The Capitals: Madrid's tryst with women's rights, Pretoria avoids 'risking war' with Moscow

From the corridors of power in Madrid emerged the progressive discourse over gender paritythat dominated weeks of election campaigns in Spain.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government has been seen progressive laws on abortion and transgender rights. But such rights could bet stripped back if the right-wing Vox party comes to power, Sanchez has warned.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his opponent Santiago Abascal | Reuters

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Meanwhile,Vox party'sSantiago Abascal is running on the agenda of reversing Sanchez's policies on gender parity, queer rights, and a reduction in the regional government's powers.

Opinion polls predict that Sanchez may very well lose to the right-wing alliance, worrying observers who in the past have hailed the country's laws to ensure gender parity. By the next edition of The Capitals, Madrid may have a new government or a new prime minister.

Read this, and more, in The Capitals.

Pretoria, South Africa

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa | Reuters

The diplomatic tumult surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin's personal attendance at the BRICS summit in South Africa has taken a pause. Putin will attend the summit virtually and not physically, while foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to South Africa for the summit.

South Africa is a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Courtin 2002, under which it issued the warrant for Putin's arrest in March. Thus, South Africa would have had to arrest the Russian president if he had landed in the country for the BRICS summit.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had asked the ICC for an exemption on the grounds that imposing detention could endanger the "security, peace and order of the state."

He also told the court: "It would be inconsistent with our constitution to risk war with Russia."

New Delhi, India

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi | Twitter/@narendramodi

In the Indian capital, Colombo rode on a wave of optimism unleashed by enhanced economic partnership between the two neighbours.

During Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to India earlier this week,mutual cooperation was enhanced in various sectors, such as tourism, power, trade, higher education and skill development.

Specific projects announced included passenger ferry services between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka; a feasibility study on establishing a petroleum pipeline, a land bridge across the Palk Strait and the launch of India's Unified Payments Interface in Sri Lanka.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Cambodian leader Hun Sen and his son Hun Manet alongside the ancient Angkor Wat Temple | Reuters

Not many know of Cambodia beyond the ancient Angkor Wat temple. But the country had its national election this Sunday. The results have not been released but the declaration of elections is widely known.

Long-time leader Hun Sen, who is nearing the completion of his fourth decade in power, and hisCambodian People's Party (CPP), are expectedto once again sweep all 125 seats in parliament. The only significant challenger was disqualified in May. There has been no real opposition.

Since the 1990s, when the United Nations helped Cambodia transition into a functioning democracy after years of civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime, Hun Sen's party has won all six national elections every five years.

Kabul, Afghanistan

The defence minister in Afghanistan's Taliban governmentMullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid advocated for the international legitimacy of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

"We have completed the requirements that a government should have. There aren't any requirements left to be met so that the world won't recognise us as a result. It might take some time for them to be ready to recognise us, but we ask countries that are not under the pressure of America and can recognise us, to recognise the government ofAfghanistan," Mujahid said in an interview with Al Arabia TV.

Taliban's rule in Afghanistan has been marked by repression of the rights of women and the return of theological practices. The failure of Kabul's current rulers to mend their ways to ensure education rights for women remains the biggest impediment to the international recognition of their regime.

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