JAPAN
Four missing in floods
Heavy rain in the past week has triggered floods and landslides, with four people missing as of yesterday, including two police officers. The rain had subsided in Yamagata and Akita prefectures, but the area was still at risk of flooding and landslides. One person was missing in Yuzawa city in Akita Prefecture after being hit by a landslide at a road construction site, while in Akita city, rescuers were searching for an 86-year-old man whose bicycle and helmet were found floating by a river, media reports and rescue agencies said. In Shinjo city in Yamagata Prefecture, two police officers were missing after reporting from a patrol vehicle that they were being swept away by floodwaters.
INDIA
Chinese border deal inked
New Delhi and Beijing have agreed to work to withdraw tens of thousands of troops stationed along their disputed border, the government said in a statement late on Thursday. Minister of Foreign Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on the sidelines of ASEAN meetings in Laos, where they stressed the need for an early resolution of outstanding issues along the disputed Line of Actual Control, the Himalayan border shared by the two nations. The two “agreed on the need to work with purpose and urgency to achieve complete disengagement at the earliest,” the statement said.
SRI LANKA
Presidential vote scheduled
The first presidential elections since an economic crisis spurred widespread unrest are to be held on Sept. 21, the election commission said yesterday. The election would be the first test of the public mood since the height of the 2022 downturn, which caused months of food, fuel and medicine shortages across the nation. President Ranil Wickremesinghe has hinted that he plans to run. He would face at least two rivals — opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and former minister of agriculture Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
VENEZUELA
Election campaigning ends
The government and the opposition on Thursday closed the official presidential campaign season with demonstrations that drew thousands of people to the streets of Caracas, three days before Sunday’s presidential election. President Nicolas Maduro, who is seeking a third term, spoke from a stage on one of the city’s main roads. He told the crowd that his opponents are promoters of violence and described himself as a man of peace. “Who of the 10 candidates guarantees peace and stability?” Maduro asked. He faces a challenge from former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who is representing the Unitary Platform coalition.
UNITED STATES
Cartel members arrested
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of another cartel leader, were arrested in Texas on Thursday, the Department of Justice said. A leader of the Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Zambada is one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the world. A Mexican federal official told reporters that Zambada and Guzman Lopez arrived in the US on a private plane and turned themselves in to authorities. Zambada in February in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, one of several charges he faces.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS