BELARUS
Bolton, Lukashenko to meet
US National Security Adviser John Bolton was yesterday scheduled to meet President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk for rare US talks with the head of state. Bolton was to meet with Lukashenko and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei “to discuss regional security and emphasize US support for Belarus’ sovereignty and independence,” the US embassy in Minsk said. The visit is sure to ruffle feathers in Moscow, which sees the former Soviet nation as a crucial partner. It comes after Bolton yesterday met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev and stressed Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” in the face of its conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in that country’s east.
PAKISTAN
Army conducts missile drill
The military yesterday launched a surface-to-surface ballistic missile, a spokesman said. “Pakistan successfully carried out night training launch of ... missile Ghaznavi capable of delivering multiple types of warheads,” armed forces spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Twitter. The missile can deliver a warhead to targets up to 290km away. The training exercise came as hostility with India has increased following New Delhi’s revocation of the autonomy of the disputed region of Kashmir.
THAILAND
Burmese convictions upheld
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the conviction of two Burmese migrants sentenced to death for the murder of two British backpackers on an island in 2014. Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin have denied killing David Miller and raping and killing Hannah Witheridge. The backpackers’ battered bodies were found on the morning of Sept. 15, 2014, on a beach on Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. Lawyers for the two men claimed that the evidence in the case was mishandled and that they made confessions under duress that they later retracted, raising questions about police competence and the country’s judicial system. However, the court yesterday said that their confessions held up. Their last hope now is for a royal pardon or commutation. The original verdicts divided relatives of the victims. Miller’s parents backed the court’s conviction, but Witheridge’s family were more cautious, with a sister calling the investigation “bungled.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Activists target Heathrow
Climate change activists yesterday said that they would fly toy drones at London’s Heathrow Airport from Sept. 13, a step that is likely to ground all flights, to put pressure on the government to take tougher steps to reduce greenhouse gases. The “Heathrow Pause” group said that it would fly toy drones within the restricted zone, but outside the flight paths of the airport, a step the group added would force the airport to ground flights. “This is a symbolic action, using a legal loophole and participants’ self-sacrifice to draw attention to the most serious and urgent crisis humanity has ever faced,” the group said. “The government’s inaction on climate change, and the looming catastrophe of airport expansion, gives us no choice, and compels us to act.” Heathrow is Europe’s largest airport. A spokeswoman for the airport declined immediate comment. Heathrow Pause said that it would fly drones at no higher than head level and give the airport one hour of advance notice.
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