■TURKEY
Gul wants YouTube
President Abdullah Gul has used his Twitter page to condemn his country’s ban on YouTube and some Google services. “I know there are lots of complaints about bans on YouTube and Google,” Gul said in a tweet posted on Thursday. “I am definitely against them being closed down. I have ordered responsible institutions for a solution. I asked for a change in regulations on merit.” Human rights groups and media watchdog associations have long urged Turkey, an EU candidate, to reform its restrictive Internet laws. In January, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said Turkey was blocking some 3,700 Internet sites for “arbitrary and political reasons.” Access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube has been banned by the Turkish government since 2008 after users posted videos in which they said Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, was an alcoholic and a homosexual. The role of president in Turkey is largely ceremonial, decisions are taken by the prime minister and Cabinet.
■RUSSIA
Medvedev to visit US
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will visit the US later this month to hold talks with US President Barack Obama and tour Silicon Valley, the Kremlin and White House said on Friday. Medvedev will “visit the United States from June 22 to June 24 on the invitation of US President Obama,” the Kremlin said in a statement. Obama “is pleased to welcome” his counterpart to Washington, the White House said later Friday. Before talks with Obama at the White House on June 24, Medvedev will also tour California’s technology corridor Silicon Valley on a visit that will focus on “broadening Russian and American cooperation in the areas of innovations and hi-tech,” the Kremlin said.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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