UNITED KINGDOM
Russia killed Litvinenko: EU
The European Court of Human Rights yesterday ruled that Russia was responsible for the 2006 killing of Alexander Litvinenko, who died an agonizing death after he was poisoned in London with polonium-210. Moscow has always denied any involvement in Litvinenko’s death. Litvinenko, 43, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who fled Russia for Britain six years to the day before he was poisoned, died after drinking green tea laced with the rare and very potent radioactive isotope at London’s Millennium Hotel. A British inquiry concluded in 2016 that Putin probably approved a Russian intelligence operation to murder Litvinenko. It also found that former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy and another Russian, Dmitry Kovtun, carried out the killing as part of an operation probably directed by Russia’s Federal Security Service. “The Court found in particular that there was a strong prima facie case that, in poisoning Mr Litvinenko, Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun had been acting as agents of the Russian State,” the European court said.
AFGHANISTAN
More men join Cabinet
The Taliban yesterday announced a list of deputy ministers, failing to name any women, despite an international outcry when they presented their all-male Cabinet ministers earlier this month. Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid defended the latest additions to the Cabinet at the news conference, saying it included members of ethnic minorities, such as the Hazaras, and that women might be added later, even though he did not give a timeframe. Mujahid bristled at international conditions for recognition, saying there was no reason for withholding it. “It is the responsibility of the United Nations to recognize our government [and] for other countries, including European, Asian and Islamic countries, to have diplomatic relations with us,’’ he said.
RWANDA
Talks with Belgium canceled
The government said it has canceled a planned meeting with Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmes at the UN after she criticized the trial of Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina, a Belgian citizen. Rusesabagina, who is credited with saving more than 1,200 lives during the 1994 genocide, was on Monday convicted on terror charges by the high court in Kigali and sentenced to 25 years in prison in a widely criticized verdict. Wilmes said that despite repeated appeals from Brussels, “Rusesabagina did not benefit from a fair and equitable trial; particularly with regard to the rights of the defense.” The Kigali government slammed the comments in a statement dated Monday. It said they “reflected the contempt shown by the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium towards the Rwandan judicial system since the start of this trial, despite the significant contribution of relevant Belgian institutions to the investigation of this case.”
CAMBODIA
Endangered crocs found
Eight hatchlings from one of the world’s rarest crocodile species have been found in a wildlife sanctuary, raising hopes for its continuing survival in the wild. Conservationists found the baby Siamese crocodiles earlier this month in a river in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary, the Ministry of Environment and the World Wildlife Fund said yesterday. The team found the young reptiles after spending four days scouring habitat sites where months earlier they had discovered footprints and dung. It is believed only about 400 Siamese crocodiles remain in the wild, with most of them in Cambodia.
FRANCE
Macron to host Libya meet
President Emmanuel Macron is to host an international conference on Libya on Nov. 12, a month ahead of elections that aim to put an end to a decade of civil war, but that look increasingly uncertain. Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Minister of Foreign Affiars Heiko Maas and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi di Maio are to cochair a meeting devoted to Libya on Wednesday at the UN in New York. France is asking for the elections to be held on schedule and for the “departure of foreign forces and mercenaries,” Le Drian said. The ratification earlier this month of an electoral law that was clearly tailor-made for Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern Libya, raised tensions three months before the ballot.
UNITED STATES
CIA officer falls ill
A CIA officer who was traveling with CIA Director William Burns to India this month reported symptoms consistent with Havana syndrome, CNN and the New York Times reported on Monday. The victim, who was not identified, had to receive medical attention, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources. About 200 US officials and family members have been sickened by Havana syndrome, a mysterious set of ailments that include migraines, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness. It was first reported by officials based in the US embassy in Cuba in 2016. Burns said in July that he had tapped a senior officer who once led the hunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to head a task force investigating the syndrome.
PHILIPPINES
Manila backs AUKUS deal
The government has backed a new defense partnership between Australia, the UK and the US, hoping that it can maintain the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region, a view that contrasts sharply with some of its neighbors. The AUKUS alliance would see Australia get technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines as part of an agreement intended to respond to growing Chinese power. “The enhancement of a near-abroad ally’s ability to project power should restore and keep the balance rather than destabilize it,” Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin said in a statement yesterday. Locsin’s remarks differ to the stance of Indonesia and Malaysia, which sounded the alarm about a burgeoning superpower rivalry in Southeast Asia.
PANAMA
Sale of artifacts disputed
The government has called for a German auction house to withdraw from sale seven pre-Columbian artifacts believed to be part of the nation’s heritage. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had asked Munich-based Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger to produce export permits for the pieces, which were set to go under the hammer yesterday. It had informed its German counterpart of its “disagreement with the sale of these objects, as they could be part of Panamanian historical heritage,” it said in a statement.
GERMANY
Man killed after mask row
Police said that a 49-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the killing of a gas station worker who was shot dead on Saturday following a dispute over masks. Authorities in Trier on Monday said that the suspect told police officers he acted “out of anger” after the 20-year-old clerk at the gas station asked him to put on a mask. The suspect initially left the gas station after the dispute, but then returned wearing a mask and shot the clerk dead, police said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
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