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  "path": "/news/watching/what-were-watching-elections-in-india-us-oil-exports-are-booming-from-hormuz-shutdown-meloni-shifts-the-focus-to-geopolitics",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-09T15:10:34.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gzeromedia.com",
  "tags": [
    "Bharatiya janata party",
    "Donald trump",
    "Giorgia meloni",
    "India elections",
    "Iran war",
    "Italy",
    "Modi",
    "50 million voters",
    "head to the polls today",
    "plying",
    "crushing referendum defeat",
    "nearly hour-long speech",
    "threatened",
    "Gulf tour",
    "new tourism minister's corruption trial"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\n### Can India’s Modi make inroads in unfriendly territory?\n\nMore than 50 million voters in India’s states of Assam and Kerala, along with the federally-administered territory of Puducherry, head to the polls today in regional elections. Prime Minister **Narendra Modi** ’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be hoping for a change of fortune in Kerala, a left-leaning southern state where it has never won. For the BJP’s opponents, the aim is to hold on to local power and continue to act as a check on Modi and his party’s dominance. These elections also mark the start of an electoral cycle, with West Bengal and Tamil Nadu – two more states that lean against the BJP – set to hold votes later this month. Results for all these contests are expected on May 4.\n\n* * *\n\n### An armada steams towards the US\n\nAt least 68 empty oil tankers are plying their way towards the United States, according to Kpler, a shipping intelligence firm. That’s a record, and nearly triple the number of tankers making that journey before the start of the Iran war. With the Strait of Hormuz — which handles a fifth of global oil shipping and 80% of oil exports to Asia — still largely shut, consumers are looking elsewhere, particularly to the US, the world’s leading producer. US exports are projected to spike by roughly a third to over 5 million barrels per day, up from a 3.9 million in March. And are you ready for a mashup of two big stories? A significant part of those exports is actually Venezuelan crude, which came under US control after **Donald Trump** deposed the oil-rich country’s strongman leader **Nicolás Maduro** in January.\n\n### Meloni shifts the spotlight to geopolitics\n\n**Giorgia Meloni** 's first parliamentary appearance since her crushing referendum defeat was expected to be a reckoning. Instead, she made it about Iran. In a nearly hour-long speech today, she declared reopening the Strait of Hormuz a vital interest for Italy and the European Union, rejected Tehran's push to charge tolls on shipping, and threatened new taxes on energy speculators. Fresh off a Gulf tour to secure energy supplies, she's betting that being a wartime crisis manager beats answering awkward questions about a new tourism minister's corruption trial.",
  "title": "Elections in India, US oil exports are booming from Hormuz shutdown, Meloni shifts the focus to geopolitics"
}