CHINA
Ministry protests US ban
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lodged a formal complaint with Washington over US sanctions against a leading state arms maker and other firms over alleged arms deals with North Korea, Syria and Iran. The US State Department said Poly Technologies is among companies barred from dealing with the US government or purchasing US military hardware for two years. The ministry yesterday said the US’ actions seriously violate the norms of international relations and undermine national interests.
UNITED STATES
US believes radar lock
Washington said it believed Japanese allegations that China activated its weapons-guiding radar last month in an escalation of tensions between the two Asian powers in the East China Sea. China denies Japanese claims that Chinese naval vessels locked their radar onto a Japanese destroyer and helicopter. However, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Monday said that the US was briefed by Japan, and “we have satisfied ourselves that it does appear to have happened.” Washington said it takes no stance in the sovereignty dispute, but opposes “unilateral actions” undermining Japan’s administration of the islands.
UNITED STATES
Guard awaits jail term
The government is recommending a 17-and-a-half-year prison term for a US security guard who has admitted he tried to sell secret photos and other secret information to the Chinese Ministry of State Security after he lost US$159,000 in the stock market. The Justice Department said Bryan Underwood took photographs of restricted areas at the new US consulate in Guangzhou and planned to use them to help China eavesdrop on US officials. Underwood drafted a letter expressing his desire to work for the Chinese ministry, but was turned away when he attempted to deliver it.
AUSTRALIA
Fine dining at McDonald’s
In a world first, a local McDonald’s franchise is offering full table service for its dine-in customers, complete with china plates, glassware and metal utensils in place of usual paper boxes and plastic. Meals are also brought to the table by servers, and diners can daintily dab their lips with cloth napkins after eating. “It’s very popular,” store manager Michelle Steain said of the five-week trial service. “Everyone seems to be loving it.”
PAKISTAN
Taliban bans Viagra
The head of a trade association for a large market in Peshawar says the Taliban have warned shopkeepers not to sell sex-related drugs like Viagra or obscene films because they are against Islam. Shamsher Khan Afridi said he received a text message from the Taliban on Saturday with the warning. Afridi said on Monday that he distributed a pamphlet to thousands of shopkeepers in the Karkhano market asking them to comply with the order.
UNITED STATES
‘Zombie attack’ in Montana
A Montana TV station’s regular programming was interrupted by news of a zombie apocalypse. The Montana Television Network says hackers broke into the Emergency Alert System of Great Falls affiliate KRTV and its CW station on Monday. KRTV said on its Web site the hackers broadcast that “dead bodies are rising from their graves” in several Montana counties. The alert claimed the bodies were “attacking the living” and warned people that they were extremely dangerous.” The network says engineers are investigating.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema