Netanyahu led coalition likely to emerge winner in Israel elections
With over 95 per cent of votes counted so far, no clear winner has emerged from the Israeli general elections Wednesday with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and its rival the Blue and White Party managing to secure 35 Knesset seats each, reported Haaretz.
However, the Right-wing bloc as a whole managed to secure more seats than the Left-wing bloc. This makes it extremely likely for a Likud-led Right-wing coalition to come into power.
The Right-wing bloc comprises parties such as Shas, Union of Right Wing Parties and United Torah Judaism.
Netanyahu is now likely to stitch a coalition together to become the longest serving prime minister in Israel’s history.
New World Bank chief looks to make all the right noises
There were a lot of inhibitions about the appointment of David Malpass, a renowned free-marketer economist and an official in the Donald Trump administration, as the new World Bank chief earlier last week. Malpass’s initial statements, however, have tried to temper down those fears, reported Time.
In his recent interactions with reporters, Malpass has talked about how there were still 700 million poor in the world, and World Bank would work with respective countries to deal with that.
Contrary to expectations, Malpass also acknowledged the problem of climate change and affirmed to continue fighting against it.
Malpass, however, has had a history of being critical of multilateral organisations. He once famously talked about the idea of dismantling the International Monetary Fund.
Escalating security tensions in South China Sea near Philippines
In an unexpected development, the US Tuesday sent a fighter-jet carrying warship to the disputed Scarborough Shoal during a joint naval exercise with the Philippines, reported Bloomberg.
The move comes as tensions between Philippines and China have been escalating, after officials in Manila protested against the presence of 200 Chinese ships near Thitu — a Philippines-occupied feature in the South China Sea.
Scarborough Shoal is a disputed area and this is the first time when an American warship has been sailed through the region.
The aim behind the US move was to publicly demonstrate support for Philippines and send clear signals to China.
Meanwhile, inside Philippines, the domestic actors seem to be providing a balancing act. While the country’s foreign affairs secretary has said that the US would be Philippines’ only military ally, President Rodrigo Duterte said, “You know, Red China or Communist China just wants to be friends with us.”
In other news:
France signals UK could stay in EU for almost another year, Financial Times
Brazil Floods: Deadly torrential rains hit Rio de Janeiro, BBC