JAPAN
Vote could affect US bases
Okinawans yesterday headed to the polls to choose a governor in an election that many saw hinging on how voters feel about the US military presence on the southwestern Japanese islands. The race among four candidates was close between two: an outspoken critic of the US military presence and a ruling Liberal Democratic Party-backed candidate pushing the status quo. The winner was to succeed Takeshi Onaga, who in August died of pancreatic cancer and wanted the bases to disappear from Okinawa. Japanese Legislator Denny Tamaki pledged to continue with Onaga’s “spirit.” Gonowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima said he wanted to work with the national government to sort out the problem.
IRAQ
Kurds elect new legislature
Voting yesterday began across Iraq’s Kurdistan for a new parliament in the autonomous region, which is mired in an economic crisis a year after an independence referendum that infuriated Baghdad. More than 3.1 million voters were eligible to cast ballots across three provinces in the northern region, where 673 candidates from 29 political movements were vying for seats in the 111-member parliament. A massive “yes” vote in the referendum for independence in September last year, deemed illegal by the Baghdad federal government, backfired on the autonomous Kurdish region. Baghdad imposed economic penalties and sent federal troops to push Kurdish forces out of oil fields vital for the region’s economy, depriving it of a key lifeline.
ZAMBIA
Kenyan speaker deported
A Kenyan law professor and former director of his country’s anti-corruption commission was on Saturday refused entry to Zambia due to “security considerations,” authorities said. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, director of the Kenya School of Laws, had been due to deliver a talk on Chinese influence in Africa yesterday. However, on arrival at Kenneth Kaunda International airport in Lusaka, he was refused entry before being deported back to Kenya. Lumumba’s planned talk, entitled “Africa in the age of China influence and global geodynamics,” followed growing anger at Beijing’s grip on the economy of the nation.
UNITED STATES
Trump questions military aid
President Donald Trump on Saturday said that the US is “subsidizing” the military of allies Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea. The comment, at a West Virginia rally for local Republican Party candidates in the midterm elections, follows similar jibes at European members of NATO. “When you have wealthy countries like Saudi Arabia, like Japan, like South Korea, why are we subsidizing their military?” Trump said. “They’ll pay us. The problem is nobody ever asks.” He added that he on Saturday spoke to Saudi Arabian King Salman to make the same point.
VIETNAM
Tonne of scales, ivory found
Vietnam has seized about 1 tonne of pangolin scales and ivory hidden inside airline cargo packages, state media reported, as the country struggles to rein in wildlife smuggling across its borders. Authorities at Hanoi International Airport on Friday found 805kg of pangolin scales, and 193kg of ivory and derived products in two dozen boxes, the customs department newspaper said. The goods were sent from two companies in Nigeria, according to the labeling on the packages, it said, adding that they had arrived on a Sept. 21 flight, but were never picked up.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number