PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Major quake strikes offshore
Authorities yesterday assessed the extent of damage from a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that rattled coastal towns at 11pm the previous evening. The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10km about 45km northeast of the coast of Kokopo, according to the US Geological Survey. Geohazards Management Department Acting Director Chris McKee said there was some damage in Kokopo as items were shaken from shelves and the power had been cut. A small tsunami was generated, but the darkness made an assessment difficult, he added. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that waves of up to 1m were possible along coastal areas up to 1,000km from the epicenter.
INDIA
Election clashes in Kolkata
Clashes between followers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and an opposition leader yesterday heightened tensions in Kolkata ahead of the final round of the national election on Sunday. Dozens of people were arrested in the street battles late on Tuesday that forced Amit Shah, president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to leave an election rally under police guard, media reports said. A statue of renowned Bengal reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was destroyed and a college named after him ransacked in the troubles, which the BJP and rival Trinamool Congress (TMC) blamed on each other. The BJP accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of orchestrating attacks on a roadshow through Kolkata by Shah. Banerjee, who called a protest rally for yesterday, hit back by accusing Shah of acting like a “god.”
SOUTH CHINA SEA
US actions ‘unchanged’
US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson yesterday said that the US’ freedom of navigation movements in the sea get more attention than they deserve. The operations “get more attention in the media and also have, sometimes from China, than they warrant, to be honest,” Richardson told reporters on the sidelines of a maritime defense conference in Singapore. In an earlier speech, Richardson said that US naval operations had been consistent over decades. He also said that he is not surprised by China’s reaction anymore. “They’ve been, I guess, fairly increasingly consistent in their response to these, but if I just got back to first principles ... I just want to make sure that the US Navy’s approach has been consistent. We haven’t done anything increasingly provocative or anything else,” Richardson said.
VIETNAM
Prisoners report ‘unfounded’
The government denied holding any “prisoners of conscience,” calling an Amnesty International report that said it is jailing more of its critics unfounded. “Amnesty International has deliberately made repeated nonobjective, unfounded judgements based on wrongful information and false prejudices on Vietnam,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in an e-mailed statement late on Tuesday. “This is an abusive, politically motivated practice aimed to obstruct international cooperation and promotion of human rights in the world.” Amnesty in a report on Monday said that the number of “prisoners of conscience” jailed in Vietnam has increased to 128 from 97 last year as the government implements a new cybersecurity law. Vietnam does not arrest citizens for expressing political views, Hang said. At least 34 people on the group’s list of prisoners of conscience were prosecuted under the new penal code, Amnesty said.
UNITED STATES
Republicans submit visa bill
A group of President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress on Tuesday introduced legislation intended to prohibit anyone employed or sponsored by the Chinese military from receiving student or research visas. The bill would require the government to create a list of scientific and engineering institutions affiliated with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and prohibit anyone employed or sponsored by those institutions from receiving the visas. However, many US and university officials warned about overreacting, arguing that it is important to acknowledge the important role Chinese academics and students play at US institutions while being aware of security risks.
UNITED STATES
San Francisco bars face tech
San Francisco on Tuesday became the first US city to ban use of facial recognition technology by police or other government agencies. Backers of the legislation argued that using software and cameras to positively identify people is, as City Councilor Aaron Peskin put it: “Not ready for prime time.” All but one of the nine members of San Francisco’s board of supervisors endorsed the legislation, which is to be voted on again next week in a procedural step not expected to change the outcome. The ban was part of broader legislation setting use and auditing policy for surveillance systems, creating high hurdles and requiring board approval for any city agencies. The ban did not include airports or other federally regulated facilities.
IRAN
Enrichment limits disavowed
The government has officially stopped some commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers following an order from the Supreme National Security Council, an Atomic Energy Organization official told the Iranian Students News Agency yesterday. Last week, the government notified China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK of its decision to halt some commitments under the nuclear deal, one year after the US unilaterally withdrew from the accord and reimposed sanctions. Under the deal, Tehran was allowed to produce low-enriched uranium with a 300kg limit and produce heavy water with a stock capped at about 130 tonnes. The government now has no limit for production of enriched uranium and heavy water, the official said. The initial moves do not appear to breach the deal yet.
BRAZIL
UN climate event canceled
After backing out of hosting this year’s UN climate summit, the government has now canceled a UN climate change event that was to be held in August in Salvador. The decision that came to light on Tuesday was the latest blow to climate change consensus by the new government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. The Ministry of the Environment said that the event was conceived by a previous administration as a part of the UN’s COP25 conference, which the government pulled out of hosting late last year, citing budget reasons. Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles has called climate change a “secondary issue” and has said that he wants to focus on everyday problems like sanitation. Salvador’s sustainability secretary, Andre Fraga, criticized the cancelation of the regional climate workshop. “It’s very bad for Brazil’s image,” Fraga told reporters. “It’s sad to see Brazil losing an opportunity to be a leader in the world’s fight against climate change.” Local governments would continue to make efforts against climate change, even if the federal government is not behind them, he said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not