MEXICO
Large oil reserve found
Mexico on Friday said that it has made the biggest oil discovery in the country since 1987 at the Quesqui field in Tabasco. Octavio Romero, head of the state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, said the onshore field has proven, probable and possible reserves of 500 million barrels of crude equivalent. The first well was drilled at Quesqui in June and is now producing 4,500 barrels per day, Romero said. The 34km2 field is to have 11 wells and a production of 69,000 barrels per day next year and 110,000 barrels of oil and 11.6 million cubic meters of natural gas per day in 2021.
JAPAN
Large defense budget sought
Japan is looking to raise defense spending to a record ¥5.3 trillion (US$48.8 billion) for the year starting April 1, partly to develop a next-generation fighter jet, the Nikkei reported, without saying where it obtained the information. The amount compares to ¥5.26 trillion earmarked for defense for this fiscal year and includes more than ¥10 billion to develop a military jet to replace the nation’s F-2, the report said. The plan would be part of the government’s overall annual budget to be finalized this month. An increase in defense expenditure would mark the eighth consecutive year of expansion.
ETHIOPIA
EU official arrives
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Ethiopia yesterday, her first trip outside Europe since assuming her post, for meetings expected to touch on migration and support for African security operations. The former German defense minister, who took office on Sunday last week, landed in the capital, Addis Ababa, in the morning and went to the African Union headquarters for talks with its chief, Moussa Faki Mahamat. She was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
KENYA
Eight killed in attack
Several police officers were among at least eight killed in an attack on a bus in northeast Kenya, believed to have been staged by the Somalian group al-Shabaab, a presidential spokesperson yesterday said. President Uhuru Kenyatta had been briefed on the “brutal” murders during the attack in Wajir county, the spokesperson said in a statement. “We lost seven police officers in the bus attack,” a senior police source said. “The total number of the people killed are 10. One was identified as a local doctor.” A police statement released on Friday gave no casualty toll, just noting that the bus had come under attack at about 5:30pm local time.
MEXICO
Morales gets health check
Evo Morales, the self-exiled former president of Bolivia, was in Cuba for a medical appointment, an aide to the former leader said on Friday. Former Bolivian health minister Gabriela Montano, who has been with Morales in Mexico, did not specify whether he made the trip for a routine checkup or an appointment to treat a specific ailment. Morales underwent treatment in Cuba in 2017 for nose, ear and throat complaints. Mexico’s foreign relations ministry confirmed that Morales had left on Friday on a “temporary” visit to Cuba. Morales was granted political asylum in Mexico after he resigned from Bolivia’s presidency following widespread protests over a disputed presidential election that he claimed to have won. He arrived in Mexico on Nov. 11 and had not left since.
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