United News of Bangladesh

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed to step up his country’s effort to defend a rules-based international order in a peace pledge made Thursday on the 79th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II. “We will never again repeat the tragedy of war” and will stick to the country’s postwar pacifist resolve, he said at a solemn ceremony at the Budokan hall. “In the world where tragic battles have persisted, Japan will continue its effort to maintain and strengthen the rules-based, free and open international order” and endeavor to resolve difficult global issues, Kishida said. Kishida noted the more than 3 million Japanese killed, the destruction and the lives lost from bloody ground battles on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, fire-bombings across Japan, and the atomic attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. He did not mention or apologize for Japanese aggression across Asia or millions of lives lost there. The omission follows a precedent set by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his speech in 2013, a move critics call a whitewashing of Japan’s wartime atrocities. Earlier Thursday, three of Kishida's ministers, including Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, prayed at the Yasukuni Shrine — seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of militarism. The controversial shrine honors convicted war criminals among about 2.5 million war dead. Victims of Japanese aggression, especially China and the Koreas, see visits to the shrine as a lack of remorse, and visits by defense officials are considered especially controversial. Kihara is the first serving defense chief to pray at the shrine on the anniversary since then-Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi’s 2021 visit. “I offered my sincere condolences for those who sacrificed their precious lives in the war and expressed my respect," Kihara told reporters, adding that he paid tribute as a private individual. Asked about a possible impact on the relationship with Seoul, he said he would continue his effort to strengthen ties with South Korea. Kishida abstained from praying at the Yasukuni Shrine just a block away and sent a religious ornament instead. Asian neighbors criticized the ministers' visit to Yasukuni on Thursday. China’s official Xinhua News Agency said that “Visits and ritual offerings made by Japanese officials to the controversial shrine have consistently sparked criticism and hurt the feelings of the people of China, South Korea and other countries brutalized by Japan during the war.” In Seoul, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry in a statement expressed “deep disappointment and regret” over the ministers' visits to the shrine and said, "Our government calls for the responsible leaders in Japan to squarely face history and demonstrate through actions a humble reflection and genuine remorse for the past and we emphasize again that this would be an important foundation for the development of future-oriented Korea-Japan relations.” Emperor Naruhito, who also attended the ceremony, repeated his “deep remorse” over Japan’s actions during the war that was fought in the name of the wartime emperor Hirohito, his grandfather. Kishida accelerated Japan’s military buildup and spending as the country further deepens military cooperation with the United States and their Indo-Pacific partners in the face of growing threats from China and North Korea. Kishida, who took office in 2021, announced Wednesday that he plans to step down after his governing party leadership vote in September.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, will be nominated as the country’s new prime minister in a parliamentary vote, her party and its coalition partners said Thursday. The move follows the removal of former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin by court order over an ethical violation a day earlier. Leaders of the 11 party-coalition led by Paetongtarn’s populist Pheu Thai party declared their support for her at a news conference on Thursday after the party’s secretary-general Sorawong Thienthong announced her candidacy. Paetongtarn thanked her party and the coalition partners for their support, adding she is ready to move the country forward. “I have confidence in Pheu Thai. I have confidence in all government coalition parties to bring our country out of the economic crisis,” she said. Pheu Thai had campaigned heavily on improving Thailand's sluggish economy. If Paetongtarn is approved in Parliament’s vote, which is scheduled for Friday, she will become Thailand’s second female prime minister and the country’s third leader from the Shinawatra family, after her father and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra. Thaksin was the first Thai politician ever to win an overall majority of seats. His residual popularity and influence is a factor behind the political support for Paetongtarn. Srettha was ousted on Wednesday after less than a year in office. The Constitutional Court found him guilty of a serious ethical breach over his appointment of a Cabinet member who was jailed in connection with an alleged bribery attempt. Paetongtarn said she respects Srettha and thinks what happened to him was unfortunate, but added: “The country must move on.” It was the second major ruling in a week to shake Thai politics. The same court last week dissolved the progressive and main opposition Move Forward party, which won last year’s general election but was blocked from power, saying it violated the constitution by proposing an amendment to a law against defaming the country’s royal family. The party has already regrouped as the People’s Party. Pheu Thai finished second in last year's election but was given a chance to form a government after the winners, the reformist Move Forward party, was blocked from taking power by the previous Senate, a military-appointed body. Move Forward was then excluded from the coalition by Pheu Thai, which went on to join hands with parties affiliated with the previous military-backed government that ousted it in a coup. The move drew criticism from some of its supporters but party officials say it was necessary to break the deadlock and start reconciliation after decades of deep political divisions. The former senators were given special power to veto a prime ministerial candidate by the constitution adopted in 2017 under a military government. However, that power expired when their term ended in May. New members of the Senate, selected in a convoluted process last month, do not retain the veto. A candidate now needs just a majority from the lower house, or at least 247 votes. The House of Representatives now has 493 sitting members after six were banned from politics as a result of Move Forward's dissolution. Another lawmaker in the Bhumjaithai party, which finished third in the election and is Pheu Thai's major partner in the coalition, is suspended awaiting a court ruling. While Pheu Thai’s coalition endorsed Paetongtarn's candidacy, some of its key partners have reiterated that they would not support a proposal to amend the royal defamation law which became a key issue during last year’s election. Pheu Thai discussed the issue during the election campaign but has spoken about it less since taking power. The law, also known as Article 112 in Thailand’s criminal codes, protects the monarchy from criticism with penalties of up to 15 years in jail per offense. Critics say the law is often wielded as a tool to quash political dissent. The People's Party, the new home for lawmakers of the dissolved Move Forward party, said Thursday it will not vote to approve a candidate from Pheu Thai on Friday. Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said the party will continue its duty as an opposition.

Suspected militants hurled hand grenades at a house and a store selling Pakistani national flags in the restive southwestern Baluchistan province on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding six others ahead of Pakistan’s 77th independence day. The separatist Baluch Liberation Army group claimed responsibility for the attacks in the provincial capital of Quetta, days after the group asked shop owners not to sell the flags. It also warned people not to celebrate the holiday on Wednesday, marking the Aug. 14, 1947, date of Pakistan’s independence from British colonial rule. Wasim Baig, a spokesperson at a government hospital, said the facility had received six injured people and three bodies following the attacks. Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Asim Munir vowed to defeat militancy in a televised speech at an event that took place at a military academy in the country's northeast on the eve of Independence Day. Munir sought cooperation from neighboring Afghanistan against the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group that operates from Afghan soil and that has stepped up attacks across the border in the northwest. The group also operates in southwestern Baluchistan alongside the long-running insurgency in that region, which also shares a border with Afghanistan. In the latest violence in the northwest, a group of militants killed four security forces in South Waziristan, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said. In a statement, it said troops returned fire, killing six insurgents.

A court in Thailand on Wednesday removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office over an ethical violation, further shaking up Thai politics after the court-ordered dissolution of the main opposition party a week ago. The case for which the Constitutional Court judged Srettha involved his appointment of a Cabinet member who had been imprisoned over an alleged attempt to bribe a court official. The court voted 5:4 against Srettha and the ruling removed him from office immediately. The Cabinet will remain in place on a caretaker basis until Parliament approves a new prime minister. There is no time limit for Parliament to fill the position. Srettha had appointed Pichit Chuenban as a minister of the Prime Minister’s Office in a Cabinet reshuffle in April. Pichit was jailed for six months in 2008 on contempt of court charges after he allegedly tried to bribe a judge with 2 million baht ($55,000) in cash in a grocery bag over a case involving former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Pichit resigned from the post weeks after being appointed when controversy over the incident was revived. The court said that although Pichit has already served his jail term, his behavior — as ruled by the Supreme Court — was dishonest. Srettha as prime minister has sole responsibility for vetting the qualifications of his Cabinet nominations, the court ruled. It said he knew about Pichit’s past but still nominated him, and therefore they ruled that he violated the ethics codes. The petition against Srettha was initiated by former members of the military-installed Senate who had refused to approve Move Forward’s prime ministerial candidate when the party was attempting to form a government after its election victory. The petition against Srettha was seen as a move favoring a pro-military political party in his coalition government. Thailand’s courts, especially the Constitutional Court, are considered a bulwark of the country’s royalist establishment, which has used them and nominally independent state agencies such as the Election Commission to issue rulings to cripple or sink political opponents. Srettha became prime minister in August last year, despite his Pheu Thai party finishing second in the general election. After Move Forward was denied power by the Senate whose term ended in May, Pheu Thai — then the biggest partner of Move Forward — excluded it from the coalition and joined hands with parties affiliated with the previous military-controlled government to gather enough support from other parties and the Senate to approve a new prime minister. The Constitutional Court last week ordered the dissolution of the progressive Move Forward Party — which won the most seats in the 2023 election but failed to take power — over an accusation that the party violated the constitution by proposing an amendment to a law against defaming the country’s royal family. The party has already regrouped as the People’s Party.

It’s been three years since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. They have transitioned from insurgency to authority, imposed their interpretation of Islamic law and sought to reinforce their claim to legitimacy. Despite no international recognition as the country's official rulers, the Taliban enjoy high-level meetings with major regional powers like China and Russia. They even attended United Nations-sponsored talks while Afghan women and civil society were denied a seat at the table. It was a triumph for the Taliban, who see themselves as the country’s only true representatives. There’s no domestic challenge to their rule, and no overseas appetite to support one. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza draw the international community's focus, and Afghanistan doesn’t represent the same terror threat it once did. But challenges remain. Here are five things to know about the Taliban in power. Culture wars and rewards The Taliban supreme leader sits atop a pyramid-like ruling system as a paragon of virtue. Mosques and clerics are on one side. On the other is the Kabul administration, which implements clerics’ decisions and meets with foreign officials. “There are different levels of extremism, and the Taliban are in an uneasy coalition of ruling hard-liners and political pragmatists. It has put them in a culture war,” said Javid Ahmad, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute. The most controversial policies are unlikely to be reversed while supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is in charge — and supreme leaders don’t retire or resign. They lead until death. It’s wishful thinking that diverging opinions are enough to divide the Taliban, said Ibraheem Bahiss with Crisis Group’s South Asia program. “The Taliban are unified and will remain a political force for many years. They rule as one group, they fight as one group.” To maintain cohesion and ensure discipline, seasoned Taliban have moved from the battlefield into bureaucracy, getting top jobs in government and provinces. “You have to give them a reward for playing a significant role in the insurgency,” Ahmad said. Other perks can include a free hand in the running of a province or permission to have a third or fourth wife, a new pickup truck, a share in customs fees or the keys to a house. Running the country Bahiss called this "the strongest Afghan government in modern times. They can exact a decree to the village level.” Civil servants keep the country running and are more likely to have a formal or technical education. But the Taliban leading civilian institutions have no proper knowledge of how such institutions are run. “Their qualifications come from God,” Ahmad said. The Taliban's legitimacy to govern doesn't come from Afghans but from their interpretation of religion and culture, said Leena Rikkila Tamang with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. If a government is defined by the trust and buy-in of citizens, recognition by international powers and legitimacy through processes like elections, then the Taliban do not qualify as a government, she said. Keeping the lights on Afghanistan's economy has weakened. In 2023, foreign aid still made up around 30% of the country's GDP. The U.N. has flown in at least $3.8 billion to fund international aid organizations during the past three years. The United States remains the largest donor, sending more than $3 billion in assistance since the Taliban takeover. But the U.S. watchdog assigned to follow the money says a lot is taxed or diverted. “The further the cash gets away from the source, the less transparency there is,” said Chris Borgeson, the deputy inspector general for audits and inspections at the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The Taliban also apply vigorous taxation. In 2023, they collected around $2.96 billion. But that’s not much in a country with huge and complex needs, and the Taliban don’t have the means to stimulate the economy. The central bank can’t print money. Cash is printed abroad. Interest transactions are banned because interest is forbidden in Islam, and banks aren't lending. The Taliban can't borrow money because they're not recognized as the government, and international banking is cut off. Natural disasters and the flow of Afghans fleeing Pakistan under pressure to return home have underlined Afghanistan's reliance on foreign aid to meet essential needs. It’s a big risk if the international community can't send that kind of aid in the future. “We know Afghanistan will start receiving less money from the international community," said Muhammad Waheed, World Bank senior economist for Afghanistan. Another significant blow to the economy has been the Taliban's ban on female education and most employment, removing half of Afghanistan's population from the spending and taxpaying that can strengthen the economy. In addition, the Taliban's anti-narcotics policy “has wrecked the livelihood of thousands of farmers,” said Bahiss, warning that “just because the population is complacent right now, it won’t stay that way.” Diplomacy and the global stage Afghanistan is a small country in a neighborhood of giants, Bahiss said, and there’s a regional consensus that it’s better to have a stable Afghanistan. But support from the West, especially the U.S., is key to unlocking billions in frozen assets and lifting sanctions. The Taliban's links with China and Russia are important because they are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. They have also occupied seats on the United Nations’ Credentials Committee, which decides whether to withhold or bestow legitimacy on a government. For now, Gulf nations are engaging with the Taliban to hedge their bets. “Qatar likes to be seen as leading mediation efforts and the (United Arab Emirates) has been taking that away, especially through supporting international aviation,” Bahiss said. A meeting this year between the leader of the UAE and a Taliban official facing a U.S. bounty over attacks highlighted the growing global divide on how to deal with the Taliban. The Taliban are keen to stress how effective they are as a government and to show the country is peaceful and that services are being provided, said Weeda Mehran, an international relations lecturer at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. Although Afghanistan has lost dozens of media outlets due to a Taliban crackdown, the country’s rulers have grasped the impact of social media. Their content is intended to normalize their approach to Islamic law, which is where Arabic-language messaging is important. “It’s a watered-down and whitewashed account of what is happening in the country,” Mehran said. Secure, but not safe The Taliban have secured Afghanistan through checkpoints, armored vehicles and hundreds of thousands of fighters. But the country is not safe, especially for women and minorities, as civilian casualties from suicide bombings and other attacks persist. The Islamic State group has repeatedly targeted the mostly Shiite Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood in Kabul. The police, slow to confirm attacks and casualty numbers, tell the media that investigations are underway but don't say if anyone is brought to justice. A newer phenomenon is the anxiety experienced by Afghan women as the Taliban enforce decrees on clothing, work and travel and the requirement to have a male guardian when traveling. “A message for the mainstream media is that it’s OK and there is good security in Afghanistan under the Taliban,” Mehran said. “My argument would be, well, whose security are we talking about?”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a surprise move Wednesday, announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, paving the way for Japan to have a new prime minister. Kishida was elected president of his governing Liberal Democratic Party in 2021 and his three-year term expires in September. His drop out of the race means a new leader who wins the party vote will succeed him as prime minister because the LDP controls both houses of parliament. Kishida, stung by his party’s corruption scandals, has suffered dwindling support ratings that have dipped below 20%. He announced he will not run in the September vote, allowing for a fresh leader in an effort to show that his party is changing for the better. Kishida will support a new leader, he said. Local election losses earlier in the year eroded his clout, and LDP lawmakers have voiced the need for a fresh face ahead of the next general election. Since the corruption scandal broke, Kishida has removed a number of Cabinet ministers and others from party executive posts, dissolved party factions that were criticized as the source of money-for-favor politics, and passed a law tightening political funds control law. But support for his government has dwindled. The scandal centers on unreported political funds raised through tickets sold for party events. It involved more than 80 LDP lawmakers, mostly belonging to a major party faction previously led by assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ten people — lawmakers and their aides — were indicted in January.

Iran's threatened retaliatory strike on Israel over the assassination of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh drew major world powers on Tuesday into a high-wire act of diplomacy. Halting or limiting an Iranian strike in some eyes could bolster a monthslong effort to reach a cease-fire in a war that's devastated the Gaza Strip and killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to the territory's health ministry. It could also free the Israeli hostages who remain captive there since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and began the conflict. Failure to do so could see Iran launch a complex drone-and-missile attack in tandem with Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, now separately aggrieved over Israel's killing of one of its top commanders, straining the ability of Israel's missile defenses and its allies to defend against the assault. Widespread losses could push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government into its own direct attack on Iran — and drag the wider Middle East into a regional war. That fear has prompted a flurry of diplomacy in the region. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom on Monday urged Iran and its allies to “refrain from attacks that would further escalate regional tensions and jeopardize the opportunity to agree (to) a cease-fire and the release of hostages." In a call, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned Iran's new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian that there was “a serious risk of miscalculation and now was the time for calm and careful consideration.” Pezeshkian rebuffed the message. "A punitive response to an aggressor is a right of nations and a solution for stopping crimes and aggression,” Pezeshkian said. The new Iranian president also has been called by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over the retaliation threat. Pezeshkian has acknowledged he will follow the orders of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who already said Israel “paved the way for a severe punishment upon itself with this action.” Iran has been repeatedly targeted by suspected Israeli assassinations and sabotage campaigns, increasing the pressure on its theocracy to act to maintain its leadership position in its self-declared “Axis of Resistance” with militias it arms in the region. But it also has faced years of widespread protests, economic woes and other domestic challenges embrittling the public's support of the government. Its first complex attack on Israel in April caused little damage, raising the risk of it needing to go larger this time in response. The United States, Israel's main backer, has called repeatedly on Iran not to retaliate. It also has backed efforts mediated by Egypt and Qatar to reach a cease-fire in the wider war. However, it's also prepared militarily in the Mideast in case things do escalate. The U.S. military has instructed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. America also has ordered the USS Georgia guided missile submarine into the Mideast, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group has been in the Gulf of Oman. Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region, while the USS Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in the Mediterranean Sea. It's not just Western powers that have been involved in recent weeks. Russian officials under President Vladimir Putin have engaged in discussions with Iran. The secretary of Russia’s national security council, Sergei Shoigu, visited Tehran and described the assassination of Haniyeh as “tragic" and something that was “impossible to bypass” in talks with Iran's government. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov separately said Moscow was “calling on everybody to refrain from escalating the situation from turning into a disaster for all regional players,” according to the state-run Tass news agency. “Political ways out of the existing problems must be found,” it quoted Bogdanov as saying. For Iran, Russia remains one of the few international suppliers of advanced weaponry willing to do business with it even as its nuclear program enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels. Iran for years has asked for Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets. Tehran has also sought Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system, a possible deterrent for the American-made F-35 fighter jets flown by the U.S. and Israel. It's not just Iran, though, that needs weapons. Putin has relied increasingly on Iranian-made bomb-carrying drones in his war on Ukraine, which has escalated in recent days with Kyiv marching into Russia's Kursk region as a means to pressure Moscow as it makes gains in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. Putin also hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in Moscow. Then there's China, which has tried quietly to assert more influence in the Mideast without devoting the same amount of military power as the United States. China last year mediated a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia that saw the countries reach a détente, though Riyadh continues to eye Tehran warily. In July, China also hosted the signing of a deal between Hamas and Fatah, the main force in the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority that administers parts of the occupied West Bank. While the agreement calls for the factions to form a joint government, previous deals fell apart between the rivals, calling into question whether this one would be any different. China also has begun criticizing Israel more directly amid the war, rather than following its typical pattern of calling for restraint on all sides. “China is gravely concerned over the relevant military operation of Israel which caused massive civilian casualties in Gaza,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Lin Jian said Monday. “We condemn all acts that harm civilians, oppose all moves that violate international humanitarian law and call on Israel to heed the call of the international community — stop the hostilities at once.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions from The Associated Press over Iran's threatened retaliatory strike.

A powerful earthquake struck off Japan's southern coast on Thursday, triggering a tsunami advisory that urged residents to stay away from the coastline. Nine people were injured, most of them slightly, but there were no reports of serious damage. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake registered magnitude 7.1 and was centered in waters off the eastern coast of Japan's southern main island of Kyushu at a depth of about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles). The quake most strongly shook Nichinan city and nearby areas in Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu island. The agency said tsunami waves of up to 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) were detected along parts of Kyushu's southern coast and the nearby island of Shikoku about a half hour after the quake struck. The tsunami advisory was lifted from most coastlines except those along the Miyazaki prefecture. Seismologists at the agency held an emergency meeting to analyze whether the quake had affected the nearby Nankai Trough, the source of past devastating earthquakes. They later issued an assessment that the potential for a future quake in the area from Kyushu to central Japan is higher than previously predicted. The agency said it will continue to closely watch movements of plates near the Nankai Trough. That does not mean there's an imminent danger of a big quake in the near future, but they urged residents on the coasts along the trough — which spans about 500 kilometers (310 miles) — to review their quake preparedness, University of Tokyo seismologist Naoshi Hirata, a member of an expert panel, told a joint news conference with JMA officials. There is a 70-80% chance of a magnitude 8 or 9 quake stemming from the Nankai Trough within the next 30 years, Hirara said, adding that Thursday's quake raises that probability even while the timing or exact location cannot be predicted. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said nine people were injured, most of them slightly when falling down or hit by objects in Thursday's quake in Miyazaki and neighboring Kagoshima. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said officials were assessing possible injuries or serious damage, though none were immediately reported. He urged residents of the affected region to stay away from the coastline. JMA Seismology Department official Shigeki Aoki warned that strong aftershocks could occur for about a week. Japan’s NHK public television said windows were broken at the Miyazaki airport near the epicenter. The airport's runway was temporarily closed for safety checks. NHK showed dozens of people gathering at a designated hilltop evacuation area. In Osaki in neighboring Kagoshima prefecture, concrete walls collapsed and a wooden house was damaged, but no injuries were reported. The Nuclear Regulation Authority said all 12 nuclear reactors, including three that are currently operating, on Kyushu and Shikoku remained safe. Earthquakes in areas with nuclear power plants have been a major concern since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Japan sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean, and is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. An earthquake on Jan. 1 in Japan's north-central region of Noto left more than 240 people dead.

