JAPAN
Biden tells PM napping OK
Wishing a newly elected fellow world leader good luck is one thing, but US President Joe Biden also wants Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to have a good night. Meeting yesterday at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in Tokyo, Biden expressed admiration that Albanese made the long flight right after winning his election. “I welcome you to your first Quad meeting,” Biden said. “Like I said, you got on a plane — you were sworn in and got on a plane,” Biden said. So “if you fall asleep while you’re here, it’s OK, because I don’t know how you’re doing it. It’s really quite extraordinary — just getting off the campaign trail as well.”
PHILLIPPINES
Duterte slams Putin
Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte sharply criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for the killings of innocent civilians in Ukraine, saying that while the two of them have been tagged as killers, “I kill criminals, I don’t kill children and the elderly.” Duterte, who openly calls Putin an idol and a friend, voiced criticism for the first time over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in remarks aired yesterday in which he blamed the war for the spike in global oil prices.
IRAQ
Sandstorm halts movement
The country on Monday closed public buildings and temporarily shut airports as another sandstorm — the ninth since the middle of April — hit the country. More than 1,000 people were hospitalized across the nation with respiratory problems, Ministry of Health spokesman Seif al-Badr said. Flights were also grounded in neighboring Kuwait for a second time this month, as the region grapples with the increasingly frequent weather phenomenon. Later the same day, the second heavy sandstorm in less than a week descended on Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, obscuring iconic buildings such as the Kingdom Center in a gray haze. Baghdad was enveloped in a giant dust cloud that left streets largely deserted and bathed in an eery orange light, correspondents said. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi ordered all work to cease in state-run institutions, except for health and security services.
RUSSIA
Navalny loses appeal
Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny yesterday lambasted President Vladimir Putin in a live court hearing, casting him as a madman. “This is a stupid war which your Putin started,” Navalny, 45, told an appeal court in Moscow via video link from a corrective penal colony. “This war was built on lies.” Navalny was appealing against a nine-year jail sentence he was handed in March for fraud and contempt of court, on top of two-and-a-half years he is already serving. He denies all the charges against him. The court rejected his appeal.
UNITED KINGDOM
‘No monkeypox jabs needed’
The WHO does not believe the monkeypox outbreak outside of Africa requires mass vaccinations as measures such as good hygiene and safe sexual behavior would help control its spread, a senior official said on Monday. Richard Pebody, who leads the high-threat pathogen team at WHO Europe, said that immediate supplies of vaccines and antivirals are relatively limited. His comments came as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was in the process of releasing some Jynneos vaccine doses for use in monkeypox cases. Germany’s government said that it was assessing options for vaccinations, while the UK has offered them to some healthcare workers.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese