Set up by the G20 in 2009, the Financial Stability board (FSB) is venerable institution with a responsibility to assess the vulnerabilities in the global financial system and suggest measures to deal with them. It coordinates the actions of the central banks and international standards setting bodies and develops effective regulatory, supervisory, and other financial sector policies that promote financial stability.

The review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was held in New York on 1 August. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became the first Prime Minister of Japan to attend the ministerial-level Review Conference of the NPT at the UN headquarters in New York on 5 August and delivered a speech at the general debate. Last October, Kishida had expressed a desire to attend the conference. As a Hiroshima-based politician, Kishida’s decision to attend the conference was a sign of his personal interest in nuclear disarmament.

The war in Ukraine is in its sixth month, with no clarity on an endgame. Russia reiterates it will not back down, until it achieves its original objectives. Ukraine seeks more heavy weaponry from the West, to drive Russian forces back to their pre-war positions. NATO countries respond with lethal weapons supplies, in pursuit of a “strategic defeat” for Russia.