CHINA
Italian president visits
Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Friday met with President Xi Jinping (習近平) on an official visit to China that came as Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine pitted Rome’s NATO allies against Beijing’s support for Moscow. The two exchanged greetings following a ceremony with full military honors at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing. In his opening remarks, Xi referred to the 700th anniversary of Italian adventurer and trader Marco Polo’s journey to China that encouraged cultural, economic and religious links between Europe and East Asia. Italy is heavily reliant on foreign trade such as luxury products that have a large market in China. It is also a member of NATO, which China has blamed for provoking the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Beijing has provided Moscow with assistance by purchasing its energy exports while selling it technology that can be used in drones and other armaments. Any differences on political issues were not raised in front of the media and the two leaders later oversaw the signing of a series of agreements on matters from culture to technology and trade. Italy has withdrawn from Xi’s signature global Belt and Road Initiative that seeks to deepen China’s relations with countries in Africa, Asia, Latin American and the Middle East through infrastructure investments. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni had declined to renew the agreement, but nevertheless visited China in July.
INDONESIA
Dua Lipa concert canceled
Glastonbury headliner Dua Lipa has canceled the Indonesian leg of her Asian tour, citing unsafe staging. The 29-year-old pop star was due to perform in Jakarta yesterday, but pulled out the night before over safety issues at the capital’s 16,500-seat Indonesia Arena. “I’m heartbroken to share that I won’t be able to perform in Jakarta this Saturday,” she wrote in a social media post late on Friday. “I am here in your amazing country and ready to perform, but I am gutted to share that it has been determined that it is not safe for the performance to carry on due to safety issues with the staging.” She had just performed in Singapore, but her tour will now skip past Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and home to about 280 million people, moving on to the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand. “I was so looking forward to this night, and it truly pains me that we cannot perform for you all, especially after such a long time since my last performance in Jakarta,” she said. “I love you all and truly can’t wait to be back together in the same room with you singing and dancing our hearts out as soon as possible.”
BRAZIL
Gunmen kill businessman
Police said that unidentified gunmen in a black car on Friday afternoon opened fire at Sao Paulo’s International Airport in Guarulhos, killing one person and injuring three. Police identified the victim who died as Antonio Vinicius Lopes Gritzbach, who had previously received death threats from the First Command of the Capital, a powerful international criminal group. Gritzbach, who had cryptocurrency businesses, had recently entered a plea bargain with local prosecutors to speak about his ties to the criminal organization, police said. Police have not yet determined the number of gunmen involved in the attack. Social media footage shows two people who appear to have been shot at the airport. One victim is seen lying on the ground at Terminal 2, primarily used for domestic flights, while the other is seen stranded on an access road outside the terminal.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair on Monday was found guilty of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, the au pair, shot him, too, but officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Brendan Banfield set
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