Sri Lanka Calls for in-person BIMSTEC Summit, Postpones December Meet
Sri Lanka has called for an in-person BIMSTEC summit, the date of which is yet to be decided. This will be the 5th such summit of the grouping.
BIMSTEC or Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation has 7 members - India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. The grouping is more than 20 years old and was formed in 1997. The last summit took place in Kathmandu in 2018 with PM Modi and other member-leaders attending the meet.
Sri Lanka is the chair of the grouping and had earlier proposed holding a virtual summit on 9th December which has now been postponed. Before that it had proposed August for the summit.
This is the 2nd time Colombo had to post the summit, the reason for which has not been given. First April saw BIMSTEC foreign minister meet taking place virtually during which agenda for the leaders' summit was taken up.
Joe Biden Picks Senior Google Health Advisor Robert Califf as FDA Chief
US President Joe Biden picked senior Google Health advisor Dr. Robert Califf as next chief of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Currently, Califf is a professor of medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine, where he previously served as Vice Chancellor and founded the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and works as senior advisor for Verily Life Sciences and Google Health, two divisions of parent company Alphabet.
Dr. Califf is an internationally-recognised expert in clinical trial research, health disparities, healthcare quality, and cardiovascular medicine.
Philippine: Duterte's Daughter Files Candidacy for Vice President Elections
Sara Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, filed her candidacy for Vice President in the May 2022 elections.
Carpio sent a representative to the Commission on Elections to file her candidacy as substitute vice presidential candidate under the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) that she joined earlier.
Nov 14, 2021
Race to Lead Angela Merkel's Party in German Opposition Takes Shape
A former German Environment Minister announced his second run for the leadership of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right party as the race to lead it in opposition started to take shape.
The Christian Democratic Union has decided to hold a ballot of its entire roughly 400,000-strong membership on who will take over after incumbent Armin Laschet led it to defeat and its worst-ever national election result in September.
Nov 13, 2021
Professor Bimal Patel Elected to International Law Commission for 5-year Term
Professor Bimal Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Rashtriya Raksha University and Member of National Security Advisory Board of India, has been elected to the International Law Commission for a five-year term starting January 1, 2023 in a hard-fought election at the United Nations.
"Hearty felicitations to Prof Bimal Patel @RakshaUni for election to International Law Commission by topping the group," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti tweeted, thanking all UN member states for overwhelming support to India's candidature.
Prof. Patel garnered 163 votes in the UN General Assembly out of 192 members present and voting, topping the Asia-Pacific group that included candidates from China, South Korea and Japan.
Nov 12, 2021
Sudan's Army Chief Appoints New Ruling Council
Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has formed a new transitional council, headed by himself, to lead the country following the military takeover late last month,.
The new 14-member Sovereign Council, for which one member isyet to be named, includes civilians representing Sudan's regions but none from the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) political coalition that had been sharing power with the military since 2019. Gen. Burhan's deputy will remain Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with both men keeping roles they held before the coup.
The move is likely to harden opposition among civilian groups who have pledged to resist the takeover through a campaign of civil disobedience, strikes and mass rallies.
The council also includes representatives of rebel groups that reached a peace deal with the government last year but had rejected the coup in a statement this week.
Sudan's Army Chief Appoints New Ruling Council
Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has formed a new transitional council, headed by himself, to lead the country following the military takeover late last month,.
The new 14-member Sovereign Council, for which one member isyet to be named, includes civilians representing Sudan's regions but none from the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) political coalition that had been sharing power with the military since 2019. Gen. Burhan's deputy will remain Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with both men keeping roles they held before the coup.
Belarus President Threatens to Shut EU Gas Flow in Border Spat
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened to shut down a key pipeline carrying Russian gas to the European Union as the bloc considers new sanctions, escalating a dispute flaring over migrants seeking to cross from his country into the EU.
European gas prices reversed earlier losses after the threat. The continent is dealing with the worst energy crisis in decades amid limited Russian supplies of gas, among other factors.
The refugee tensions on the border between Belarus and Poland -- which the EU accuses Lukashenko of instigating in retaliation for its pressure on his government over its brutal crackdown on domestic opponents -- has spiraled in recent days, with several thousand people stuck on the frontier.
Nov 11, 2021
Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro Joins Centrist Party, Eyeing Re-election
After two years without a political party, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro sealed an agreement with the centrist Liberal Party to back his 2022 re-election bid.
The decision followed a meeting between Bolsonaro and Liberal Party leader Valdemar Costa Neto in the capital Brasilia. The President's formal enrolment to the party's ranks will take place November 22.
Bolsonaro intends for the alliance to aid him in battling his nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. "Lula," as da Silva is known universally, holds a handsome lead over Bolsonaro in early polls. Joining one of the parties that forms part of the so-called Centrao group also signals Bolsonaro shifting course from his 2018 campaign strategy, when he sharply criticised their old-school political practices.
US Joins India-led International Solar Alliance as Member Country
The United States became the 101st member country of the India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA), as US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry signed the ISA framework agreement to catalyse global energy transition through a solar-led approach.
Kerry described the US membership as a major step towards the rapid deployment of solar power, as he formally signed the framework agreement at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav welcomed the US as the 101st member of the ISA.
Leaders of US, Mexico and Canada to Hold First Summit in Five Years
US President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold their first in-person meeting in Washington.
The meeting, which will be the first summit held by the three countries in five years, will address issues including the COVID-19 pandemic and boosting the competitiveness of supply chains in North America.
China to Attend Pakistan Troika Plus Meet after Skipping India's Afghan Dialogue
China attended a meeting on Afghanistan convened by its all-weather ally Pakistan, after skipping a security dialogue hosted by India on the situation in the war-torn country, citing "scheduling reasons".
Pakistan hosted senior diplomats from the US, China and Russia in Islamabad and discussed the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan. The Troika Plus meeting was attended by special representatives from all four countries.
Kishida Re-elected Japan's Prime Minister in Parliamentary Vote
Fumio Kishida was re-elected as Japan's Prime Minister after his governing party scored a major victory in key parliamentary elections.
Elected just over a month ago by parliament, Kishida called a quick election in which his Liberal Democratic Party secured 261 seats in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan's two-chamber legislature, enough to maintain a free hand in pushing through legislation.
Stefan Lofven Steps Down, Paving Way for Sweden's First Female PM
Stefan Lofven stepped down as Sweden's Prime Minister, paving the way for his replacement as leader of the Social Democratic Party to become Sweden's first female head of government.
Lofven will continue as caretaking Prime Minister until a new government is formed. Norlen is expected to ask Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson whether she can find support in the 349-seat Riksdag assembly to form a Cabinet.
No time frame for a new Cabinet was announced. Under the Swedish Constitution, Prime Ministers can govern as long as a parliamentary majority - a minimum 175 lawmakers - is not against them.
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