Pakistan released its budget for the next fiscal year, which experts say will not address the IMF’s concerns successfully. This is predicted to complicate the completion of the IMF’s ninth and 10th reviews of Pakistan’s financial policies to release a tranche of its bailout programme.
With Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey as the chair, the Indian government has set up a Peace Committee in Manipur. It will include the chief minister, state and national legislators from the state, and state government ministers. It will also comprise former civil servants and other members of Manipur’s civil society from different ethnic groups.
Indian PM Narendra Modi held a telephone conversation with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and reviewed the progress of bilateral cooperation. Modi discussed cooperation in BRICS, which South Africa is chairing this year, while Ramaphosa said he supported all Indian initiatives as a part of the South Asian country’s G20 Presidency. Modi also thanked the South African President for relocating 12 Cheetahs to India.
Canada has issued ‘stay’ orders for several Indian students threatened with deportation due to the submission of fraudulent admission letters. Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar had called the deportation notices issued to around 700 Indian students in Canada “unfair.” Subsequently, the relevant Indian authorities took up the matter with their Canadian counterparts.
Honduras President Xiomara Castro has formally asked for her country’s entry into the BRICS-led New Development Bank during a meeting with the bank’s president, Dilma Rousseff.
Marriages in China dropped to a historical low in 2022 since record-keeping began. Data published on the Ministry of Civil Affairs website showed that only 6.83 million couples registered their marriage last year, down about 800,000 from 2021.
A former paratrooper and musician from the US has been arrested in Moscow on drug dealing allegations. Michael Travis Leake was a lyricist and musician in the Russian rock band “Lovi Noch” (“Catch the Night”). A spokesperson for the US State Department stated that Leake was detained in Moscow, and officials from the US embassy attended his arraignment. Moscow’s courts of general jurisdiction said on the Telegram, “The former paratrooper and a musician, who is accused of running a drug dealing business involving young people, will remain in custody until Aug. 6, 2023.”
The Canadian government decided to impose sanctions on 24 individuals and 17 entities that, according to Ottawa, “are contributing to the theft and destruction of cultural objects and Ukrainian culture,” as stated on Global Affairs Canada’s website on Saturday. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, blogger Yury Podolyaka, former DPR First Deputy Information Minister Daniil Bezsonov, and Kherson Region Culture Minister Alexander Kuzmenko are among the individuals on the blacklist.