CAMBODIA
Loss of citizenship passed
Lawmakers yesterday passed a law that would allow people convicted of treason to be stripped of their citizenship, a new measure that comes amid a sustained crackdown on opponents of the long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). The law, approved by 120 of the 125 members of the CPP-dominated National Assembly, would allow the state to revoke the citizenship of anyone convicted of conspiring with foreign countries or plotting against national interests. Many prominent political figures have fled the country to avoid arrest amid intensified efforts to stifle the CPP’s opposition in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2017 banning of the Cambodian National Rescue Party ahead of an election the following year. The nation has since held mass trials involving more than 100 opposition figures, with many jailed in absentia on treason and incitement charges.
FRANCE
Chikungunya vaccine halted
US health authorities have suspended the license for the Ixchiq vaccine against the chikungunya virus following reports of “serious adverse events,” the drug’s French maker said yesterday. Ixchiq is one of just two vaccines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the mosquito-spread virus. French company Valneva obtained US approval for the vaccine in 2023, but reports of side effects have prompted reviews, in particular over its use in older patients, including by the European Medicines Agency this year. “The suspension of the license is effective immediately,” Valneva said of the FDA order issued on Friday, citing four additional cases of serious side effects, three of which involved people aged 70 to 82.
FINLAND
Cable suspects on trial
The Georgian captain and two Indian officers of a Cook Islands-registered oil tanker accused of severing five undersea power and telecom cables when their vessel left Russia and sailed through the Gulf of Finland late last year were to stand trial yesterday. Investigators have concluded that the Eagle S dragged its anchor along the seabed, severing the Estlink 2 power cable connecting Finland and Estonia, and four Internet lines, leading Finnish security forces to interrupt the vessel’s journey and board it from helicopters after ordering it to move into Finnish territorial waters. The three defendants have denied all charges, and the captain told Finnish public broadcaster YLE the incident was “a marine accident.” NATO allies around the Baltic Sea went on high alert following the incident, one of a string of suspicious cable and gas pipeline outages in the region since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
VIETNAM
Thousands flee typhoon
Tens of thousands of residents from coastal areas were yesterday evacuated ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Kajiki, which is expected to lash the country’s central belt with gales of about 140kph. As of press time yesterday, the typhoon — the fifth to affect the nation this year — was at sea, roiling the Gulf of Tonkin with waves of up to 9.5m. More than 325,500 residents in five coastal provinces were slated for evacuation to schools and public buildings converted into temporary shelters, authorities said. The waterfront city of Vinh was deluged overnight, its streets largely deserted by morning with most shops and restaurants closed as residents and business owners sandbagged their property entrances. Two domestic airports were shut and all fishing boats in the typhoon’s path had been called back to harbor.
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Floods on Sunday trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles. National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180mm of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro River delta. Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped “inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors.” Santa Barbara Mayor Josep Lluis
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
RSS