ARMENIA
Over 200 protesters detained
Police have detained more than 200 demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over territorial concessions made to Azerbaijan, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Protests erupted in the nation last month after the government agreed to hand territory it had controlled since the 1990s back to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan’s position remains unshaken, despite the challenge mounted by archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who is trying to launch an impeachment process against him. Hundreds of protesters yesterday took to the streets across Armenia, trying to block roads in what Galstanyan has called a “nationwide campaign of disobedience.” The ministry said “226 citizens were detained for disobeying the lawful demands of police.” Last week Yerevan returned control over four border villages it had seized decades ago to Azerbaijan, a key step toward normalizing ties between the two countries — who fought two wars for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
JAPAN
Chinese ships spotted
The Japan Coast Guard has spotted Chinese ships sailing near disputed islands in the East China Sea for a record 158 consecutive days, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said yesterday. The territorial dispute over the Tokyo-controlled islets, known as the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) by China, is a long-running sore point between the countries. The coast guard observed four China Maritime Police Bureau vessels sailing in the “contiguous” zone adjacent to Japan’s territorial sea near the island chain. It was the 158th consecutive day that Chinese boats were spotted there — surpassing the previous record of 157 days in 2021, Hayashi said. “The government considers this series of navigations within the contiguous zone and intrusions into territorial waters an extremely serious matter,” he told reporters.
THAILAND
MP jailed over royal insult
A Thai court yesterday sentenced a lawmaker from the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) to two years in jail for insulting the monarchy. Chonthicha Jaengraew was found guilty under lese majeste laws over a speech she made during an anti-government protest in 2021. The MFP won the most seats in last year’s general election, but was blocked from forming a government by conservative forces opposed to its pledge to reform the royal defamation laws. The court in Thanyaburi reduced the sentence from three years because Chonthicha cooperated, her lawyer said. The court freed the lawmaker on 150,000 baht (US$4,097) bail pending an appeal, the lawyer added.
PAKISTAN
33 arrested over assault
Police have arrested dozens of Muslim men and charged them with attacking a Christian father and son on allegations of desecrating pages of Islam’s holy book, officials said yesterday. The mob went on a rampage on Saturday after locals saw burnt pages of the Koran outside the two Christian men’s house and accused the son of being behind it, setting their house and shoemaking factory on fire in the city of Sargodha in Punjab Province, senior police officer Asad Ijaz Malhi said. They also beat up the son. Malhi said police forces rescued the two wounded men and transported them to a hospital where they were in stable condition, and that at least 33 men were arrested following multiple police raids. Authorities were chasing others who might be involved in the attack, he said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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