GERMANY
Afghan deportations start
The government yesterday deported Afghan nationals for the first time since August 2021, when the Taliban returned to power. Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit described the Afghan nationals as convicted criminals, but did not immediately respond to a request for comment to clarify their offenses. Berlin does not have diplomatic relations with the Taliban, requiring the government to work through other channels. The deportations occurred a week after a deadly knife attack in Solingen, where the suspect is a Syrian citizen who had applied for asylum in the country. The suspect was supposed to be deported to Bulgaria last year, but reportedly disappeared for a time and avoided deportation. He was ordered held on Sunday on suspicion of murder and membership in a terrorist organization pending further investigation and a possible indictment. The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence.
JAPAN
Defense budget to hit record
The Ministry of Defense is requesting a record budget allocation for next fiscal year, as it aims to ramp up its military capabilities at a time of heightened regional tensions. The ministry plans to seek about ￥8.5 trillion (US$59 billion) for the fiscal year starting in April, a 10.5 percent increase from the current year’s initial budget. The record request includes funds to build a new satellite intelligence-gathering system to improve missile detection capabilities. The budget increase is in line with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s pledge to boost the nation’s military spending to ￥43 trillion over the five-year period that runs through March 2028. Separately, the military is requesting about ￥113 billion to develop next-generation fighter aircraft in a joint effort between Japan, UK and Italy.The bulk of the remainder would go toward maintaining equipment, as well as acquiring and making fighter jets and submarines.
TURKEY
100 IS suspects arrested
The government this week arrested more than 100 suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) group, authorities said yesterday, the latest mass detention targeting the terror organization. The nation has been hit by several major attacks claimed by IS, including a 2017 nightclub shooting that killed dozens of people. The fresh raids took place across the country, including in Ankara and Istanbul, Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya posted on X. The arrest of 119 people this week follows other announced mass detentions, including 99 early this month.
THAILAND
Democrats to join Pheu Thai
The nation’s oldest political party will join the ruling coalition led by former rival Pheu Thai Party, as new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra finalizes her Cabinet lineup. The Democrat Party is to nominate its leader, Chalermchai Sri-On, and secretary-general, Dej-Is Khaothong, as ministers in Paetongtarn’s yet-to-be announced Cabinet, Chalermchai told reporters late on Thursday. Twenty-five Democrat lawmakers in the House of Representatives would help Pheu Thai cushion the loss of the support of 40 members of the pro-military Palang Pracharath party that was excluded earlier this week from the ruling bloc. With the addition of Democrat Party, the coalition would command the support of about 300 lawmakers in the 500-member elected chamber.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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