UNITED STATES
Zients to be chief of staff
President Joe Biden was yesterday expected to name Jeff Zients as his next White House chief of staff. Zients, 56, a former business executive who was one of the chief architects of Biden’s initial COVID-19 team, was to replace Ron Klain, who is leaving the post in coming the weeks, people familiar with the matter said. The White House chief of staff is among the most powerful figures in Washington, and plays a crucial role in shaping the president’s agenda, liaising with Congress and acting as a gatekeeper. Zients left government in April last year, but returned to the White House in the fall, as Biden faces two years of a divided Congress and prepares for an expected re-election bid. White House spokespeople declined to comment on Sunday.
RUSSIA
No START talks date
Moscow yesterday said that no new date had been set for talks with the US on the New START nuclear pact, accusing Washington of ramping up tensions between the two sides. Talks on resuming inspections under the New START were due to take place in November in Egypt, but Moscow postponed them and neither side has set a new date for a meeting. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov said the conditions were not right for new talks on the treaty, which caps the number of each side’s strategic nuclear warheads. “The situation does not, frankly speaking, allow for setting a new date ... taking into account this escalation trend in both rhetoric and actions by the United States,” Ryabkov was quoted by Interfax as saying. Moscow in November said that it had “no other choice,” but to cancel talks with the US over inspections under the New START treaty, which is set to expire in February 2026.
TURKEY
Elections set for May 14
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced May 14 as the date for the country’s next parliamentary and presidential elections. Erdogan, who plans to seek re-election, made the announcement during a Saturday youth conference in Bursa Province. A video of the event was released on Sunday. “I thank God that we are destined to share our path with you, our valued youth, who will vote for the first time in the elections that will be held on May 14,” said Erdogan, who had hinted at the date last week. He said he would make the formal call on March 10, after which the Supreme Election Council would prepare for the elections. If no candidate secures more than 50 percent of the vote, a second round of voting would be held on May 28. A six-party opposition alliance has yet to put forth a presidential candidate. A pro-Kurdish party that is the third-largest in parliament has so far been excluded from the alliance and said it might field its own candidate.
EGYPT
Lawyers end strike
Members of the Egyptian Bar Association on Sunday called off a days-long strike held in protest against the jailing of six colleagues, a statement said. The association had announced on Thursday an open-ended strike to condemn their colleagues’ sentencing to two years in jail over a court brawl earlier this month. It said in a statement that it had decided “to cancel the suspension of work.” The move came after an appeals court on Sunday ordered the six be released and scheduled a verdict for Feb. 5. The lawyers had been sentenced on Wednesday for their part in the fight with three clerks during a court session on Jan. 5 in Marsa Matrouh, the state-run daily al-Ahram said.
Over a few hours under gray skies, dozens of combat planes and helicopters roar on and off the flight deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, in a demonstration of US military power in some of the world’s most hotly contested waters. MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and F/A-18 Hornet jets bearing pilot call signs such as “Fozzie Bear,” “Pig Sweat” and “Bongoo” emit deafening screams as they land in the drizzle on the Nimitz, which is leading a carrier strike group that entered the South China Sea two weeks ago. US Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, who is commanding the group, said the tour
Sitting in a lotus position, four men weave glittering beads through gold thread on an organza sheet, carefully constructing a wedding dress that would soon wow crowds at Paris Fashion Week. For once, the French couturier behind the design, Julien Fournie, is determined to put these craftsmen in the spotlight. His new collection, which showed in Paris on Tuesday, was entirely made with fabrics from Mumbai. He said that a sort of “design imperialism” means that French fashion houses often play down that their fabrics are made outside France. “The houses which don’t admit it are perhaps afraid of losing their clientele,” Fournie
A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot contravened the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested in August last year. The law covers the king, queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for
INSTABILITY: The country has seen a 33 percent increase in land that cultivates poppies since the military took over the government in 2021, a UN report said The production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military’s seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by one-third in the past year, as eradication efforts have dropped and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade, a UN report released yesterday showed. Last year, the first full growing season since the military wrested control of the country from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, saw a 33 percent increase in Myanmar’s cultivation area to 40,100 hectares, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime report said. “Economic, security and governance disruptions
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