INDONESIA
UN candidacy announced
The nation on Friday announced its candidacy for membership on the UN Security Council, saying its commitment and contribution to the world body make it a true partner for world peace. In a speech at the UN General Assembly, Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla said the UN needs reforms to make it stronger and more relevant to 21st-century challenges and realities. Kalla said the nation has a commitment to increase its peacekeeping force to 4,000 personnel by 2019 and fights terrorism both regional and globally. As the world’s most populous Muslim nation and its third-largest democracy, Jakarta sees Islam modernity and women’s empowerment as going hand-in-hand with democracy, tolerance, pluralism and peace, he said. Selections of the new non-permanent Security Council members in 2019-2020 will be made in mid-2019.
MONTENEGRO
Sniper kills man in jail
A sniper has shot dead a prisoner in broad daylight in a yard at the Balkan nation’s highest-security jail, officials said on Friday. The victim, named only by the initials D.Dj, was shot in the chest on Thursday while walking in the grounds of the main jail in the capital, Podgorica, prison authorities said in a statement. The prisoner died of his injuries later on Thursday, the statement said, adding that he had been jailed for extortion in 2014. “Clearly this is a clash of criminal groups and this brutal murder requires the maximum engagement of all institutions involved in implementing justice,” the statement said. Local media identified the victim as Dalibor Djuric, saying he was the 10th person killed in feuds between drugs gangs in the past two years. Earlier this month, police arrested nine men suspected of belonging to a drugs gang responsible for a surge in violence in the nation’s top tourist destination.
UNITED STATES
Boy blamed for fire
Police say a 12-year-old boy riding a push scooter set fire to the arts-and-crafts section of a Wal-Mart store in the Southern California desert, leading to losses of more than US$1 million. The store in Barstow remained closed for a third day on Friday because of the damage. Barstow police said in a statement that the boy, who was not with his parents, set the fire with a lighter on Wednesday afternoon. Wal-Mart employees tried to put it out with fire extinguishers, but failed and some had to be treated for smoke inhalation. Firefighters arrived and extinguished the blaze, but serious damage was done by both fire and water. Police looked at surveillance video and saw the boy with a scooter and a backpack. He was found on a street corner later in the day. He was arrested and taken to juvenile hall.
UNITED STATES
Dummy caught in truck
A California driver has been cited for using a mannequin — not the required human being — while driving in a carpool lane. The Orange County Register reported that Brea police found the mannequin on Wednesday in a truck on the congested No. 57 freeway. The truck veered out of the carpool lane close to an officer’s motorcycle. As the officer attempted to warn the driver to be careful, he noticed the passenger was not a passenger. Police say the driver acknowledged using the mannequin in the carpool lane for some time. The driver told police that he would now accept that he needs to sit in traffic like everyone else. California requires that a vehicle have a minimum of two people for carpool lanes. Driving alone can bring a fine of at least US$481.
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
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing