FIJI
Coalition mulled to oust PM
The Social Democratic Liberal Party yesterday met to vote on whether to form a coalition with two other parties to dislodge Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, after the government deployed the military to help police maintain law and order. The country, which has a history of military coups, was dominated by sometimes tense race relations between its indigenous majority and a big ethnic Indian group, before a constitutional reform in 2013 to remove a race-based voting system that favored indigenous citizens. Bainimarama on Thursday said the military had been deployed because of attacks on the Indian ethnic minority in the wake of a national election last week that showed no party received a clear majority. Opposition parties accused Bainimarama and his allies of stoking fears of ethnic trouble as a pretext to cling to power.
THAILAND
PM touts re-election bid
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is to seek another term in a general election due to be held in before May next year, he yesterday told local media. Prayut came to power as army chief in a 2014 coup before cementing his position in a controversial 2019 election, but his popularity has been in the doldrums. The newly created United Thai Nation Party “has offered to support me in becoming the next PM candidate in the next election,” he told reporters outside Government House in Bangkok. “I will make it clear today ... that I have decided that I will join the role,” he said. Prayut had been widely expected to leave his Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), which leads the ruling coalition. The PPRP has announced that its leader, Deputy prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, would be the party’s candidate in the election.
PAKISTAN
Car bomb kills three people
A powerful car bomb yesterday detonated near a residential area in the capital, Islamabad, killing two suspected militants and an officer, police said, raising fears that militants have a presence in one of the country’s safest cities. At least three police officers and seven passersby were wounded in the bombing. Police said in a statement that the bombing happened when police officers ordered a vehicle to halt for routine checking, but instead of stopping, its driver detonated explosives hidden inside. A female passenger in the vehicle was also killed, police said. TV footage showed a burning vehicle as police officers cordoned off the area. No one claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks on security forces since last month, when it unilaterally ended a ceasefire with the government.
UNITED STATES
Winter storm upends travel
A “once-in-a-generation” winter storm with temperatures as low as minus-40°C caused Christmas travel chaos on Thursday, with thousands of flights canceled and major highways closed. Heavy snow and howling winds upended holiday plans at one of the busiest times of the year, as a huge cold front swept down from the arctic and took freezing hold of the Midwest. Tens of millions of people were under winter storm advisories or warnings, with meteorologists saying it was so cold in places that anyone venturing outside risked frostbite within minutes. “This is not like a snow day when you were a kid. This is serious stuff,” President Joe Biden said. Blinding whiteouts and hazardous road conditions were spreading, even as the American Automobile Association estimated that 100 million people were to take to the roads.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
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