Politics
Narendra Modi looks likely to serve a third term as India’s prime minister, after his Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies won a slim majority. The ruling alliance won 293 seats, compared with the opposition’s 234. Mr Modi had claimed that they would win upwards of 400 seats. The BJP itself lost 63 seats compared with the last election in 2019.
Imran Khan, a former prime minister of Pakistan, was acquitted of leaking state secrets in a ruling by the high court in Islamabad. The former cricketer will remain in jail for a separate conviction. He is appealing the case.
South Korea said it would resume military activities along its border with the North. President Yoon Suk-yeol suspended the military agreement between the two Koreas after Pyongyang sent balloons carrying rubbish over the border. It called them “gifts of sincerity”. Seoul vowed to “protect the lives and safety of its people”.
Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments to a former porn star before the election in 2016. Mr Trump called the trial a “disgrace” and said that “the real verdict” would come on November 5th, the day of the election. It is the first time that a former American president has been found guilty of a crime. Mr Trump, who will be sentenced on July 11th, vowed to appeal. His campaign said it raised nearly $53m in the 24 hours after the verdict, and that more than a third of the donors had given for the first time.
Hunter Biden’s trial in Delaware began this week. Prosecutors allege that the president’s son lied about using drugs while buying a revolver in 2018. Another trial, over allegations that he failed to pay his taxes, is due in September. It had seemed that Mr Biden might avoid the two ordeals altogether, until his plea deal with prosecutors fell apart last year.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order that would limit asylum claims at America’s southern border with Mexico. The rule prevents people who cross the border illegally from applying for asylum once encounters with border-control officials exceed an average of 2,500 a day—a threshold that will be easily crossed.
Quick U-turn
New York abruptly cancelled contentious plans to introduce congestion pricing on cars driving downtown. The scheme was due to begin on June 30th but has been postponed indefinitely. It had been predicted to raise $1bn annually for capital projects by New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Nigel Farage, a high-profile Brexiteer, said he would take over as leader of Reform, a right-wing insurgent party, and stand for Parliament in Britain’s general election. A stronger showing for Reform would be more bad news for the Conservatives, who are lagging badly in the polls. The Economist’s prediction model puts their chance of victory at less than 1%.
The European Union’s voters started heading to the polls for elections to the 720-member European Parliament. Voting takes place from June 6th to 9th, but no ballots will be counted until all the votes have closed. An informal coalition between centre-right, centre-left and liberals is expected to again win a majority, but the parties of the populist right are likely to improve their standing. More than 350m people are eligible to vote.
Veterans of the D-Day landings in Normandy returned to the beaches on June 6th to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of the liberation of Europe. Joe Biden, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine were among those attending. No Russian representative was invited, despite that country’s huge sacrifices in the second world war.
The African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in the 30 years since the end of apartheid in elections on May 29th. The party, which got 40% of votes, will need a coalition if it is to form a government. Investors hope it will do so with the main opposition, the Democratic Alliance, which got 22% of votes and has sensible economic policies. There are concerns the ANC might instead form a government with radical populist parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters or uMkhonto weSizwe, both of which want to nationalise land and banks.
Zambia’s creditors approved a plan to restructure some of its $13.4bn in debt, which will allow the country to emerge from default after three-and-a-half years. Meanwhile the IMF will probably augment an existing $1.3bn bail-out by providing an additional $388m in financing to the drought-stricken country.
Joe Biden revealed an Israeli proposal for a pause in the fighting in Gaza and the exchange of Israeli hostages held by Hamas for some Palestinian prisoners. This would form the basis of a long-term “cessation of hostilities”. America said it was waiting for a response from Hamas, the Islamist group in Gaza. Meanwhile Israel bombed a school in Gaza, claiming it contained fighters involved in the October 7th attacks. Hamas-affiliated press said the strike killed at least 27 people.
Missile attacks by Hizbullah, the Lebanese militia-cum-political party, sparked wildfires in northern Israel and the Golan Heights. Israeli shelling started fires in Lebanon near the border. On a visit to the region, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said Israel was prepared for “very intense action in the north”.
All rise
Egypt announced that it would quadruple the price of subsidised bread. The subsidy was due to cost 125bn Egyptian pounds next year, more than 3% of government spending. When the government tried to reduce subsidies in 1977, deadly riots ensued. So far, the response has been muted.
Claudia Sheinbaum was elected as Mexico’s first female president. The former mayor of Mexico City won with more than 59% of the vote for the ruling Morena party. The country’s markets have been spooked by the huge mandate handed to Ms Sheinbaum.
Nayib Bukele was sworn in as president of El Salvador. He vowed to cure the country of its “illnesses”. Mr Bukele, who was re-elected with a huge margin in February, is popular largely thanks to his crackdown on crime. He helped change the international image of his country of 6.3m.