
Ahead of President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States, negotiations regarding the situation in Iran were held.
AI-generated summary
In June, Iran signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States to end the hostilities. Meetings with Gulf states regarding traffic control in the Strait of Hormuz have been postponed.
[Beijing Current Affairs] On the 16th, Chinese Communist Party Politburo member and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi in Beijing. ``As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, I am ready to play a constructive role in resolving the conflict,'' Wang said, adding, ``I want to protect Iran's legitimate rights and interests.'' Ahead of President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States this month, the two discussed issues surrounding Iran.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang emphasized that ``prolonging hostilities with the United States is not in the interests of the international community.'' He urged them to proceed with dialogue with the Gulf countries. On the 13th, Iran and other countries announced the postponement of a meeting scheduled to be held in Oman on the 14th, which brought together foreign ministers from the Gulf countries, regarding the control of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transportation hub.
Araghchi explained Iran's future response and asserted, ``We do not want the conflict to continue.'' Based on the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States in June towards an end to hostilities, he urged, ``The United States should steadily fulfill its commitments.''
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Continued coordination between the United States and China in preparation for President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States
Very likely · Within weeks

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will inaugurate the second reshuffled Takaichi Cabinet on the afternoon of the 17th. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Mogi, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi will continue to serve in the Cabinet, while former State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yoshihiro Seki and former State Minister of the Environment Hiroyoshi Sasakawa will join the Cabinet for the first time. Mr. Seki, a former member of the Abe faction, was involved in the factional slush fund scandal, but this will be his first time joining the cabinet since the scandal was discovered. The focus is on the treatment of Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who competed with the prime minister in last year's presidential election. The Meiji Restoration Association turned to cooperation within the Cabinet, and former Secretary-General Hiroshi Nakatsuka entered the Cabinet for the first time. Kei Sato, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, will be replaced by Yusuke Nakanishi, former Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. It will be officially launched in the evening of the same day after a certification ceremony at the Imperial Palace, and the Prime Minister will explain its aims and policies at a press conference.

The Liberal Democratic Party's Takashi Yamashita, Hisayuki Fujii, and Yasuhiro Harashi have been confirmed to join the cabinet, and Prime Minister Takaichi has compiled the resignations of current ministers at an extraordinary cabinet meeting. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan announced that personal financial assets reached a new record high of 2,519 trillion yen at the end of June. The US Federal Reserve decided to raise the policy interest rate by 0.25% to 3.75% to 4.00% annually, and President Trump demanded that the Fed immediately cut interest rates. In addition, it was reported that the Hague Special Tribunal sentenced the former president of Kosovo to 25 years in prison, that representatives of Ishin proposed to the prime minister a consumption tax cut and a reduction in the number of members of parliament, that Kansai Electric Power and Tohoku Electric Power were considering participating in an interim storage facility in Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture, and that a South Korean district court ordered North Korea to pay approximately 5 billion yen in compensation.

The Liberal Democratic Party's Takashi Yamashita, Hisayuki Fujii, and Yasuhiro Harashi have been confirmed to join the cabinet. Prime Minister Takaichi compiled the resignations of current cabinet ministers at an extraordinary cabinet meeting. The Bank of Japan announced that personal financial assets reached a record high of 2,519 trillion yen at the end of June. US President Trump has called on the Federal Reserve to immediately lower interest rates, but the Fed has signaled one more rate hike before the end of the year, raising the policy rate by 0.25% to 3.75-4.00%. Other news reported include the Hague Special Tribunal sentencing the former president of Kosovo to 25 years in prison, the representative of Ishin informing the prime minister of a consumption tax cut and a reduction in the number of members of parliament, Kansai Electric Power and Tohoku Electric Power's intention to participate in an interim storage facility in Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture, a South Korean district court ordering North Korea to pay approximately 5 billion yen in compensation, and six event companies found guilty in the Tokyo Olympics rigging case.

The CDU suffered a crushing defeat in Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state parliament election, and the far-right AfD rose to become the largest party. There is growing talk within the party that Chancellor Merz should step down, and the party's fate may be determined by the Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state elections on the 20th. There have also been reports of confidence questions being asked by leading party figures and the emergence of candidates for the next prime minister.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has retained Deputy President Taro Aso and Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki in party executive personnel changes, in an effort to stabilize the party ahead of next fall's presidential election. The appointment of Hideki Murai, a mid-ranking member with no cabinet experience, as chairman of the national committee was perceived as a ``surprise'', but there have been voices of dissatisfaction within the party, with Suzuki expressing dissatisfaction with the selection process, which according to party rules is the authority of the secretary-general.

The dissolution order for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) was finalized by the Supreme Court in June. This is the first case in which a request for an order for the dissolution of a religious corporation has been made on the basis of civil law tort. We asked Tsunehisa Shishido, a constitutional scholar who participated in discussions as a member of the Religious Corporations Council of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and Masahiro Hasegawa, a lawyer who previously served on the committee, about the unusual circumstances in which the procedure for filing a claim began amid mounting criticism following the shooting incident of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.We asked them about their evaluation of the process and the issues that emerged.