Yesterday's events will shape the rest of the year.

Yesterday may turn out to be the most eventful day of the year. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed an attack on Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in the west of Africa bordering on Mali. In November there was an attack on Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako in neighboring Mali, in which 22 people died. Attacks were designed to target mainly foreigners. For the first time a woman was elected President of Taiwan. Tsai Ing-wen is from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party which wants independence from China. " Our democratic system, national identity and international space must be respected. Any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations," she said. Sounds like a declaration of independence. In response Beijing has snarled, like it snarls at all its neighbors, that it will not deal with anyone who does not recognise that Taiwan should abandon any " hallucination " towards independence. President Benigno Aquino of Philippines has compared China to Hitler's Nazi Germany, in response to which China snarled that Aquino is " ignorant and amateurish ". China has kidnapped 5 men from a bookshop in Hong Kong which publishes books critical of the mainland and has published a book on the love life of President Xi Jinping. Hong Kong saw the Umbrella Movement in 2014, which was broken up by the police. Now the students who led the movement are facing criminal charges. China is used to kidnapping its own citizens. Anyone protesting the brutal regime in China disappears into a system of 'black jails' where abuse is common and impunity guaranteed. It is not a big surprise that China is feared and hated by its neighbors. Sanctions on Iran have been lifted following certification by the International Atomic Energy Agency that it has complied with its nuclear obligations. US Secretary of State, John Kerry cheered," Today marks the start of a safer world." If so, why did Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declare a " glorious victory " for the " patient state of Iran "? Of course, it does not matter how safe John Kerry thinks the world has become because future events will be decided in Riyadh and Tel Aviv as the conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen grind on. Never thought the day would come when Mr Rahul Gandhi would be accused of talking sense but yesterday he offered assistance to pass the GST bill in 15 minutes if the government agrees to the 3 conditions laid down by the Congress. A rate of 18% will increase revenues as increased tax collections from the services sector, which comprises 52% of the economy, will make up for lesser collections from manufacturing. A fixed rate will reassure anyone wanting to invest in India that taxes and rules will not change suddenly at the whim of politicians, like the idiotic GAAR. A binding neutral dispute resolution will reduce unnecessary court cases. Eminently sensible, what? What a day!