Volcanic eruption triggers highest-level alert in Japan

A volcano on Japan's major western island of Kyushu, called Sakurajima, erupted at about 8:05 p.m. (1105 GMT) on Sunday, the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) said, but media said there were no immediate reports of damage.

"Eruptions are continuing, with another massive one reported early on Monday morning. Volcanic smoke reached a height of 2,200 meters (7,218 feet)," the weather officials said.

There were reports of volanic stones raining down at a distance of 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from the volcano, NHK public television had earlier said, adding that the eruption alert level had been raised to 5, the highest, with some areas advised to evacuate.

Sakurajima is one of Japan's most active volcanoes and eruptions of varying levels take place on a regular basis. In 2019 it spewed ash 5.5 km (3.4 miles) high.

Video footage from Sunday's eruption showed what appeared to be a red mass flowing down one side of the volcano, with red projectiles shooting out while smoke, hard to see in the darkness, billowed up.

Most of the city of Kagoshima is across the bay from the volcano but several residential areas within about 3 km (1.9 miles) of the crater may be ordered to evacuate, NHK had said.

Officials at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's office were gathering information about the situation, it was quoted as saying.

Russian FM reassures Egypt on grain delivery

Russia’s top diplomat reassured Egyptian leaders on Sunday that their orders for Russian grain would be met as he began a tour of African countries dependent on imports for their food supply.

“We confirmed the commitment of Russian exporters of cereal products to meet their orders in full,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference after talks with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

“President Vladimir Putin stressed this during a recent telephone call with Egyptian President (Abdel Fattah) al-Sisi.” Lavrov’s visit comes hot on the heels of a landmark deal Russia and Ukraine signed on Friday with the United Nations and Turkey aimed at relieving a global food crisis caused by blocked Black Sea grain deliveries.

Between 20 million and 25 million tonnes of grain have been blocked in Ukrainian ports since Russian troops invaded in February, as Ukraine has laid naval mines to prevent an amphibious invasion of its coast.

The deal provides for the creation of safe corridors for grain exports from three Ukrainian ports, and also seeks to facilitate Russian grain exports by removing them from the scope of Western sanctions.

“The (UN) secretary general (Antonio Guterres) took responsibility for lifting these illicit restrictions, imposed by the United States and the European Union against (Russian) financial and supply chains,” Lavrov said.

Ukraine, the two countries accounted for 85 percent of wheat imports to Egypt, which has been heavily impacted by what

Lavrov called “the so-called world food crisis” in an address to the Arab League in Cairo later Sunday.

Lavrov met Arab League head Ahmed Aboul Gheit and representatives of the 22 nations that make up the pan-Arab bloc.

The United States has sought to isolate Russia on the global stage over its invasion of Ukraine, but has faced less success in the Arab world, where many countries are hesitant to strain relations with Moscow.

Many such as Egypt have not clearly sided with either Russia or Ukraine, leading Lavrov on Sunday to praise Arab countries’ and the League’s “balanced, fair, responsible position”.

Several member states are heavily dependent on wheat imports from Ukraine and have been reeling from food insecurity, which Lavrov said Sunday had been “bluntly, unconditionally” blamed on Russia, “as if the food crisis started on the day we launched our special military operation in Ukraine”.

In addition to the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain problems, the diplomat said the crisis “was aggravated by the illegal Western sanctions against the Russian Federation”.

Despite a Russian strike on Ukraine’s port of Odessa Saturday, which Kyiv called a “spit in the face” to the freshly inked deal with Turkey and the UN, Lavrov lauded the agreement Sunday.

He told Arab leaders it will compel “Western countries to lift limitations and stop preventing Russian grain from being delivered to the buyers”.

After Egypt, Russia’s top diplomat is to visit Uganda, Ethiopia and Congo.

Sri Lanka president’s office to reopen after crackdown

Sri Lanka’s besieged presidential office will reopen on Monday (Jul 25), police said, days after anti-government demonstrators were flushed out in a military crackdown that triggered international condemnation.

Widespread public anger over the island’s unprecedented economic crisis saw protesters storm and occupy the colonial-era building earlier this month.

Soldiers were forced to rescue then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa from his nearby residence on the same day, with the leader fleeing to Singapore and resigning days later.

Troops armed with batons and automatic weapons cleared the 92-year-old presidential secretariat in a pre-dawn raid on Friday on the orders of Rajapaksa’s successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

At least 48 people were wounded and nine arrested in the operation, during which security forces tore down tents set up by protesters outside the complex since April.

“The office is ready for reopening from Monday,” said a police official on Sunday, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“The siege of the secretariat, which lasted since May 9, has now been lifted.”

Police said forensic experts had been called in to check damage to the presidential secretariat and gather evidence.

Western governments, the United Nations and human rights groups have condemned Wickremesinghe for using violence against unarmed protesters who had announced their intention to vacate the site later on Friday.

Wickremesinghe defended the crackdown and said he had told Colombo-based diplomats on Friday that blocking government buildings was unacceptable.

Police spokesman Nihal Talduwa said protesters were free to continue their demonstrations at a designated site near the presidential office.

“They can remain at the official protest site. The government may even open a few more places for demonstrators in the city,” Talduwa said on Sunday.

The military operation to clear the secretariat building and its immediate surroundings came less than 24 hours after Wickremesinghe was sworn in and just before a new Cabinet was appointed.

Sri Lanka’s 22 million people have also endured months of lengthy blackouts, record inflation and shortages of food, fuel and petrol.

Its government is officially bankrupt, having defaulted on its US$51 billion foreign debt, and is currently in bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

The economic crisis which fuelled the protest campaign shows no sign of easing, but the government announced on Sunday it would reopen schools which had remained shut for the better part of a month.

The education ministry said students and teachers will be asked to return to school only for three days each week as transport is still hampered by a national fuel shortage.

Miles-long queues of motorists waiting to fill up were seen across the country Sunday despite the government introducing a rationing system.

New president Wickremesinghe has said he will unveil a fresh budget for the rest of the year in August as previous revenue and expenditure estimates were unrealistic.

Coalition govt to request SC for full bench on cases related to Article 63-A

The coalition government has decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) for the formation of a full court bench to hear cases related to the interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution, related to the status of defecting lawmakers, according to a statement issued by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday.

The issue was thrust into the limelight on Friday when Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari decided not to count PML-Q's votes in the Punjab chief minister’s election, deeming them to be against party head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's directions and thus handing Hamza Shehbaz the victory over PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi.

Mazari's ruling was challenged by Elahi in a petition filed and in Saturday's hearing at the SC's Lahore registry, the apex court allowed Hamza to stay as a “trustee” Punjab chief minister till Monday.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial had also remarked that prima facie, the deputy speaker’s ruling was against the apex court’s verdict in the Article 63-A reference.

As the closely watched Saturday proceedings came to an end, the PML-N began publicly pushing for a full court bench and questioned the “one-sidedness” of the decision from a “particular bench” of the apex court.

The government alliance has now decided to formally move the SC in this regard, the information minister said today.

The leaders of the government alliance will also address a press conference at 10:30am on Monday.

The leaders will then go to the apex court with their lawyers to request the formation of a full court bench that jointly hears cases related to the election of Punjab's chief minister, the Supreme Court Bar Association's (SCBA) review petition of the SC's opinion on Article 63-A and other related petitions.

The statement said the PPP, PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl will go to the SC, while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Balochistan National Party, Balochistan Awami Party and other allied parties will be among the petitioners as well.

"The lawyers of all the parties will argue in the Supreme Court on Article 63-A of the Constitution," the statement said.

A day ago, the ruling alliance issued a declaration, demanding that the chief justice of Pakistan constitute a full court to hear the petition against the Punjab chief minister’s election, calling it “an important national, political and constitutional matter”.

The declaration stated that the Constitution had drawn a clear line of authority between the legislature, judiciary, and the administration, which an “arrogant, anti-constitution and fascist” person was trying to erase.

The component parties of the ruling coalition said in the declaration that they would not compromise on the Constitution, democracy, and the right of the people to rule.

On May 17, the SC had decided on a presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63-A that the votes of defecting lawmakers will not be counted.

Subsequently, on June 23, the SCBA filed a petition in the apex court on for a review of its decision.

Full court bench is 'requirement of justice': law minister

Meanwhile, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar addressed a press conference in Lahore with Punjab government spokesperson Attaullah Tarar, calling for the formation of a full court bench to hear cases related to Article 63-A's interpretation.

He said cases such as the SCBA's review petition or Friday's Punjab CM election or appeals of de-seated dissident PTI MPAs were all linked together. "The most foundational case is Article 63-A's interpretation with which all these matters are solved," he added.

Referring to Hamza, the law minister said that if a representative of the people was to be sent home through a legal decision then it was a requirement of justice, transparency and independence for a full court bench to hear the matter.

He also rejected allegations of the PML-N being behind a recent social media trend that criticised apex court judges and said his party highly respected state institutions.

Hundreds protest Tunisia constitution ahead of vote

Hundreds of people protested Saturday in Tunis against a draft constitution put forward by President Kais Saied, demanding his resignation before Tunisia votes on the disputed charter.

The referendum will take place a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and suspended parliament in a decisive blow against the country’s often chaotic young democracy.

“Get out”, the demonstrators yelled as they waved Tunisia’s red-and-white flag at a gathering on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the capital.

“The people want the fall of Kais Saied; the people want the fall of the constitution,” chanted those who rallied in response to a call by the National Salvation Front (FSN) opposition alliance.

Tunisia is preparing to vote tomorrow on a draft constitution that would enshrine the vast powers that Saied has exercised since he sacked the government and suspended parliament on July 25 last year.

