UNITED STATES
Missile test successful
The air force on Monday announced that it successfully tested a hypersonic missile, a cutting-edge strategic weapon that is also being developed by China and Russia. The AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon was launched from a B-52H bomber on Friday off California’s coast and “reached hypersonic speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, completed its flight path and detonated in the terminal area,” the air force said, adding: “This test was the first launch of a full prototype operational missile.” The nation has multiple hypersonic weapons programs, and the Pentagon’s high-tech research body DARPA tested a different missile earlier this year.
BRAZIL
Protesters, police clash
Security personnel and supporters of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday clashed near the capital’s police headquarters, following the arrest of an indigenous chief involved in recent protests. The unrest in Brasilia began after the Federal Supreme Court ordered Jose Acacio Serere Xavante to be detained for 10 days over charges he was threatening the “democratic rule of law.” Authorities said the clashes broke out after some of the demonstrators attempted to break into the police compound and free Serere Xavante. Several cars and buses were attacked and set on fire. Minister of Justice wrote on Twitter that “everything will be investigated and clarified,” adding that the situation was “normalizing.”
LATIN AMERICA
Governments back Castillo
The leftist governments of Mexico, Argentina and Colombia called for the protection of former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo, who was ousted by Congress last week for attempting a coup, in a strongly worded communique that stopped short of asking for his reinstatement. The three, as well as Bolivia, issued a joint statement calling on Peru to respect the rights of Castillo. They expressed their “profound concern for the recent events that resulted in the removal and the detention of President Pedro Castillo.” Since he was elected last year, Castillo was the victim of an “anti-democratic persecution,” the governments said, adding that the will of the Peruvian people must be respected. At least seven demonstrators have been killed as enraged supporters of Castillo clashed with security forces, La Republica newspaper said, while police said 15 officers were injured by an explosive.
AUSTRALIA
Six killed in gunfight
Six people, including two police officers, were killed in a gunfight at a remote property in Queensland, authorities said yesterday, after police visited a home there to investigate a missing person report. When four officers arrived at about 4:30pm on Monday at the property in Wieambilla, two armed people opened fire and killed two of them, police said, without identifying the suspects. There was then a “siege” at the house, police said, without elaborating. They said 16 specialist officers responded and, in a gunbattle at about 10:30pm, killed a 46-year-old man from Kewarra Beach, and a 47-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman from Wieambilla. The slain police officers were Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, and Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, police said. The gunfire also killed a 58-year-old neighbor.Two other officers were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, they said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the incident as a “terrible and a heartbreaking day.”
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Canada next week, his first since relations plummeted after the assassination of a Canadian Sikh separatist in Vancouver, triggering diplomatic expulsions and hitting trade. Analysts hope it is a step toward repairing ties that soured in 2023, after then-Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau pointed the finger at New Delhi’s involvement in murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar, claims India furiously denied. An invitation extended by new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Modi to attend the G7 leaders summit in Canada offers a chance to “reset” relations, former Indian diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla said. “This is a
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