AFGHANISTAN
Governor killed in attack
Badakhshan Acting Provincial Governor Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi was yesterday killed by a suicide bomber, officials said, months after the region’s police chief was killed in a similar attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Security has improved dramatically since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021, ousting the US-backed government and ending their two-decade insurgency, but the Islamic State group remains a threat. The bomber drove a car filled with explosives into the vehicle carrying Ahmadi in the provincial capital, Faizabad. “The target of this attack was the vehicle carrying Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi,” said Muazuddin Ahmadi, the head of culture and information in the province. The driver was also killed and six others wounded in the attack, which has so far not been claimed by anyone.
AUSTRALIA
Hanoi pardons Australians
Two Australians sentenced to death in Vietnam have been granted clemency thanks to improving diplomatic relations, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday, after an official visit to the Southeast Asian country. “We make representations on behalf of Australian citizens. And we are very pleased that Vietnam has agreed to the request, and we thank them for it,” Albanese told ABC television. He said he would not reveal the names of the people who were granted clemency as they had requested privacy. Their families have been informed about the decision. Albanese had traveled to Vietnam over the weekend, where he met his counterpart, Pham Minh Chinh, and said the visit provided “an impetus for this outcome.”
VANUATU
Security deal under review
The government yesterday said that a security treaty with Australia would be put to parliament before the end of this year, as concerns over China in the region saw neighboring Papua New Guinea delay signing another such treaty. Prime Ishmael Kalsakau said, during a visit by Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles, that a security treaty signed with Australia in December last year is still being examined. Some Vanuatu politicians who favor ties with China have expressed concern over the deal. The National Security Council was “going through the text” and it will next be considered by his government’s Council of Ministers, Kalsakau said in the capital, Port Vila. “It will be presented for ratification before the end of this year in Parliament,” he said.
CHINA
Tuition rises up to 54%
Chinese universities are drastically increasing tuition fees this year, with some making their first increases in two decades, hurt by a reduced national budget for tertiary education and tight local government finances. The higher fees come amid a financial crunch among local governments after three years of disruptive COVID-19 policies, a property crisis and a sluggish economy. Chinese universities, almost all public, rely heavily on state funding. Shanghai-based East China University of Science and Technology raised tuition fees by 54 percent to 7,700 yuan (US$1,082) annually for some first-year students majoring in science, engineering and physical education, and by 30 percent in the liberal arts, statements issued on Sunday said. Sichuan and Jilin provinces also raised tuition for different majors, with the maximum increase as much as 41 percent in Sichuan, local government statements said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia