UAE
US deploys F-22 jets
US F-22 fighter jets on Saturday arrived at an air base following a spate of unprecedented attacks in Abu Dhabi by Houthi fighters in Yemen, the US Air force said. In the past few weeks, the Iran-aligned Houthis have waged a string of largely failed strikes on United Arab Emirates (UAE) targets that have triggered Emirati and US air defenses and have even seen US troops based there briefly taking shelter. The jets arrived at the base as part of a multifaceted demonstration of US support after a series of attacks throughout last month threatened US and Emirati armed forces stationed at the host installation, the statement said. “The Raptors’ presence will bolster already strong partner nation defenses, and puts destabilizing forces on notice that the US and our partners are committed to enabling peace and stability in the region,” Lieutenant General Greg Guillot, commander of the US Air Force’s Middle East command, said in a statement. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the rapid deployment of the fifth-generation aircraft in coordination with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the US Air Forces Central said in a statement. The airmen and F-22s are deployed from the First Fighter Wing from Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, the US Air Force said.
YEMEN
UN employees abducted
Five UN staff have been abducted in the south of the nation while returning to Aden after a field mission, the UN said on Saturday. The staff were taken on Friday in Abyan Governorate, said Russell Geekie, a spokesman for the top UN official in the country. “The United Nations is in close contact with the authorities to secure their release,” Geekie said. The country’s internationally recognized government, based in the south, was working to safely free the UN staff abducted by unknown gunmen, the official news agency cited a cabinet statement as saying. An official at the UN office in Aden said that four of those seized were Yemeni nationals.
NICARAGUA
Torres dies in detention
Former guerrilla Hugo Torres, one of 46 opposition figures jailed since last year by the government of President Daniel Ortega, died on Saturday, his family said in a statement. He was 73. The statement offered few details on Torres’ death, but expressed his children’s “deep pain over the death of our beloved father.” It was released by the opposition coalition Blue and White National Unity, of which Torres was a member. A former Sandinista dissident, Torres had been held since June 13 last year in El Chipote prison, before being transferred in December to a hospital for treatment, sources said. Torres had been vice president of the opposition Democratic Renovation Union (UNAMOS), formerly the Sandinista Renovation Movement, established in 1995 by militants unhappy with Ortega’s leadership. A retired army general, Torres in 1974 undertook a risky operation to free a group of jailed politicians — including Ortega — being held under then-president Anastasio Somoza. However, Ortega has accused dozens of opposition figures of conspiring against his government with US backing. Torres was hailed on Saturday as a “hero” by former guerrilla and exiled Sandinista dissident Monica Baltodano. She told news Web site 100% Noticias that Torres was “a true hero of the struggles against the dictatorships that have dominated Nicaragua — the dictatorship of Somoza and now the dictatorship of Ortega, which is a brutal and criminal dictatorship.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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