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CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that his faction’s revolt from the CPN-UML in defence of democracy was justified for the cause of the country and people.

Addressing the party’s central committee meeting on Saturday, Chairman Nepal described that the leaders’ revolt from the UML was waged to ensure political system against totalitarianism and individualism in a communist party.

Chairman Nepal, who is also the former prime minister, said communist parties are popular among the citizens in the country since they did not bow down before the external forces in the issues of nationality adding that the communist parties unite the people in favour of patriotism and democracy. He also directed the party leaders and cadres to fight for the same by keeping democracy and issues of people’s livelihood at the centre.

We are guided by people’s multiparty democracy to accept the norms and values of democracy, he added.

On the occasion, Chairman Nepal expressed his reservation to the allocation of seats to his party from the ruling alliance in the recently held local level elections but underscored the need of strengthening party organisation to secure more seats in future.

Chairman Nepal has presented a 34-page political report in the party’s ongoing central committee meeting.

The Russian war against Ukraine will inevitably dominate the summit of G7 nations in Bavaria, BBC reported. 

And the leaders of the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan face a difficult challenge. 

They are aiming to put on a show of unity and resolve over the war. In recent months, the Western alliance has shown signs of strain and fatigue. 

Some voices - particularly in France, Germany and Italy - have asked if it might not be better for the war to end, even if it came at the cost of Ukraine having to cede territory. A recent cross-Europe opinion poll suggested some voters put solving the cost-of-living crisis ahead of punishing Russia. 

Others argue about the need to salvage some kind of relationship with Russia in the future.

Countries like the UK, Poland and the three Baltic States have been resisting these arguments, saying that any peace deal with Moscow that is not on Ukraine's terms would lead to further Russian aggression in the future. President Zelensky is likely to reinforce this argument when he addresses the summit virtually on Monday, according to BBC.

So the G7 leaders are expected to try to use the summit to clear these muddy waters, promising more weapons to Ukraine and more sanctions against Russia. The idea will be to send a signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the West has the strategic patience to maintain its support for Ukraine, even if it faces domestic political pressure at home from voters concerned about rising prices. 

The problem for G7 leaders is they also face growing pressure to show they are tackling the global economic crisis. The soaring price of fuel and food is causing hunger and unrest across the world. And some countries are pointing the finger at the West.

Many countries in the global south do not share Western concerns about Russian aggression. They see the conflict as a European war and seem unmoved by Western arguments that Vladimir Putin is acting as a colonial aggressor. And they blame Western sanctions - as much as Russia's invasion - for the rising costs of gas and oil, and the massive shortage of wheat and fertiliser.

To try to resist this narrative, G7 countries are expected to use the summit to show they are acting to help countries round the world - with development aid, debt restructuring, climate finance, help finding alternative sources of energy and, of course, fresh efforts to get grain out of Ukraine's ports. That is why German has invited the leaders of India, Indonesia, Senegal, Argentina and South Africa to the summit, to hear their perspective and show the rest of the world the G7 is listening. 

So on the one hand, these Western leaders must show resolve to keep backing Ukraine, and on the other, they must show a readiness to fix the global economic shocks that some blame, in part, on the war, BBC reported. 

One senior US official described the dilemma thus: "How do we maximise pain on Putin's regime? How do we minimise spillbacks back to the rest of the world?" 

That is quite a circle to square.

Hundreds of protesters descended on the US Supreme Court on Saturday to denounce the justices' decision to overturn the half-century-old Roe v. Wade precedent that recognized women's constitutional right to abortion, Reuters reported.

The sweeping ruling by the court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, is set to vastly change American life, with nearly half the states considered certain or likely to ban abortion. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas suggested the court's reasoning could also lead it to reconsider past rulings protecting the right to contraception, legalising gay marriage nationwide, and invalidating state laws banning gay sex.

The crowd featured both abortion opponents wearing T-shirts reading “I am the Pro-Life Generation” and abortion rights supporters chanting “my body, my choice.”

“The Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions,” Democratic President Joe Biden said on Saturday.

He added that the White House would look to police how states enforce bans, with administration officials having already signaled they plan to fight attempts by states to ban a pill used for medication abortion.

“The decision is implemented by states,” Mr. Biden said. “My administration is going to focus on how they administer and whether or not they violate other laws.”

