EL SALVADOR
Extradition of Funes sought
Prosecutors are seeking the extradition of former president Mauricio Funes and three family members on corruption charges. Funes, the relatives and ex-officials are accused in connection with the alleged embezzlement of US$351 million in public funds. Funes and his family have been living in nearby Nicaragua, which granted them political asylum. He denies wrongdoing. Friday’s extradition request came a day after a separate investigation was begun into the alleged diversion of US$10 million donated by Taiwan during Funes’ 2009-2014 government. The money was purportedly transferred from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the presidency and used for political campaigning by Funes’ party.
AUSTRALIA
Berry saboteurs hunted
Queensland yesterday offered a A$100,000 (US$71,510) reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for sabotaging strawberries with sewing needles. Police have said that six brands of strawberries are believed to be contaminated with needles and pins, prompting warnings from authorities to slice the fruit before eating. “Someone is trying to sabotage the industry, but also in doing that, they are putting babies’ and children’s and families’ lives at risk,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said at a news conference, where she confirmed the reward. The Berry Obsession, Berry Licious, Donnybrook Berries, Love Berry, Delightful Strawberries and Oasis brands of strawberries are believed to be affected, the police said.
INDIA
China’s Uighur abuse decried
About 150 Muslims on Friday protested in Mumbai to demand that China stop detaining thousands of minority Uighur Muslims in camps and political indoctrination centers in its Xinjiang region. The protesters chanted: “Down with China,” as they demonstrated outside a mosque after Friday noon prayers. Organizer Mohammed Saeed Nori said China had detained many Muslims in camps and “snatched their religious freedom.” Beijing has said it tightened restrictions over the instruction of Islam and the Uighur language in an effort to assimilate the minority group into the Chinese mainstream.
CHINA
Maduro and Xi deepen ties
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday met with President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a trip to deepen ties and seek increased financial support from one of his ailing country’s biggest creditors. The two leaders reaffirmed their ties, with Maduro saying that their relationship was “a model of international cooperation,” state broadcaster CCTV reported. Maduro later met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強), who said China was willing to provide “whatever assistance is within our means,” CCTV said, adding that Maduro and Xi oversaw the signing of several agreements, but gave no details.
UNITED STATES
Chinese steals secrets
A Chinese scientist has pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal biopharmaceutical trade secrets from GlaxoSmithKline in what prosecutors said was a scheme to set up companies in China to market them. Li Tao (李陶) on Friday pleaded guilty in federal court to a single conspiracy count. The change of plea comes two weeks after Xue Yu (薛宇), a high-ranking researcher who worked at GlaxoSmithKline’s suburban Philadelphia research facility, also pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge.
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