PHILIPPINES
Duterte’s aide quits race
Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, the preferred successor of President Rodrigo Duterte, yesterday said he was withdrawing his candidacy for presidency. Go, Duterte’s long-time aide, had recently hinted he might drop out of the race and his withdrawal leaves the administration without a presidential candidate. “I and President Duterte are ready to support whoever will truly serve, and can continue and protect Duterte’s legacy towards a more comfortable and safe and prosperous life for our children,” Go said in a short speech streamed on Facebook. He said he was making the “supreme sacrifice for the good of the country and for the sake of unity among our supporters and leaders.” Duterte’s daughter, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is running for vice president alongside the son of late dictator and namesake, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who has emerged as an early frontrunner.
JAPAN
France issues arrest warrant
French authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Japanese woman whose two children have been kept from their father in a case that has revived debate about “parental kidnapping” in the nation. The children’s French father, Vincent Fichot — a resident in Japan — has drawn international attention over his attempts to re-establish contact with his son and daughter, who he says were kidnapped by their mother in 2018. French authorities issued the international warrant over allegations of parental abduction and endangering a minor, a source close to the issue and Fichot said. The French embassy declined to comment on the case. Japanese law does not include a provision for shared custody when parents separate, and authorities have long been accused of turning a blind eye when one parent denies the other access to their children. A lawyer for Fichot’s wife declined to comment on the warrant. “Divorce proceedings are ongoing. We have no desire to fight outside of court,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Frontline workers honored
Holiday decorations unveiled on Monday for Joe and Jill Biden’s first White House Christmas honor frontline workers who persevered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses, doctors, teachers, grocery store workers and others are recognized in this year’s gigantic Gingerbread White House, which was turned into a 159kg gingerbread village, with the addition of a school and police, fire and gas stations, as well as a hospital, a post office, a grocery store and a warehouse to honor workers who stayed on the job. Fewer people are likely to see the decked-out mansion in person this year, with public tours still suspended because of the continuing threat from COVID-19. However, videos, photographs and other details about the decorations are available for viewing at WhiteHouse.gov/Holidays.
JAPAN
Man, 69, rescued at sea
A 69-year-old man has been rescued in rough seas off the nation after spending 22 hours drifting in open water, with one official calling his survival a “miracle.” The man, whose name has not been released, was alone on a boat off southwestern Kagoshima Prefecture and en route to the Yakushima resort island on Saturday afternoon when his boat capsized. He managed to call a colleague on the island to alert him, but was not found until nearly a full day later, when rescuers spotted him sitting on the engine of his capsized boat, clasping a propeller part, the coastguard said. “He was out in the sea alone for 22 hours. I am amazed by his survival skills,” a coastguard official said, declining to be identified.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to