NEW YORK, 8 June, 2021 (TON): Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid won over Afghanistan's nominee to become the next President of the UN General Assembly.

The elections held on Monday involved Shahid who received 143 votes to former Afghanistan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul's 48.

Shahid pledged a "presidency of hope" for a world struggling to recover from the devastation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He will preside over the Assembly session that starts in September, succeeding Turkey's Volkan Bozkir.

The Security Council is scheduled to start the next big election exercise on Tuesday by endorsing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a second term and sending the recommendation to the General Assembly.

After the elections, Shahid said to the media, "This has been a year of disease, despair and devastation at a time like this when we move towards a new normal, as we look to rebuild communities, recover economies, rescue the planet we need to restore hope."

As India backed Shahid, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar tweeted, "This is a testimony as much to his own stature as to the standing of Maldives. We look forward to working with him to strengthen multilateralism and its much needed reforms."

Guterres said that "Shahid's longstanding diplomatic experience, including in his current role as minister of foreign affairs, has given him a deep understanding of the importance of multilateralism in addressing today's global challenges".

Shahid was a career diplomat before entering politics. He was first elected to the Maldives Parliament in 2000 and became Speaker in 2009.

In between, he was the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007 and did a short stint as Foreign Minister from 2007 to 2008. He took up the position again in 2018.

Moreover, the Assembly's presidency rotates among the five regional groups at the UN and it was the Asia-Pacific group's turn this time.

JOHANNESBURG, 8 June, 2021 (TON): South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed his attendance at the G7 Leaders Meeting to be held on 13 June in the U.K.

On Monday, the media cited the President saying in a statement that South Africa was invited to attend the gathering after the country that chaired the African Union in 2020, played a crucial role in the continent's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said free and fair trade; the global recovery from the pandemic; and climate change would be discussed at the meeting.

The platform is an opportunity to deal with the issue of vaccines and to ensure that intellectual property rights are waved, Ramaphosa said.

"I will be presenting the clear signals that our country is emerging from the devastation wrought by the pandemic," he said.

"These gatherings also give us an opportunity to promote our continent as a destination for investment."

The G7 includes the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, however, it will be hosted by the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Cornwall in South West England from 11-13 June.

GAZA, 08 June 2021, (TON): Israeli police on Monday announced that it got cancelled a planned flag bearer procession by Jewish nationalists through parts of Jerusalem's Old City, following warnings that it could reignite tensions that led to a punishing 11-day war against Gaza's Palestinians led by Hamas last month.

The parade, which celebrates Israel's capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, was underway on 10 June in East Jerusalem. The parade is traditionally held on Jerusalem Day on 10 May to commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in June 1967 following the Six-Day War from 5 to 10 June 1967. However, last month’s parade was rescheduled due to clashes between police and Palestinian protesters and subsequently cancelled after the recent cross-border conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinian representatives Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier in May celebrations could not be held as Palestinian representative leadership in Gaza, Hamas retaliated Israeli arrests and eviction of Gaza and fired rockets toward the holy city, setting off heavy fighting. According to Israeli estimates some 254 people were killed in Gaza and 13 in Israel before a cease-fire took effect on 21 May 2021.

MALE, 7 June, 2021 (TON):  Media reported on Monday that Maldives Minister of Tourism Abdulla Mausoom has said that the heavy losses sustained by the country's tourism sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic can be recovered by the end of the year.

Mausoom said, "We can boost our numbers, we can increase the number of bed nights. Thankfully, our rates are good."

The media cited the figures according to the data from Maldives' Ministry of Tourism showed that 460,924 tourists visited the country in 2021, compared to 555,494 in 2020 and 1.7 million in 2019.

However, Mausoom said that the government's expectation of over 3,000 arrivals per day has been dampened by the third wave of the pandemic.

He said that the current arrival rate is half of what was expected.

However, Mausoom pointed out that the UK's red-listing of the Maldives as a travel destination, and the Male government's decision to suspend issuing visas to countries in South Asia, have contributed to a stagnation of arrivals.

SEOUL, 7 June, 2021 (TON): On Monday, a Seoul court dismissed a damages suit against 16 Japanese firms.

The suit was filed in 2015 by a total of 84 South Korean victims who were forced into heavy labor without pay during the World War II.

The media reported that the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the suit against the Japanese companies, including Nippon Steel, Nissan Chemical and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The court ruled that the individual right to damages cannot be seen as being terminated or waived, but it said the individual right cannot be exercised through lawsuits due to the 1965 South Korea-Japan treaty.

The ruling was in a contrast to the country's top court ruling in October 2018, in which the Supreme Court ordered Nippon Steel to pay 100 million won ($89,900) to each of the four South Korean victims.

However, Japan claimed that all colonial-era issues were settled through the 1965 treaty that normalized diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan following the Imperial Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

BAGHDAD, 7 June, 2021(TON): On Sunday, the Iraqi President Barham Salih announced Iraq’s partnership with the international community to cater terrorism and violence, an effort to stabilize the region.

On Sunday, during his meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, the President said that the country is working with the international community to stabilize the region by confronting terrorism and violence as common global challenges.

The Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, was visiting Baghdad for talks to strengthen bilateral ties and discuss the international effort to combat terrorism, the media said.

The statement said, “Iraq is working with its brothers and friends in the international community to ease tensions and defuse crises to enhance regional and international security.”

Kofod also met Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to discuss the bilateral cooperation in combating the Islamic State terror group, building security institutions, investing in various economic fields, and containing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Iraq is looking forward to the Danish and European role in appointing observers to monitor the upcoming electoral process,” said al-Kadhimi.

However, Kofod, whose country is in command of the NATO mission in Iraq, affirmed his government’s commitment to supporting Iraq in the fight against terrorism.

AMMAN, 7 June, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, over insulting statements against the King Abdullah II, Jordan’s Lower House of Parliament voted to expel MP Osama Ajarmeh.

The media reported, on Sunday, the Lower House held an emergency session following the riots that occurred in the expelled MP’s hometown in Naour on Saturday.

During the riots, four policemen were injured as the rioters set several vehicles ablaze and fired live ammunition.

During the session on Sunday, 108 out of the 119 MPs voted in favor of expelling Ajarmeh.

Denouncing and describing the statements uttered by Ajarmeh as perverted and insulting, Lower House Speaker Deputy Abdulmunim Oddat said, “I declare the Lower House’s refusal of any form of tampering with the prestige and status of His Majesty King Abdullah and any tampering with our social system, tribal and family harmony.”

Last month, the Lower House decided to freeze the membership of Ajarmeh for one year after he offended other lawmakers in violation of the house’s internal regulations.

BERLIN, 7 June, 2021 (TON): German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led its rivals in the election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Angela’s lead in the polls is a big morale booster for the conservatives ahead of the polls that ought to be held in September.

The CDU garnered 36 percent of the votes up by 6.2 percent compared to the last state election, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) got 22.5 per cent.

The Left Party received 11 per cent of the votes and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) got 8.5 per cent, according to the poll.

Saxony-Anhalt's CDU leader Sven Schulze said the result was "very, very gratifying", expressing gratitude to the voters for giving the party a "clear government mandate".

The preliminary result was seen as a great relief for the ruling CDU as polls ahead of the election had predicted AfD was neck-and-neck with CDU, which is currently led by Armin Laschet, the governor of Germany's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia.

CANBERRA, 7 June, 2021 (TON): Amid disputes with states over the vaccine rollout and quarantine, the popular support for Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has fallen.

On Sunday night, the latest Newspoll published stating that Morrison's approval rating has fallen from 58 percent in mid-May to 54 percent.

It coincides with a rise in the proportion of voters dissatisfied with his performance from 38 percent to 43 percent, reducing Morrison's net approval rating from plus 20 in May to plus 11, the lowest it has been since April 2020 after COVID-19 restrictions were first introduced.

The net approval rating for opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese also fell but the proportion of voters who chose him as their preferred prime minister rose two points to 32 percent.

The poll was taken after Victoria's fourth corona-virus lockdown triggered a political brawl, with Albanese joining state and territory leaders in criticizing the federal government over the slow vaccine rollout and failure to build dedicated quarantine facilities.

Nevertheless, Morrison last week announced 200 million Australian dollars (about 154.7 million U.S. dollars) in funding for a quarantine facility in Victoria but Albanese said it was too late, telling Sky News on Sunday that Australians "can't afford to keep having these lockdowns."

BOGOTA, 7 June, 2021 (TON): Amidst the violent nationwide protests, the Colombian President Ivan Duque announced the modernization of the Defense Ministry and a comprehensive reform of the National Police.

On Sunday, the media reported that the measures include very strict regulations to limit the commercialization, carrying and use of weapons, as well as a new system for receiving, processing, and monitoring complaints and reports.

The President also emphasized the professionalization of and supervision for the police with the creation of a police university as well as the acceleration of the use of body cameras when officers are on patrol.

Duque said that this transformation includes an emphasis on the protection of and respect for the rights of Colombian citizens.

The reform has been presented in the midst of a national strike that killed at least 59 people, began on 28 April due to a proposed tax hike that was later rescinded.