MYANMAR
Chief meets Li in Kinmin
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) on the civil war roiling his country, state media said yesterday, during his first visit to China since seizing power in a 2021 coup. Min Aung Hlaing told Li at a meeting in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming that the military was ready for peace if armed groups would engage, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported. The junta is reeling from a major rebel offensive last year that seized a large area of territory, much of it near the border with China. China has been a major arms supplier to the junta and provided Myanmar with political backing even as other countries shun the generals over their brutal crackdown on dissent. However, Beijing is concerned about the chaos unfolding on its doorstep, in particular the growth of online scam compounds in Myanmar, run by and targeting Chinese citizens. Last month, a blast targeted the Chinese consulate in Mandalay. There were no casualties, but Beijing issued a furious rebuke.
ISRAEL
Deportation law passed
The parliament yesterday passed a law that would allow it to deport family members of Palestinian attackers, including the country’s own citizens, to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip or other locations. The law, which was championed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and his far-right allies, passed with a 61 to 41 vote, but is likely to be challenged in court. It would apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of annexed east Jerusalem who knew about their family members’ attacks beforehand or who “express support or identification with the act of terrorism.” They would be deported, either to the Gaza Strip or another location, for a period of between 7 and 20 years.
JAPAN
US Steel deal done soon
Nippon Steel yesterday said that it still expects to close its takeover of US Steel this year, despite opposition from both US President Joe Biden and US president-elect Donald Trump. Ahead of the US election, Trump vowed to block the deal worth more than US$14 billion. A Nippon Steel earnings presentation yesterday said that “the transaction is expected to close in... calendar year 2024” pending a US national security review. “Now that the election is over, we believe that there can be constructive discussions about this deal,” vice chairman Takahiro Mori said. US Steel has said that the Nippon deal is needed to ensure sufficient investment in its Mon Valley plants in Pennsylvania, the earliest of which dates to 1875.
AUSTRALIA
PM vows social media ban
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday vowed to ban children aged 16 and younger from social media, saying the pervasive influence of platforms like Facebook and TikTok was “doing real harm to our kids.” The tech giants would be held responsible for enforcing the age limit and face hefty fines if regulators notice young users slipping through the cracks, Albanese said. Canberra is among the vanguard of nations trying to clean up social media, and the proposed age limit would be among the world’s strictest measures aimed at children. The new laws would be presented to state and territory leaders this week, before being introduced to parliament later this month. Once passed, the tech platforms would be given a one-year grace period to figure out how to implement and enforce the ban.
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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