CHINA
Russian official visits
A Russian defense official attended a military showcase in Zhuhai in a show of unity between the countries as Moscow continues its invasion of Ukraine. Russian Federation Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu viewed Chinese and Russian aircraft and other military hardware at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition. Shoigu, a former defense minister, appeared to be on a mission to reaffirm ties between the countries as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has largely stalemated and Moscow has turned to North Korean soldiers to boost its troop numbers.
Photo: EPA-EFE
BRAZIL
Explosion rocks court
A man who attempted to break into the Supreme Court on Wednesday killed himself in explosions outside the building, authorities said. The two blasts were heard at about 7:30pm after the day’s session finished and all the justices and staff left the building safely, the court said in a statement. Local firefighters said that one man died at the scene in the capital, Brasilia, but did not identify him. Celina Leao, the lieutenant governor of the federal district, said the suspect had earlier detonated explosives in a car in a congress parking lot, which did not cause injuries. “His first action was to explode the car. Then he approached the Supreme Court and tried to get in the building. He failed and then there were the other explosions,” Leao told a news conference.
UNITED STATES
Man charged over leaks
A man who worked for the government has been charged with leaking classified information assessing Israel’s earlier plans to attack Iran, court papers filed on Wednesday said. The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI this week in Cambodia and was due to make his first court appearance in Guam. He was indicted last week in a court in Virginia on two counts of willful transmission of national defense information. Officials said Rahman had a top-secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information.
UNITED STATES
Election gambler paid
A man made US$85 million in a series of wagers on Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market that was a popular platform for betting on the presidential election won by Donald Trump, a blockchain analysis firm said on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that the man is a French citizen and former trader whose first name is Theo, though he declined to publicize his last name. Last month, Polymarket said a French bettor had wagered a large sum on Trump winning the election on Tuesday last week. Chainanalysis, a New York-based blockchain analysis firm, said it had done cross-checking and identified 11 Polymarket accounts with similar characteristics. The accounts were fed at the same time, made bets at the same time and were emptied simultaneously, Chainanalysis said. The gambler bet US$70 million on Trump winning the election over Vice President Kamala Harris. After the election was called, he got it all back and US$85 million in winnings. Media reported that FBI agents raided the New York home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan on Wednesday. The cause and goal of the probe were not known. A Polymarket spokesperson told Axios that the raid was an “obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election.”
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS