JAPAN
Import curbs must stop: G7
The G7 industrial powers yesterday called for the “immediate repeal” of import curbs on Japanese food products, a reference to China’s restrictions after the nation began releasing wastewater from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The G7 trade ministers, in a statement after a weekend meeting in Osaka, did not mention China, but they also denounced what they consider its rising economic coercion through trade. “We deplore actions to weaponize economic dependencies and commit to build on free, fair, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationships,” the 10-page statement said.
KAZAKHSTAN
Dozens die in mine fire
The nation was in mourning yesterday after 36 people died in a fire at an ArcelorMittal mine, the worst such disaster in years which has prompted the nationalization of the company’s local affiliate. The Ministry of Emergency Situations said at 10am that “the bodies of 36 miners were found and 10 workers were still being sought.” However, the chances of finding them alive are “very low,” rescuers said the night before, due to the lack of ventilation in the mine and the force of Saturday’s explosion, which spread over 2km. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev traveled to the scene on Saturday and ordered that cooperation with ArcelorMittal be “brought to an end.” Speaking to victims’ relatives at the Karaganda mine in the country’s center, Tokayev called ArcelorMittal “the worst enterprise in Kazakhstan’s history in terms of cooperation with the government.” The Kazakh government and the steel giant announced a preliminary agreement to “transfer ownership of the [local] firm in favor of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said.
CHINA
Defense forum begins
The Beijing Xiangshan Forum, the nation’s biggest annual show of military diplomacy, started yesterday, although China is still missing a defense minister, who typically hosts this event. Beijing hopes to use the forum to promote President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) vision and draw developing countries closer, as it faces increased coordination between the US and its allies to curtail its military ambitions. Russia is being given center stage at the forum. Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu was initially listed as the first guest speaker at today’s opening ceremony, but as of last night, his name was not on the agenda. The US Department of Defense has sent a delegation led by Xanthi Carras, China country director in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense.
MYANMAR
Former minister charged
Former minister for information Ye Htut has been arrested and charged with encouraging dissent against the military, the junta said yesterday, the latest in a series of high-profile arrests. In a statement, the junta information team said the 64-year-old had been detained on Saturday evening in connection with “spreading wrong information on social media.” “U Ye Htut was arrested last night and charged under section 505 (a),” a security source said. Section 505 outlaws any action deemed to undermine the military. The law carries a maximum jail term of three years. His arrest comes a week after pro-junta Telegram channels accused him of exposing the address of a retired military officer on social media.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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