IRAQ
France deploys naval vessel
France yesterday deployed an aircraft carrier in the Gulf as part of the US-led military campaign against the Islamic State group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a French Ministry of Defense official said. “The integration of the Charles de Gaulle in the operation... begins this morning,” the official said.
SYRIA
Kurds launch IS offensive
Kurdish fighters have launched an offensive against Muslim militants in the northeastern Hassakah Province and pushed them from several areas, a monitoring group and the main Kurdish party said. The offensive, launched late on Saturday last week, is aimed at retaking the town of Tal Hamis and areas surrounding it that are under the control of the Islamic State (IS) group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Kurdish militia forces, known as the People’s Protection Units, “managed to advance and took over some 20 villages, farms and hamlets in the area,” the Britain-based Observatory said. At least 12 Muslim militants were killed in the fighting, it said. It was not known if Kurdish forces lost any fighters. Warplanes from the US-led coalition against the extremist group carried out several strikes targeting Islamic State group positions in the area during the fighting, the Observatory said.
CUBA
Canadian businessman freed
A Canadian businessman was released after being jailed for more than three years on corruption charges, his lawyer said on Sunday. Cy Tokmakjian had been sentenced in September last year to 15 years in prison. No reason was given for his release, but it came amid a thaw in relations with the US. At the time of his arrest in September 2011, Tokmakjian represented Hyundai autos and had an interest in several transport companies. He was convicted along with his partner, former vice minister of the state sugar industry Nelson Labrada, and two other Canadians associated with the Tokmakjian group, Marco Puche and Claudio Franco Vetere. They were charged with corruption, false statements, currency trafficking and tax evasion. The fate of the other two Canadians remained uncertain on Sunday. The Canadian government said only that they were receiving consular support.
BRAZIL
Police officer killed in Rio
Four police officers were killed over the weekend in and around Rio de Janeiro, highlighting the city’s struggle to tame street violence ahead of the Olympic Games next year. An officer from a special battalion for security at major events like Pope Francis’ recent visit, last year’s FIFA World Cup and the upcoming Olympics, died after being shot seven times on Sunday, according to the G1 Globo news Web site. About 24 hours earlier, a civil police inspector was killed in the northern Baixada Fluminense suburb. Meanwhile, in the town of Niteroi, across Rio’s famous bay, an officer was killed when returning from the Carnival champions’ parade. A fourth died in a shootout after a bakery robbery in the Nova Iguacu suburb. Rio’s authorities launched what they call a pacification program in the city’s notoriously violent slums, or favelas, in 2008. The clampdown aimed to restore order to swaths of Rio ahead of the World Cup and what would be South America’s first hosting of the Olympics next year.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
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