Imran feels noose around him tightening in foreign funding case: Ahsan

Planning minister Ahsan Iqbal, in reaction to a news report of a national reconciliation in the works, has attributed it to PTI Chairman Imran Khan feeling the "noose around him tightening" in the foreign funding case.

"Perhaps Imran Khan feels the noose around him tightening in the foreign funding case and so he has suggested such talks take place," Iqbal said.

The PML-N leader warned that no dialogue can be held for an "NRO" in the foreign funding case.

He said he is unaware of any plans for general elections to be held in October.

The establishment is considering a "soft intervention" under which it may mediate between PTI Chairman Imran Khan and the coalition parties — comprising PML-N, PPP, JUI-F, and others.

Sources said that there are chances of a "grand dialogue" between the Opposition and the government with the intervention of the establishment.

The development comes as the Pakistani rupee continues its downward trend against the US dollar and the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) also witnessing constant plunges in recent sessions — both markets recording historic lows.

Not only this, but there has also been persistent political instability since Khan's ouster from power with political parties in a tug of war over Punjab.

Hamza Shahbaz of the PML-N, a candidate of the present coalition government, took oath twice as Punjab chief minister in the last four months but with his appointment challenged time and again in the courts, the matter has now gone to him being appointed a trustee chief minister until Monday.

The situation has given way to the likelihood for the next general elections to take place soon, with the sources putting the time frame at October.

 

Sri Lankan security forces raid protest camp as new leaders sworn in

Sri Lankan security forces raided and partially cleared a protest camp occupying government grounds in Colombo early on Friday, fuelling fears that President Ranil Wickremesinghe had launched a crackdown a day after being sworn in.

Media footage showed soldiers in riot gear and armed with assault rifles tearing down the camp, set up in April by protesters enraged by the country's economic collapse and acute shortages of fuel, food and medicine.

Wickremesinghe, a six-time prime minister, was sworn in as president on Thursday after winning a parliamentary vote to succeed Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to Singapore last week in the wake of massive public protests triggered by Sri Lanka's worst economic crisis in seven decades.

"A joint operation involving the military, police and police special forces was launched in the early hours to recover the presidential secretariat from the protesters as they have no legal right to hold it," police spokesperson Nalin Thalduwa told Reuters.

Nine people arrested in the pre-dawn raid were later granted bail by a Colombo court, police said.

Protesters had feared a crackdown after Wickremesinghe as acting head of state on Monday imposed a national state of emergency. Many regard him as an ally of Rajapaksa.

Previous emergency regulations have been used to give powers to the military to arrest protesters and curtail the right to demonstrate.

A representative of the United Nations and Western envoys urged the government to exercise restraint, saying the use of force could further destabilise the island nation, whose economy desperately needs an International Monetary Fund bailout, having virtually run out of dollars to pay for vital imports.

The United States' ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung, said she had met the new president to express "grave concern" over the violence against protesters in Colombo on Friday.

"This is not the time to crack down on citizens, but instead to look ahead at the immediate and tangible steps the Government can take to regain the trust of the people, restore stability, and rebuild the economy," Chung said in a tweet.

Just hours after security forces moved against the protest camp, another Rajapaksa ally, senior lawmaker Dinesh Gunawardena, was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new prime minister.

Seventeen other ministers completed the cabinet, with former finance minister Ali Sabry becoming foreign minister, while sources said Wickremesinghe would keep the finance portfolio.

As Wickremesinghe, lawmakers and officials listened to Gunawardena being sworn in at the prime minister's office, uniformed military officers sat on one side of the room.

Angered by the pre-dawn raids, hundreds of protesters marched from the city's main railway station towards the Galle Face protest site, where military and riot police manning barricades held them back.

"The very first day he used the armed forces - this is the face of Ranil Wickremesinghe," said Rajeevkanth Rajkumar, a construction company executive who was among the protesters. "We don't want any more innocent people to be injured. But we will go to that place (the protest site) at any cost."

Opposition politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who lost the vote for the presidency, said on Twitter: "Let's bring down the brutal ... regime that viciously attacked the protesters at Galle Face".

Soon after midnight on Friday hundreds of security personnel had surrounded the "Gota Go Gama" protest camp, mockingly named after Rajapaksa, and then had begun to tear down tents in front of the secretariat, according to protest organisers.

Security forces appeared to have taken control of the entire secretariat, which was earlier this month seized by protesters along with the president and prime minister's official residences. The residences were later handed back to government authorities.

At least 50 protesters were injured in Friday's clashes, the organisers said, including some journalists who were beaten by security forces. Hospital sources said two were hospitalised.

"They beat us really cruelly," said Buddhika Abeyrathne, 34, a protester who witnessed the raid but did not appear injured himself. "Mr Wickremesinghe doesn’t know what democracy is."