CHINA
French national attackedm
France has warned its citizens in China to be vigilant after a French national was attacked by a man with a knife in Shanghai this week. The French Consulate in Shanghai yesterday said in a notice on its Web site that the attacker fled after a Chinese colleague came to the victim’s assistance. It said police caught the attacker soon after Wednesday’s stabbing. The attack came four days after a Chinese man was killed by a police officer in Paris, sparking protests by members of the Chinese community in France. The incident has been extensively reported on in Chinese media and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday summoned a representative of the French embassy in Beijing to express its concern over the case.
ISRAEL
New settlement approved
The government on Thursday approved the establishment of a new settlement in the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than two decades and also laid the groundwork for further expansion, despite a request from US President Donald Trump to hold off on settlement activity. It was not immediately clear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had received a green light from the White House for the announcement. Trump’s public request to hold off on settlements came last month during a meeting between the two leaders at the White House, after a series of moves by Netanyahu to approve thousands of new housing units in the West Bank.
SOUTH KOREA
‘Sewol’ reaches port
The salvaged wreck of the Sewol ferry yesterday reached port, about three years after setting out on a doomed voyage that killed more than 300 people. A semi-submersible ship carrying the wreck docked alongside a pier at the southwestern harbor of Mokpo, a photographer on the scene said. The vessel was raised from the sea floor in one piece in a complex salvage operation before being transferred to the semi-submersible for the 105km journey to the port, where investigators are to search it.
BRAZIL
Shooting footage probed
Military police said they are investigating a video that appears to show two officers shoot injured suspects who are on the ground. The video, shared widely on social media, led to protests on Thursday night in northern Rio de Janeiro, where the incident apparently happened. It was unclear who made the video. In a statement, military police said an investigation had been launched. In the video, two officers are seen carrying automatic rifles. They both shoot suspects on the ground. One of the men appears to be moving when he is shot.
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
Former Chinese ministers of national defense Wei Fenghe(魏鳳和) and Li Shangfu (李尚福) were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday, underscoring the severity of the purge in the military. The armed forces have been one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) after coming to power in 2012. The purges reached the elite Rocket Force, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles, in 2023. Earlier this year they escalated further, resulting in the removal of the top general in
New Zealand is open to expanding its frigate fleet beyond its current two vessels, with New Zealand Minister of Defence Chris Penk saying “no options are off the table” as the government weighs buying new warships from Japan or the UK. The government yesterday said it is looking to replace its two aging Anzac-class frigates, which were both commissioned almost 30 years ago. The UK’s Type 31 and Japan’s Mogami-class warships are the options under consideration. Speaking in an interview, Penk said there is potential to increase the number of frigates the nation purchases. “We need a certain amount of capability as a
The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday said it deployed aircraft to issue radio warnings to a Chinese research ship in a disputed area of the South China Sea “swarming” with vessels from Beijing’s so-called maritime militia. The research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 33 (向陽紅33), which is capable of supporting submersible craft, was operating near a reef in the contested Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims, the Philippine Coast Guard said. The Chinese ship was deploying a service boat toward the Spratly’s Iroquois Reef on Wednesday when it was spotted by a coast guard plane, “confirming ongoing unauthorized [marine scientific research]
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