Christian conservatives had long fought to overturn Roe, with Friday’s ruling a cherished win that was the result of a long campaign to appoint anti-abortion justices to the top court. The ruling had the support of all three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, according to Reuters.

It is at odds with broad public opinion. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found that about 71% of Americans - including majorities of Democrats and Republicans - said decisions about terminating a pregnancy should be left to a woman and her doctor, rather than regulated by the government. That support is not absolute: 26% of respondents polled said abortion should be legal in all cases while 10% said it should be illegal in all cases, with the majority supporting some limits.

The ruling will likely influence voter behavior in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, when Mr. Biden's Democrats face a high risk of losing their razor-thin majorities in the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate. Some party leaders hope the decision will win over suburban swing voters, though activists expressed disappointment and demoralization at suffering such a defeat while their party held total power in Washington.

“They can ask for vote for more power but don’t they already have the Congress and the White House?” said Patricia Smith, a 24-year-old supporter of abortion rights, who was headed to the Supreme Court to protest. “They have not been able to pass much in terms of legislation despite the power, so what is the point?”

The decision came just a day after the court issued another landmark ruling finding that Americans have a constitutional right to carry a concealed gun for protection — leading them to invalidate a New York state law that set strict limits on concealed carry permits.

The two rulings showed an aggressively conservative court ready to flex its muscle and remake American life at a time when Congress is often deadlocked and struggles to pass major policy changes, Reuters reported.

It also signaled that Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative who preferred to act incrementally, no longer holds the power to slow the court's action. Roberts had voted to support the Mississippi abortion ban that was the subject of Friday's decision, but did not vote to overturn Roe itself.

During a call with journalists on Saturday, a group of Democratic state attorneys general said they would not use their offices to enforce abortion bans.

“We are not going to use the resources of the Wisconsin Department of Justice to investigate or prosecute anybody for alleged violations of the 19th century abortion ban,” said Josh Kaul, that state’s attorney general. “I’ve also encouraged district attorneys, sheriff prosecutors and police chiefs in our state not to use their resources to investigate or prosecute abortions.”

The White House on Saturday said it would challenge any efforts by states to restrict women’s ability to travel out of their home state to seek an abortion, according to Reuters.

President Joe Biden on Saturday signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school, Associated Press reported.

“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved,” he said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Citing the families of shooting victims he has met, the president said, “Their message to us was, ‘Do something.’ How many times did we hear that? ‘Just do something. For God’s sake, just do something.’ Today we did.”

The House gave final approval Friday, following Senate passage Thursday, and Biden acted just before leaving Washington for two summits in Europe.

“Today we say, ‘More than enough,’” Biden said. “It’s time, when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential.”

The legislation will toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous.

The president called it “a historic achievement.”

Most of its $13 billion cost will help bolster mental health programs and aid schools, which have been targeted in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, and elsewhere in mass shootings.

Biden said the compromise hammered out by a bipartisan group of senators from both parties “doesn’t do everything I want” but “it does include actions I’ve long called for that are going to save lives.” 

“I know there’s much more work to do, and I’m never going to give up, but this is a monumental day,” said the president, who was joined by his wife, Jill, a teacher, for the signing, according to Associated Press.

After sitting to sign the bill, Biden sat reflectively for a moment, then murmured, “God willing, this is gonna save a lot of lives.”

He also said they will host an event on July 11 for lawmakers and families affected by gun violence. The president spoke of families “who lost their souls to an epidemic of gun violence. They lost their child, their husband, their wife. Nothing is going to fill that void in their hearts. But they led the way so other families will not have the experience and the pain and trauma that they had to live through.”

Biden signed the measure two days after the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday striking down a New York law that restricted peoples’ ability to carry concealed weapons. And Saturday’s ceremony came less than 24 hours after the high court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly five decades. 

“Yesterday, I spoke about the Supreme Court’s shocking decision striking down Roe v. Wade,” Biden said. “Jill and I know how painful and devastating the decision is for so many Americans. I mean so many Americans.” 

He noted that the abortion ruling leaves enforcement up to the states, some of which have already moved to ban abortion or will soon do so. Biden said his administration will “focus on how they administer it and whether or not they violate other laws, like deciding to not allow people to cross state lines to get health services.” 

Asked by reporters about whether the Supreme Court was broken, Biden said, “I think the Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions.” He walked away without answering more questions, noting, ” “I have a helicopter waiting for me to take off.”