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.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
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