UNITED STATES
Japan missile deal approved
Washington on Friday approved Tokyo’s request to buy 400 Tomahawk missiles, part of Japan’s bid to bolster defenses despite fresh dialogue with China. The Department of State said it was approving the US$2.35 billion sale that includes two types of the Tomahawk missiles, which have a 1,600km range. The State Department said the sale was aimed at “improving the security of a major ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific region.” The sale “will improve Japan’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a long-range, conventional surface-to-surface missile with significant standoff range that can neutralize growing threats,” it said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
Diddy Combs settles suit
Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and his ex-girlfriend R&B vocalist Cassandra Ventura on Friday settled her lawsuit that accused the rapper of serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape, lawyers for Ventura said. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. In a joint written statement with Combs, Ventura said that she “decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control.” Ventura, who performs under the stage name Cassie, filed the lawsuit on Thursday in a New York federal court, accusing Combs of forcing her to engage in sex acts with a succession of male prostitutes he hired while he watched and filmed. The lawsuit also accused Combs of regularly beating Ventura over the course of a 10-year professional and romantic relationship, and that he raped her in 2018.
UNITED STATES
Marcos meets with Xi
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Friday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco, seeking ways to come up with ways to reduce tensions in the South China Sea and restore Filipino fishers’ access to fishing grounds. The Philippines and China need to continue to communicate, with the meeting a key part of the process to maintain peace, and keep open sea lanes and airways over the South China Sea, Marcos told reporters. “We tried to come up with mechanisms to lower the tensions in the South China Sea,” he said, without elaborating. Marcos said he voiced concern over incidents between Chinese and Philippine vessels, including one collision. He said he also raised the plight of Filipino fishermen. “I asked that we go back to the situation where both Chinese and Filipino fishermen were fishing together in these waters,” he said.
AUSTRIA
‘First Dog’ nips president
After Commander, US President Joe Biden’s biting German shepherd, Moldova’s presidential pooch Codrut is in the spotlight after nipping President Alexander Van der Bellen during a visit this week. Codrut, who was adopted by Moldovan President Maia Sandu a few months ago, snapped at Van der Bellen when he tried to pet her on Thursday. Van der Bellen, 79, sustained a light injury he dismissed as not “half as bad” as it appeared in video footage. He wrote on social media on Friday that he could “understand” the dog’s excitement as “he was nervous because of all the people around him.” Codrut has not been officially reprimanded, and was even given a dog toy by Van der Bellen as a parting gift.
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
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
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
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