#MONTENEGRO: Parliament Votes No Confidence in Cabinet

[world politics news]

Montenegro's parliament passed a no-confidence motion on the cabinet of Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, proposed by 36 deputies to protest the signing of a long-disputed deal regulating ties with the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GREECE: Parliament To Investigate Wiretapping Of Opposition Leader

[world politics news]

Greek lawmakers have voted to launch a parliamentary investigation into the tapping by the country's secret service of an opposition party leader's phone.

The scandal has plunged Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' center-right government into a political storm. Mitsotakis has denied any prior knowledge of the surveillance, which he said was wrong, and pledged to overhaul the EYP secret service.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UK: Energy Execs Warn Gov't Of "Civil Unrest" Over High Winter Energy Bills

[world politics news]

Energy executives in the UK have warned the government that the country faces the prospect of mass civil unrest as a result of people being unable to afford their heating and electricity bills this winter.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#INDIA: Gov't Plans Commerce Dep't. Restructure

[world politics news]

 

In order to achieve the government's goal of expanding exports to $2 trillion  a year by 2030, it has announced plans to restructure the commerce department.

"As part of the restructuring exercise, a dedicated trade promotion body would be set up to advise an overall strategy to achieve targets and make it future ready," said union minister Piyush Goyol.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SINGAPORE: Gay Sex Ban To Be Lifted, But No Gay Marriage Yet

[world politics news]

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced this past week that the country will repeal a colonial-era law criminalizing gay sex, though he maintained that the government will continue to “uphold” marriage as being between a man and a woman. 

Inherited from the British colonial era, section 377A of Singapore’s penal code penalizes sex between men with up to two years in jail.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#ESTONIA: Officials Dent Russian Claims Bomber Fled There

[world politics news]

Estonia has hit back at Russian claims that a woman blamed by Moscow for planting a deadly car bomb on Saturday later fled to Estonia, a Baltic country.

As tensions spread over the six-month-long Ukraine war, Estonian officials in the capital, Tallinn dismissed the allegations over the whereabouts of the woman the Kremlin has accused of killing the daughter of a prominent supporter of President Vladimir Putin.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#ITALY: Leftist Parties' Fracture May already To Rightist Meloni Victory

[world politics news]

The political alliance between two of Italy’s most prominent politicians was sealed with smiles, handshakes and a kiss for the camera. It lasted less than a week. Enrico Letta, of Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD), and reformist Carlo Calenda of the pro-European Action party had publicly pledged to fight Italy’s upcoming snap election together. The pact was touted as giving the center-left a fighting chance against a right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy by winning support from voters wary of the far right.

 But five days after it was unveiled this month, the alliance broke down. On TV, Calenda said he had changed his mind, blaming Letta and the PD for overtures to two small left-wing parties.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UK: Former Diplomat Attacks Scotland's "Embassies"

[world politics news] 

Former top diplomat Lord David Frost, who now sits in the House of Lords, has said that Scotland should dismantle its lavish so-called "embassies" around the world.

He also warned the Scottish National Party, which is the ruling party in the Scottish Parliament, that devolution could easily be revoked, as he poured more fuel on the flames of the controversy surrounding Scottish independence.

Foreign policy matters are the preserve of the UK Parliament, with the UK government running embassies around the world to promote its diplomatic agendas However, data released through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made last year showed the Scottish government spending almost six million pounds on seven overseas offices.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#LATVIA: Russian Army Monument To Be Removed

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Latvian police have sealed off an 80-meter-high Soviet-era monument glorifying the Red Army. 

The monument, built in 1985, was scheduled to be dismantled this week.

It has been a rallying point for pro-Russian protesters from the country’s Russian minority for years. 

The move comes on the heels of neighbor Estonia, which is making plans to remove all its pro-russian statues, which have also become rallying points for far Right Russian extreme groups.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UK: Parliamentarians To Probe Plans To Make UK A Crypto "Hub"

[world politics news]

A group within the British Parliament is planning an inquiry into the country’s crypto and digital assets industry.

The bipartisan parliamentary group known as Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) says the inquiry will, among other things, look into plans by the UK government to turn the country into a “global home of crypto investment.”

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CANADA: Rights Group Slams China-Like Digital ID Plans

[world politics news]

A constitutional rights group has blasted the federal government’s plan to create a Digital ID infrastructure as a threat to Charter rights and a step towards implementing a Communist China-style social credit system. 

In the report titled Canada’s Road to Beijing, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) outlines how China’s mass surveillance system operates and in what ways a national Digital ID system is a step towards authoritarianism. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UKRAINE: Parliament Considers Income Tax Exemption For War-Damaged Property

[world politics news]

The Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) is considering a bill to exempt the calculation and payment of property tax for damaged real property, other than land. The exemption is valid for 2022 and up to three years from the date of the termination of martial law due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#ESTONIA' Gov't Will Remove Soviet Era Statues

[world politics news]

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has announced  that her government has decided to remove all Soviet monuments from public spaces across Estonia.

She said that they are symbols of repression and occupation, and have become a source of increasing social tensions and a risk to public order.

Kallas said the move is intended to prevent their use by Russia to sew disinformation and stoke tensions amongst the Estonian population, nearly a quarter of which are Russian speakers.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#IRELAND: Trade Unions Ask President To Save 50 Jobs

[world politics news]

Trade unions representing workers at Premier Periclase in Drogheda, Ireland have called on President Leo Varadkar to intervene to save more than 50 jobs following the decision by new owners to suspend operations at the plant over “spiralling energy costs”.

The company exited bankruptcy in May after a survival plan was approved by the nation's High Court.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CANADA: Alberta Firearms Officer Blasts Trudeau Handgun Ban

[world politics news]

Albert's Chief Firearms Officer, Teri Bryant, says the Trudeau government’s ban on importing legal handguns will have no impact on crime. 

The federal government announced last week that handguns for the civilian market will be barred from importation as of August 19, a directive issued without the oversight of Parliament. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#AUSTRALIA: Parliament Considers Lifting Euthanasia Ban

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The Labor Party controlled Parliament is considering lifting a ban on euthanasia put in place by two state governments.

Australia's Northern Territory in 1995 became the first place in the world to legalize voluntary euthanasia. But the landmark law was overturned by the Australian Parliament two years later after four terminally ill people had been legally helped to die, leaving the Northern Territory one of last parts of Australia where doctor-assisted deaths remain banned.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#KENYA: Deputy Pres. Ruto Pulls Ahead In Long Vote Count

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Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto has edged ahead in a tight presidential race, according to official results reported by Kenyan media on Sunday, as more riot police were deployed inside the national election tallying centre after scuffles and accusations by party agents.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#LEBANON: Lawmakers Spend World Bank Loan On Wheat

[world politics news]

 

Lebanese lawmakers hav voted to use a $150 million World Bank loan to pay for wheat imports into the cash-strapped country.

Already in the throes of a crippling economic crisis, Lebanon is also struggling to cope with a food security crisis that has left half its roughly 6 million people without adequate food.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BELGIUM: Brussels 'Mobility Plan' Slashes Traffic In City Center On Aug. 16

[world politics news]

The car-choked streets of central Brussels are about to get a little less clogged.

On August 16, a new mobility plan goes into effect in the city's so-called Pentagon district with the goal of slashing transport emissions, reducing traffic and improving residents' quality of life.

It's all part of the city government's larger plan to reduce car traffic by 24% by the year 2030 within the city limits.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#ITALY: Likely Future PM Meloni Rejects Fascist Label, Says She Is Closer To UK's Tories

[world politics news]

Giorgia Meloni, the favorite to become Italy’s next prime minister, has rejected claims that a government led by her far-right party could herald a fascist revival, instead likening her tribe to Britain’s ruling Conservatives.

The “Tories” as the U.K.’s governing party is also known, have themselves been criticized for pursuing radical right-wing policies, after leading the country out of the European Union, and planning to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, among other populist policies.

A recent poll had her "Brothers of Italy" party in a dead heat with the left-leaning Democratic Party. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#EU: Parliament Bans "Fly Shooting" In Part Of English Channel

[world politics news]

The European Parliament has voted to ban “fly shooting” fishing in French territorial waters in the English Channel, following reports that the technique, also known as demersal seining, was allegedly having a “devastating” effect on local fishers.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#PAPUANEWGUINEA: Parliament Returns PM To Power Following Election

[world politics news]

Parliament has returned Prime Minister James Marape to power following elections marred by violence  in the South Pacific island nation.

Marape was sworn in as prime minister for a second time on Tuesday after legislators in the new parliament returned him unopposed to the post, according to media and election authorities.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#KENYA: Economy, Political Permutations At Center of Kenyan Presidential Election

[world politics news] 

Tired of waiting for her daughter to return from voting, Betty Khamayo picked up her eleven-month-old grandson and got into a matatu, a commercial bus just outside her home in Kwanagware on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The matatu took her to a primary school in Kibera, 8km (5 miles) away, the same polling unit that frontline presidential candidate Raila Odinga had voted earlier in the day.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GERMANY: Chancellor Signals Nuke Plants Won't Be Shut

[world politics news]

Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz has signalled that the country will keep its last three nuclear plants, changing a policy decision by former Chancellor Angela Merkel to shut them down. The move was taken in light of possible Russian fuel shortages this fall, created by the war in Ukraine.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#IRAQ: PM Mustafa Al Kadhimi Pleads for Dialogue After Protesters Storm Parliament Again

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 Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi made a plea for dialogue and concessions among political parties on Saturday after supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr stormed parliament for the second time in days to oppose a rival bloc's prime ministerial candidate.

Iraq “is going through a very sensitive situation”, Mr Al Kadhimi said in a televised speech calling for political rivals to show restraint.

"The dilemma is political and its solution is political. A solution is possible through sincere, constructive dialogue and making concessions for Iraq and Iraqis,” Mr Al Kadhimi said.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.