PHILIPPINES
China parks ‘monster ship’
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday said that the China Coast Guard’s largest vessel has anchored in Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea. The 165m “monster ship” entered Manila’s 200 nautical mile (370km) EEZ on Tuesday last week, PCG spokesperson Jay Tarriela told a news forum. The PCG warned the Chinese vessel that it was in the EEZ and asked about its intentions, he said. “It’s an intimidation on the part of the China Coast Guard,” Tarriela said. “We’re not going to pull out and we’re not going to be intimidated.” China’s embassy in Manila and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese ship, which has also deployed a small boat, was anchored 732m away from the PCG’s vessel, Tarriela said.
STANDING HEAD
Moulin Rouge windmill back
Paris’ famed Moulin Rouge cabaret on Friday got its red windmill back during a special ceremony that featured can-can dancing on the plaza outside. The windmill’s huge sails inexplicably collapsed after a show earlier this year at the iconic venue. Part of the cabaret’s illuminated sign also crashed to the ground as a result of what its director called a technical problem. No one was hurt, and the mayor of Paris’ 18th district said the structure was not in danger. The Moulin Rouge scrambled to repair the damage before the Olympic torch relay passes through the area July 15, expected to draw big crowds. The windmill was first illuminated on Oct. 6, 1889 at the opening of the Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge management says its performers represent 18 nationalities and it receives 600,000 spectators a year.
UNITED KINGDOM
Starmer axes Rwanda plan
Newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer has killed off a deportation plan that would see migrants who arrived illegally sent to Rwanda on his first day on the job, the Telegraph reported on Friday, citing Labour Party sources, calling the plan “effectively dead.” Starmer had earlier promised to scrap the Conservative Party’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, but with migration a key electoral issue, he is under pressure himself to find a way to stop tens of thousands of people arriving across the Channel from France on small boats.
UNITED STATES
Trump shuns Project 2025
Former president Donald Trump on Friday tried to distance himself from a conservative group’s sweeping plans for the next Republican presidency, days after its leader said a second American Revolution was under way that would “remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” The Republican presidential candidate renounced any connection with Project 2025, a plan Democrats have been attacking to highlight what they say is Trump’s extreme policy agenda for a second term should he beat US President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election. Many people involved in the project lead by the Heritage Foundation, the country’s top conservative think tank, worked in the Trump White House and would likely help fill out his administration if he wins in November. However, Trump said on his Truth Social platform he had nothing to do with the plan. “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” he wrote. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying,” he said, adding that some of their assertions were “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
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