CHINA
Putin, Xi to meet
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) are expected to meet next week in Uzbekistan for talks that could signal warming relations between two powers that are increasingly facing off against the West. The meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — a political, economic and security forum that China and Russia dominate — comes at delicate times for both leaders, and it would be their second face-to-face meeting this year. Russia’s ambassador to China told reporters on Wednesday that the two would meet in Samarkand on Thursday and Friday next week.
UNITED STATES
Harris to attend Abe funeral
Vice President Kamala Harris would travel to Tokyo later this month to attend the funeral of slain former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, followed by a trip to South Korea, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. “Her visit will honor the legacy of prime minister Abe and underscore the importance of his leadership in championing the alliance between the United States and Japan, and advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Kirsten Allen said. Abe, the longest-serving leader in modern Japan, was fatally shot from close range during a campaign rally on July 8.
UNITED STATES
Man survives grizzly attack
A Michigan man suffered serious puncture wounds to his arms during a bear mauling in Alaska, officials said on Wednesday. Nicholas Kuperus, 33, was able to contact Alaska State Troopers via a satellite communications device after the late Tuesday afternoon attack. Kuperus and his fellow hunters surprised the female grizzly with three cubs while hunting in the upper East Fork Indian River area, troopers said. The sow mauled Kuperus, but troopers said he was able to stop and deter the animal with pepper spray.
ISRAEL
Ancient papyrus returned
The country has acquired a previously unknown ancient papyrus bearing a Hebrew inscription dated to about 2,700 years ago that had long been in possession of a Montana resident, the country’s antiquities authority said on Wednesday. The scrap of papyrus — scarcely larger than a postage stamp with four lines of angular script — is one of just a few from the region in the Late Iron Age, archeologists said. Joe Uziel, director of the Judean desert scrolls unit, said the matching radiocarbon date and paleographic style makes him “very certain” that it is not a modern forgery.
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
RSS