VATICAN
Pope in stable condition
Pope Francis rested well overnight and is in a stable condition as he fights double pneumonia in hospital for the 18th day, the Vatican said yesterday. The 88-year-old pontiff no longer requires the use of mechanical ventilation to breathe and has been without a fever, it said in an earlier update on Sunday evening. However, the statement said that doctors were keeping the pope’s prognosis as “guarded” due to the complexity of his condition, meaning he is not out of danger. A full medical update on the pope’s condition was expected last night. Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 with severe respiratory problems that swiftly degenerated into double pneumonia.
JAPAN
Tokyo skips nuclear meeting
The nation is not attending a UN conference on the treaty banning nuclear weapons, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said in Tokyo yesterday, noting that US nuclear deterrence is crucial to the country’s security and that its participation would send the “wrong message.” Hayashi said that national security is the primary reason it would not participate as an observer at the conference, which started yesterday in New York. “Under the severe security environment, nuclear deterrence is indispensable to defend the people’s lives and assets, as well as Japan’s sovereignty and peace,” he told reporters. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was approved in 2017 and went into force in 2021 following a decades-long campaign aimed at preventing a repeat of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
PAKISTAN
Clash with Afghan forces
Pakistani and Afghan forces traded fire overnight at a key northwestern border crossing that has been closed for more than a week over a dispute between the two neighbors, officials said yesterday. No casualties were reported on either side of the Torkham crossing, which has been shut for 11 days due to Islamabad disputing Kabul’s construction of a new border post there. A Pakistani official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said that Taliban security forces opened fire unprovoked in the early hours yesterday, targeting Pakistan’s border post with automatic weapons. Pakistani personnel returned fire, the official said. There was no immediate comment on the exchange from the government in Kabul. Thousands of trucks and vehicles are stranded on both sides of the crossing, leaving people stuck in harsh winter conditions.
THAILAND
Gambling rules to be eased
The nation is dropping a requirement that locals must prove they have at least 50 million baht (US$1.5 million) in the bank for six consecutive months to be allowed to gamble in casinos, which the government plans to legalize. Ministry of Finance data found only 10,000 such accounts would have met the minimum criteria, Deputy Minister of Finance Julapun Amornvivat said yesterday. “Such restrictions would push those wanting to gamble to do so in neighboring countries or engage in illegal gambling activities,” Julapun said. The change represents a significant easing of previous rules, which were drafted amid concerns about the potential for problem gambling as the nation becomes the latest player in the global gaming industry. However, the government will keep a rule that locals must pay 5,000 baht to be able to enter legalized casinos, Julapun said.
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
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