PHILIPPINES
US alliance ‘strong’: Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in a bid to bolster the countries’ “strong” alliance. Blinken is the most senior US official to visit the country — a treaty-bound US ally — since Marcos took office on June 30. “The alliance is strong and I believe can grow even stronger,” Blinken told Marcos, who hailed the “special relationship” between the two countries. Washington has a security pact with Manila and has backed its former colony in increasingly heated disputes in the South China Sea with Beijing.
NORTH KOREA
Pelosi called peace threat
The government yesterday slammed US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi over a visit earlier this week to the fortified Demilitarized Zone, calling her the “worst destroyer of international peace.” Pelosi became the highest-ranking US official to visit the area between the two Koreas since then-US president Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un there in 2019. Prior to the visit, Pelosi discussed the “grave situation” and growing threat posed by the North’s nuclear weapons program with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo. They called for “strong and extended deterrence against North Korea,” and vowed to support joint efforts to achieve Pyongyang’s denuclearization.
PAKISTAN
Lahore zoo to auction lions
A zoo is auctioning off a dozen lions to private collectors next week to free up space for a pride that will not stop growing. The Lahore Safari Zoo has so many lions that they have to take turns to access the paddocks, zoo deputy director Tanvir Ahmed Janjua said. The zoo is planning to next week auction 12 of its 29 lions, he said, adding that “expenses for meat to feed them will also decrease.” Conservationists are opposed to the sale, with the WWF saying the creatures should be moved to other established zoos, or breeding females sterilized or given contraceptives.
LIBYA
Clashes erupt in capital
Clashes between armed groups erupted overnight in Tripoli, local media reported. An Agence France-Presse journalist heard gunfire and explosions at about 1am yesterday. The fighting, with light and heavy weapons, occurred in the El Jebs district, media reports said. Tensions have been rising for months, as two prime ministers vie for power, raising fears of renewed conflict two years after a landmark truce ended a ruinous attempt by National Army Commander Khalifa Haftar to seize Tripoli. The clashes were between groups loyal to Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, head of the unity government based in Tripoli, and others following his rival Fathi Bashagha, named in February as prime minister by a parliament based in the east after he made a pact with Haftar.
NICARAGUA
Bishop prosecuted
Police on Friday said they had begun an investigation against a Catholic bishop who has been an outspoken critic of President Daniel Ortega. They accused Bishop Rolando Alvarez of “organizing violent groups” and inciting them “to carry out acts of hate against the population.” Police blocked his attempt to go to the cathedral in Matagalpa on Friday so he instead celebrated Mass from home. The announcement came hours after first lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo criticized “sins against spirituality” and “the exhibition of hate” in an apparent reference to Alvarez.
RE-EDUCATION: The ambassador to Australia told reporters that he understood there ‘might be a process for the people in Taiwan to have a correct understanding of China’ China’s ambassador to Australia yesterday said that Beijing is prepared to use “all necessary means” to prevent Taiwan from being independent, saying there can be “no compromise” on its “one China” principle. Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian (肖千) repeatedly told the National Press Club in Canberra that the US was to blame for the recent escalation in tensions, adding that China’s decision to launch ballistic missiles in live-fire exercises in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was “legitimate and justified.” Xiao said that after a “good start” with the new government of Australian Prime Minister
PROPAGANDA LEAFLETS: Seoul voiced ‘strong regret’ as Kim’s sister threatened to eradicate South Korean authorities for sending the virus across the border North Korean leader Kim Jong-un suffered from a “high fever” during a recent COVID-19 outbreak, his sister Kim Yo-jong said yesterday, as she vowed to “eradicate” South Korean authorities if they continued to tolerate propaganda leaflets the regime blames for spreading the virus. Kim Yo-jong blamed “South Korean puppets” for sending “dirty objects” across the border in leaflets carried by balloons, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The revelation of her brother’s illness marked an unusual admission for a regime that rarely comments on the leader’s health — and then only to show that he shares the struggles of
Screams from soldiers being tortured, overflowing cells, inhuman conditions, a regime of intimidation and murder. Inedible gruel, no communication with the outside world and days marked off with a home-made calendar written on a box of tea. This is what conditions are like inside Olenivka, a notorious detention center where dozens of Ukrainian soldiers burned to death late last month, said a former prisoner of the camp outside Donetsk in the Russian-occupied east of Ukraine. Anna Vorosheva — a 45-year-old Ukrainian entrepreneur — gave a harrowing account to the Observer of her time inside the jail. She spent 100 days in Olenivka
A landmark sexual harassment case in China yesterday returned to court after an earlier ruling dealt a blow to the country’s fledgling #MeToo movement. Zhou Xiaoxuan (周曉璇) stepped forward in 2018 to accuse state TV host Zhu Jun (朱軍) of forcibly kissing and groping her during her 2014 internship at the broadcaster. While the case of Zhou, now 29, inspired many others to share their experiences of sexual assault publicly and sparked a social media storm, a court ruled last year there was insufficient evidence to back her allegation. Zhou appealed, and returned to court for another hearing yesterday in Beijing. “I still feel
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