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.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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