the table with demands that the US has already deemed unacceptable, there is still no sign of increased pressure from the US.

Instead, Trump promised Friday to meet with Putin “as soon as we can set it up,” having previously claimed “nothing’s going to happen (on Ukraine) until Putin and I get together.”

And so, the official Russian assessment from its chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, kept it simple. “We are satisfied with the outcome and ready to continue our contacts.”

For millions across India, a rigid caste system thousands of years old still dictates much of daily life – from social circles to dating pools to job opportunities and schooling.

The Indian government has long insisted that the social hierarchy has no place in the world’s most populous nation, which banned caste discrimination in 1950.

So, it came as a surprise when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration announced that caste would be counted in the upcoming national census for the first time since 1931 – when India was still a British colony.

Counting caste will “ensure that our social fabric does not come under political pressure,” the government said in its April press release. “This will ensure that society becomes stronger economically and socially, and the country’s progress continues without hindrance.”

The release didn’t include any detail on how the caste data would be collected, or even when the census will take place (it has been repeatedly delayed from its original 2021 date). But the announcement has revived a longstanding debate about whether counting caste will uplift disadvantaged groups – or further entrench divisions.

The proposal is so controversial because a caste census “forces the state to confront structural inequalities that are often politically and socially inconvenient,” said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India.

The lack of caste data over the past century means “we are effectively flying blind, designing policies in the dark while claiming to pursue social justice,” she added. “So, the next census is going to be a historical census.”

What is caste?

India’s caste system has roots in Hindu scriptures, and historically sorted the population into a hierarchy that defined people’s occupations, where they can live and who they can marry based on the family they’re born into. Today, many non-Hindus in India, including Muslims, Christians, Jains and Buddhists, also identify with certain castes.

There are several main castes, and thousands of sub-castes – from the Brahmins at the top, who were traditionally priests or scholars, to the Dalits, formerly known as the “untouchables,” who were made to work as cleaners and waste pickers.

For centuries, castes on the bottom rung – Dalits and marginalized indigenous Indians – were considered “impure.” In some cases they were even barred from entering the homes or temples of the upper castes, and forced to eat and drink from separate utensils in shared spaces.

India tried to wipe the slate clean after it won independence from Britain in 1947, introducing a flurry of changes in its new constitution. It set up specific categories of castes, used to establish affirmative action quotas and other benefits – eventually setting aside 50% of jobs in government and places at educational institutions for marginalized castes. It also abolished the concept of “untouchability” and banned caste discrimination.

The decision to stop counting caste in the census was another part of this mission.

“After independence, the Indian state consciously moved away from enumerating caste … in the census,” said Muttreja. “They thought they should not highlight caste, and that in a democracy, it will automatically even out.”

But that hasn’t happened. Although the hard lines of caste division have softened over time, especially in urban areas, there are still major gaps in wealth, health and educational attainment between different castes, according to various studies. The most disadvantaged castes today have higher rates of illiteracy and malnutrition, and receive fewer social services such as maternal care and reproductive health, Muttreja added.

Social segregation is also widespread; only 5% of marriages in India are inter-caste, according to the India Human Development Survey. Similar divides linger in friend groups, workplaces, and other social spaces.

These persistent gaps have fueled rising demand for a caste census, with many arguing that data could be used to secure greater federal government aid and reallocate resources to the needy.

In some states – such as Bihar, one of India’s poorest states – local authorities have conducted their own surveys, prompting calls for Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to follow suit.

Now, it appears, they will.

Why now?

Modi has long pushed back on attempts to define the population along traditional caste lines, previously declaring that the four “biggest castes” were the poor, youth, women and farmers – and that uplifting them would aid the entire country’s development.

But rising discontent among underprivileged castes boosted opposition parties during the 2024 national election, which delivered a shock result: although Modi won a third term, the BJP failed to win a majority in parliament, diminishing their power.

Modi’s U-turn on the caste census, his rivals claim, is a political maneuver to shore up support in upcoming state elections, particularly in Bihar – a battleground state where the issue has been particularly sensitive.

“The timing is no coincidence,” wrote M. K. Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state and a longtime Modi critic, in a post on X. “This sudden move reeks of political expediency.”

Bihar’s own caste survey in 2023 found there were far more people in marginalized castes than previously thought, sparking an ongoing legal battle to raise the affirmative action quotas.

Several other states took their own surveys, which the federal government said in its statement were “varied in transparency and intent, with some conducted purely from a political angle, creating doubts in society.”

The main opposition Congress party celebrated the government’s announcement, claiming Modi had bowed to their pressure. BJP leaders, meanwhile, say the opposition neglected to conduct any caste census during their years in power, and had now politicized the issue for their own gain.

