Japan's ruling coalition won a sweeping supermajority in the country's parliamentary elections on Sunday, which would enable it to fulfill former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's enduring ambition to reform the country's pacifist constitution.
Why it matters: The elections were held two days after Abe's shocking assassination at a campaign stop geared toward winning the parliament’s upper house.
Health officials in Shanghai announced on Sunday that they have discovered a new COVID-19 subvariant, Omicron BA.5.2.1, Reuters reports.
The big picture: The new subvariant was discovered in a COVID-19 case identified on July 8 in the financial district of Pudong, and was linked to a case from overseas, according to Zhao Dandan, vice director of the city's health commission, per Reuters.
President Biden will announce $100 million in aid to Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem during his visit to the Middle East this week, five Israeli officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: The Biden administration sees the funding pledge as its main deliverable to the Palestinians during the visit. Biden is expected to visit one of the hospitals, Augusta Victoria Hospital, during his trip.
At least 14 people were killed early Sunday morning in a mass shooting at a tavern in Soweto, South Africa, that left nine others injured, South African police said in a statement.
Driving the news: Shortly after midnight, a group of men armed with rifles and 9-millimeter pistols entered the tavern and began shooting at random, per the statement.
Human rights will be part of the discussions taking place during his trip to the Middle East next week, President Biden wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post on Sunday.
Why it matters: Biden has faced criticism from some quarters over his planned trip to Saudi Arabia, where he expects to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The United Nations released a report that found that Ukraine's armed forces helped in the assault of a nursing home in the southeast of Kyiv.
Why it matters: Ukrainian forces blamed Russian forces for destroying the nursing home when the unprovoked attack occurred on March 11, per AP. But the report shows that Ukrainians share perhaps an equal part of the blame.
Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will resign from his position on Wednesday, AP reports.
Driving the news: It comes just hours after the country's prime minister agreed to resign, after protests that had been ongoing for months over Sri Lanka's economic crisis resulted in the presidential palace and the prime minister's house being broken into.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Saturday slammed Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), the only Ukraine-born lawmaker in Congress, for asking President Biden about allegations against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff.
Driving the news: "We advise Ms. Spartz to stop trying to earn extra political capital on baseless speculation around the topic of war in our country and the grief of Ukrainians," said Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko.
Protesters on Saturday broke into Sri Lanka's prime minister's private residence and set it on fire, just hours after entering the country's presidential palace while calling on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down over his handling of the country’s economic crisis.
Driving the news: Sri LankanPrime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe earlier in the day agreed to resign from his post once all parties agree on forming a new government.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died on Friday after being shot while giving a campaign speech, officials said. He was 67.
The big picture: Abe, who was most recently in office from December 2012 to September 2020, was Japan's longest-serving prime minister. He resigned in 2020 for health reasons but remained influential in politics.
Driving the news: "This is a tragedy for Japan and for all who knew him ... He was a champion of the Alliance between our nations and the friendship between our people," Biden said.
