Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Ale resigns
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Ale resigned from his post on Sunday.
He handed over his resignation letter to Chairman Madhav Nepal in the party office, Chairman Nepal's Secretariat said.
Withdrawing his signature from the group 10 CPN (Unified Socialist) lawmakers who had submitted a memorandum expressing dissatisfaction over the party's decision to reshuffle ministers on Friday, Ale said that he would resign within 24 hours.
Ale, who handed over his resignation letter to Chairman Nepal, is preparing to organize a press conference.
Earlier on June 5, the Secretariat meeting of the CPN (Unified Socialist) had decided to recall the ministers representing the party in the government.
But, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the CPN (US)'s decision to reshuffle the ministers will be implemented after the completion of budget discussions.
A Central Committee meeting held on Saturday had decided that the party would not wait for Prime Minister Deuba and Dahal now and would take the delay as an insult.
Revolt from UML is justified, says CPN (US) Chair Nepal
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.
G7 face battle for unity as cost of Ukraine war mounts
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.
Protesters at US Supreme Court decry abortion ruling overturning Roe v. Wade
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.



