LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday set July 4 as the date for a national election that will determine who governs the UK, choosing a day of good economic news to urge voters to give his governing Conservatives another chance.
“Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future,” Sunak said.
Sunak’s center-right party has seen its support dwindle steadily after 14 years in power. It has struggled to overcome a series of crises including an economic slump, ethics scandals and a revolving door of leaders in the past two years.
The center-left Labour Party is strongly favored to defeat Sunak’s party.
Speculation about an imminent election mounted after Sunak called a Cabinet meeting for Wednesday afternoon – rather than the usual Tuesday – and Foreign Secretary David Cameron flew back early from a trip to Albania to attend.
The election will be held against the backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis and deep divisions over how to deal with migrants and asylum seekers making risky English Channel crossings from Europe.
The announcement came the same day official figures showed inflation in the UK had fallen sharply to 2.3 percent, its lowest level in nearly three years on the back of big declines in domestic bills.
The drop in April marks the greatest progress to date on five pledges Sunak made in January 2023, including halving inflation, which had climbed to above 11 percent at the end of 2022. Sunak hailed the new figure as a sign his plan was working.
“Today marks a major moment for the economy, with inflation back to normal,” Sunak said Wednesday. “Brighter days are ahead, but only if we stick to the plan to improve economic security and opportunity for everyone.”
Voters across the United Kingdom will choose all 650 members of the House of Commons for a term of up to five years. The party that commands a majority in the Commons, either alone or in coalition, will form the next government and its leader will be prime minister.
Labour leader Keir Starmer, a former chief prosecutor for England and Wales, is the current favorite. The party’s momentum has built since it dealt the Conservatives heavy losses in local elections earlier this month.
The Conservatives have also lost a series of special elections for seats in Parliament this year, and two of its lawmakers recently defected to Labour.
Following on his party’s successes in the local elections, Starmer, 61, last week announced a platform focused on economic stability after years of soaring inflation as he tries to win over disillusioned voters.
He also pledged to improve border security, recruit more teachers and police and reduce lengthy waiting lists at hospitals and doctors′ clinics across the country.
Elections in the UK have to be held no more than five years apart, but the prime minister can choose the timing within that period. Sunak, 44, had until December to call an election. The last one was in December 2019.
Many political analysts had anticipated that a fall election would give Conservatives a better chance of maintaining power. That’s because economic conditions may improve further, voters could feel the effect of recent tax cuts, interest rates may come down and a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to Rwanda — a key policy for Sunak — could take flight.
Sunak had been noncommittal about the election date, repeatedly saying — as late as lunchtime on Wednesday — that he expected it would be in the second half of the year.
Although inflation has fallen, Sunak’s other promises — to grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists to see a doctor at the state-run National Health Service and stop the influx of migrants crossing the English Channel — have seen less success.
He has struggled after entering office following the disastrous tenure of Liz Truss, who lasted only 49 days after her economic policies rocked financial markets. Truss had been chosen by party members after Boris Johnson was ousted over a series of ethics scandals.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sets July 4 election date to determine who governs the UK
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sets July 4 election date to determine who governs the UK
- “Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future,” Sunak said
- The center-left Labour Party is strongly favored to defeat Sunak’s party
Indonesia’s Health Ministry issues warning over COVID-19 surge in Asia
- Indonesia was among hardest-hit in the region during the pandemic
- Local cases have so far remained relatively low amid the latest wave
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s government has urged healthcare facilities to step up COVID-19 surveillance, as a more transmissible omicron subvariant drives a surge in cases across Asia.
Parts of Asia have been reporting a new wave of infections since last month, especially Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
The new spread of the coronavirus that brought the world to a standstill a few years ago has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible variant of the omicron strain of COVID-19.
It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.
Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin met with President Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday to report on the country’s COVID-19 situation.
“Cases are indeed increasing, but the rise is caused by variants that are relatively less deadly,” Sadikin told reporters after the meeting.
His statement comes after Indonesia’s Health Ministry issued a circular last week instructing regional agencies, hospitals, community centers and other medical service facilities across the country to monitor case trends and report unusual conditions.
Health quarantine facilities are also instructed to “step up surveillance on people, transportation and items coming from abroad, especially those from countries that are reporting surges in COVID-19 cases,” the circular stated.
Indonesia has confirmed 72 COVID-19 cases and reported no deaths in 2025, the latest data from the Health Ministry showed. The caseload was at seven from last week alone, with the positive rate declining to 2.05 percent from a peak of 3.62 percent the previous week.
Indonesia was among the hardest-hit countries in Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a cumulative death toll of around 162,000, it has the second-highest number in the region, after 533,000 recorded in India.
Top Philippine senator to seek dismissal of Duterte impeachment case
- Resolution was drafted by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch ally of Duterte and a former police chief under her father’s 2016-2022 presidency
- The Senate’s current session ends next week, which the draft resolution said was insufficient time to act on the impeachment case
MANILA: A top Philippine senator has drafted a resolution seeking to dismiss an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, his office said on Wednesday, which could boost her chances of political survival after an acrimonious fallout with the president. The lower house in February impeached Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, on accusations that included budget anomalies, amassing unusual wealth and an alleged threat to the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first lady, and the house speaker.
Sara Duterte faces a lifetime ban from office if convicted in a Senate trial. She has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
The resolution was drafted, according to his office, by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch ally of Duterte and a former police chief under her father’s 2016-2022 presidency. A Senate source, who declined to be identified, confirmed the draft was circulating among senators.
The draft seen by Reuters says the Senate did not act promptly to begin proceedings upon receipt of the impeachment article, so the case was “de facto dismissed” as 100 days had already passed.
It was not immediately clear when the resolution would be filed or how much support it would have. If it succeeds, it could intensify an escalating battle for power between Marcos and former ally Duterte ahead of a 2028 presidential election that she is widely expected to contest, with Marcos limited to a single term and unable to run again.
At stake is the legacy and future influence of Marcos, who has waged a decades-long campaign to defend his family’s name from what he says are false historical narratives of plunder and brutality during the 1970s and 1980s rule of his strongman father and namesake. The effort to dismiss the case comes after a stronger-than-expected showing for allies of Duterte in last month’s midterm elections, demonstrating her popularity and unswerving influence, despite the row with Marcos, humiliating legislative enquiries and the arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court of her father in March.
The Senate’s current session ends next week, which the draft resolution said was insufficient time to act on the impeachment case. A new Senate will convene in late July.
“The matter cannot cross over to the incoming 20th Congress,” the draft said.
Marcos has called for unity among all political camps and has distanced himself from the impeachment of Duterte, which was backed overwhelmingly by a lower house controlled by his allies. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Dela Rosa’s proposed resolution.
Ukraine invited to Hague NATO summit, Zelensky attendance unclear
- NATO chief: ‘I invited Ukraine to the summit. We will as soon as possible bring out the program with more details’
BRUSSELS: Ukraine has been invited to a NATO summit in The Hague this month, Mark Rutte, the military bloc’s chief, said on Wednesday, without specifying whether this meant Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky would attend.
“I invited Ukraine to the summit. We will as soon as possible bring out the program with more details,” Rutte told reporters before a meeting with defense ministers in Brussels.
Asked whether Zelensky personally had been invited, Rutte only said the program would be published in due course.
India’s Modi to visit Kashmir to unveil strategic railway
- The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan
- Indian leader set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long steel and concrete span that connects two mountains
SRINAGAR, India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to make his first visit to contested Kashmir since a conflict between India and Pakistan last month, inaugurating a strategic railway to the mountainous region, his office said Wednesday.
The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan, divided between them since independence from British rule in 1947.
Modi is set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long (4,314-foot-long) steel and concrete span that connects two mountains with an arch 359 meters above the river below.
“The project establishes all-weather, seamless rail connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the country,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Modi is expected to flag off a special train.
Last month, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.
More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides.
The conflict was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing – a charge Islamabad denies.
Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged a 35-year-long insurgency demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.
The 272-kilometer (169-mile) Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway – with 36 tunnels and 943 bridges – has been constructed “aiming to transform regional mobility and driving socio-economic integration,” the statement added.
Its dramatic centerpiece is the Chenab Bridge, which India calls the “world’s highest railway arch bridge.”
While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.
Indian Railways calls the $24-million bridge “arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history.”
The bridge will facilitate the movement of people and goods – as well as troops – that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and air.
The train line could slash travel time between the town of Katra and Srinagar, the region’s key city, by half, taking around three hours.
The bridge will also revolutionize logistics in Ladakh, the icy region in India bordering China.
India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.
Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands.
The railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army’s northern command, and runs north to Srinagar.
Trump administration rescinds Biden-era guidance on emergency abortions
- The Biden-era memo was issued in July 2022, weeks after the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutionally enshrined right to abortion
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has revoked a Biden-era health guideline that protected emergency abortions when medically required, even in states that ban the procedure.
The Biden-era memo was issued in July 2022, weeks after the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutionally enshrined right to abortion.
As health providers suddenly found themselves embroiled in legal uncertainty over abortion, the memo provided an interpretation of the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), arguing it supersedes state abortion laws when needed to stabilize a pregnant patient.
The directive was fiercely contested by anti-abortion advocates.
In a letter Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the EMTALA guidance did not reflect the current administration’s policy.
“CMS is rescinding this memo ... effective May 29, 2025, consistent with Administration policy,” it said.
Offering its own interpretation, CMS said EMTALA provides the right for any hospital patient to receive “either stabilizing treatment or an appropriate transfer to another hospital.”
It said the US Health and Human Services would no longer enforce the Biden-era guidance.
The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute said the Trump administration’s revocation of the EMTALA guidelines showed “callous disregard for the law and people’s lives.”
Lawrence O. Gostin, a health law expert at Georgetown University, wrote in the New York Times that the CMS letter “basically gives a bright green light to hospitals in red states to turn away pregnant women who are in peril.”
According to Guttmacher, 13 US states, mostly in the south and east of the country, have “a total abortion ban” as of May 28.
While these states generally provide narrow exceptions in the event of a threat to the mother’s life, it is unclear what constitutes a life-threatening condition in the eyes of the law.
Since returning to office, US President Donald Trump has taken a series of moves to restrict abortion access.
In his first week back in the White House, Trump revoked two executive orders protecting access to a pill widely used to terminate pregnancies and the ability to travel to states where the procedure is not banned.
