RUSSIA
Moscow helping China
President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is helping China to develop an anti-missile early warning system, as he criticized the US for abandoning a key nuclear treaty. “We are now helping our Chinese partners to create a missile-warning system, a missile-attack warning system,” Putin said at the Valdai Club conference of foreign-policy experts in Russia’s Sochi on Thursday. “This is a very serious thing that will dramatically increase China’s defense capability, because only the US and Russia have such a system now.” Putin said US President Donald Trump’s decision earlier this year to quit the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty had weakened international strategic stability. The US has accused Russia of breaching the treaty, a charge Moscow denies, while also saying that new or renewed nuclear accords should include China’s expanding arsenal. China has rejected that suggestion.
IRAQ
Protest death toll hits 44
The death toll from three days of anti-government protests in Iraq climbed to 44, police and medical sources said yesterday. The largest number of casualties occurred in the southern city of Nassiriya, where 18 people were killed, followed by the capital Baghdad where the death toll stood at 16, they said. Tensions have been exacerbated by a near-total Internet blackout as the authorities seek to prevent protesters communicating with each other or posting footage of the chaotic demonstrations. Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi has imposed curfews in Baghdad and other cities to try to stop the protests gathering steam.
UNITED NATIONS
Council to discuss N Korea
The UN Security Council is on Tuesday to hold closed consultations on North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches, diplomats said on Thursday. Britain, France and Germany called for a council meeting following the recent series of missile launches, which are in contravention of UN sanctions. The council session is to take place after today’s meeting of US and North Korean officials in Stockholm. Some council members wanted the Security Council meeting to take place yesterday — ahead of the US talks, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private. South African Ambassador Jerry Matjila, this month’s council president, and others told reporters there were scheduling issues. In its latest test, North Korea on Thursday said that it carried out its first underwater-launched ballistic missile test in three years. The firing on Wednesday was an apparent effort to increase pressure on the US ahead of the weekend resumption of their nuclear diplomacy.
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