PHILIPPINES
Duterte signs Paris pact
President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change restricting greenhouse gas emissions, putting the deal one step closer to ratification in the country, a senator said yesterday. The agreement, which came into force on Nov. 4 last year, aims to transform the world’s fossil-fuel-driven economy within decades and slow the pace of a global temperature increase to “well below” 2?C. Manila has committed to reduce its emissions by 70 percent by 2030, but it will need technical and financial support to achieve it.
VIETNAM
Vietnam slams fishing ban
Vietnam has slammed a fishing ban China has imposed in parts of the disputed South China Sea, saying it violates Vietnamese sovereignty and further complicates the tense situation in the troubled waters. The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture on Monday issued a seasonal fishing ban in parts of the South China Sea, including waters near the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) claimed by Vietnam, but occupied by China. Taiwan also lays claim to the island. Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Le Hai Binh said China’s unilateral action seriously violates Vietnam’s sovereignty and goes against international law.
Nicaragua
Exorcism victim dies
Officials say a 25-year-old woman died after being thrown into a fire to drive “demons” from her body. The woman, Vilma Trujillo Garcia, suffered burns over 80 percent of her body. Vice President Rosario Murillo called her death “regrettable.” Prosecutors say evangelical pastor Juan Gregorio Rocha Romero and four other people have been arrested in her death. Rocha Romero told the newspaper La Prensa that the woman fell into the fire and a demon exited her body. The victims’ husband, Reynaldo Peralta Rodriguez, said the mother of two was taken inside a church last week when members thought she was possessed after allegedly trying to attack people with a machete.
SYRIA
Al-Quaeda deputy may be dead
The US government is investigating whether al-Qaeda’s No. 2 has been killed in Syria, an official said on Tuesday, amid reports of a US strike in or around Idlib. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that agencies were working to confirm whether Abu Khayr al-Masri is dead, in what would be a major counterterrorism coup. Masri was a son-in-law of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and was believed to be deputy to the group’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
UNITED STATES
Obamas sign book deal
Penguin Random House has landed a deal to publish two forthcoming books by former US president Barack Obama and the former first lady, Michelle Obama, with one volume to be written by each, the publishing company said on Tuesday. Terms of the agreement, in which the publishing house acquired worldwide publication rights for the two books, were not disclosed, but in keeping with their past practice, the Obamas plan to donate a “significant portion of their author proceeds to charity,” including the Obama Foundation, the publisher said in a statement announcing the deal. The deal followed a heated auction for global rights to the two books with bidding that reached more than US$60 million, a record sum for US presidential memoirs, the Financial Times reported.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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