CHINA
New missile type tested
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it had carried out a ground-based mid-course missile interception test in an apparent sign of progress in its ability to bring down weapons incoming from space. The test was carried out late Friday night within Chinese territory and achieved “the desired test objective,” it said, adding that the test was “defensive in nature and not targeted against any country.” Such systems, which consist of ground-based interceptor missiles and a huge array of radars and control systems, aim to bring down missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads, while they are flying far from their target.
NEPAL
Everest deaths confirmed
Rescuers have called off the search for three local climbers missing on Mount Everest, officials said yesterday, acknowledging the first fatalities on the world’s highest mountain this climbing season. The trio were crossing the Khumbu Icefall on Wednesday as part of a supply mission when a block of ice fell and swept them into a crevasse. “After several search-and-rescue attempts, the operation has been called off. They are buried too deep and it does not seem possible to retrieve the bodies,” Department of Tourism spokesman Bigyan Koirala said. The Khumbu Icefall is an ever-shifting expanse of glacial ice that requires climbers to navigate crevasses over rickety ladders on the route to Everest’s 8,849m peak.
GERMANY
Last nuclear plants go offline
Authorities were yesterday to switch off the last three nuclear reactors, as the country is exiting atomic power even as it seeks to wean itself off fossil fuels. While many Western countries are upping their investments in atomic energy to reduce their emissions, Europe’s largest economy has been looking to leave behind nuclear power since 2002, but the phase-out was accelerated by former chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
FRANCE
Pension bill becomes law
President Emmanuel Macron yesterday signed a controversial pension reform into law, defying three months of protests and pleas from unions not to implement it. The bill became law after the text was published overnight in the government’s official journal. This followed Friday’s approval by the Constitutional Council of the essence of the legislation, including raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. Unions said they were calling for mass Labor Day protests on May 1, and sometimes violent demonstrations erupted in several cities overnight. Macron has faced widespread popular opposition to the changes, as well as sliding personal popularity.
NICARAGUA
Chinese official arrives
Chinese International Development Cooperation Agency Director Luo Zhaohui (羅照輝) arrived in Managua on Friday to launch a subsidized housing project, Vice President Rosario Murillo said. Murillo did not give details of what would be built, but China in April last year committed US$60 million to finance subsidized housing. “Comrade Luo Zhaohui ... is visiting us and will be here to inaugurate on Sunday ... the National Program of New Victories Housing, which we are implementing with the support of the [Chinese] government and people,” said Murillo, wife of President Daniel Ortega. Managua and Beijing established diplomatic ties in 2021 after the Ortega administration severed ties with Taiwan.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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