The man who is considered the heir apparent to the powerful Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka will contest the presidential election in September, his political party said Wednesday, in an apparent bid to regain his family's lost power after a humiliating setback two years ago during an unprecedented economic crisis in the Indian ocean island nation. The Sri Lanka Peoples’ Front said the 38-year-old lawyer Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former strongman president Mahinda Rajapaksa, will be its candidate in the Sept. 21 election, the first since the nation plunged into its worst economic crisis. The election is seen as key to Sri Lanka's efforts to conclude a critical debt restructuring program and completing the financial reforms agreed to under a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund. The nominations for polling will be accepted on Aug. 15. The Rajapaksa family has dominated Sri Lankan politics since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, producing a dozen of lawmakers from three generations over seven decades. Mahinda Rajapaksa ruled as president from 2005 to 2015, appealing to the nationalist sentiment of the island’s Buddhist-Sinhalese majority. Rajapaksa is revered by that majority for leading Sri Lanka to victory over ethnic Tamil rebels in 2009, ending a 26-year civil war. In 2015, he lost to the opposition led by his former aide. But the family made a comeback in 2019, when Rajapaksa's younger brother Gotabaya won the presidential election on a promise to restore security in the wake of the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 290 people. But the Rajapaksa family lost power unexpectedly in 2022 when Sri Lanka was engulfed in its worst economic crisis that was largely caused by mismanagement and lack of accountability. The resulting shortages of essential goods sparked riots in 2022, leading to a political crisis that forced four Rajapaksa siblings and two of their sons, including Namal, to resign from their posts as president, prime minister and cabinet ministers. Namal Rajapaksa had been minister of youth and sports. But they remained as lawmakers. Parliament elected then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president. The economic situation has improved under Wickremesinghe. But public dissatisfaction has grown over the government’s effort to increase revenue by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses as part of efforts to meet the conditions of the IMF, which approved a four-year bailout program last March. Wickremesinghe has announced he will contest the September election, while main rivals will be opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Anura Dissanayake, the leader of a leftist political party that has gained popularity after the economic debacle. It’s not clear whether Namal would be able to win the election, as his Sri Lanka Peoples’ Front is already split with some lawmakers having pledged support to Wickremesinghe. Wickremesinghe’s party has only one seat in the 225-majority parliament, and he has been ruling with the support of lawmakers from the Rajapaksas' party.

A court in Thailand on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of the progressive Move Forward Party, which won national elections in 2023, saying it violated the constitution by proposing an amendment of a law against defaming the country’s royal family. The Constitutional Court said it voted unanimously to dissolve the party because its campaign to amend the law was considered an attempt to overthrow the nation's constitutional monarchy. The Election Commission filed a petition against the Move Forward Party after the Constitutional Court ruled in January that it must stop advocating changes to the law, known as Article 112, which protects the monarchy from criticism with penalties of up to 15 years in jail per offense. The ruling also imposed a 10-year ban on political activity on those who held the party’s executive positions while it campaigned for the proposed amendment. Among them are its charismatic former leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, and current chief Chaithawat Tulathon. It remained unclear what will happen to the rest of its non-executive lawmakers, although Pita said in an interview with The Associated Press that the party will ensure they have a “smooth transition into a new house,” or a new party. Lawmakers of a dissolved political party can keep their seats in Parliament if they move to a new party within 60 days. Move Forward and its reform agenda shook up Thai politics by winning the most seats in the 2023 elections but was blocked from taking power. The latest legal action is one of many that have drawn widespread criticism and are seen as part of a yearslong attack on the country’s progressive movement by conservative forces trying to keep their grip on power.