CHINA
Israel embassy man stabbed
A 50-year-old Israeli man who works at the Israeli embassy in Beijing was on Friday stabbed in front of a supermarket, Chinese police and the Israeli government said. Beijing police said they had arrested a suspect, a 53-year-old foreign man. They described the victim as a family member of an Israeli diplomat. No motive was given for the attack. “The employee was transferred to hospital and he is in a stable condition,” the Israeli government said in a statement, without giving more details. A video posted on social media showed a man with a knife grappling with another man on the ground and stabbing him several times, leaving a trail of blood stains on the sidewalk.
SINGAPORE
Man indicted for bomb threat
An Australian man was on Saturday charged for making a false bomb threat on board a Perth-bound plane. Hawkins Kevin Francis, 30, faces up to 10 years in jail, a fine not exceeding S$500,000 (US$364,830) or both on conviction. Flight TR16 operated by budget carrier Scoot was forced to turn back to the city-state an hour into the journey on Thursday after the threat was made. The air force scrambled fighter jets to escort the aircraft back and the plane landed safely. Police said the threat was false. A district court ordered him to be remanded to an institute of mental health for two weeks for psychiatric observation.
RUSSIA
Navalny lawyers detained
Moscow on Friday detained three lawyers of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and raided their homes, aides said. Navalny is the country’s most prominent opposition politician and mobilized huge anti-government rallies before he was jailed in 2021 on fraud charges that his allies at home and abroad say are punitive. Lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexey Liptser, who have all defended Navalny in the past, have been remanded in pretrial detention until at least Dec. 13. Kobzev was due in court on Friday to represent Navalny in a lawsuit he has launched against his prison, but several aides said he was absent. “This is why it’s all being done: so that Alexei is left without legal protection,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said. “And to send a signal to other lawyers: it is dangerous to defend him and other political prisoners.”
UNITED STATES
NK sent Russia arms: Kirby
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday Pyongyang had provided Russia with 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions. “We condemn the DPRK for providing Russia with this military equipment, which will be used to attack Ukrainian cities, kill Ukrainian civilians and further Russia’s illegitimate war,” Kirby said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name. Kirby said the US is also concerned about Russia in turn providing assistance to North Korea.
UNITED STATES
Poet Louise Gluck dies
Poet Louise Gluck, winner of the Nobel prize for her distinctively austere writing that touched on themes of mythology and the universal human experience, has died, a Yale University spokeswoman said on Friday. She was 80. The New York native most recently taught at Yale as a poetry professor. She died of cancer on Friday at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the New York Times reported, citing friend and former Yale colleague Richard Deming. Gluck was the 2020 Nobel laureate in literature, the 16th woman to win the award.
‘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,”
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
‘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
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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