NORWAY
Russia accused of hacking
Russia was behind a cyberattack launched against parliament in August, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Soereide said on Tuesday, an accusation Moscow denied. The parliament on Sept. 1 said that it had sustained a cyberattack the previous week and that the e-mail accounts of several lawmakers and employees had been hacked. “Based on the information available to the government, it is our assessment that Russia stood behind this activity,” Soereide said in a statement. The Russian embassy in Oslo said that the accusations were not backed up with evidence and were unacceptable. “We regard this as a serious deliberate provocation, harmful for bilateral relations,” the embassy said. When authorities announced the incident last month, they did not say who they thought was behind the attack. “The fact that we go out with an attribution is a strong signal ... from Norwegian authorities,” Soereide told reporters. “We cannot accept that parliament is the subject of such attacks.”
KAZAKHSTAN
Three blast off to ISS
Two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut yesterday blasted off on a high-speed journey to the International Space Station (ISS) in the first such launch aboard a Russian capsule since SpaceX’s game-changing debut manned flight from US soil. Sergey Ryzhikov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA’s Kathleen Rubins launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Their journey was the first manned flight to the ISS to last just over three hours before docking — a new fast-track profile that takes half the time of standard trips. Only an unmanned cargo ship had previously used the profile, which requires just two orbits of the Earth.
UNITED STATES
Pompeo defends detainees
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday defended the 12 Hong Kongers who were detained by China while allegedly trying to flee to Taiwan by boat in August, saying that they had “committed no crime.” “They simply believe that they are worthy of freedom and the unalienable rights due to every person,” Pompeo said in a speech from the Department of State delivered virtually at the John S. McCain Freedom Award Ceremony. “They aren’t alone in that belief. America stands with them.” The 12, some of whom are linked to protests and were facing charges in Hong Kong prior to their arrest, are being held in Shenzhen, China, where they await prosecution. Two are suspected of organizing an illegal border crossing, while the other 10 are suspected of entering Chinese waters illegally.
CANADA
Trudeau criticizes China
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday said that China’s “coercive diplomacy,” repressive measures in Hong Kong and detention of Uighurs are counterproductive for itself and the rest of the world. Trudeau took aim at Beijing’s record as he marked the 50th anniversary of the nation’s diplomatic ties with China. “We will remain absolutely committed to working with our allies to ensure that China’s approach of coercive diplomacy, its arbitrary detention of two Canadian citizens alongside other citizens of other countries around the world is not viewed as a successful tactic by them,” he said at a news conference. He also mentioned Ottawa’s “concern for the protection of human rights and places like Hong Kong and ... with the Uighurs.” Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor have been held in China for nearly two years and have been charged with spying.
‘CHINESE ASSET’: The senate cited Bamban Mayor Alice Guo in contempt after a police raid revealed a scam center operating at a facility on land she partially owned The Philippine Senate yesterday threatened to arrest a mayor for contempt during a hearing investigating her alleged ties to Chinese criminal syndicates. The arrest threat came after Bamban Mayor Alice Guo (郭華萍) failed to appear for a second consecutive hearing, citing stress. The case that began in March, when authorities raided a casino in Guo’s farming town of Bamban, has shed light on criminal activity in the mostly Chinese-backed online casino industry in the Philippines. It gained national attention after one senator asked whether Guo might not have been born in the Philippines and could even be a Chinese “asset,” an accusation she
‘DO WHATEVER’: US Representative Nancy Pelosi said on MSNBC the decision was up to Joe Biden, but her lack of a full statement backing him is likely to send a signal The re-election campaign of US President Joe Biden on Wednesday hit new trouble as US Representative Nancy Pelosi said merely “it’s up to the president to decide” if he should stay in the race, celebrity donor George Clooney said he should not run, and Democratic senators and lawmakers expressed fresh fear about his ability to challenge former US president Donald Trump. Late in the evening, US Senator Peter Welch called on Biden to withdraw from the election, becoming the first Senate Democrat to do so. Welch said he is worried because “the stakes could not be higher.” The sudden flurry of pronouncements, despite
‘STARWARS’: The weapons would make South Korea the first country to deploy and operate laser weapons, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said South Korea is to deploy laser weapons to shoot down North Korean drones this year, becoming the world’s first country to deploy and operate such weapons in the military, the country’s arms procurement agency said yesterday. South Korea has called its laser program the “StarWars project.” The drone-zapping laser weapons that the South Korean military has developed with Hanwha Aerospace are effective and cheap, with each shot costing 2,000 won (US$1.45), and also quiet and “invisible,” the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said in a statement. “Our country is becoming the first country in the world to deploy and operate laser weapons, and
US ELECTIONS: US President Joe Biden mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Zelenskiy as Russian President Vladimir Putin at a NATO summit on Thursday US President Joe Biden vowed he would remain in this year presidential race, but two critical mistakes in the span of two hours deepened concerns about his mental acuity that threaten his campaign. Biden, 81, saw the culmination of this week’s NATO summit as a chance to reassure allies who for two weeks had fretted about his abilities following his first debate performance against former US president Donald Trump. Over a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a nearly hour-long news conference, he spoke confidently on a range of complex issues from the tax code and trade policy to