INDIA
China sparks war of words
Minister of Defence A.K. Antony said yesterday that China’s comments on his visit to a territory disputed by the neighbors were “highly objectionable,” sparking a new war of words over the contested border. Beijing on Saturday reportedly called for India “to work with China to maintain peace and stability in border areas” and called for restraint to prevent complications in the dispute over Arunachal Pradesh, a northeastern Indian state that China claims in full. Antony visited the far-flung and highly militarized territory earlier this month to mark its 25th year as an Indian state. He promised better infrastructure and improved accessibility. “I was surprised to read the Chinese reaction. It is very sad and highly objectionable. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India,” he told reporters on Monday, according to the CNN-IBN television channel.
SOUTH KOREA
Conductor to visit North
A prominent South Korean conductor will visit Pyongyang this week to prepare for a planned joint concert in Paris by orchestras from North Korea and France, an official said yesterday. Chung Myung-whun will visit from today to Thursday to make arrangements for the concert between the North’s Unhasu Orchestra and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul’s unification ministry spokesman said. The ministry must authorize all inter-Korean exchanges. Chung, who conducts the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and also serves as the music director for the French orchestra, is set to lead the joint performance in Paris on March 14 as part of a cultural exchange program. The 59-year-old conductor and UNICEF “goodwill ambassador” has for years been seeking cross-border cultural projects.
NEW ZEALAND
Xena arrested over protest
Police have arrested actress Lucy Lawless and five Greenpeace environmental activists after the group spent four days protesting aboard a docked oil-drilling ship. Police yesterday removed the group from their perch atop a 53m drilling tower on the Noble Discoverer in Port Taranaki. Lawless and six activists climbed the tower early on Friday in an attempt to raise awareness about oil drilling in the Arctic. Chartered by oil company Shell, the ship had been scheduled to leave over the weekend for the Arctic to drill five exploratory wells. Lawless, 43, a native New Zealander, is best known for her title role in the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess.
THAILAND
Three Iranians questioned
Police yesterday said they were questioning three more Iranians in connection with an alleged plot to kill Israeli diplomats in Bangkok. “We have information that they may have links to the blasts,” police major general Piya Utayo said, referring to a series of botched explosions that shook a residential district of the Thai capital on Feb. 14. He said no charges had been laid against the trio. One was detained under immigration law for overstaying his visa. According to Thai media, mobile telephone call logs showed that one of the suspects had been in regular contact with two Iranians now in custody.
PAKISTAN
Bin Laden house demolished
Bulldozers yesterday finished demolishing the house where Osama bin Laden lived for at least five years until he was killed by US special forces in May last year. Only the wall of the compound remained intact, surrounding the debris of the three-floor building where the al-Qaeda leader lived in the garrison town of Abbottabad and a security official confirmed the demolition had been completed.
NIGERIA
Sect claims church bomb
Islamist sect Boko Haram said it was behind Sunday’s suicide bomb attack outside a church in the central city of Jos, and warned of more such assaults. “We carried out the attack on COCIN church in Jos today and we did what we did as part of our resolve to avenge the killings and dehumanization of Muslims in Jos in the last 10 years,” spokesman Abul Qaqa told reporters in a conference call. Three people including a toddler were killed in the attack, igniting brief riots by Christian youths that claimed another three lives on the streets of the capital of Plateau State. Qaqa said that that particular church had not been targeted for any reason. “We attacked simply because it is a church and we can decide to attack any other church. We have just started,” he said.
SUDAN
Rebels capture border area
Rebels said they captured a border district from the government in the oil-rich border state of Southern Kordofan. Fighters from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), attacked members of the Sudanese Armed Forces, took control of Jaw District and liberated the region of Lake Alubaid, the group said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Fighting in the border states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan has intensified since South Sudan seceded on July 9 last year, assuming control of three-quarters of the former state’s oil production of 490,000 barrels a day.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
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