S Korean flu program to go ahead despite deaths

INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY: The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said that there was no reason to believe the deaths were linked to the influenza vaccines

Nine people have died after getting influenza shots in South Korea in the past week, raising concerns over the vaccine’s safety just as the seasonal inoculation program is being expanded to head off potential COVID-19 complications. Five new deaths were reported yesterday, but officials had no plans to suspend the vaccination program, unless investigations, including postmortems, revealed a link, which preliminary findings had not. “We have reviewed whether it is appropriate to continue the vaccination or better to suspend and wait for the results,” official Kim Joong-gon said. “We came to the conclusion that the deaths had no direct relations with the vaccination given the limited data we have now and without detailed postmortem reports,” he said. Kim said a preliminary investigation into six victims revealed that five had underlying conditions. Officials also said no toxic substances had been found in the same vaccine given to other people. Coming just weeks after the roll out of the national vaccine program was temporarily suspended over safety worries, the deaths, which include a 17-year-old boy and a man in his 70s, have dominated news headlines in South Korea. With winter approaching, the country is planning to inoculate 30 million people in a bid to prevent the health system being overloaded by patients with flu and COVID-19 exposure. However, the start of the free jab program for about 19 million eligible people was suspended for three weeks after it was discovered that about 5 million doses, which need to be refrigerated, had been exposed to room temperature while being transported to a facility. Officials said 8.36 million people have been given the free flu vaccine since inoculations resumed on Tuesday last week. Adverse reactions — including fever, diarrhea and allergies, according to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Director Jeong Eun-kyeong — were reported in 430 people who received the jabs. The

Virus Outbreak: Asia’s biggest film fest scales down

Asia’s biggest annual film festival started in South Korea yesterday at a fraction of its usual scale, but some movie fans will still be able to attend screenings despite COVID-19 forcing many events online. The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) usually sees a host of stars and industry players from Asia and elsewhere descend on the port city for 10 days of critical consideration and financial dealmaking. However, strict conditions imposed this year because of the pandemic means no opening ceremony, red-carpet parades, after-parties or outdoor fan events. The fact it is taking place at all is a bonus, as many international festivals have gone online-only and some — such as Cannes — have been canceled altogether. This year marks the festival’s 25th anniversary and comes after home-grown director Bong Joon-ho’s historic Oscar win for the dark comedy Parasite in February — the first time a foreign-language film has won top accolades. About 190 movies will be shown at this year’s festival and only once each, compared to the typical 300-odd films played multiple times — an 80 percent cut in total screenings. Those attending have to wear masks, while social distancing is being enforced by making available only a quarter of theater seats. “We are doing our very best to offer what’s most essential while following COVID-19 safety measures,” BIFF program director Nam Dong-chul said. “We think what’s most important about film festivals is to screen movies at movie theaters, as cinema is an art form that requires big screens.” Organizers have scheduled about 45 public screening talks — also far fewer than normal — but featuring only South Korean filmmakers and actors. South Korea imposes a strict two-week quarantine on most arrivals, making short visits impractical, so organizers have not invited foreigners — although some will participate online. The compromise has left some people dismayed. “I’ve

Thai protesters adopt Hong Kong tactics

Umbrellas as shields, secure chat groups and hand signals as warnings of a pending police crackdown — Thailand’s pro-democracy protesters have taken inspiration and lessons from their counterparts in Hong Kong. Images from Bangkok over the weekend of activists in hard hats, goggles and gas masks facing off against the police were strongly reminiscent of the methods used last year by Hong Kong protesters. And to counter a more forceful crackdown by the police, Thai activists have also mimicked Hong Kong’s flashmob rallies and guerrilla, “be water” tactics — a philosophy attributed to martial arts hero Bruce Lee (李小龍). “Now we’re like a fast-moving current that’s ready to change direction at any minute,” said Panumas “James” Singprom, cofounder of Free Youth, one of the Thai movement’s main groups. “The state has pressured us to adapt fast.” Thai protesters have defied warnings and gathering bans to sustain their movement, which has drawn tens of thousands to the streets in recent months, demanding reforms to the government and the powerful monarchy. To avoid surveillance and arrests, like their Hong Kong counterparts, they have relied on encrypted messaging services such as Telegram to coordinate protests — only receiving the planned locations an hour before each rally. While the Thai movement has seen some prominent faces emerge, ongoing arrests have forced protesters to replicate another Hong Kong movement feature — organizing with no obvious leaders, and using hashtags to spread their message. The majority turning up for the daily protests are “self-organized,” James said. The camaraderie between Hong Kong and Thailand protesters was on display in Bangkok on Sunday, with demonstrators chanting “return independence to Hong Kong,” while raising mobile flashlights to the night sky. Much like the sea of raised hands in Hong Kong — signifying the protesters’ five demands — Thai rallies have seen waves of three-finger salutes borrowed from The

Feared DR Congo militia frees hundreds from jail

ISLAMIC STATE? Beni Acting Mayor Modeste Muhindo Bwakanamaha said that only about 100 detainees did not leave the prison from among the 1,455 who were there

A feared militia on Tuesday attacked a prison in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), freeing hundreds of inmates, local officials and police said, as the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the predawn assault. Two prisoners were shot dead during the breakout from the Kangbayi Central Prison in Beni at about 4:30am, police wrote on Twitter, blaming the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). Beni Acting Mayor Modeste Muhindo Bwakanamaha also attributed the attack to the ADF, which originated in the 1990s as a Ugandan Muslim rebel group and has been accused of killing more than 1,000 civilians in the region since October 2014. “Only about 100 detainees did not leave the prison from among the 1,455 who were there,” Bwakanamaha told reporters. Citing the IS’ Amaq news agency, the Jihadist monitoring group SITE, said that the IS “took credit for the raid at Kangbayi prison ... which ultimately led to freeing 900 inmates.” Amaq also reported that IS fighters attacked a Congolese military base near Beni. The IS has since April last year claimed responsibility for several attacks blamed on the ADF, sometimes with factual errors, while the ADF itself has never claimed responsibility for attacks. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he did not know of a “formal link” between the ADF and IS after visiting the region in September last year. “But it’s clear that there are real ties, because there is recruitment in other countries” of fighters who go to the DR Congo, Guterres told Radio France Internationale. By noon on Tuesday, dozens of soldiers and police were locking down the prison, and two armored vehicles of the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO were on hand, a reporter at the scene said. Residents were fearful of a sharp increase in attacks after the jailbreak. The rights group Lutte pour

Nigerian solders ‘fire at protesters’

DEMANDING REFORMS: One person said he saw 10 protesters being shot and soldiers removing bodies, while another said people were hemmed in and shot

Soldiers on Tuesday opened fire on people protesting against police brutality in the Lekki district of Lagos, Nigeria, and at least two demonstrators were shot, four witnesses said. Thousands of Nigerians have demonstrated nationwide every day for nearly two weeks against a police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, that rights groups had for years accused of extortion, harassment, torture and murders. The unit was disbanded on Oct. 11, but the protests have persisted, with demonstrators calling for a raft of law enforcement reforms. “They started firing ammunition toward the crowd. They were firing into the crowd,” 55-year-old security officer Alfred Ononugbo said after the soldiers opened fire. “I saw the bullet hit one or two people.” The condition of those two people was not immediately known. Amnesty International has said that at least 15 people had been killed since the protests began. The Nigerian Army wrote on Twitter that no soldiers were at the scene of the shooting on Tuesday night in Lekki, an upmarket district where a toll gate has been the site of daily protests. Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu posted pictures on Twitter of him visiting people in hospital who were victims of what he referred to as the “unfortunate shooting incident at Lekki.” Twenty-five people were being treated for mild to moderate injuries, two were receiving intensive care and three had been discharged, he said. “As the governor of our state, I recognize the buck stops at my table and I will work with the FG [federal government] to get to the root of this unfortunate incident and stabilize all security operations to protect the lives of our residents,” Sanwo-Olu wrote, adding that he would give a state broadcast yesterday morning. The state government earlier said that it would open an investigation into the shooting, which witnesses said began at about 7pm. An army spokesman did not

Tanzania to vote after years of ‘hell’ for opposition

Tundu Lissu, shot 16 times in an assassination attempt, has returned to Tanzania to run for president — but he did not know what to expect after the “hell” experienced by the opposition under Tanzanian President John Magufuli. Political rallies had been banned for years, freedom of speech suffocated, and opposition leaders killed, abducted and arrested — Lissu was worried for his own safety. However, the 52-year-old has been amazed by his compatriots’ reaction as he crisscrosses the country to crowds clamoring to see him. “After five years of repression, I was not expecting this kind of enthusiasm and mass support from the people,” he said. The opposition has “gone through hell,” but Lissu said that his Chadema Party is likely to come out on top in the presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday next week. However, like many observers, he said that it is not likely to be a fair fight. “There has not been one large event that has really thrown the free-and-fair moniker off of this election. It has been more a series of small things, death by a thousand cuts, if you will,” a Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity. “Whether it is a campaign event being disrupted by police, campaign officials being arrested for unknown reasons ... the burning of Chadema offices ... little things that add up.” Tanzania has long been seen as a haven of stability in an otherwise volatile region, but since Magufuli’s election in 2015 as a corruption-busting man of the people, alarm has grown over a perceived slide into autocracy. Magufuli at first made wildly popular moves, such as curbing foreign travel for government officials or showing up in person to make sure civil servants were doing their work, but Institute for Security Studies researcher Ringisai Chikohomero said that it was clear from the start that the

Planned US delisting inspires Sudan

Sudan on Tuesday hailed US plans to remove it from its state sponsors of terrorism blacklist, saying that the move would facilitate debt relief and pave the way to economic recovery. Sudan is one of four nations branded by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism — along with Iran, North Korea and Syria. The designation has severely impeded economic development in the nation, with few major foreign investors willing to run afoul of US laws. “This decision qualifies Sudan for debt relief,” Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said in a speech broadcast by state television. “Today, we have debts of more than US$60 billion. This decision paves the way for exemption.” In a landmark announcement, US President Donald Trump on Monday declared his readiness to remove Sudan from the US blacklist. “At long last, JUSTICE for the American people and BIG step for Sudan,” Trump wrote on Twitter, vowing to delist Sudan as soon as the compensation is “deposited.” Sudan’s terror designation dates to 1993 during the rule of then-Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who hosted wanted militants including former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the 1990s. Al-Bashir was ousted in April last year after mass protests against his rule, and the country’s transitional government has made lifting the US sanctions a priority. The government agreed to pay hundreds of millions of US dollars in compensation to US families of victims of past attacks blamed on Sudan. Trump on Monday said that Sudan had agreed to a US$335 million compensation package for victims and relatives of the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Sudanese Central Bank Governor Mohamed al-Fatih told the news conference that the compensation payments had been made. Earlier this year, Sudan had paid compensation to families of victims of a bomb attack on the USS Cole off Yemen’s coast in October 2000. Sudan always denied

Iranian woman arrested for ‘cycling without hijab’

A young woman has been arrested in central Iran for “insulting the Islamic hijab,” state media said on Tuesday, after a video appeared to show her cycling without a veil. “A person who had recently breached norms and insulted the Islamic veil in this region has been arrested,” Najafabad Governor Mojataba Raei told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). A short video shot with a mobile phone was circulated on Monday on social media networks showing a bare-headed woman cycling in front of a mosque. The long-haired woman, whose head was pixelated, appeared to raise her right arm in the air from time to time as she rode the bike. IRNA reported that the video of the woman “riding her bike without a veil in the main square” and “in front of a big mosque” provoked protests from residents and clerics in Najafabad. Under Shariah law, in force in Iran since its 1979 revolution, women must wear a hijab that covers the head and neck, and that conceals their hair. However, many women have pushed the boundaries over the past two decades by allowing their veils to slide back and reveal more hair, especially in Tehran and other major cities. “Her motive for committing this action is being investigated,” the governor said, without disclosing the detained woman’s identity. “The residents of this city are holding a protest rally today [after] the unprecedented breach of norms,” he added.

NASA spacecraft grabs asteroid sample

‘EXACTLY PERFECT’: The space probe orbited the Bennu asteroid for almost two years as scientists planned a route between the boulders toward the rocky surface

A NASA spacecraft on Tuesday touched down on the rugged surface of the Bennu asteroid, grabbing a sample of rocks dating back to the birth of our solar system to bring home. The minivan-sized OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, extended its 3.35m robotic arm toward a flat patch of gravel near Bennu’s north pole and plucked the sample of rocks, the space agency’s first handful of pristine asteroid rocks. “Sample collection is complete, and the back-away burn has executed,” Lockheed mission operator Estelle Church said seconds later, confirming that the spacecraft eased away from the space rock after making contact. The probe would send back images of the sample collection yesterday and throughout the week so that scientists can examine how much material was retrieved and determine whether the probe would need to make another collection attempt. If a successful collection is confirmed, the spacecraft would journey back toward Earth, arriving in 2023. Japan is the only other country to have already accomplished this. Bennu, located more than 160 million kilometers from Earth and whose acorn-shaped body formed in the early days of our solar system, could hold clues to the origins of life on Earth, scientists say. “Everything went just exactly perfect,” Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator from the University of Arizona, Tucson, said on a NASA live feed from Lockheed’s mission support building. “We have overcome the amazing challenges that this asteroid has thrown at us, and the spacecraft appears to have operated flawlessly.” The robotic arm’s collection device, shaped like an oversized shower head, is designed to release a pressurized gas to kick up debris. The spacecraft launched in 2016 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the journey to Bennu. It has been in orbit around the asteroid for nearly two years preparing for the “touch and go” maneuver. “A lot of things

France honors beheaded teacher amid crackdown

France was yesterday to pay tribute to a history teacher beheaded in a quiet Paris suburb as French President Emmanuel Macron promised to intensify a clampdown on Muslim extremism. Police have carried out dozens of raids, while the government has ordered the six-month closure of a mosque and plans to dissolve a group that supports Palestinian militant group Hamas. “Our fellow citizens expect actions,” Macron said during a visit to a Paris suburb on Tuesday. “These actions will be stepped up.” Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher, was attacked on Friday last week on his way home from the junior-high school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 40km northwest of Paris. Yesterday evening, Macron was to attend an official memorial with Paty’s family and about 400 guests at the Sorbonne University, posthumously giving the teacher France’s highest award, the Legion d’Honneur. Paty had been the subject of an online hate campaign since showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed during a class on free speech — the same images that sparked a bloody assault on the officials of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo when they were originally published five years ago. Seven people, including two minors, were to appear before an anti-terrorism judge yesterday for possible indictments in Paty’s case, a judicial source told reporters. Nine other people were freed on Tuesday evening. Killer Abdullakh Anzorov — an 18-year-old originally from the Russian region of Chechnya — was shot dead by police shortly after the assault. A disgruntled parent who had fired up anger about Paty’s lesson through messages on social media had exchanged messages on WhatsApp with Anzorov in the days leading up to the murder. The material he uploaded was widely shared, including by a mosque in the northern Paris suburb of Pantin. The head of the mosque, M’hammed Henniche, said he had shared the video out of fear that Muslim

Canadian opposition’s push for probe could trigger vote

MATTER OF CONFIDENCE: The opposition wants to probe connections between the prime minister’s family and a charity that was awarded a government contract

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority Liberal government on Monday said that an opposition push for an anti-corruption committee would trigger a vote that could force a fall election in Canada. Liberal House of Commons leader Pablo Rodriguez said the government considers the Conservative motion to be a matter of confidence. Trudeau’s Liberal Party won re-election last year, but does not have the majority of seats in parliament and must rely on at least one opposition party to remain in power. Trudeau said he does not want an election, and that his government is focused on the health and economic crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The opposition is going to have to decide whether they want to make this minority government work or if they have lost confidence in the government,” Trudeau said. The opposition Conservatives, the New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois have said that the Liberals are avoiding scrutiny of contracts and programs set up to deal with the pandemic. The Liberals temporarily closed parliament in August, which shut down the work of committees probing the We Charity deal. Trudeau has said he should have recused himself from a Cabinet decision to award a contract to We Charity to administer money to students having trouble finding work due to the pandemic. The almost billion-dollar program came under scrutiny after it was revealed that We Charity, an organization Trudeau’s family has worked for, was chosen to administer it. Trudeau’s wife, brother and mother have been paid a combined C$300,000 (US$228,990) for speaking at a number of We Charity events. The Conservatives said the committee could explore the We Charity deal. Rodriguez said the motion would allow the opposition to pull Cabinet ministers from their work and require them to testify “day after day.” The parties were to debate the motion and a vote was expected as soon