The previous Congress-led government did conduct a national caste survey in 2011, but the full results were never made public, and critics alleged the partial findings showed data anomalies and methodology issues. It was also separate from the national census conducted that same year, meaning the two sets of data can’t be analyzed against each other.

Though authorities haven’t said when the new census will take place, they have enough time to refine the methodology and make sure key information is collected, said Sonalde Desai, demographer and Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Maryland College Park.

After the census is complete, the next battle will begin: how to use that data to shape policy.

A controversial proposal

Not all are in favor of the caste census.

Opponents argue that the nation should be trying to move away from these labels instead of formalizing them. Some believe that instead of focusing on caste, government policies like affirmative action should be based on other criteria like socioeconomic class, said Desai, also a professor of applied economic research at the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi.

She supports the caste census, but said opponents might view such a survey as regressive, instead of helping to create “a society in which (Indians) transcend that destiny” defined by caste.

There’s another factor, too: if the census reveals that marginalized castes are bigger than previously thought, as was the case in Bihar, the government could increase how much affirmative action they receive, angering some traditionally privileged castes who already dislike the quota system.

Over the years, anti-affirmative action protests have broken out, some turning deadly – with these groups accusing the government of reverse discrimination, echoing similar controversies in the United States about race-conscious college admissions and job hiring. These same groups are likely to decry the caste census, Muttreja said.

Already, some opposition leaders are calling to remove the 50% cap on affirmative action quotas, and to implement affirmative action in other institutions like private companies and the judiciary – controversial proposals that have prompted online firestorms.

It might also show how the balance of power and privilege has shifted over the past century, said Desai. Since the 1931 census, some previously disadvantaged castes may have been buoyed by affirmative action and other measures – while other castes that once sat higher on the ladder may no longer be considered as privileged.

This is why, she argues, India’s government should use the data to perform a “re-ranking” – reorganizing which castes belong in which of the specific categories used to allocate resources and benefits.

The census could clearly illustrate who needs what kind of help and how to best deliver it, instead of relying on outdated data, said Muttreja. It can reveal intersectional gaps; for instance, a woman in rural India may struggle far more than a man of the same caste, or a peer in an urban area. And it could show whether any castes have ballooned in size, demanding more funding than currently allocated.

“It can shape school funding, for instance, health outreach, employment schemes and more,” she said. It “helps ensure that quotas reflect real disadvantage, not just historical precedent.”

Once that data is out there, Muttreja believes, the government will be forced to act – it can’t afford not to. And for those who still deny that caste discrimination remains rampant, or who argue that affirmative action is no longer necessary: “This data will stare at people’s faces.”

Russia has sentenced an Australian man to 13 years in a maximum-security prison for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, state prosecutors in the Russian-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine said Friday.

Oscar Jenkins, 33, was found guilty by a court in Luhansk of participating in an armed conflict as a mercenary, prosecutors said in a statement, after it ruled he had fought for Ukraine against Russia between March and December last year.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Saturday that her government was “appalled” by the sentencing, calling it a “sham trial” and urged Russia to treat Jenkins in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Australia has repeatedly called for the release of Jenkins, who is originally from Melbourne, since he was captured by Russian forces in December.

“We continue to hold serious concerns for Mr Jenkins. We are working with Ukraine and other partners, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to advocate for his welfare and release,” Wong said in a statement.

Russian prosecutors accused Jenkins of being paid between $7,400 and $10,000 a month to fight in Ukraine as a mercenary. The Kremlin maintains that mercenaries are subject to criminal prosecution and not entitled to prisoner-of-war protections under international law.

In a photo shared by the Russian-controlled court in Luhansk, Jenkins was seen standing in a glass cage with his hands behind his back.

The court ordered Jenkins to serve his sentence in a maximum-security penal colony, the prosecutor’s office said.

Jenkins is thought to have joined an international brigade among the Ukrainian ranks, according to Reuters. His arrest came to light late last year when a video surfaced on Russian Telegram accounts purportedly showing Jenkins being taken as a prisoner of war.

Speaking in a mix of English, Ukrainian and Russian, he identifies himself as “a soldier” and says he is a teacher in China and a student in Australia.

Earlier this year, media reports suggesting he might have been killed prompted Canberra to summon the Russian ambassador, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowing the “strongest action” over any harm caused to the man.

Albanese said last month his government would continue to make representations to the “reprehensible regime” of Russian President Vladimir Putin on behalf of Jenkins.

Australia has repeatedly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has given Kyiv close to $1 billion in assistance since 2022, while its military has provided training for Ukraine’s armed forces.