The US has decided to revamp its missile shield program in eastern Europe, moving away from a large fixed system toward one better able to counter an Iranian short and medium-range missile threat, a US defense official said yesterday.
“This does get away from the big fixed-based radar and field concept and focuses on a layered versatile adaptive system,” the official said, indicating that intelligence shows Iran is now focused on shorter-range missiles rather than intercontinental rockets.
A Pentagon spokesman said the White House would have an announcement later yesterday to discuss “a major adjustment and enhancement to our European missile defense system.”
Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer had earlier announced that US President Barack Obama had decided to scrap the missile shield plans for the Czech Republic and Poland that had so angered Russia.
NATO’s new chief hailed the move as “a positive step” and a Russian analyst said Obama’s decision would increase the chances that Russia would cooperate more closely with the US in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
Fischer told reporters that Obama phoned him overnight to say that “his government is pulling out of plans to build a missile defense radar on Czech territory.”
“The same happened with Poland. Poland was informed in the same way about this intention,” Fischer said.
He said Obama assured him that the “strategic cooperation” between the Czech Republic and the US would continue, and that Washington considers the Czechs among its closest allies.
In Poland, officials declined to confirm Fischer’s remarks, saying they were waiting for a formal announcement from Washington.
The plan, proposed by the Bush administration, aimed to defend the US and its European allies against a possible missile attack from Iran or elsewhere in the Middle East.
Obama took office undecided about the European system and said he would study it.
“The US president’s decision is a well thought [out] and systematic one,” said Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. “It reflects understanding that any security measure can’t be built entirely on the basis of one nation.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique