Philippines
Manila responds to Duterte
Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro yesterday vowed to “strictly enforce” the country’s sovereignty, joining the chorus of security officials pledging to defend the nation following secessionist threats made by former president Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte on Tuesday last week called for the independence of his hometown island Mindanao as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr disintegrated last week over disagreements around efforts to amend the constitution. “The mandate of the Department of National Defense is to secure the sovereignty of the state and integrity of the national territory as enshrined in the constitution,” Teodoro said in a statement. “We will strictly enforce this mandate whether externally or internally,” he added. Teodoro’s remarks echoed similar statements made by the national security adviser, who on Sunday said the government would not hesitate to “use its authority and forces to quell and stop any and all attempts to dismember the Republic.”
PHILIPPINES
China hackers target sites
Hackers operating in China attempted to break into Web sites and e-mail systems of the president and government agencies, one promoting maritime security, but failed, a Department of Information and Communications Technology official said yesterday. The mailboxes of the department, the Web site of National Coast Watch and the personal Web site of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr were among the targets of the unsuccessful hacking operations this month, department spokesperson Renato Paraiso told DWPM radio. “We are not attributing this to any state, but using the Internet protocol addresses, we pinpointed it to China,” Paraiso said, adding that the hackers were traced to be using the services of Chinese state-owned Unicom.
CHILE
Fire death toll rises
The death toll from wildfires climbed to at least 112 people on Sunday, after President Gabriel Boric warned that the number would rise “significantly” as teams search gutted neighborhoods. Responders continued to battle fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with temperatures soaring to 40°C over the weekend. The Ministry of the Interior late on Sunday said that the medical examiner’s office had received 112 dead victims, 32 of whom have been identified, and that there are 40 fires still active in the country.
HONG KONG
Firm scammed for US$26m
Scammers tricked a multinational firm out of about HK$200 million (US$26 million) via 15 transactions by impersonating senior executives using “deepfake” technology, police said on Sunday. An employee in the finance department of a company received “videoconference calls from someone posing as senior officers of the company requesting to transfer money to designated bank accounts,” police said. Police received a report of the incident on Monday last week. The scammers pretended to be the firm’s UK-based chief financial officer, media reports said. “Scammers found publicly available video and audio of the impersonation targets via YouTube, then used deepfake technology to emulate their voices ... to lure the victim to follow their instructions,” Acting Police Senior Superintendent Baron Chan (陳純青) told reporters. The videos were prerecorded and did not involve dialogue or interaction with the victim, he added.
‘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,”
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
‘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
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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