Australia and the Philippines prepared yesterday to sign a landmark security pact to supply the Southeast Asian country with gunboats and military training to fight terrorists as Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited Australia.
The pact would also provide for large-scale joint exercises by the defense forces of Australia and the Philippines, where al-Qaeda-linked militants and other insurgents have a foothold in the country's restive south.
Arroyo arrived in Canberra, overnight and was set to attend ceremonial functions before formal talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard today, when the leaders were also due to witness the signing of the security agreement.
Arroyo came from New Zealand, the second stop on a three-nation trip that started with Japan, to promote security, economic and business ties.
Philippine defense officials said Australia has promised to donate 28 high-speed gunboats worth about A$4 million (US$3.3 million) to the Philippine military.
Australia has also pledged to continue providing various types of training, including a planned leadership workshop for the Philippine military's 44 two-star generals, said Defense Assistant Secretary Joji Aragon.
The agreement, aspects of which were finalized in talks between senior officials Manila on Tuesday, is a sign of intensifying defense ties between the two nations -- both key US military allies in the Asia-Pacific region.
The gunboats, which can each carry six soldiers and three crewmen and navigate with a global positioning system, are to be delivered in batches starting this year and would likely be used nationwide, including the restive south, said the Philippines' Defense Undersecretary Antonio Santos.
"We have a common [interest] in terms of a peaceful and secure region, and in particular, in dealing with the common threats from terrorists in the region," said senior Australian Defense Ministry official Ben Coleman.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
RSS