AFGHANISTAN
Taliban meets with US envoy
The Taliban have held three days of talks with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar, where the group has a political office. A Taliban official and a person close to the group confirmed the talks, which are aimed at renewing the peace process. They spoke on condition of anonymity. Yesterday, they said that Khairullah Khairkhwa, the former Taliban governor of Herat, and Mohammed Fazl, a former Taliban deputy defense minister, attended the talks. Both were former inmates at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay.
INDIA
Cyclone death toll hits 33
The death toll from Cyclone Gaja, which battered the east coast, has reached 33, a disaster official said yesterday. Gaja, which packed winds of up to 120kph, barreled into Tamil Nadu State after hitting the coast on Friday. “So far 20 men, 11 women and two children have died due to the cyclone,” a state disaster official said on condition of anonymity. “As of now 177,500 people are housed in over 351 camps. Thousands of trees have been uprooted and livestock has also been badly affected,” the official said. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami said most deaths were caused by flooding, house collapses and electrocution.
SOUTH AFRICA
President confirms payment
President Cyril Ramaphosa said his campaign to become leader of the African National Congress (ANC) last year received a payment from a firm with links to his son and that he previously and inadvertently gave incorrect information about it to parliament. The donation is being returned. Ramaphosa’s son, Andile, had a contract with African Global Operations, previously known as Bosasa, for the provision of consultancy services in a number of countries, the presidency said in a statement on Friday. The opposition Democratic Alliance had questioned a 500,000 rand (US$35,702) payment from Bosasa, which was made on behalf of Bosasa chief executive officer Gavin Watson into a trust account that was used to raise funds for the ANC leadership campaign.
AUSTRALIA
Stingray, sharks attack
A swimmer died after a rare suspected stingray attack, while two people were mauled in separate shark encounters over the weekend. A 42-year-old man was in waters off Tasmania’s Lauderdale Beach on Saturday when he “sustained a puncture wound to his lower abdomen ... possibly inflicted by a marine animal,” police said. He was brought onto the beach by friends, but had a heart attack and was unable to be resuscitated, police said. Meanwhile, a teenage boy was bitten on his arm and leg yesterday in the Northern Territory and a 24-year-old man was hurt after an encounter with a shark on the east coast.
PHILIPPINES
uterte skips APEC dinner
President Rodrigo Duterte passed on the APEC gala dinner in Papua New Guinea on Saturday. Duterte sent his secretary of trade and industry instead to pose with heads of state. His office had initially said that he would cut short his trip to Port Moresby even before the main meetings began, but yesterday he did show up at the convention center. “This after I loudly and naggingly insisted he stay just one day. ONE DAY, I stressed,” Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin tweeted yesterday. Asked about Saturday’s dinner, a official said that Duterte “feels constrained by formalities and finds them unproductive and a slight waste of time.”
UNITED KINGDOM
May sees ‘no alternative’
Prime Minister Theresa May says she sees no alternative to the Brexit deal she presented last week, amid reports that some of her senior ministers want her to renegotiate the draft before her next meeting with EU leaders. “There is no alternative plan on the table. There is no different approach that we could agree with the EU,” May wrote in an article for the Sun on Sunday. “If MPs reject the deal, they will simply take us back to square one. It would mean more division, more uncertainty and a failure to deliver on the vote of the British people.” Andrea Leadsom, the minister in charge of government business in parliament, on Saturday told the BBC that she was supporting May, but was not fully happy with the deal. “I think there’s still the potential to improve on the clarification and on some of the measures within it,” she said.
FRANCE
Injuries during protests
More than 220 people were injured on Saturday as tens of thousands of people blocked roads in a “yellow vest” protest against high fuel prices, which has channeled anger at stagnant spending under President Emmanuel Macron. Nearly 283,000 people were estimated to have taken part in more than 2,000 protests at roundabouts and on major highways and thoroughfares across the country, the Ministry of the Interior said. About 227 people were injured — seven seriously, including a police officer — and 117 detained, with 73 then taken into custody.
GREECE
Clashes after march
A march to the US embassy in Athens on Saturday for the anniversary of a fatally suppressed 1973 student uprising was mostly peaceful, while police officers and anarchists clashed in the capital and the next two next-largest cities long after dark. Police said a group of about 300 agitators in Athens erected barricades and threw firebombs and rocks at officers, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. In Thessaloniki, officers faced off with about 200 anarchists who threw an intense barrage of firebombs. At least 10 people were detained. Another five people were detained in Patras after an unknown number of assailants attacked officers, police said.
UNITED STATES
Last California seat decided
Democrat Gil Cisneros on Saturday captured a Republican-held House of Representatives seat in southern California, capping a Democratic rout in which the party picked up six congressional seats in the state. In what had been the last undecided House contest in California, Cisneros beat Republican Young Kim for the state’s 39th District seat. With other gains — Republicans also lost a seat in the Central Valley — Democrats will hold a 45-8 edge in California’s House seats next year.
MALTA
‘Masterminds’ identified
Investigators have identified a group of at least three locals who they believe masterminded the killing of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia 13 months ago, the Sunday Times of Malta reported. It did not reveal their names, but quoted high-ranking officers leading the probe as saying that their investigation was at a “very advanced stage.” The motive for the carbombing of Caruana Galizia on Oct. 16 last year remains unknown, with the paper saying the investigators believe the masterminds had different motives and came together to contract the three men who have been arrested and accused in the case.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
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