Category: Politics

Japan’s ruling party and its coalition partner scored a major victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday.

The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito lifted their combined share to 146 in the 248-seat chamber- much more than the majority — in the elections for half of the seats in the defenseless upper house.

With such a monumental victory, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stands to rule uninterruptedly until a scheduled election in 2025. This would let Mr. Kishida focus on long-term policies such as national security, his “new capitalism” economic policy, and his party’s dearly treated goal to bring changes to the U.S.-drafted postwar pacifist constitution.

Mr. Kishida welcomed the major victory but wasn’t too happy, given the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe loss and the arduous task of maintaining party unity without him. In press interviews late Sunday, Mr. Kishida said, “Party unity is more important than anything else.” He said the reaction to COVID-19, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and rising prices will be his main focus. He also said he would gradually work on reinforcing the country’s national security and a constitutional amendment.

Mr. Kishida and senior party legislators paid respect to Abe by observing a moment of silence at the party election headquarters. Abe, 67, was killed during a campaign speech in the western city of Nara on Friday.

Two Indian-origin Conservative MPs are expected to bid for the Tory leadership. Attorney general Suella Braverman MP formally declared her run for UK PM even before Prime Minister Boris Johnson quit when she said on Live TV on Wednesday night: “If there is a leadership contest, I will put my name into the ring. I love this country. My parents came here with absolutely nothing and it was Britain that gave them hope, security, and opportunity this country has afforded me incredible opportunities in education and my career, and I owe a debt of gratitude to this country and to serve as prime minister would be the greatest honor.”

Sunak, 42, son-in-law of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy was long seen as a probable candidate for the post of Prime Minister, mainly because of his famous grants and job-saving schemes during the COVID pandemic lockdowns. But recently his popularity has decreased because of the high cost of living and he didn’t feel sorry to raise certain taxes to cope with the challenging economic times. Although Sunak has not yet announced an official leadership bid, he is hugely expected to run and is considered to be leading the race.

On Friday, the G20 meeting was held in Bali, Indonesia with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Finance Minister Sergei Lavrov. the top diplomates attended the meeting of the Group of 20 foreign ministers for the first time since the Russian Invasion.

Meetings between Moscow and Western nations are expected to produce tense exchanges but no direct meetings are expected between the diplomats.  It is believed that Washington is looking for significant backing from the major economies around the globe to put pressure on Moscow.

A senior US official said, “It clearly can not be business as usual when it comes to Russia’s involvement and engagement in enterprises like the G20”.

As part of his visit to Bali, Blinken will meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi for the first time in months after tensions over Taiwan strained relations.

In addition to the war’s impact on food and energy security, the G20 will look at how the global economy will recover from the Coronavirus pandemic and the consequences of climate change. Nonetheless, Blinken will avoid a direct meeting with Lavrov, instead blaming Moscow for causing global food and energy crises.

S Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister, held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Bali on Thursday with the center of interest on “specific outstanding issues”.

The talks took place on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Summit, which is being held in Bali on July 7-8, 2022. One of the key topics discussed was the fight involving the eastern Ladakh border. Jaishankar tweeted, “Began my day in Bali by meeting FM Wang Yi of China. The discussion lasted one hour. Focused on specific outstanding issues in our bilateral relationship pertaining to the border situation. Also, spoke about other matters including students and flights”

 Jaishankar is also expected to hold discussions with his counterparts from other G20 member countries and invited countries. The MEA said that Jaishankar’s participation in the G20 Foreign ministers’ meeting would “strengthen India’s engagement with G20 member states”.

 The last time both foreign ministers met was on March 24 and 25, when Wang visited India. In May, India and China held diplomatic talks on the border controversy and agreed to conduct the next round of the Senior Commanders’ meeting as soon as possible to attain complete withdrawal from all friction points in eastern Ladakh. However, they haven’t yet decided on the military talks.

Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai arrived for a four-day visit to Singapore on Wednesday (July 6).

The Mongolian leader, who was invited by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was received at Changi Airport by human resource Minister Tan See Leng.

An official welcome ceremony will be held in his honor at Istana on Friday, and PM Lee will host an official lunch with him.

During his trip, he will meet Minister for Communications and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs, Josephine Teo, and get information from Singapore agencies like the Central Provident Fund Board and the Housing Board.

Mr. Oyun-Erdene, who is visiting Singapore along with other Mongolian ministers, MPs, and senior officials, will also stop by the Singapore City Gallery and have a new orchid hybrid named in his honor. He is scheduled to have a meeting with the Temasek Foundation at Temasek Shophouse on Thursday morning. Later in the day, he and his delegation are invited to a private dinner by Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, where they are expected to sign two memorandums of understanding.

Singapore and Mongolia established diplomatic ties in 1970. In July 2016, PM Lee visited Mongolia, making it the first official visit by a Singapore prime minister to Mongolia.

On Wednesday, Music maestro Ilaiyaraaja from Tamil Nadu, sports icon P T Usha from Kerala, acclaimed screenwriter V Vijayendra Prasad, Telangana, and philanthropist and spiritual leader Veerendra Heggade from Karnataka were nominated to the Rajya Sabha. All the nominees have been recognized nationally and globally for their respective career achievements.

Post-retirement, PT Usha has started Usha School of Athletics where she is training 1– national and international-level athletes. Mr. Prasad has been associated with the creative world meanwhile, Mr. Heggade is the Dharmadhikari of the Dharmasthala Temple for decades and has established 

Prime Minister Modi Tweeted for all the nominees individually. For Ilaiyaraaja he tweeted, “The creative genius of @ilaiyaraaja Ji has enthralled people across generations. His works beautifully reflect many emotions. What is equally inspiring in his journey- he rose from a humble background and achieved so much. Glad that he has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha”.

The nomination came a day before Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of BJP and RCP Singh of JD (U) will resign from the Union Cabinet which signals a political message as the ruling BJP has nominated all-new RS candidates from southern states, as their next growth. Their Rajya Sabha term is ending on Thursday.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday declared Colombo is planning to organize an international donor’s conference counting in three big Asian economies–India, China, and Japan–to breathe new life into the wilting economy.

Wickremesinghe, while speaking in Parliament, stated, “After obtaining the staff-level agreement, we will organize a donor-aid conference by bringing together the friendly countries that provide us with loan assistance, such as India, China, and Japan. We hope to create a system where we can get loan assistance through a common agreement.”

Sri Lanka will be only the second South Asian country to organize an international donor meet, the first being Afghanistan. By August, the country will hand over a debt restructuring program to the IMF to secure a bailout package.

Sri Lanka is going through the most serious economic crisis since its independence and needs to gain at least $ four billion to sustain the acute shortage in foreign exchange reserves. The main issue is the fuel and food crisis, which got worse because of the recent global crisis.

India has given aid to Lanka for more than $3.5 billion in 2022 and is going to send fresh consignments of fuel to the capital this month.

On Tuesday, the United Kingdoms Prime Minister Mr. Borris Johnson entitled Iraqi-born education secretary Nadhim Zahawi as the new finance minister of the nation.

Meanwhile, another loyalist, Michelle Donelan was also entitled by Johnson for replacing Zahawi’s place in the education ministry. The announcement came after the shock resignation of Rishi Sunak. Along with Sunak, Sajid Javid also resigned as the health minister blaming Johnson for losing the ability to govern the country.

According to a leading newspaper, Queen Elizabeth II approved the appointment of Zahawi. The 55-year-old came to the UK along with his Kurdish family when he was a child who did not know English before a lucrative business career. Prior to becoming an MP in 2010, he was involved in local politics in Lindon and co-founded the influential polling company YouGov and was widely praised for overseeing the nation’s pandemic vaccine rollout.

However, unlike Sunak, he has attracted negative attention for his private wealth mainly in 2013, when he claimed parliamentary expenses to heat his horse stables. As he left the meeting, Zahawi refused to comment on reports regarding whether he will support Sunak’s pleas for fiscal discipline against Johnson’s free-spending instincts.

A bipartisan group of American state governors and top officials have given assurance for building formidable bilateral ties with India and aimed for investment from the Indian corporate sector who according to them, bring foreign direct investment along with skills and make way for local jobs in the US.

Governors Tom Wolf from Pennsylvania and Asa Hutchinson from Arkansas along with Lt Governors Garlin Gilchrist from Michigan, and Eleni Kounalakis from California made a dynamic announcement in front of over 100 Indian businesses who are in the US to attend the annual Select USA Investment Summit in Washington D.C.

 Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India’s Ambassador to the US, hosted a reception at the famous India House. She stated that these top State level elected bureaucrats claimed Indian businesses bring profit to their state economy, add additional skill sets, and most important of all, create jobs.

According to a survey conducted in 2020 by the Confederation of Indian Industries, over 155 Indian companies have invested USD 22 billion.

Pennsylvania Governor Wolf told the audience that” India is a dynamic nation” and a” sleeping giant”. The Republican governor remarked he was proud to have carried on his appreciation and friendship with India through all these years.

On Tuesday, the Group of Seven (G7) nations pledged $4.5 billion to prevent malnutrition in the most vulnerable people, as well as urging Russia to end its blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. It was announced by the G7 leaders that they would not impose sanctions against imports of agricultural products, including those from Russia, and humanitarian aid deliveries.

The statement released by the G7 said, “We commit to an additional $4.5 billion to protect the most vulnerable from hunger and malnutrition, amounting to a total of over $14 billion as our joint commitment to global food security this year”.

They further stated that they were urgently requesting that Russia end its blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports, destruction of vital port and transportation infrastructure, destruction of grain silos and terminals, illegal allocation of Ukrainian agricultural products and equipment by Russia, as well as all other actions that further hinder Ukrainian food production and exports.

A statement issued by the Biden administration regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions said that it “has strangled food and agriculture production and have used well as a weapon of war”.