JAPAN
Micronesia cable planned
Tokyo on Tuesday announced that it had joined the US and Australia in signing an agreement on a US$95 million undersea cable project that would connect East Micronesia island nations to improve networks in the Indo-Pacific region. The approximately 2,250km undersea cable would connect the state of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia, Tarawa in Kiribati and Nauru to the existing cable landing point located in Pohnpei in Micronesia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The three countries have stepped up cooperation with the Pacific Islands, in an apparent effort to counter efforts by Beijing to expand its security and economic influence in the region. In a joint statement, they said the next steps involve a final survey, and design and manufacturing of the cable. Completion is expected in about 2025.
AUSTRIA
Party bungles leader vote
The Social Democratic Party on Saturday celebrated Hans Peter Doskozil as their new leader at a party conference after a ballot of delegates, only for faces to turn red two days later when it emerged that his opponent had actually won. The party’s electoral commission head Michaela Grubesa on Monday said that the results had been attributed to the wrong candidates and the winner was Andreas Babler. “Unfortunately, the paper ballots did not match the result that was announced digitally,” she told a news conference. “Due to a colleague’s technical error in the Excel list, the result was mixed up.” The correct count was 280 votes for Doskozil and 317 votes for Babler.
THE NETHERLANDS
No trial for genocide suspect
A UN court has ruled that aging Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga, 90, is unfit to stand trial, calling instead for an “alternative” legal procedure that would not end in a conviction. The Hague-based International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in an order late on Tuesday said that it “finds ... Mr Felicien Kabuga is unfit to participate meaningfully in his trial and is very unlikely to regain fitness in the future.” Judges said they wanted to “adopt an alternative finding procedure that resembles a trial as closely as possible, but without the possibility of a conviction.” Prosecutors accuse Kabuga of setting up hate media that urged ethnic Hutus to kill rival Tutsis and supplying death squads with machetes.
SWITZERLAND
Nations in LGBTQ face-off
A standoff has emerged over a reference to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the budget of the International Labour Organization (ILO), pitting a group of mostly Western countries against African and Arab states, six sources following the matter said. A paragraph in the 112-page budget lists vulnerable groups, committing the ILO to supporting those “affected by discrimination and exclusion, including on the grounds of race, sexual orientation and gender identity; and implementing measures conducive to promoting equality of opportunity and treatment.” A draft motion seen by Reuters backed by about 50 African and Arab countries aims to reject the wording on sexuality and gender saying it uses “non-universally agreed language.” Pakistan, speaking for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, voiced concern that such a reference would have a “misleading normative impact” and create legal conflicts. A Western diplomat said removing the language “basically signals to LGBTQ people in those countries that we [collectively] let them struggle by themselves.”
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
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
‘SIGNS OF ESCALATION’: Russian forces have been aiming to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbas province and have been capturing new villages as they move toward Pokrovsk Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Saturday said that Ukraine faced increasing difficulties in its fight against Moscow’s invasion as Russian forces advance and North Korean troops prepare to join the Kremlin’s campaign. Syrskyi, relating comments he made to a top US general, said outnumbered Ukrainian forces faced Russian attacks in key sectors of the more than two-and-a-half-year-old war with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a nightly address said that Ukraine’s military command was focused on defending around the town of Kurakhove — a target of Russia’s advances along with Pokrovsk, a logistical hub to the north. He decried strikes
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
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