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June
India's ruling party asks officials to exercise caution on religious issues after Islamic nations protest
Written by Nur Yasmin
Leaders of India's Hindu nationalist ruling party on Tuesday instructed officials to be "extremely cautious" when talking about religion on public platforms after derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad drew protests from Islamic nations.
India's minority Muslims have felt more pressure on everything from freedom of worship to hijab head scarves under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. There were Hindu-Muslim clashes during religious processions recently, following deadly riots in 2019-20.
Two BJP leaders said the verbal instructions were given to over 30 senior officials and some federal ministers who are authorised to take part in debates hosted by Indian news channels often broadcast live to millions of viewers.
"We don't want party officials to speak in a way that hurts the religious sentiments of any community...They must ensure the party's doctrine gets shared in a sophisticated manner," said a senior BJP leader and federal minister in New Delhi.
With about 110 million members, mainly Hindus, the BJP is the world's largest political party, while Muslims comprise around 13% of India's 1.35 billion population.
Last week the BJP suspended the spokeswoman and expelled another official after Islamic nations demanded apologies from the Indian government and summoned diplomats to protest against anti-Islamic remarks made during a TV debate. read more
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran were among the nations that made their complaints public.
The influential 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said in a statement that the insults came in the context of an increasingly intense atmosphere of hatred toward Islam in India and systematic harassment of Muslims.
Although Modi's party has denied any rise in communal tensions during his reign, BJP rule has emboldened hardline Hindu groups in recent years to take up causes they say defend their faith, stoking a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment.
The U.S. State Department, in an annual report on international religious freedom released in June, said that attacks on members of minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, took place in India throughout 2021.
India's foreign ministry said on Monday the offensive tweets and comments did not in any way reflect the government's views.
"We are not barred from speaking on sensitive religious issues, but we must never insult the basic tenets of any religion," said senior BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal.
Modi in recent years has improved economic ties with energy-rich Islamic nations, the main source for India's fuel imports, but relations have come under stress from the anti-Islamic utterances of the two BJP members, foreign policy experts said.
Small-scale protests erupted in parts of India as Muslim groups demanded the arrest of the suspended BJP spokeswoman. (Reuters)
June
Japan PM vows to strengthen defence 'fundamentally' in five years
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday he intended to strengthen his country's defence capabilities fundamentally over the next five years.
Kishida said last month he had told visiting U.S. President Joe Biden he was determined to boost Japan's defence spending substantially to strengthen its defence. He did not mention a specific time frame when. (Reuters)
June
Kazakh leader scores victory with constitutional referendum
Written by Nur Yasmin
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will be hoping the approval in a referendum of constitutional amendments he championed will help him move out of his predecessor's shadow and cement his role as a long-awaited reformer.
Vote results on Monday showed convincing support in the previous day's vote for the amendments that Tokayev has promoted as a foundation for a more democratic social contract in the oil-rich Central Asian country allied with Russia.
The Central Election Commission said that 77.18% of votes were in favour of the amendments, which decentralise decision-making and strip former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev of his "national leader" status. Turnout was 68.06%.
Long prized for political stability by Western investors who have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into its energy and mining industries, Kazakhstan went through a deadly bout of unrest in January, including an attempted coup by top security officials.
Tokayev did not comment on the referendum result on Monday.
Analysts said the referendum was in part a response to January's unrest which started as a protest against a fuel price increase and grew into a broad display of public discontent.
Many Kazakhs have for several years been calling for change to a political system that concentrates power and wealth in the presidency and his associates, analysts say.
"Tokayev understands this and that is why, to a certain degree, he tries to position himself using this referendum as a man who is trying to change something," political analyst Dosym Satpayev said before the vote.
Tokayev has called for higher taxes on the lucrative extractive industries and high-income individuals, saying social justice would be the cornerstone of a new social contract.
Tokayev proposed the reforms after putting down the coup attempt, ending the unrest and removing his former patron, Nazarbayev, and his relatives from important positions in the public sector.
The vote indicates that many Kazakhs support the sidelining of Nazarbayev, who ran the country for three decades before giving up the presidency in 2019 and picking Tokayev as a successor.
Securing domestic support will also help Tokayev, a 69-year-old career diplomat, navigate the Ukrainian crisis which has destabilised Kazakhstan's economy and put it in a difficult geopolitical position.
While many Kazakhs have welcomed Tokayev's emergence as leader, some have criticised his decision to ask a Russia-led security bloc for help in quelling January's unrest, putting the Kazakh leadership in Russia's debt, in the eyes of many, weeks before it invaded Ukraine.
Western sanctions against Russia have hit Kazakhstan. The tenge currency plunged almost as much as the Russian rouble did in March before recovering, and logistics have become much harder for Kazakh companies dealing with European counterparties.
Tokayev has been very circumspect in commenting on the Ukrainian crisis, although he has urged all sides to act in line with the U.N. charter. On the economy, he has said his so-called Second Republic vision includes a more just redistribution of wealth. (Reuters)
June
IAEA chief working on mission to Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Written by Nur Yasmin
The U.N. nuclear watchdog is working on sending an international mission of experts to the Russian-held nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine, Europe's largest, its chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Grossi has for months said that the situation at Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian staff are working under Russian orders, poses a safety risk and said he wants to lead a mission there.
Ukraine has now indicated that it is concerned about the supply of spare parts to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Grossi told a quarterly meeting of his agency's 35-nation Board of Governors, adding that data on nuclear material there was still not being transmitted to the IAEA as it should.
"I have taken note of the appeal by the Ukrainian government," Grossi said.
"We are developing the modalities to dispatch such a mission; other considerations should not prevent this essential international mission from taking place."
Grossi told the Board the situation at Zaporizhzhia is "a clear and present risk to the safety, security and safeguards at the nuclear power plant". (Reuters)
June
UK's Johnson and Ukraine's Zelenskiy discuss ways to end blockade of Ukraine’s ports
Written by Nur Yasmin
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday discussed efforts to end Russia's blockade of Ukrainian grain exports, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
"The leaders also discussed diplomatic negotiations and efforts to end the damaging Russian blockade of Ukraine’s grain exports," the spokesperson said in a statement providing a readout of the call. (Reuters)
June
Singapore PM appoints future successor Wong as new deputy
Written by Nur Yasmin
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday named finance minister and chosen successor Lawrence Wong as his new deputy effective next week, paving the way for him to become the city state's next leader.
Wong, 49, was picked in April as leader of the People's Action Party's (PAP) so-called fourth generation team but the timeframe for a change in power in the ruling party remains unclear.
Lee, 70, has previously said Wong would succeed him either before or after the next general election, which is due in 2025.
"The next generation leadership is taking shape. I ask everyone to give your full support to this important transition, to steer Singapore safely out of the pandemic and into a brighter future," Lee said in a Facebook post on Monday.
Wong said in a Facebook post he was taking on "possibly (the) biggest responsibility" of his life.
"I seek your support, as I take on my latest appointment...to steer Singapore through the many challenges we are facing today," he said.
Monday's announcement included the moving of several other political office-holders to different ministries.
Wong, who headed Singapore's COVID-19 taskeforce, will continue in his current role of finance minister while serving as deputy prime minister, according to an official statement. He would stand in for Lee as the leader in the event of his absence.
Singapore has been governed by the PAP since its 1965 independence and leadership succession is usually a carefully planned affair.
Felix Tan, a political analyst at Nanyang Technological University, said Wong's appointment would ensure a smoother transition to the top job, which is unlikely to be imminent.
"This will give him some leeway to familarise himself in the role, give him the chance to form a new cabinet or at least be involved in the decision-making process of forming a new cabinet," he said.
"I don't necessarily think PM Lee is going to step down anytime soon. Perhaps we would see a timeframe of a year or two, which will bring us closer to the next general election." (Reuters)
June
Nigeria church massacre victims suffered range of injuries, doctor says
Written by Nur Yasmin
Victims of an attack on a Catholic church in Nigeria suffered lacerations, bullet wounds and blast injuries, a doctor at the local hospital said on Monday, suggesting a range of weapons were used by the unknown assailants.
At least 50 people including children were killed during the attack on St Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo, which took place during Sunday mass, according to media reports. Police have yet to release a death toll. read more
Dr Samuel Aluko, a registrar at the hospital, said 27 adult victims were receiving treatment in his department, some for life-threatening injuries. He said one woman had lost both legs.
Children were being treated elsewhere in the hospital but he had no information about them.
Owo is located in Ondo State in southwest Nigeria, a part of the country that does not usually experience violent conflict over religion. Authorities have not given any information about who carried out Sunday's atrocity and why.
The town was quiet on Monday, with many shops remaining closed. Security forces were visible on the streets, and helicopters passed overhead.
Nigeria has severe problems with violence and criminality in several regions, including Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, mass abductions for ransom in the northwest and crude oil smuggling in the far south. The Owo massacre did not fit into any of the common categories.
The southwest is home to the Yoruba ethnic group, who are divided roughly equally between Muslims and Christians. The two communities usually cohabit peacefully.
An Owo resident said some local people were blaming the church massacre on members of the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group, who are predominantly Muslim and live mostly in northern Nigeria, with communities in other regions. However, there was no official confirmation of this rumour.
The resident, who did not wish to be named because of safety fears, said some local youths had wanted to launch a reprisal attack against Hausa-Fulani residents, but elders had managed to calm them down.
Pope Francis and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari were among those who expressed horror at news of the massacre.
Other parts of Nigeria have experienced repeated outbreaks of violence between Muslims and Christians, including killings in churches and mosques.
