Teenagers could get to vote in all UK elections
London — The British government said on Thursday it planned to give 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all UK elections in a major overhaul of the country’s democratic system.
The government said the proposed changes were part of an effort to boost public trust in democracy and would align voting rights across Britain, where younger voters already participate in devolved elections in Scotland and Wales.
“They’re old enough to go out to work, they’re old enough to pay taxes ... and I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer told ITV News.
The change will require parliamentary approval, but that is unlikely to present an obstacle because the policy was part of Starmer’s election campaign last year which gave him a large majority. Reuters
Georgia detains two people over plan to sell uranium
Tbilisi — Georgia’s State Security Service said on Thursday that it had detained two people for handling and attempting to sell $3m worth of uranium which could have been used to make a deadly bomb.
The service said it had prevented a “transnational crime” involving “the illegal sale and purchase of nuclear material, in particular, the radioactive chemical element uranium.”
One Georgian citizen and one foreigner were arrested in the western city of Batumi on the Black Sea, the statement said. The pair, whom the statement did not name, could face up to 10 years in prison. Reuters
Japan and US hold talks on tariffs as deadline looms
Tokyo — Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa held talks with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick on US tariffs on Thursday, as Tokyo races to avert a 25% levy that will be imposed unless a deal is clinched by an August 1 deadline.
During the 45-minute phone call, the two sides “reconfirmed each other’s position on US tariff measures and engaged in deep conversation,” Japan’s government said in a statement, adding that Tokyo would continue dialogue with Washington.
The phone talks came after President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the US would likely keep 25% tariffs on imports from Japan, which take effect from August 1, unless the countries agree on a trade deal.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will meet US treasury secretary Scott Bessent in Tokyo on Friday, the Japanese government said in a separate announcement. Reuters
Heatwave lifts China power demand to record high
Beijing —Days of record-breaking heat across large swathes of China pushed power demand to an all-time high in excess of 1.5-billion kilowatts on Wednesday, energy officials said, with temperatures forecast to feel like 50°C in some areas on Thursday.
An arc of sweltering heat stretching from the densely populated city of Chongqing in the southwest to Guangzhou on the coast has enveloped an area home to more than 200-million people in recent days.
A subtropical high pressure system, which causes warm and dry weather, drove temperatures at eight weather stations in the northwest and southwest of China to record highs in the last two days, state media said on Thursday, citing national weather authorities.
“The power system is holding up so far,” said Chim Lee, a senior energy and climate change specialist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Reuters
US delays Patriot air defence system to Switzerland
Berlin — The US has informed Switzerland about delays to the delivery of Patriot air defence systems, the Swiss defence ministry said in a statement released on Thursday.
“The US department of defence has informed the (Swiss ministry) that it will reprioritise the delivery of Patriot systems to support Ukraine, focusing on ground-based air defence,” it said in a statement.
“This also affects Switzerland, which will receive its production batches later than planned,” the statement said. Reuters
Pope Leo grieves Israeli attack on Catholic Church
Vatican City — Pope Leo expressed his sadness on Thursday over the deaths of two people after an apparent Israeli strike on Gaza’s sole Catholic Church, and reiterated his hope for dialogue and a ceasefire.
In a telegram for the victims signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pope Leo said he was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack”.
He “assures the parish priest, father Gabriele Romanelli and the whole parish community of his spiritual closeness,” the telegram said. The Pope renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire and he “expresses his profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region”. Reuters
Western diplomats ‘within metres’ of Israeli strikes
Damascus — Western diplomats were passing near Syria’s defence ministry in Damascus in an armoured convoy when Israel struck the building with several missiles on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter, including a Syrian eyewitness.
No-one in the convoy was injured and it continued on its way, the people said, declining to give further details on the nationalities or number of those involved.
Israel launched powerful airstrikes on Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace, while also striking government security forces operating against militants from the country’s Druze minority in the southern province of Sweida.
A Syrian medical source said the strikes on the ministry killed five members of the security forces.
Israel says its strikes were part of an effort to protect the Druze minority in southern Syria. Syria’s president rejected the assertion, saying Israel aimed to undermine the new government’s efforts to bring the country together. Reuters
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