PHILIPPINES
Kidnapping suspect arrested
A second suspect in the kidnapping of an American man, who police say was likely killed by his captors, has been arrested, police said yesterday. Elliot Eastman was snatched from his home on Mindanao island on Oct. 17 last year. Police said his kidnappers shot him dead that day when he tried to escape. Jakaria Jamani, a resident of Sibuco, was arrested at sea on Tuesday and was being held without bail while awaiting trial for the kidnapping, police said in a statement. The statement described him as the “mastermind/planner” of the abduction.
Photo: EPA-EFE
VIETNAM
Court critic’s trial begins
Tran Dinh Trien, former deputy head of the Hanoi Bar Association and a former lawyer, yesterday went on trial over Facebook posts in which he criticized court officials. Charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon state interests,” the 65-year-old faces up to seven years in jail if found guilty by the court in Hanoi. Prosecutors accused him of posting Facebook articles “without verified evidence ... undermining the prestige of the court,” Tuoi Tre newspaper said. The Facebook posts over which he is charged were uploaded in April and May last year. In them, he criticized the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who he said prevented defendants’ family members from attending trials, and journalists and lawyers from recording video during open trials, Human Rights Watch said.
Photo: AFP
INDIA
Six killed in stampede
At least six people were crushed to death on Wednesday at a Hindu religious gathering, with several more injured, officials said yesterday. A huge crowd had gathered to collect entrance tokens to visit the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Andhra Pradesh when the stampede broke out. “The unfortunate incident ... has claimed the lives of six devotees. I pray to god to give peace to the departed souls,” said Prem Kumar Jain, spokesman of the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party.
MEXICO
Sheinbaum mocks Trump
President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sarcastically on Wednesday to US president-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” Standing before a global map at a news conference, Sheinbaum proposed dryly that North America should be renamed “America Mexicana,” or “Mexican America,” because a document from 1814 that preceded the constitution referred to it that way. “That sounds nice, no?” she added with a sarcastic tone. She also said the Gulf of Mexico had been named that way since 1607.
UNITED STATES
Greenland’s value backed
Greenland is important for national security, Representative Mike Waltz told Fox News on Wednesday, following comments by president-elect Donald Trump suggesting that Washington should take control of the island. Waltz, who was tapped to be Trump’s national security adviser, was asked about Trump wanting control over the arctic island. “You have Russia that is trying to become king of the arctic, with 60-plus icebreakers, some of them nuclear powered,” he said. “We have two and one just caught on fire.” Waltz added: “This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources. This is about, as the polar ice caps pull back, the Chinese are now cranking out icebreakers and pushing up there as well. So it’s oil and gas. It’s our national security.”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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