JAPAN
Seoul trade limit lifted
The government has lifted curbs on the export of a key microchip material to South Korea, news reports said yesterday, days before the leaders of the two countries meet in their first formal talks for more than a year. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Friday removed photoresists — used to coat semiconductor circuit boards — from Tokyo’s export restrictions against Seoul, the Asahi Shimbun and other reports said. The country in July tightened export controls on three materials essential to key products of South Korean tech companies after a series of South Korean court rulings ordered Japanese firms to compensate wartime forced labor victims.
UNITED STATES
Trump touts talk with Xi
President Donald Trump touted a “very good talk” on Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on a deal to resolve their trade dispute, while Chinese media said Xi had complained about US interference in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Trump tweeted that China “already started large scale” increases in purchases of US farm goods, in line with the deal. However, he did not give a date for when the so-called “phase one” agreement would actually be signed. “Formal signing being arranged,” he said. Xi welcomed the progress, state news agency Xinhua reported.
UNITED STATES
Woman runs over teenager
A Des Moines woman was charged with attempted murder after she told police that she intentionally ran over a 14-year-old girl because she believed the teenager was Mexican, authorities said on Friday. Natalia Miranda suffered a concussion and severe bruising in the attack, but is expected to make a full recovery. Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, admitted to steering her sports utility vehicle onto a sidewalk on Dec. 9 in the suburban Des Moines community of Clive and running over the teenager, who was walking to school to watch a basketball game, Clive Police Chief Mike Venema told a news conference. Franklin then fled the scene.
UNITED STATES
Family finds owl in tree
A Georgia family got a real hoot from its Christmas tree: More than a week after they bought it, they discovered a live owl nestled among its branches. Katie McBride Newman said on Friday that she and her daughter spotted the bird on Thursday last week. They had bought the 3m-tall tree from a Home Depot, brought it back to their Atlanta area home and decorated it with lights and, coincidentally, owl ornaments. “It was surreal, but we weren’t really freaked out about it,” McBride Newman said. The family called a nonprofit nature center to help them release the animal.
COLOMBIA
Uber to halt operations
Uber has been told to immediately suspend its ride-sharing services in the country, the industry and commerce authority announced on Friday, citing unfair competition laws. The US tech giant has about 2 million active users in the country, and about 88,000 drivers. The ruling, which is subject to an appeal, follows a lawsuit by a group of taxi drivers who have accused the company of unfair business practices. The head of the Industry and Commerce Department — which regulates the market — said that the company must cease operations immediately, citing “unfair competition” and a “significant advantage” over older and more traditional taxi services.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru, a US$1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent. With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the APEC summit in Lima then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil. Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening
‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
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