CHINA
Xi backs Fiji PM’s plan
President Xi Jinping (習近平) told visiting Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka he backed his “Ocean of Peace” plan during a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday, state media reported. China also pledged to step up its trade ties with the state, which wants to upgrade its ports and ship building, roads and sewage infrastructure, but can only do so by securing better terms for its agricultural and fisheries exporters owing to deep debts. “China appreciates Prime Minister Rabuka’s vision for an Ocean of Peace and is committed to working with Fiji to contribute to international peace and security,” Xi said, according to a readout released late on Tuesday night. Rabuka is to visit Tonga next week for a meeting of the heads of 18 Pacific island countries and territories, where they are to consider a regional policing proposal backed by Australia. Rabuka has proposed an “Ocean of Peace” foreign policy to Pacific leaders that envisions engagement with all major powers and avoids militarization of the islands region. Beijing also agreed to invest in Fiji’s tourism, agriculture and fisheries industries and support a road upgrade project, the readout said.
SOUTH KOREA
First lady to be cleared
Prosecutors are set to clear the wife of President Yoon Suk-yeol of any criminal charge over her receiving a luxury handbag under questionable circumstances, a report said, winding up a probe into a case that has rocked the country’s politics. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office has concluded there is no direct link between Yoon’s duties and First Lady Kim Keon-hee receiving the bag that was purchased for 3 million won (US$2,242). They found no evidence that favors were offered in return to the individual, a pastor, who gave her the bag, Yonhap News reported, citing sources it did not identify. The probe team is expected to report the results of its investigation to the top prosecutor in the coming days, Yonhap said.
INDONESIA
Crocodile kills woman
A crocodile killed a woman bathing in a river in the country’s east, police and locals said yesterday. Locals later recovered parts of her body from the slaughtered animal. Halima Rahakbauw, 54, was swimming in a river in Wali village on the Maluku islands after spending Tuesday morning looking for clams when the reptile struck. Rahakbauw’s neighbour, Rustam Ilyas, said relatives and friends started a search when she failed to return home. After spotting a sandal and a body part in the river, villagers reported the incident to police who killed the reptile. “The crocodile was quite big, around 4m long,” Ilyas said.
IRAN
Bus overturns, killing 28
At least 28 Pakistani pilgrims traveling to Iraq for a Shiite Muslim ritual were killed as their bus crashed in central Iran, state media reported early yesterday. “A bus carrying 51 Pakistani pilgrims overturned and caught fire in front of Dehshir-Taft checkpoint in the central province of Yazd on Tuesday night... Twenty-eight people have been killed and 23 injured so far with the possibility of the death toll increasing,” state television reported. “Of the 23 injured, six have already been discharged from hospital, while the condition of seven others is critical,” Yazd Province crisis management chief Ali Malek-zadeh said. “The dead consisted of 11 women and 17 men,” he added. The pilgrims were headed through Iran to Iraq to attend the Arbaeen commemoration, one of the biggest events of the Shiite calendar.
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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