NORWAY
Nobel lifts Russia ban
Ambassadors from Russia and Belarus have been invited again to Stockholm’s Nobel Prize banquet this year after being left out last year because of the Ukraine invasion, the Nobel Foundation said on Thursday. Jimmie Akesson, the leader of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, was also invited to the event for the first time. The foundation said that ambassadors from all countries that are diplomatically represented in Sweden and Norway would be invited to the prize award ceremonies in December. It said it sought to include even those who did not share the values of the Nobel Prize to promote dialogue and understanding. Akesson said he would not attend. “Unfortunately I’m busy that day,” he wrote on Facebook.
UNITED STATES
US, China officials meet
US and Chinese military officials met at a defense chiefs conference in Fiji last month, in a rare direct engagement between the armed forces of the two superpowers. US Admiral John Aquilino, who leads the US Indo-Pacific Command, held a meeting with a senior Chinese official at the event held from Aug. 14 to 16, the Pentagon said. Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Wu Qian (吳謙) told reporters in Beijing on Thursday that General Xu Qiling (徐起零), deputy joint chief of staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, met US representatives there. Neither side gave further details on the discussions.
GEORGIA
President under fire over EU
The ruling Georgian Dream party yesterday said that it would begin impeachment proceedings against the president due to her visits to the EU, which were made against the will of the government, news agency Interpress reported. President Salome Zourabichvili had “flagrantly violated” the country’s constitution, Interpress cited Georgian Dream party leader Irakli Kobakhidze as saying, adding that the party would begin impeachment proceedings. Kobakhidze said the impeachment is unlikely to succeed, as Georgian Dream, which has a simple majority in parliament, would need the support of the opposition for it to pass. Zourabichvili, a former French diplomat of Georgian descent, was elected to the nation’s mostly ceremonial presidency in 2018 with Georgian Dream’s backing. She has since broken with the party, which she has repeatedly accused of being pro-Russian and insufficiently committed to the nation joining the EU and NATO.
SRI LANKA
Piano-playing cop fired
The nation’s police force yesterday said it had sacked an officer who had entertained protesters with an impromptu piano performance after they stormed the presidential compound last year. Constable R. M. D. Dayaratne was deployed to help protect the colonial-era residence on the day it was taken over by protesters who forced then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country. Instead, he sat at a grand piano in the compound and played a song to the crowd streaming through its rooms. “Dayaratne was on social media playing the piano while the building was being vandalized,” a senior officer said on condition of anonymity. “He was our Nero,” the officer added, referring to the ancient Roman emperor said to have played the fiddle while the city burned in a weeklong fire. Police authorities concluded that the constable had breached discipline after a lengthy investigation.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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