This Week in Explainers: Why did Pakistan’s Asim Munir get promoted despite losing to India?

It’s been a busy, busy week in the world of news. A lot has happened in the past seven days, leaving a deep impact on the world.

The week gone by began with the sad and shocking news that former US President Joe Biden had been diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer. The news led many to question — had he been hiding this diagnosis while in the White House? How could it be so severe so quickly? How long did he have?

And talking about American presidents, no news cycle can be complete without Donald Trump. It’s been a busy week for the US president — he unveiled the “Golden Dome for America,” a multilayered defence system, ambushed his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office and escalated his battle with Harvard University.

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The last seven days has also been noteworthy for the Asian subcontinent. Speculation is swirling that Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus is angry and unhappy at the current situation in the country and is threatening to resign. In the neighbouring country, Pakistan, the army chief General Asim Munir was promoted to the rank of field marshal, making him only the second in the country’s history to earn a five-star ranking.

In our weekly wrap, we look at all this and more that has unfolded.

1) The week started on a sombre note for the Bidens and the former US president’s supporters. He announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.

His team in a statement said that his prostate cancer is “characterised by a Gleason score of 9”, meaning it is a “high-grade cancer”.

The news led to an outpour of support for the former US president. Biden’s former boss, Barack Obama, said that Biden would fight cancer “with his trademark resolve and grace” while Kamala Harris said that she was “saddened” to learn of the diagnosis.

The diagnosis also led many to search — what is prostate cancer? What are its symptoms? How serious can it be?

If you are asking the same questions, our report has the answers.

2) For many, the big news of the week continues to be Operation Sindoor, the targeted and precise military strikes that India carried out two weeks ago. While hostilities between India and Pakistan have been temporarily paused, details keep emerging. For India, the mission was a success — the military eliminated key terror bases deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). It also caused heavy damage to the neighbouring nation’s airbases after Islamabad chose to launch drones and missiles at civilian and military infrastructure.

One of the biggest triumphs for India during the strikes was the taking down of the Chinese-made PL-15 missile that Islamabad fired towards India. Shortly after that, the intelligence agencies of various countries reached out to New Delhi seeking access to the debris of the missile. Amongst those who urged India for access was the Five Eyes nations as well as France and Japan. But what would they gain out of this? Read here to find out.

3) On the topic of Pakistan, here’s some interesting news. The country’s army chief, General Asim Munir, received a promotion — he was elevated to the rank of field marshal, making him only the second in the country behind Mohammad Ayub Khan to receive the honour.

But one can’t help note the timing of the elevation. That’s because promotions and an honour such as field marshal is normally bestowed upon when a general leads his country to victory in a war. But that’s not the case for Munir, is it? The country received a severe bruising from India during Operation Sindoor — its airbases damaged and its drones and missiles neutralised by India’s defence systems.

In such circumstances, many wondered why the Shehbaz-Sharif led government chose to elevate Munir. Pakistani watchers also noted that it could be a sign of things to come — after all, the last field marshal of the country carried out a coup and established a military dictatorship.

4) In this week, Bangladesh has also been in the news — not for a good reason, though. On Thursday (May 22), rumours began to swirl that Muhammad Yunus, the country’s interim chief, was thinking of resigning. In fact, many of his advisers rushed to his house that evening to persuade him from stepping down.
But what’s the reason that the Nobel laureate was considering to put in his papers? Was it the fact that he was receiving intense criticism for not providing a proper roadmap to the elections in the country? Or is it because the tensions with Bangladesh army chief Waker uz-Zaman have further deteriorated?

Our report explores the entire situation and what Yunus’ resignation would mean for the troubled country.

5) When Pakistan rained down drones and missiles on India, it threw light on the country’s missile defence systems. And perhaps taking inspiration from that, US President Donald Trump unveiled the concept for what he calls the Golden Dome — a $175 billion sweeping missile defence programme unlike any the United States has attempted before.

The probable weapon is expected to not only protect the country from missile threats but also have space-borne weapons capable of intercepting missiles at various stages of flight. Sounds futuristic and right out of a Star Wars movie, right?

Trump doesn’t think so. He announced that it would become “fully operational before the end of my term,” which ends in January 2029.

But while Trump envisions a futuristic weapon to protect American soil, it’s not going to be easy. In fact, some think it’s not possible. Here’s more on that here .

6) Donald Trump is often referred to as tariffs man. And after this week, one could also call the US president smackdown man. On Wednesday, the US president laid an ambush for his incoming guest, South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa. The US leader lectured Ramaphosa on false claims that White South African farmers are the victims of a genocide .

The meeting was very reminiscent of Trump’s confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with many noting that Ramaphosa kept his cool and refrained from being ‘Zelensky-ed’.

But what went down in the Oval Office between Trump and Ramaphosa? Read on to find out.

7) While we are on the topic of Trump, his administration on Thursday escalated their battle with Harvard University. The US Department of Homeland Security announced that it had revoked the ivy League institution’s ability to enrol international students, delivering a sharp punishment to it for refusing to bow to the administration’s policy demands.

This move is a huge blow to foreign students, namely Indians who aspire to graduate from the elite university. It leaves the nearly 788 Indians in limbo , with many scrambling to find a transfer to another university or mulling a return to India.

8) The Israel-Hamas war continues to drag on with no end in sight. And on Wednesday night, the war reverberated loudly outside of Israel when two Israel embassy staffers, who were a couple, were shot dead outside a Jewish museum in Washington, DC.

Police identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim and also have the accused in custody. Identified as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez, he shouted “free, free Palestine” while he was arrested. Now, investigations into his social media accounts have revealed his ideologies and beliefs. Here’s what we found out.

That’s our reading list of the events from the world this week. If you want to know the latest, you can come back to this page .

PS: Matcha, that vibrant green powder, has become all the rage. Many are even replacing their morning coffee with this Japanese drink. But is it a healthier alternative to your cuppa?