Kyrgyzstan
Government resigns
The government resigned yesterday after the president’s party quit the ruling coalition, sparking fears the nation could plunge into instability. President Almazbek Atambayev’s Social Democratic Party left the four-party ruling coalition on Monday after its other members did not back constitutional reforms. A statement issued by the presidency said that Atambayev had signed a decree on the “resignation of the government of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan” that went into immediate effect. Atambayev is expected to call for the creation of a new coalition by the end of the week and later approve a new Cabinet.
JAPAN
Sick princess misses school
A granddaughter of Emperor Akihito is not feeling well and has missed school for a month. Palace officials yesterday said that 14-year-old Princess Aiko has been staying home since Sept. 26, after complaining of stomach problems and dizziness attributed to fatigue from studying for exams and practicing for an athletic event at her junior high school. Aiko is the only child of Crown Prince Naruhito, next in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne, and his wife, Masako. Officials say Nobutake Odano, the grand master at Naruhito’s palace, on Tuesday told reporters that Aiko is recovering, but needs more time before returning to school. A palace hospital health check earlier this month found no major problem.
AUSTRALIA
Police question pope’s aide
The Vatican’s finance chief, Cardinal George Pell, has been interviewed by Australian police in Rome over sexual assault claims, authorities said yesterday, but no charges have been laid. It follows explosive allegations against Pell, the nation’s most senior Catholic cleric, aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corp in July, which he strongly denied. Victoria state police said in a statement that three officers “travelled to Rome last week where Cardinal George Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault.” It added that “further investigations are continuing.” Pell has denied the allegations and suggested there was a conspiracy against him.
CHINA
Pollution tampering arrests
Police have arrested officials in charge of environmental protection in Xian after they were accused of tampering with air quality monitoring data, local media said on Tuesday. “Staff members interfered with the monitoring station a number of times, blocking the equipment with a cotton thread, which disrupted the collection of data,” the Huashang Bao newspaper said. The “abnormal” readings alerted the national body for environmental protection, resulting in the opening of a police investigation, the newspaper said. A number of suspects have been arrested, including the head of the monitoring station, his deputy and the director of the environmental protection bureau in Changan District, it said.
MONTENEGRO
PM stepping down: party
Veteran leader Milo Djukanovic will not continue as prime minister in the next government, according to his party, which topped recent parliamentary polls. The Democratic Party of Socialists late on Tuesday said the party’s management had decided to propose Djukanovic’s deputy and former national security chief, Dusko Markovic, as candidate for prime minister. A party committee was expected to approve the decision later yesterday.
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