SOUTH KOREA
BTS to launch world tour
K-pop megastars BTS are to launch a comeback world tour in April, the band’s label said yesterday. The group has been on hiatus since 2022 while its members completed mandatory military service. All seven members were discharged last year. Spanning 34 cities with 79 performances, it would be the largest-ever single tour by a K-pop group in terms of total shows. It is to start with domestic concerts on April 9, before moving on to Japan, the US and Europe, and ending in Manila in March next year.
Photo: Reuters
JAPAN
Takaichi eyes Feb. 8 election
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to dissolve the House of Representatives next week and call a snap general election, the secretary general of her ruling party said yesterday. Takaichi is considering an election date of Feb. 8, a source with knowledge of the matter said. “We need to seek a fresh mandate,” Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki told reporters after meeting Takaichi. The fiscal 2026 budget is unlikely to pass by the end of the current fiscal year in March if the election is held, and Takaichi is considering a stopgap budget, Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported.
DENMARK
Greenland defense to improve
Minister of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen yesterday said the country would “strengthen” its military presence in Greenland, following criticism from the US. “We will continue to strengthen our military presence in Greenland, but we will also have an even greater focus within NATO on more exercises and an increased NATO presence in the arctic,” Poulsen said in a statement, issued ahead of a meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and US officials at the White House. Meanwhile, France announced it would open a consulate in Greenland on Feb. 6 as a “political signal” to US President Donald Trump, who has vowed to seize the territory.
UNITED STATES
Trump flips off autoworker
President Donald Trump raised his middle finger and appeared to direct profanity toward an autoworker at a Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan, on Tuesday who called Trump a “pedophile protector” for his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein controversy, video circulating online showed. The entertainment site TMZ first published video capturing the exchange, and the White House did not dispute its authenticity. “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung (張振熙) said in an e-mail. Trump has faced persistent scrutiny for his handling of sensitive federal records tied to Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
MALI
Folk healer arrested
A self-proclaimed marabout, or traditional folk healer, who collected more than 22 million CFA francs (US$39,034) in donations by promising victory for Mali in the Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament was arrested for fraud after the team lost in the quarter-finals. Following Mali’s defeat, an angry mob showed up at the home of the man, identified only as Mr Sinayogo, before police intervened and removed him. He was on Saturday arrested for “fraud.” The man “proclaimed himself a marabout overnight and made a fortune,” a social media content creator close to him said.
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
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