PHILIPPINES
China parks ‘monster ship’
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday said that the China Coast Guard’s largest vessel has anchored in Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea. The 165m “monster ship” entered Manila’s 200 nautical mile (370km) EEZ on Tuesday last week, PCG spokesperson Jay Tarriela told a news forum. The PCG warned the Chinese vessel that it was in the EEZ and asked about its intentions, he said. “It’s an intimidation on the part of the China Coast Guard,” Tarriela said. “We’re not going to pull out and we’re not going to be intimidated.” China’s embassy in Manila and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese ship, which has also deployed a small boat, was anchored 732m away from the PCG’s vessel, Tarriela said.
STANDING HEAD
Moulin Rouge windmill back
Paris’ famed Moulin Rouge cabaret on Friday got its red windmill back during a special ceremony that featured can-can dancing on the plaza outside. The windmill’s huge sails inexplicably collapsed after a show earlier this year at the iconic venue. Part of the cabaret’s illuminated sign also crashed to the ground as a result of what its director called a technical problem. No one was hurt, and the mayor of Paris’ 18th district said the structure was not in danger. The Moulin Rouge scrambled to repair the damage before the Olympic torch relay passes through the area July 15, expected to draw big crowds. The windmill was first illuminated on Oct. 6, 1889 at the opening of the Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge management says its performers represent 18 nationalities and it receives 600,000 spectators a year.
UNITED KINGDOM
Starmer axes Rwanda plan
Newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer has killed off a deportation plan that would see migrants who arrived illegally sent to Rwanda on his first day on the job, the Telegraph reported on Friday, citing Labour Party sources, calling the plan “effectively dead.” Starmer had earlier promised to scrap the Conservative Party’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, but with migration a key electoral issue, he is under pressure himself to find a way to stop tens of thousands of people arriving across the Channel from France on small boats.
UNITED STATES
Trump shuns Project 2025
Former president Donald Trump on Friday tried to distance himself from a conservative group’s sweeping plans for the next Republican presidency, days after its leader said a second American Revolution was under way that would “remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” The Republican presidential candidate renounced any connection with Project 2025, a plan Democrats have been attacking to highlight what they say is Trump’s extreme policy agenda for a second term should he beat US President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election. Many people involved in the project lead by the Heritage Foundation, the country’s top conservative think tank, worked in the Trump White House and would likely help fill out his administration if he wins in November. However, Trump said on his Truth Social platform he had nothing to do with the plan. “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” he wrote. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying,” he said, adding that some of their assertions were “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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