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.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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