Sri Lankan Speaker Officially Announces Resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena officially announced, after a week of dramatic developments and massive protests against the government for mishandling the economy that bankrupted the country.
The 73-year-old leader emailed his resignation letter to the Speaker soon after he was allowed by Singapore to enter the city-state on a private visit.
The Speaker had received the resignation letter from Rajapaksa through the Sri Lanka High Commission in Singapore.
Jul 16, 2022
Sri Lanka Crisis: After Rajapaksa Quits, Wickremesinghe sworn-in as Acting President
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka's interim President until Parliament elects a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned after mass protests over the country's economic collapse forced him from office.
The speaker of Sri Lanka's Parliament said Rajapaksa resigned as president effective Thursday and lawmakers will convene Saturday to choose a new leader. Their choice would serve out the remainder of Rajapaksa's term ending in 2024, said Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana. He expects the process to be done in seven days.
Italian PM Mario Draghi to Quit after 5-Star Mutiny
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that he would resign after the 5-Star Movement, a party in his ruling coalition failed to support a confidence vote, plunging Italy into political chaos.
The confidence vote had become a focal point for tensions within Draghi's government as its parties prepare to fight each other in a national election due by early 2023.
The decision by the 5-Star party to boycott the confidence vote triggered the sequence of events that prompted the 74-year-old Draghi to say he would quit.
Draghi said that he would not want to lead a government without 5-Star, which emerged as the largest party in the previous election in 2018 but has since suffered defections and a loss of public support.
Jul 15, 2022
Md. Mustafizur Rahman Appointed Bangladesh's High Commissioner to India
The Bangladesh Government appointed Mustafizur Rahman as the next High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India.
Mustafizur Rahman is currently serving as Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Offices in Geneva and the Ambassador to Switzerland.
He will replace Mr. Muhammad Imran.
Rahman is a career foreign service officer belonging to the 11th batch of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Foreign Affairs cadre.
Jul 14, 2022
Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe Appointed as Acting President
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the country's acting President after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country.
Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced that President Rajapaksa appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to act to perform his functions while he is abroad.
This was under article 37(1) of the Constitution.
India Ranks 135 Out of 146 in Global Gender Gap Index
India ranked 135 among a total of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2022 and is the worst performer in the world in the "health and survival" sub-index where it was ranked 146.
According to the Global Gender Report 2022, which includes the Gender Gap Index, it will now take 132 years to reach gender parity, with the gap reducing only by four years since 2021 and the gender gap closed by 68.1%. But this does not compensate for the generational loss between 2020 and 2021 as the trends leading up to 2020 showed that the gender gap was set to close within 100 years. South Asia will take the longest to reach gender parity, which is estimated to be likely in 197 years.
India also ranks poorly among its neighbours and is behind Bangladesh (71), Nepal (96), Sri Lanka (110), Maldives (117) and Bhutan (126). Only Iran (143), Pakistan (145) and Afghanistan (146) perform worse than India in south Asia.
Although no country achieved full gender parity, the top 10 economies closed at least 80% of their gender gaps, with Iceland (90.8%) leading the global ranking. Iceland was the only economy to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap. Other Scandinavian countries such as Finland (86%, 2nd), Norway (84.5%, 3rd) and Sweden (82.2%, 5th) are in the top five, with other European countries such as Ireland (80.4%) and Germany (80.1%) in ninth and tenth positions, respectively. Sub-Saharan African countries Rwanda (81.1%, 6th) and Namibia (80.7%, 8th), along with one Latin American country, Nicaragua (81%, 7th), and one country from East Asia and the Pacific, New Zealand (84.1%, 4th), also took positions in the top 10.
Jul 13, 2022
DR Congo Officially Joins East Africa Community
The Democratic Republic of Congo joined the East African Community (EAC) as its seventh member, massively expanding the territory of the trade bloc, giving it access to the Atlantic Ocean and greatly increasing the numbers of French speakers in what began as a club of former British colonies.
EAC heads of state approved the admission of DR Congo into the bloc at a summit meeting, but although it officially became a member, not much can change straight away.
Congolese lawmakers still have to ratify the EAC laws and regulations before they come into effect.
Eight Candidates Nominated to Succeed UK PM Johnson
Eight candidates will compete to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party.
The nominated candidates were Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Tom Tugendhat, Liz Truss and Nadhim Zahawi.
Lawmakers Sajid Javid and Rehman Chishti had expressed their intention to run, but withdrew before the final list of candidates was announced. Candidates had to receive a minimum of 20 nominations to make it to that list.
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