FALKLAND ISLANDS
Badminton team cries foul
The islands’ badminton team on Wednesday accused Argentina of trying to prevent it from taking part in a Pan-American tournament in Brazil. The Falklands are a British overseas territory, but Argentina, which invaded and briefly occupied the islands in 1982, claims sovereignty over the South Pacific archipelago and calls them Las Islas Malvinas. The Falklands team were to take part in the tournament in Salvador, which was to begin yesterday. “Unfortunately Argentina are putting a significant amount of pressure on our Falkland Islands team to either pull out of the tournament or play under the Islas Malvinas name,” the Falklands badminton team said on Twitter. “Argentina are putting pressure on Brazil to pull the entire tournament if we do not give in to their demands.” The Falklands badminton team vowed it would “not give in to bullies” and said that Argentina were not even participating in the tournament. It also referenced an article in the Badminton World Federation regulations that states participation to a tournament cannot be denied on the grounds of “politics.”
GUATEMALA
NGO rules approved
Lawmakers approved changes to laws on non-governmental organizations (NGO) that would give the executive branch the authority to allow such groups to operate or shut them down if they are deemed disruptive. The measure prompted alarm on the part of civil society groups that said it could be used to quash dissent, while others questioned its constitutionality. President Alejandro Giammattei, who would have to sign or veto the bill, suggested in comments to journalists on Wednesday that he views at least some aspects of it favorably. The changes passed on Tuesday would regulate the formation, registration, finances and other aspects of NGOs’ activities. One of the most criticized parts is related to funding and says “no donation or external financing may be used to carry out activities that disturb the public order in national territory.” Violators could be shut down immediately and their leadership subject to criminal or civil complaints. “It affects the issue of freedom of association,” activist Helen Mack said, adding that the measure is authoritarian and repressive. “They want to control the organizations that bother them, the people who want to protest. We have a right to civil disobedience [and] we will take legal action.” Giammattei said that some NGOs “have received resources for criminal actions.” He said there have been complaints, but he agrees there should be more clarity on NGO funding. “We all want transparency,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Bezos estate breaks record
Amazon chief executive officer Jeff Bezos has purchased a Los Angeles-area estate for US$165 million, setting a new record for the region, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Bezos bought the Warner Estate from media mogul David Geffen, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal topped a Los Angeles-area home price record set last year when Lachlan Murdoch paid about US$150 million for a Bel-Air estate seen in The Beverly Hillbillies, a 1960s television show. The Warner Estate spans 3.6 hectares in Beverly Hills. It is a Georgian-style compound with a floor once owned by Napoleon, guest houses, a tennis court and a nine-hole golf course. It was built in the 1930s by the late Jack Warner, former president of Warner Brothers, said the newspaper, which Bezos owns.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion