EUROPEAN UNION
Orban under scrutiny
EU foreign ministers are to evaluate how to respond to trips by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Russia and China, and his country’s positioning over the EU’s role in Ukraine, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said yesterday. Hungary this month took over the six-month rotating presidency of the bloc, and Orban almost immediately went to Moscow and Beijing in what was described as a “peace mission,” despite none of his EU partners being aware, or mandating him to do so. He also left a NATO summit early to meet former US president Donald Trump. “We will discuss what has happened and positions taken by the Hungarian government,” Borrell said, describing them as “unacceptable.” Some member states would like the bloc to show a tougher stance on Budapest. Among the ideas would be to boycott or downgrade the attendance of ministers at an informal meeting in Budapest next month.
PAKISTAN
Frankfurt protest slammed
The government has lodged a strong protest with Germany over its failure to prevent protesters getting into the grounds of the Pakistani consulate in Frankfurt, demanding action against “a gang of extremists” that it says breached security and endangered the lives of its staff. It was unclear what prompted the demonstrators to hold Saturday’s protest outside the building. Pakistan has not identified those involved in the protest, but some of the demonstrators were carrying the tricolor flags of Afghanistan. Videos circulating on social media showed a protester taking down the Pakistani flag. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on X that Pakistan has urged Germany to take immediate measures to arrest and prosecute those involved in the incident. Frankfurt police said in a statement that an investigation was under way and officers were in contact with the Pakistani consulate.
CHINA
Retirement age to rise
The nation is to gradually raise its statutory retirement age to allow people to work longer, as it struggles to relieve soaring pressure on pension budgets, with many provinces already facing deficits. The reform is urgent, with life expectancy having risen to 78 years in 2021, from about 44 years in 1960, and projected to exceed 80 years by 2050. Sunday’s announcement came in a key policy document that also rolled out plans to sharpen a strategy to combat a declining birthrate and an aging population that fell for a second straight year last year, and is seen falling for decades. The retirement age is now 60 for men, while for women in white-collar work it is 55, and 50 for women who work in factories.
UNITED KINGDOM
Artist swaps museum coin
A Brazilian conceptual artist swapped a historic British coin for a fake in the British Museum to highlight the large number of foreign objects it holds. Ile Sartuzi said the idea came to him when he saw a museum volunteer handing visitors coins to handle. He asked for an English Civil War-era silver coin, because “it is one of the few British things in the British Museum” and then created a diversion while he swapped it for the fake. Sartuzi told Reuters he deposited the original coin in the museum’s collection box on the way out. The Art Newspaper first reported his act, which he recounted in a video made for his master’s degree at Goldsmiths, University of London. The British Museum said it would inform police about the incident, which took place last month.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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