Latest news for 21 July 2025

JAPAN

PM to stay on despite election loss.

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru has vowed to stay on despite his ruling coalition losing its majority in the upper house, just months after voters delivered him a drubbing in Japan’s lower house. (The Japan Times)

Comment: As elsewhere, voters sought populist alternatives to voice their discontent, whether over rising prices or migration. Ishiba says he’ll stay on until a Japan-US trade deal is done, but this political wobble makes any last-minute deal to avert the 1 August US tariff deadline less likely.

UKRAINE

Make him stop.

Authorities again closed several Russian airports over the weekend amid Ukrainian drone counter-attacks, as Russia continued its own strikes on Kyiv, hitting a metro station where folks were sheltering. (Guardian)

Comment: President Zelensky is again offering talks, but this seems less out of any expectation Putin will change course, and more to demonstrate the opposite to a US audience. In the meantime, air defences will help, but that’s ultimately like swatting arrows out of the sky — Kyiv will need to keep targeting the bows across Russia.

KAZAKHSTAN

Hit the books.

An Italian university has opened an agricultural science campus in Kazakhstan, awarding 14 scholarships to the first cohort of budding local specialists. (The Times of Central Asia)

Comment: This is a common way to expand your influence and attract more students (export revenue). But it’s less common for Italy’s colleges, so why start now, and why focus on Kazakhstan? Italy is heavily reliant on Kazakh crude, and its top oil company (Eni) has been invested there for decades. As energy competition heats up, suitors have to show Astana why they should remain their energy partner of choice.

GERMANY

Talk, or else.

According to a German diplomat, the UK, France, and Germany are aiming to revive nuclear talks with Iran in the coming days, warning that the international community’s ‘snapback’ sanctions could (ahem) snap back if Iran doesn’t engage. (AFP)

VIETNAM

Heavy rains take their toll.

A tourist boat full of families has capsized in Vietnam’s UNESCO-famous Halong Bay, leaving at least 35 dead. (Strait Times)

VENEZUELA

Swap for swap.

Caracas has released 10 jailed Americans in exchange for bringing home over 250 Venezuelan migrants deported by the US to El Salvador’s detention facilities. (AP)

Comment: This is interesting for three reasons: first, there’s the complexity not only of a three-way deal, but one involving the Maduro regime; second, that complexity was reportedly exacerbated by two top US officials (Rubio and Grenell) working at cross-purposes via two different deals; and third, there’s the way everyone claims a win here: Maduro gets legitimacy, Bukele gets cash, and Trump gets the political win.

DR CONGO

Let’s do this.

US-based KoBold Metals, the AI-enabled miner with high-profile investors like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, has signed an exploration deal covering a lithium-rich region in the Congo’s southeast. (Bloomberg $)

Comment: After years of the US talking about China’s Africa footprint, efforts to compete are more visible: there’s not only this deal (overseen by the DRC president), but also the US-brokered truce with Rwanda, plus another deal (with ex-CIA and US special forces links) to box China out of a strategic miner known as Chemaf.