GEORGIA
Armenia hoping for peace
Armenia hopes to conclude a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the coming months and establish diplomatic relations with it, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said yesterday at a forum in Tbilisi that was also attended by his Azerbaijani and Georgian counterparts. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in conflict for three decades over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Baku last month launching a lightning offensive to retake it. The two countries have since both declared willingness to sign a peace deal, though progress has been fitful and regular border skirmishes have continued. Pashinyan also said that Armenia hopes to open its border with Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, to citizens of third countries and holders of diplomatic passports. Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov said that Baku had been committed to peace and the restoration of transports links with Armenia since 2020, but that progress hinged on Yerevan’s willingness to act.
PAKISTAN
Deportation centers set up
The nation is setting up deportation centers for illegal migrants, including an estimated 1.7 million Afghans, officials said yesterday. Anyone found staying in the country illegally from Wednesday next week would be arrested and sent to the deportation centers. Jan Achakzai, a spokesman for the southwestern Baluchistan government, said three deportation centers are being set up, including one in Quetta. Azam Khan, the caretaker chief minister for the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, said the region would have three deportation centers. More than 60,000 Afghans have returned home since the crackdown was announced, he said. Caretaker Minister of the Interior Sarfraz Bugti has said there would be no deadline extension.
AUSTRALIA
Seven arrested in probe
Police have arrested seven members of an alleged Chinese crime syndicate for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through one of the nation’s largest money remitters after a giant sting operation. Police yesterday said that from 2020 to this year, the Chinese Long River crime syndicate laundered A$229 million (US$144.6 million) through the Changjiang Currency Exchange, one of the nation’s largest independently owned remitters. More than 330 police and other specialists on Wednesday arrested seven alleged members of the syndicate, including four Chinese nationals, during 20 search warrants across five states. Police said the syndicate camouflaged the proceeds of cyberscams, illicit goods trafficking and other crime within the exchange’s mostly lawful daily transactions, which were as high as A$100 million. The proceeds allegedly funded an extravagant lifestyle of expensive restaurants, private jets and luxury homes, one valued at more than A$10 million. Police have quarantined more than A$50 million in assets.
SOUTH KOREA
K-pop star under probe
K-pop star G-Dragon, of the wildly successful, but problem-plagued band BIGBANG, is under investigation for alleged drug use, police said yesterday, becoming the latest in a string of entertainers to face such a probe. Police in Incheon said they had “opened an investigation” into G-Dragon’s case, but declined to provide details of the allegations against him. The disclosure comes less than a week after police launched an investigation into Parasite actor Lee Sun-kyun, who is accused of using marijuana and other psychoactive drugs.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
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