LEBANON
President appeals for unity
President Michel Aoun on Monday appealed for national unity after Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri quit in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia. The parliamentary speaker said it was still too early to say whether the coalition government had actually resigned or to talk about the formation of a new government. Aoun has said he will not decide whether to accept or reject al-Hariri’s resignation until he returns from Saudi Arabia.
ZIMBABWE
Mugabe gets rid of VP
President Robert Mugabe on Monday fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the government said, as the veteran leader appeared to clear the way for his wife Grace to succeed him. The move came after a tense weekend in which Mnangagwa and Grace Mugabe — who were seen as the leading candidates to replace the 93-year-old president — openly traded barbs. “The vice president has consistently and persistently exhibited the traits of disloyalty, disrespect, deceitfulness and unreliability,” Minister of Information Simon Khaya Moyo told a news briefing. Mugabe has given no indication that he will step down soon. His ZANU-PF party has already named him as its candidate for next year’s presidential election.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Water, food appeal rejected
A court yesterday rejected a refugee’s appeal to restore water, electricity and food supplies to a shuttered Australian detention camp where hundreds of men have barricaded themselves in. The remote camp on Manus Island was closed a week ago after the Supreme Court ruled last year that it was unconstitutional, but about 600 men have refused to leave. One refugee, Iranian Behrouz Boochani, sought an injunction to restore water, power and food supplies, but his application was rejected. Supreme Court Chief Justice Salamo Injia said in his judgement that there was “no real good reason why they should not voluntarily move” to three transition facilities.
THAILAND
Biometrics required for SIMs
Face scans or fingerprints are to be needed to buy SIM cards in Thailand from next month as the kingdom tries to crack down on electronic fraud and encourage mobile banking. The new biometric system is to begin on Dec. 15, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said. “We’re entering the digital age, our money now is linked to mobile services. By doing this, trust in mobile banking or payment systems will be improved,” commission Secretary-General Takorn Tantasith said. Tourists are also to be required to have face scans checked against their passport photographs.
INDIA
Marital dispute stops flight
An enraged woman forced an airliner to make an emergency landing after she discovered mid-flight that her husband was apparently cheating on her. The woman was traveling from Doha to Bali with her husband and child on a Qatar Airways flight on Sunday, the Hindustan Times reported yesterday. As her husband slept, she used his hand to unlock his fingerprint-protected phone, revealing the alleged affair. Angered, the woman reportedly started to hit her husband. The cabin crew intervened, but were unable to calm the situation. With the episode spiraling out of control, the pilots decided to make an unscheduled stop in Chennai. The woman, her husband and their child were taken off the plane, which then resumed its journey to Indonesia, an unnamed security official said.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS