JAPAN
Deputy minister resigns
A deputy finance minister yesterday stepped down over revelations that he had been delinquent on tax payments, another blow to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose public support is languishing in the polls. Kenji Kanda, state minister of finance in charge of government bonds and monetary policy, told reporters he had resigned, because he did not want the issue to disrupt debate in parliament. The legislature is soon to deliberate a ￥13.1 trillion (US$86.3 billion) supplementary budget to fund the government’s economic package. The Shukan Bunshun magazine first reported last week that a private firm owned by Kanda, who is a licensed tax accountant, had repeatedly failed to pay taxes and authorities had foreclosed on a company building four times. Kanda said that the report was true.
THAILAND
Chinese police plan alarms
The government is mulling a plan to station Chinese police personnel at some of its popular tourist destinations to lift the confidence of travelers from China, but the move has sparked a controversy, with some critics raising concerns over sovereignty. The cooperation with Chinese police was discussed by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, senior police and tourism officials on Sunday as a way to draw more Chinese visitors. “We’re in talks with the Chinese embassy about a patrol program to bring Chinese police to Thailand,” Tourism Authority Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool told reporters on Sunday. Thai Internet users slammed the move, with most saying they are worried that the nation would become another location for the covert operations targeting Chinese dissidents overseas. Government spokesman Chai Wacharonke said the plan was aimed at busting Chinese mafia groups operating in the nation and had nothing to do with independence or sovereignty.
IRAN
Three hanged over attacks
Tehran yesterday hanged three men convicted of carrying out 2019 bombing attacks in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the judiciary’s Mizan Online Web site quoted provincial Chief Justice Ali Mostafavinia as saying. The three men were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of bombing attacks targeting a police station and a patrol vehicle in the provincial capital, Zahedan. The defendants were also convicted over “receiving military training, transferring and hiding bomb-making materials,” Mostafavinia said. The nation has executed more than 600 people this year, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said in a report this month.
UNITED STATES
Scott drops out of race
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott is ending his presidential campaign, a long-shot bid to offer an alternative to Republican standard-bearer Donald Trump that drew the interest of prominent Wall Street executives. “If you ever want to love your country more, run for president,” Scott said on Fox News. “Traveling this country, meeting people, it’s been one of the most fantastic experiences of my entire life. I love America more today than I did on May 22. But when I go back to Iowa it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign.” Scott, 58, faced an uphill climb in the Republican contest, struggling to emerge from a crowded pack with an upbeat message built around his personal story and an optimistic vision for the country that was in sharp contrast to Trump’s rhetoric. The only black Republican US Senator, Scott was first elected to the chamber in 2013.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
‘SIGNS OF ESCALATION’: Russian forces have been aiming to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbas province and have been capturing new villages as they move toward Pokrovsk Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Saturday said that Ukraine faced increasing difficulties in its fight against Moscow’s invasion as Russian forces advance and North Korean troops prepare to join the Kremlin’s campaign. Syrskyi, relating comments he made to a top US general, said outnumbered Ukrainian forces faced Russian attacks in key sectors of the more than two-and-a-half-year-old war with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a nightly address said that Ukraine’s military command was focused on defending around the town of Kurakhove — a target of Russia’s advances along with Pokrovsk, a logistical hub to the north. He decried strikes
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
RSS