SOUTH KOREA
North rail survey to start
North and South Korea are to begin a joint survey on reconnecting railways across their border this week, the Ministry of Unification said yesterday. Linking up the railway systems was one of the agreements made earlier this year between the two countries. A South Korean train is to depart from Seoul early tomorrow and cross the border on a 18-day joint mission to examine the North’s rail system. It would be the first time since 2007 a train from the South is to enter North Korea. The train is to have 28 South Korean passengers on board — mostly officials and experts — as well as 55,000 liters of fuel and other unspecified materials. “The actual construction will be pursued according to progress in North Korea’s denuclearization,” the ministry said.
FRANCE
Le Pen ordered to repay
An EU court yesterday rejected a bid by far-right leader Marine Le Pen to halt the repayment of parliamentary expenses she used to pay a bodyguard. Le Pen is under investigation for allegedly using European Parliament expenses to pay party political staff. In one such case, she is alleged to have wrongly used EU parliamentary funds to pay a bodyguard, Thierry Legier, more than 41,000 euros (US$46,256).
INDIA
Election to test sentiment
Millions voted yesterday in a state election seen as a key duel between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his main rival before the entire country goes to the polls next year. Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has governed the central state of Madhya Pradesh since 2003, having won three state elections in a row. However, polls suggest that the opposition Congress headed by Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty, could win on the back of concerns about rising unemployment and by appealing to disgruntled farmers. The party has campaigned aggressively against three-time Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on issues of corruption and misgovernance. Chouhan has nevertheless sounded confident. The vote is one of five state elections this month and next that are a litmus test of Modi’s popularity ahead of general elections that have to take place before May, but for which no date has yet been announced. Results from all the state elections are due on Dec. 11. A defeat in the state would be a major setback for the party and dent Modi’s winning image.
UNITED STATES
Jeremic backs Patrick Ho
Former UN General Assembly president Vuk Jeremic on Tuesday said that he never witnessed “anything improper” on the part of prominent Hong Kong businessman Patrick Ho Chi-ping (何志平), on trial in New York City on charges of bribing government leaders in two African nations to land lucrative business deals for a Chinese oil and gas conglomerate. Jeremic reported to Ho when he worked as a consultant for CEFC China Energy. Jeremic told a federal jury that he connected Ho to high-ranking officials in several countries and opened diplomatic doors for CEFC as it expanded its business around the globe. However, in an interview following his hours-long testimony, Jeremic said he never had concerns about Ho’s dealings. Jeremic, who leads the opposition party in Serbia, said he has been “vilified” in his home country over his involvement in Ho’s proceedings. “It’s been portrayed as if I were on trial,” he said. “It was very important for me to clear Serbia’s name.”
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary
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