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.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion