The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra unveiled its manifesto on Sunday, promising a range of welfare measures including monthly financial aid for women, loan waivers for farmers, and a caste-based census. The announcement comes ahead of the state assembly elections, intensifying the contest with the ruling BJP-led alliance.

During a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace questioned U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos on data-gathering practices, confirming that illegal aliens are counted in the U.S. Census. Santos clarified that the Census includes anyone residing at a U.S. address, regardless of immigration status. Accessed at Congresswoman Nancy Mace YouTube.

Iraq's first national census since 1997, begun on November 20, has rekindled ethnic tensions across the fractured country, as Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen groups demand the count be suspended over allegations of demographic manipulation. The census, ordered by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's Baghdad government, aims to provide a clear picture of Iraq's population distribution after years of war, invasion and occupation by the US and so-called Islamic State, particularly in the north of the country. However, the process has become entangled in long-standing ethnic disputes in places like Kirkuk, where Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and other minorities have competing claims.