IRAN
Seized tanker departs port
The British-flagged Stena Impero tanker, detained by authorities in July, has started moving and yesterday exited the port city of Bandar Abbas, Refinitiv ship tracking data showed. The Stena Impero was detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the Strait of Hormuz for alleged marine offenses two weeks after Britain seized an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. That vessel was released last month. The Stena Impero has set a new destination for Port Rashid in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, about 250km away, the tracking data showed. At normal tanker speed, it would reach that destination within a half-day. A spokesman for the ship’s owner, Sweden-based Stena Bulk, yesterday said that the vessel was preparing to leave. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had on Wednesday said that a lifting of the detention order had been finalized, but that an investigation into the vessel was ongoing. Stena Bulk said that it was not in negotiations with Iran and was not aware of any formal charges against the crew or the company.
RUSSIA
N Korean fishers detained
Border guards have detained three North Korean fishing vessels and 262 crewmembers for poaching in waters that Moscow considers its exclusive economic zone, the Interfax news agency reported yesterday. The crew and vessels, as well as several motorboats, have been taken to the port of Nakhodka and border guards have seized 30,000 squid, as well as illegal fishing equipment, the report said. It is the second such incident this month. Authorities on Tuesday last week detained two North Korean boats in Russian territorial waters in the Sea of Japan (known as the “East Sea” in South Korea) after one of them attacked a Russian patrol. In that incident, authorities said that they detained one of the vessels for poaching, prompting a second boat to open fire. Several border guards and alleged poachers were wounded and one of the North Koreans later died from his wounds. Moscow summoned a North Korean diplomat over the incident.
UNITED STATES
The Who cut concert short
The Who on Wednesday night cut short a concert in Houston, Texas, after lead singer Roger Daltrey lost his voice midway through the event. The legendary British rockers were eight songs into the concert when Daltrey told the audience: “I think I should quit while I’m ahead.” Lead guitarist Pete Townsend apologized, saying Daltrey “cannot actually speak now.” He promised the crowd that the band would honor their tickets at a make-good concert still to be scheduled. The band has also postponed concerts scheduled for yesterday in Dallas and tomorrow in Denver, Colorado. Daltrey, 75, and Townsend, 74, are the last original members with the band, which was formed 55 years ago.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
China yesterday held a low-key memorial ceremony for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not attending, despite a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. Beijing has raged at Tokyo since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month said that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan. China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. A post-World War II Allied tribunal put the death toll
‘UNWAVERING ALLIANCE’: The US Department of State said that China’s actions during military drills with Russia were not conducive to regional peace and stability The US on Tuesday criticized China over alleged radar deployments against Japanese military aircraft during a training exercise last week, while Tokyo and Seoul yesterday scrambled jets after Chinese and Russian military aircraft conducted joint patrols near the two countries. The incidents came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi triggered a dispute with Beijing last month with her remarks on how Tokyo might react to a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan. “China’s actions are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” a US Department of State spokesperson said late on Tuesday, referring to the radar incident. “The US-Japan alliance is stronger and more
FALLEN: The nine soldiers who were killed while carrying out combat and engineering tasks in Russia were given the title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a welcoming ceremony for an army engineering unit that had returned home after carrying out duties in Russia, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Saturday. In a speech carried by KCNA, Kim praised officers and soldiers of the 528th Regiment of Engineers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) for “heroic” conduct and “mass heroism” in fulfilling orders issued by the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea during a 120-day overseas deployment. Video footage released by North Korea showed uniformed soldiers disembarking from an aircraft, Kim hugging a soldier seated in a wheelchair, and soldiers and officials
RSS