CHINA
Israel embassy man stabbed
A 50-year-old Israeli man who works at the Israeli embassy in Beijing was on Friday stabbed in front of a supermarket, Chinese police and the Israeli government said. Beijing police said they had arrested a suspect, a 53-year-old foreign man. They described the victim as a family member of an Israeli diplomat. No motive was given for the attack. “The employee was transferred to hospital and he is in a stable condition,” the Israeli government said in a statement, without giving more details. A video posted on social media showed a man with a knife grappling with another man on the ground and stabbing him several times, leaving a trail of blood stains on the sidewalk.
SINGAPORE
Man indicted for bomb threat
An Australian man was on Saturday charged for making a false bomb threat on board a Perth-bound plane. Hawkins Kevin Francis, 30, faces up to 10 years in jail, a fine not exceeding S$500,000 (US$364,830) or both on conviction. Flight TR16 operated by budget carrier Scoot was forced to turn back to the city-state an hour into the journey on Thursday after the threat was made. The air force scrambled fighter jets to escort the aircraft back and the plane landed safely. Police said the threat was false. A district court ordered him to be remanded to an institute of mental health for two weeks for psychiatric observation.
RUSSIA
Navalny lawyers detained
Moscow on Friday detained three lawyers of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and raided their homes, aides said. Navalny is the country’s most prominent opposition politician and mobilized huge anti-government rallies before he was jailed in 2021 on fraud charges that his allies at home and abroad say are punitive. Lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexey Liptser, who have all defended Navalny in the past, have been remanded in pretrial detention until at least Dec. 13. Kobzev was due in court on Friday to represent Navalny in a lawsuit he has launched against his prison, but several aides said he was absent. “This is why it’s all being done: so that Alexei is left without legal protection,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said. “And to send a signal to other lawyers: it is dangerous to defend him and other political prisoners.”
UNITED STATES
NK sent Russia arms: Kirby
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday Pyongyang had provided Russia with 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions. “We condemn the DPRK for providing Russia with this military equipment, which will be used to attack Ukrainian cities, kill Ukrainian civilians and further Russia’s illegitimate war,” Kirby said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name. Kirby said the US is also concerned about Russia in turn providing assistance to North Korea.
UNITED STATES
Poet Louise Gluck dies
Poet Louise Gluck, winner of the Nobel prize for her distinctively austere writing that touched on themes of mythology and the universal human experience, has died, a Yale University spokeswoman said on Friday. She was 80. The New York native most recently taught at Yale as a poetry professor. She died of cancer on Friday at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the New York Times reported, citing friend and former Yale colleague Richard Deming. Gluck was the 2020 Nobel laureate in literature, the 16th woman to win the award.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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