Fetal cells from 1970s power medical innovation to produce new vaccines

It is no secret that thousands of laboratories around the world use cells derived from a fetus that was aborted decades ago to develop vital medicines. However, it is a contentious topic in the US, where conservatives and anti-abortion advocates have long deemed the practice unethical. The matter is once more under the spotlight after US President Donald Trump was treated for COVID-19 using Regeneron’s antibody treatment. The company used aborted fetal cells as part of its testing process. “It’s becoming annoying,” Andrea Gambotto, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said of the controversy. Gambotto has used a cell line called HEK 293, the same used by Regeneron, as part of his research for 25 years. “It’d be a crime to ban the use of these cells,” he added. “It never harmed anybody — it was a dead embryo so the cells back then [were used], instead of being discarded, they were used for research.” The big advantage of these cells, which were developed in the early 1970s, is that they now represent a “gold standard” in the pharmaceutical industry. If Gambotto — who is leading a COVID-19 vaccine research project — one day succeeds, his vaccine can be produced anywhere in the world, thanks to HEK293. “You can go to India and make a vaccine for all the world,” he said. To those who call for the development of alternatives, he said: “You don’t need to go back 30 years and reinvent the wheel.” The original cells were transformed and immortalized in January 1973 by a young Canadian postdoc by the name of Frank Graham, who was working at the time in Leiden, the Netherlands, in the laboratory of professor Alex van der Eb. Normally, a cell has a finite number of divisions, but Graham managed to modify these cells so that they divide ad infinitum. This was

Danish submarine killer briefly escapes from prison

A Danish man convicted of torturing and murdering a Swedish journalist on his homemade submarine made a dramatic, but brief escape from a suburban Copenhagen prison on Tuesday, reportedly taking a hostage to break out before police recaptured him. Peter Madsen was quickly apprehended near the Herstedvester prison where he is serving a life sentence for the killing of Kim Wall. Danish Minister of Justice Nick Haekkerup called the escape attempt “very serious.” “It goes without saying that convicted prisoners who have committed the worst possible crimes should not be able to escape from the custody of the authorities,” Haekkerup wrote on Twitter. Police said Madsen appeared to be carrying fake weapons, including a “bogus” explosive belt. “When we came, he threw away something that looked like a firearm,” suburban Copenhagen police operations chief Mogens Lauridsen said. Madsen, one of Denmark’s most notorious criminals, was captured about five minutes after the escape and about 500m from the facility. Prison personnel who followed him saw that he had jumped into a passing white van and informed police. Lauridsen said that they do not believe Madsen had an accomplice. Police officers then found on Madsen “what seems to be a belt with explosives,” Lauridsen said. He was handcuffed, officers stepped back and Madsen was left on the side of a road while a bomb squad investigated the belt, Lauridsen said. “It seems to be a bogus belt,” he said, adding that it was unclear whether Madsen had made it or the object that looked like a firearm. Prison director Hanne Hoegh Rasmussen told a news conference that the escape was being investigated and that she could not immediately confirm media reports that Madsen took a female prison psychologist hostage inside the prison. “No one has been injured physically,” Hoegh Rasmussen said, adding that prison staff were receiving psychological support. The facility has 161 cells

World News Quick Take

JAPAN Deer-edible bags invented The deer that roam Nara no longer face discomfort — or far worse — after local firms developed a safe alternative to the plastic packaging discarded by tourists that often ended up in the animals’ stomachs. Last year, several of the 1,300 deer that wander around the ancient capital’s central park were found dead after swallowing plastic bags and food wrappers. Firms collaborated to develop bags that pass safely through the animals’ complex digestive system. The bags are made with recycled pulp from milk cartons and rice bran, one of the main ingredients of the shika senbei savory crackers fed to them by tourists. HONG KONG ‘Save 12 HK youths’ spreads A social media campaign calling for the release of 12 Hong Kongers detained in China is gaining ground, with support from international advocates, campaigners and politicians, including Greta Thunberg, sharing the #save12HKyouths hashtag. The campaign hopes to draw international attention to the plight of 12 young people held under tight security in China after they were caught allegedly trying to flee Hong Kong by boat. On Aug. 23, Chinese authorities intercepted a speedboat off the coast of southern Guangdong Province carrying 12 people aged 16 to 30, who were allegedly heading to Taiwan. CHINA Air quality grim five years on Environmental conditions are “grim,” falling short of public expectations even after five years of efforts to improve air quality, boost clean energy and curb greenhouse gas emissions, a senior official said yesterday. “There is still a long way to go,” said Deputy Minister of Ecology and Environment Zhao Yingmin (趙英民), even though China has met a series of targets on smog, water quality and carbon emissions. China remains dependent on heavy industry and coal, and the “grim environmental trends” have not fundamentally changed, he added. AFGHANISTAN Visa jostling starts stampede At least 15 people on Tuesday

Jakarta refused to host US spy planes

LONGSTANDING NEUTRALITY: The US request came as it vied for influence in Southeast Asia with China, but Indonesia has never let foreign militaries operate there

Indonesia this year rejected a proposal by the US to allow its P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance planes to land and refuel there, four senior Indonesian officials familiar with the matter have said. US officials made multiple “high-level” approaches in July and August to Indonesia’s defense and foreign ministers before Indonesian President Joko Widodo rebuffed the request, the officials said. Representatives for Indonesia’s president and defense minister, the US Department of State’s Office of Press Relations and the US embassy in Jakarta did not respond to requests for comment. Representatives for the US Department of Defense and Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi declined to comment. The proposition, which came as the US and China escalated their contest for influence in Southeast Asia, surprised the Indonesian government, the officials said, because Indonesia has a longstanding policy of neutrality on foreign affairs. The country has never allowed foreign militaries to operate there. The P-8 plays a central role in keeping an eye on China’s military activity in the South China Sea, most of which Beijing claims as sovereign territory. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei have rival claims to the resource-rich waters, through which US$3 trillion of trade passes each year. Indonesia is not a formal claimant in the strategically important waterway, but considers a portion of the South China Sea as its own. It has regularly repelled Chinese coastguard vessels and fishing boats from an area to which Beijing says it has a historic claim. However, the country has growing economic and investment links with China and it does not want to take sides in the conflict. It is alarmed by growing tensions between the two superpowers and by the militarization of the South China Sea, Retno said. “We don’t want to get trapped by this rivalry,” Retno said in an interview early last month. “Indonesia wants to show all that

Blame for drug killings his: Duterte

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night said that he has no problem with being held responsible for the many killings under his crackdown on drugs, and that he is ready to face charges that could land him in jail, but not charges of crimes against humanity. Duterte’s televised remarks were among his clearest acknowledgement of the prospects that he could face a deluge of criminal charges for the bloody campaign he launched after taking office in the middle of 2016. Police have reported that at least 5,856 drug suspects have been killed in raids and more than 256,000 others arrested since the start of the crackdown. Human rights groups have accused authorities of considerably underreporting the deaths. “If there’s killing there, I’m saying I’m the one... You can hold me responsible for anything, any death that has occurred in the execution of the drug war,” Duterte said. “If you get killed, it’s because I’m enraged by drugs. If that’s what I’m saying, bring me to court to be imprisoned. Fine, I have no problem. If I serve my country by going to jail, gladly.” At least two complaints for crimes against humanity and mass murder in connection with Duterte’s campaign are being examined by an International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, who is to determine whether there is enough evidence to open a full-scale investigation. Two years ago, Duterte responded to the complaints by withdrawing the Philippines from the world tribunal, a move that human rights groups said was a major setback in the nation’s battle against impunity. The ICC prosecutor has said that the examination into the drug killings would continue, despite the Philippines’ withdrawal. When did “drugs become humanity?” Duterte said, framing his remarks by portraying the drug menace as a national security and public threat, such as the decades-long communist insurgency that the government is

UAE delegation travels to Israel on first official visit

A delegation of senior Emirati officials yesterday visited Israel for the first time since the two countries agreed to normalize relations, where they signed a slew of bilateral agreements meant to solidify their new ties. US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin accompanied Emirati Minister of State for Financial Affairs Obaid al-Tayer and other senior officials from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the US on the Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted al-Tayer and Mnuchin at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport before signing of a series of bilateral agreements between Israel and the UAE, including civil aviation, visa exemption and science and innovation deals. “Today we are making history. We are making history in a way that will stand for generations,” Netanyahu said at a ceremony stage in a tent on the tarmac. “We will remember this day, a glorious day of peace.” The ceremony was closed to the media and the Emirati delegation was to hold all meetings at the airport, apparently over COVID-19 concerns. Al-Tayer said that the Emirates sought to establish legal frameworks with Israel “to achieve prosperity for both our economies and our people.” Israel and the UAE in August announced that they had agreed to normalize ties under a US-brokered deal, and signed accords on the White House lawn in September. Bahrain also signed an agreement to normalize relations with Israel. The UAE and Bahrain are the third and fourth Arab states to establish ties with Israel. Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively.