PHILIPPINES
Soldier, rebels die in clash
Six guerrillas and a soldier were killed in a clash yesterday, officials said, as the government prepared to restart peace talks to end one of the world’s longest-running Maoist insurgencies. Government troops exchanged fire with New People’s Army guerrillas near the town of Balayan, about 68km south of the capital, Manila, an army statement said. The clash came three weeks after the government and the rebels agreed to resume negotiations aimed at ending the near 55-year insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.
UKRAINE
Drone attack repelled
The government yesterday said that it had repelled two Russian missile and 20 drone attacks overnight, as Moscow reported downing 33 drones fired from Ukraine. “The Russian occupying forces attacked with the Iskander-K cruise missile, the Kh-59 guided air missile ... as well as 20 Shahed-type strike drones,” the air force said in a statement. The military shot down the drones and the Kh-59 missile, while the “Iskander-K cruise missile did not reach its goal,” the air force said, adding that the missiles were launched from Crimea and the occupied Kherson region.
UNITED KINGDOM
Grid removes China tech
The National Grid has started removing components supplied by a unit of China-backed Nari Technology from the electricity transmission network over cybersecurity fears, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The decision came in April after the utility sought advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, the newspaper quoted a Whitehall official as saying. An employee at the Nari subsidiary, NR Electric UK, said the company no longer had access to sites where the components were installed and that National Grid did not disclose a reason for terminating the contracts, the Financial Times said. It quoted another person it did not name as saying the decision was based on NR Electric UK components that help control and balance the grid and minimize the risk of blackouts.
UNITED STATES
Wine fraudster faces charges
A British man accused of allegedly defrauding investors of nearly US$100 million through a Ponzi-like scheme involving nonexistent luxury wines pleaded not guilty in a New York court on Saturday. Stephen Burton, 58, was extradited to New York from Morocco on Friday to face the charges, following his arrest last year, after entering that country using a fake Zimbabwean passport, authorities said. Federal prosecutors said that Burton, along with a codefendant, ran Bordeaux Cellars, a company they said brokered loans between investors and high-net-worth wine collectors.
AUSTRALIA
Original AC/DC drummer dies
Australian drummer Colin Burgess, an original member of the hard rock band AC/DC in the early 1970s, has died, the band confirmed on its social media accounts. He was 77. “Very sad to hear of the passing of Colin Burgess,” said an unsigned post on the band’s official Facebook page late Friday. “He was our first drummer and a very respected musician. Happy memories, rock in peace Colin.” No cause of death was given. Burgess was recruited in November 1973 to help form AC/DC with Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar and his brother Angus on lead guitar, lead vocalist Dave Evans and bassist Larry Van Kriedt. The band fired Burgess in February 1974, accusing him of being drunk on stage. He later said someone had spiked his drink.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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