PHILIPPINES
Government halts aid talks
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration has ordered the suspension of all loan and grant talks with foreign governments that backed a UN resolution to review human rights abuses during his signature anti-drug war. Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Aug. 27 issued a memorandum which he signed “by order of the president” to cut off all official development aid talks with the countries that voted for the resolution, according to the document. The memorandum was issued to the heads of all government agencies and was posted on the official Web site of the Bureau of Customs, but was taken down yesterday. “All concerned officials are DIRECTED to suspend negotiations for and signing of all loan and grant agreements with the governments of the countries that co-sponsored and/or voted in favor of the aforesaid resolution,” it said. However, asked late on Friday whether Duterte’s office had issued the document, Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said it was “not true.”
IRAQ
Bus bomb kills 12
A bomb exploded on a minibus packed with passengers outside the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Friday night, killing 12 people and wounding five others, Iraqi security officials and the state news agency said. This was one of the biggest attacks targeting civilians since the Islamic State group was declared defeated inside Iraq in 2017. The group’s sleeper cells continue to wage an insurgency and carry out sporadic attacks across the country The explosion occurred as the bus was passing through an Iraqi army checkpoint, about 10km south of Karbala in the direction of the town of al-Hilla. One official told reporters that before the blast, a passenger exited the minibus, but left a bag containing explosives under one of the seats. The device was then detonated remotely at the checkpoint. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
UNITED STATES
Biden decries Trump reports
Former vice president Joe Biden on Friday decried reports that President Donald Trump urged Ukrainan President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look into his son’s business dealings there. Biden said in a statement that if the reports are true, “then there is truly no bottom to President Trump’s willingness to abuse his power and abase our country.” The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said that Trump should release the transcript of his July phone conversation with Zelenskiy “so that the American people can judge for themselves.” Biden released the statement after news organizations reported that Trump had urged Zelenskiy to probe the activities of Biden’s son Hunter, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company.
UNITED STATES
People trapped in flood
Emergency workers on Friday used boats to rescue about 60 residents of a Houston-area community still trapped in their homes by floodwaters following one of the wettest tropical cyclones in US history. At least four deaths have been linked to the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda, which deluged parts of Texas and Louisiana. Almost 5m of standing water was reported in Huffman, northeast of Houston, when a nearby bayou overflowed. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office deployed its marine unit to evacuate the residents. Officials in Harris County, which includes Houston, said there had been a combination of at least 1,700 high-water rescues following Thursday’s torrential rainfall.
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
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
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