Human rights groups who have investigated such incidents in depth have often found underlying factors other than religion, such as conflicts between farmers and herders that overlap with ethnic and religious divides. (Reuters)
June
Russia says it will push Ukrainian forces back to defend against longer-range weapons
Written by Nur Yasmin
Moscow said on Monday that Western deliveries of longer-range arms to Kyiv would make Russia push Ukrainian forces further back from its borders, essentially increasing the potential territorial losses for Ukraine in the invasion.
The United States has ruled out sending its own or NATO forces to Ukraine but Washington and Britain have agreed to supply precision missile systems which have significantly longer ranges than previous weapons they delivered.
Washington is supplying Ukraine with M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and Britain will supply M270 multiple-launch systems.
"The longer the range of the systems that will be delivered, the further we will move back the Nazis from that line from which threats to Russian-speakers and the Russian Federation may come," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.
Since the start of its invasion, which it calls a "special military operation", Russia has repeatedly said it aims to clear Ukraine of "Nazis". Kyiv and its Western backers say such claims are fiction and that Ukraine is fighting for its survival against an imperial-style land grab.
President Vladimir Putin warned the United States in an interview broadcast on Sunday that Russia would strike new targets if the West supplied longer-range missiles to Ukraine for use in high-precision mobile rocket systems. read more
The range of the missile systems depends on the munitions used in them. HIMARS systems have a maximum range of 300 km (185 miles) or more but the missiles supplied by the United States have a range of just over 40 miles (64 km) - double the range of the howitzers it supplied. (Reuters)
June
Malaysia palm group warns of losses ahead from 'severe' labour crunch
Written by Nur Yasmin
Malaysia is missing a golden opportunity to capitalise on high palm oil prices and could suffer more production losses due to a "severe" shortage of about 120,000 workers, the Malaysian Estate Owners' Association (MEOA) told Reuters on Monday.
The world's second biggest palm oil producer has been struggling to harvest palm fruit due to a labour shortage exacerbated by its pandemic-related immigration restrictions.
Foreign workers, mostly from Indonesia, typically make up about 80% of the workforce in Malaysian estates, which numbered about 437,000 at the start of the pandemic.
Palm oil prices hit record highs this year due to the labour crunch, export caps at top producer Indonesia and the Russia-Ukraine war, but Malaysian producers are unable to take advantage of that, the MEOA said.
"The sad reality is that Malaysia is missing the golden opportunity presented on a platter as we are not able to cope with the harvesting of all the oil palm bunches at the appropriate harvesting rounds set against the present limited labour force," the MEOA said.
In September, Malaysia approved the recruitment of 32,000 migrant workers for palm plantations, but the foreign labour has yet to enter the country due to permitting holdups.
The group said industry projections for 2022 production to be at 18.6 million tonnes could be lowered further if labour does not come in immediately.
Last week, state agency the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) lowered its production outlook to 18.6 million tonnes for the year from an earlier estimate of 18.9 million tones.
"This projection can be further reduced if the government is not able to act now amid the slow progress in issuing the 32,000 extended permits," the MEOA said.
Indonesia last week cancelled a plan to send its citizens to work in Malaysian palm oil plantations, citing procedural issues. (Reuters)
June
Cambodia's ruling party wins local commune elections but new opposition gains
Written by Nur Yasmin
Cambodia's ruling party scored a landslide win in local commune elections although a new opposition party gained more posts than expected, official results showed on Monday.
Communes are Cambodia's lowest administrative division but the vote is viewed as a bellwether for parliamentary elections due next year. Supporters of the new Candlelight Party hailed its gains as a return to democracy, but also accused the ruling party of intimidation and cheating, which the party denied.
With nearly all votes counted, the National Election Committee (NEC) said the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) had won 80% of 11,622 commune councillor positions, while the opposition Candlelight Party took 18%.
The CPP previously controlled 95% of the posts.
NEC chief Prach Chan said the turnout was 77.91 percent of 9.2 million registered voters.
The Candlelight Party largely regroups the former main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) that was dissolved by a court before the last parliamentary elections. Its members and supporters are among hundreds of people who have been jailed for sedition under a widespread government crackdown. read more
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has run the country for 37 years, and the CPP have faced international condemnation for their actions.
Son Chhay, vice president of Candlelight Party, has said it hopes to win as many local government positions as possible in the hopes of gaining representation on the national level next year.
Opposition supporter and former CNRP chief, Sam Rainsy, said on Twitter the results showed the Candlelight Party had successfully revived democracy in what has effectively been a one-party state in recent years.
"Today, thanks to the courage and intelligence of Cambodian democrats who refuse to give up their struggle, the monopoly of power exercised by Hun Sen has been broken at the local level, despite the unjust character of these communal elections," said Rainsy, who lives in exile in France.
CPP spokesperson Sok Eysan denied allegations made by the opposition of intimidation and cheating, saying the ruling party had won because it had "served the people well". (Reuters)