MYANMAR
China urged to cease support
An alliance of China-backed ethnic rebels on Thursday called for Beijing’s help to diffuse a post-coup crisis that is ravaging the country. China is a major ally and arms supplier of the internationally isolated junta and has refused to denounce the 2021 putsch, which ousted a Aung San Suu Kyi-led elected administration. However, Beijing also backs and arms several ethnic rebel groups along its border with the country, some of which have clashed repeatedly with the military in the aftermath of the coup. The Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee groups seven ethnic outfits, which together can call on tens of thousands of well-armed and well-trained fighters, analysts say. “We welcome and support China’s involvement to end domestic conflicts happening in Myanmar,” the alliance said following a meeting in an autonomous enclave run by the United Wa State Party.
LIBYA
Uranium gone missing: UN
About 2.5 tonnes of natural uranium stored in a site in the war-torn country have gone missing, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, raising safety and proliferation concerns. However, forces allied to a warlord battling the central government later in the day said that his fighters recovered the material. UN inspectors said they were trying to confirm that. Natural uranium cannot immediately be used for energy production or bomb fuel, as the enrichment process typically requires the metal to be converted into a gas and spun in centrifuges to reach the levels needed. However, each tonne of natural uranium — if obtained by a group with the technological means and resources — can be refined to 5.6kg of weapons-grade material, experts say.
FRANCE
Macron forces pension reform
President Emmanuel Macron’s administration on Thursday rammed a controversial pension reform bill through parliament without a vote, risking more turbulence and street protests after a day of high political drama. The move to use a special constitutional power enabling the government to pass legislation without a vote amounted to an admission that the government lacked a majority to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The Senate had adopted the bill earlier in the day, but reluctance by right-wing opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly to side with Macron meant his administration faced defeat in the lower house. “We can’t take the risk of seeing 175 hours of parliamentary debate come to nothing,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told lawmakers as she announced the move amid jeers and boos from the opposition.
AUSTRALIA
Surfer sets endurance record
Former pro surfer Blake Johnston yesterday shredded the world record for the longest surfing session, saying he felt “pretty cooked” after catching waves for more than 30 exhausting hours. The 40-year-old broke down in tears after beating South African Josh Enslin’s previous record of 30 hours 11 minutes. In front of hundreds of cheering supporters at Sydney’s Cronulla Beach, Johnston braved swarms of jellyfish and pitch-black seas that are home to many species of shark. Johnston briefly thanked the crowd lining the beach during one of the short food and water breaks he was allowed to take, before paddling back out to try to push the record to 40 hours. “I’ve still got a job to do. I said 40 so I’ll go and give it a crack,” he told reporters. “I’m pretty cooked, yeah, but we’ll push through.”
Malaysia yesterday installed a motorcycle-riding billionaire sultan as its new king in lavish ceremonies for a post seen as a ballast in times of political crises. The coronation ceremony for Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim, 65, at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur followed his oath-taking in January as the country’s 17th monarch. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement that sees the throne change hands every five years between the rulers of nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty. While chiefly ceremonial, the position of king has in the past few years played an increasingly important role. Royal intervention was
X-37B COMPARISON: China’s spaceplane is most likely testing technology, much like US’ vehicle, said Victoria Samson, an official at the Secure World Foundation China’s shadowy, uncrewed reusable spacecraft, which launches atop a rocket booster and lands at a secretive military airfield, is most likely testing technology, but could also be used for manipulating or retrieving satellites, experts said. The spacecraft, on its third mission, was last month observed releasing an object, moving several kilometers away and then maneuvering back to within a few hundred meters of it. “It’s obvious that it has a military application, including, for example, closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them, but it also has non-military applications,” said Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in optical space situational awareness at Delft
The Philippine Air Force must ramp up pilot training if it is to buy 20 or more multirole fighter jets as it modernizes and expands joint operations with its navy, a commander said yesterday. A day earlier US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US “will do what is necessary” to see that the Philippines is able to resupply a ship on the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) that Manila uses to reinforce its claims to the atoll. Sullivan said the US would prefer that the Philippines conducts the resupplies of the small crew on the warship Sierra Madre,
AIRLINES RECOVERING: Two-thirds of the flights canceled on Saturday due to the faulty CrowdStrike update that hit 8.5 million devices worldwide occurred in the US As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain. Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals around the world about new phishing schemes that involve malicious actors posing as CrowdStrike employees or other tech specialists offering to assist those recovering from the outage. “We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” Kurtz said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant