ALGERIA
French hostage threatened
A group linked to Islamic State (IS) militants on Monday claimed the kidnapping of a French national and threatened to kill the hostage within 24 hours unless Paris halts air strikes on the IS in Iraq. Jund al-Khilifa (“Soldiers of the Caliphate”) posted a video showing the white-haired and bespectacled hostage, Herve Pierre Gourdel, squatting on the ground flanked by two hooded men clutching Kalashnikov assault rifles. The footage was confirmed as authentic by the French government, and came after IS issued a statement urging Muslims to kill Westerners whose nations have joined a campaign to battle the group.
YEMEN
Rebels sweep into Sana’a
In a stunning sweep of the capital, Sana’a, the country’s Shiite rebels seized homes, offices and military bases of their Sunni foes on Monday, forcing many into hiding and triggering an exodus of civilians from the city after a week of fighting that left 340 people dead. It was the latest development in the Hawthi blitz, which has plunged the volatile country into more turmoil, pitting the Shiite rebels against the Sunni-dominated military and their Islamist tribal allies. The heavily armed Hawthi fighters on Monday seized tanks and armored vehicles from military headquarters they had overrun, and raided the home of long-time archenemy Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar. Al-Ahmar himself fled and was forced into hiding, along with his followers.
CHINA
Fireworks plant blast kills 12
An explosion at a fireworks factory in Hunan Province killed 12 people and injured 33, the local government said yesterday. Two people were also missing following Monday’s blast, which shook Nanyang Export Fireworks Factory, in Liling. The government did not say what caused the explosion, but said it was a work safety incident.
MOZAMBIQUE
Poachers kill 22 elephants
Poachers slaughtered 22 elephants in the first two weeks of the month, environmentalists said on Monday, warning that killing for ivory by organized syndicates was being carried out on an “industrialized” scale. Until recently, poaching was not considered a crime and those arrested often got off with a fine for illegal weapons possession, frustrating conservation efforts. A new law passed in June toughens penalties for poachers, including jail terms of up to 12 years. New York-based environmental group WCS said that organized crime syndicates were killing between 1,500 and 1,800 elephants a year. The poachers use automatic weapons and high-calibre hunting rifles, but spikes concealed in the bush have also been used to wound animals, causing them slow and agonizing deaths from gangrene. Ivory from Mozambique has been traced to markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
JAPAN
Abe drops Putin visit plan
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dropped plans to host Russian President Vladimir Putin this year due to friction after Tokyo imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, reports said yesterday. The two countries had agreed on the Russian leader’s visit “this autumn,” but Washington had asked Tokyo to postpone it, Kyodo News reported, quoting Japanese government sources. Tokyo has joined the US and Europe in putting pressure on Russia with sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, Kyodo said. Japan is now seeking to arrange for Putin to visit next spring or later, depending on the state of ties between Russia and the US.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘POINT OF NO RETURN’: The Caribbean nation needs increased international funding and support for a multinational force to help police tackle expanding gang violence The top UN official in Haiti on Monday sounded an alarm to the UN Security Council that escalating gang violence is liable to lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return.” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti’s police to tackle the gangs’ expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack more than 500 prisoners were freed, she said.
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