HONOLULU, USA: President Donald Trump headed to Japan on the first stop of his five-nation tour of Asia on Saturday, looking to present a united front with the Japanese against North Korea as tensions run high over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests.
Trump, who is on a 12-day trip, is to speak to US and Japanese forces at Yokota air base shortly after arriving in Japan on Sunday and looked to stress the importance of the alliance to regional security.
Ballistic missile tests by North Korea and its sixth and largest nuclear test, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, have exacerbated the most critical international challenge of Trump’s presidency.
Aerial drills conducted over South Korea by two US strategic bombers have raised tensions in recent days.
In a display of golf diplomacy, Trump is to play a round of golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two leaders also played together in Florida earlier this year.
Trump will also have a state call with the Imperial Family at Akasaka Palace during his visit. Abe and Trump will meet families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.
Joined by his wife Melania on part of the trip, Trump’s tour of Asia is the longest by an American president since George H.W. Bush in 1992. Besides Japan, he will visit South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Trump departed Hawaii for Japan aboard Air Force One shortly before 7:27 a.m. Hawaii time (1727 GMT).
En route to Hawaii’s Hickham Air Force Base, Trump’s motorcade stopped briefly at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki.
“It has been a tremendously successful project and he wanted to say hello and thank you to the employees for all their hard work,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
Trump extended the trip by a day on Friday when he agreed to participate in a summit of East Asian nations in Manila.
His trip got off to a colorful start in Hawaii. He was taken by boat out to the USS Arizona Memorial, where lies the World War Two ship that was sunk by the Japanese during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.
The Trumps tossed white flower petals into the waters at the memorial in honor of those who died at Pearl Harbor.
Trade, North Korea
Trump’s trip is to be dominated by trade and how to muster more international pressure on North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.
“We’ll be talking about trade,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “We’ll be talking about obviously North Korea. We’ll be enlisting the help of a lot of people and countries and we’ll see what happens. But I think we’re going to have a very successful trip. There is a lot of good will.”
Trump has rattled some allies with his vow to “totally destroy” North Korea if it threatens the United States and his dismissal of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.
White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster, briefing reporters on Friday, defended Trump’s colorful language.
“What’s inflammatory is the North Korean regime and what they’re doing to threaten the world,” McMaster said.
Trump will seek a united front with the leaders of Japan and South Korea against North Korea before visiting Beijing to make the case to Chinese President Xi Jinping that he should do more to rein in Pyongyang.
Trade will factor heavily during Trump’s trip as he tries to persuade Asian allies to agree to trade policies more favorable to the United States.
A centerpiece of the trip will be a visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, where he will deliver a speech in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, which is seen as offering a bulwark in response to expansionist Chinese policies.
Trump heads to Japan with North Korea on his mind
Trump heads to Japan with North Korea on his mind
Spain court remands ex-UN official wanted by US for fraud
Spain’s top criminal court on Wednesday ordered he be remanded in custody because he poses a flight risk
MADRID: A Spanish court has ordered a former top UN official wanted on suspicion of fraud which cost the agency millions of dollars to be remanded in custody, according to a ruling made public Thursday.
An internal UN court ruled last year that Vitaly Vanshelboim, a Ukrainian, secretly collected $3 million in gifts, including a new Mercedes, from a British businessman while he invested more than $58 million of the body’s money in the man’s companies.
At the time he was the deputy head of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), a little-known agency that acts as a kind of general contractor for other arms of the organization.
Vanshelboim was put on leave in 2021 while the UN investigated the allegations and was sacked in early 2023. He moved to Spain three years ago.
A New York court in January issued an international arrest warrant for Vanshelboim for alleged bribery, money laundering and electronic fraud.
Spain’s top criminal court on Wednesday ordered he be remanded in custody because he poses a flight risk, according to a ruling made public on Thursday.
While Vanshelboim has family and economic ties in Spain, “such ties cannot be considered sufficiently strong to counter the aforementioned risk, given that he has only been living here for three years,” the court said.
The UN has said it lost the bulk of the more than $58 million in UNOPS funds which Vanshelboim entrusted to the British businessman.
The scandal led to an overhaul of the agency and embarrassed the UN.
Jewish protesters flood Trump Tower’s lobby to demand the Columbia University activist’s release
- Mahmoud Khalil helped lead student protests on the Manhattan campus against Israel’s war in Gaza
- Jewish Voice for Peace protesters chanted 'Bring Mahmoud home now!'
NEW YORK: Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of a Columbia University activist who helped lead student protests on the Manhattan campus against Israel’s war in Gaza.
The Jewish Voice for Peace protesters, who carried banners and wore red shirts reading “Jews say stop arming Israel,” chanted “Bring Mahmoud home now!“
After warning the protesters to leave the Fifth Avenue building or face arrest, police began putting them in zip ties and loading them into police vans outside about an hour after the demonstration began.
Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident who is married to an American citizen and who hasn’t been charged with breaking any laws, was arrested outside his New York City apartment on Saturday and faces deportation. President Donald Trump has said Khalil’s arrest was the first “of many to come” and vowed on social media to deport students who he said engage in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”
Police, who were staged inside and outside the Fifth Avenue building ahead of the demonstration, began arresting protesters after warning them to leave.
Among the protesters was actor Debra Winger, who has discussed her Jewish faith and upbringing over the years.
Winger accused the Trump administration of having “no interest in Jewish safety” and “co-opting antisemitism.”
“I’m just standing up for my rights, and I’m standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who has been abducted illegally and taken to an undisclosed location,” she told The Associated Press. “Does that sound like America to you?”
Khalil’s supporters say his arrest is an attack on free speech and have staged protests elsewhere in the city and around the country. Hundreds demonstrated Wednesday outside a Manhattan courthouse during a brief hearing on his case.
Trump Tower serves as headquarters for the Trump Organization and is where the president stays when he is in New York. The skyscraper often attracts demonstrations, both against and in support of its namesake, though protests inside are less common. The building’s main entrance opens to a multi-story atrium that is open to the public and connects visitors to stores and eateries such as the Trump Grill.
Khalil, 30, was being detained at an immigration detention center in Louisiana, where he has remained after a brief stop at a New Jersey lockup.
Columbia was a focal point of the pro-Palestinian protest movement that swept across US college campuses last year and led to more than 2,000 arrests.
Khalil, whose wife is pregnant with their first child, finished his requirements for a Columbia master’s degree in December. Born in Syria, he is a grandson of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homeland, his lawyers said in a legal filing.
Belgium carries out raids in EU parliament corruption probe
- About 100 police officers took part in the operation that saw a total of 21 searches conducted across Belgium and in Portugal
- The probe was linked to Chinese tech giant Huawei and its activities in Brussels since 2021
BRUSSELS: Belgian police on Thursday raided several addresses in the country as part of a probe into alleged corruption “under the guise of commercial lobbying,” prosecutors said.
Several people were held for questioning over their “alleged involvement in active corruption within the European Parliament, as well as for forgery and use of forgeries,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
About 100 police officers took part in the operation that saw a total of 21 searches conducted across Belgium and in Portugal, it added.
Belgian newspaper Le Soir and investigative website Follow the Money (FTM) said the probe was linked to Chinese tech giant Huawei and its activities in Brussels since 2021.
Huawei did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
The raids come more than two years after the “Qatargate” scandal, in which a number of EU lawmakers were accused of being paid to promote the interests of Qatar and Morocco — something both countries have strenuously denied.
The prosecutor’s office gave no details about the individuals or companies involved.
But it said the alleged corruption by a “criminal organization” was “practiced regularly and very discreetly from 2021 to the present day” and took “various forms.”
These included “remuneration for taking political positions or excessive gifts such as food and travel expenses or regular invitations to football matches” as part of a bid to promote “purely private commercial interests” in political decisions.
The alleged kickbacks were concealed as conference expenses and paid to various intermediaries, the office said, adding it was looking at whether money laundering had also been involved.
At the heart of the alleged corruption is an ex-parliamentary assistant who was employed at the time as Huawei’s EU public affairs director, Belgian media said.
Le Soir said police had taken “several lobbyists” into custody and they were due to appear in front of a judge for questioning.
None of those held for questioning on Thursday morning were EU lawmakers, a police source told AFP.
A spokesperson for the European Parliament told AFP that it “takes note of the information. When requested it always cooperates fully with the judicial authorities.”
Five Russia neighbors mull withdrawal from land mines treaty
- Polish defense minister called the decision 'necessary'
- Red Cross voiced alarm at the growing acceptance in Europe of returning to using long-outlawed weapons
WARSAW: Poland, the three Baltic states and Finland, all of which border Russia, are “close” to an agreement on withdrawing from the treaty banning anti-personnel mines, Lithuania’s defense minister said Thursday.
All five countries have been concerned about their security since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and have previously said they were reviewing their backing for the Ottawa treaty.
But the Red Cross voiced alarm at the apparent growing acceptance in Europe of returning to using long-outlawed weapons.
Last week, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament he was going to recommend the country’s withdrawal from the treaty, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups.
Now the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — plus Finland may be set to join Poland, worried by signs of increasing aggression from Russia.
“We believe we are very close to this solution,” Dovile Sakaliene told reporters in Warsaw when asked about the possible pull-out from the convention.
At a joint press briefing with her Polish counterpart Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, Sakaliene said all five countries were in “very intensive discussions” for a joint decision to “send a common strategic message.”
The Polish defense minister called the decision “necessary” and said it was important to “present a common position” on the issue.
More than 160 countries and territories are signatories to the Ottawa Convention, including Ukraine, but not the United States or Russia.
The treaty bans signatories from acquiring, producing, stockpiling or using anti-personnel mines.
The authorities in Kyiv have accused Moscow of “genocidal activities” for using anti-personnel mines during the conflict.
Lithuania, a country of 2.8 million people which was previously under Soviet rule, last week quit the international convention banning cluster bombs, in an unprecedented decision.
It has stressed the need to strengthen its defenses, fearing it could be next in line if Moscow succeeds in Ukraine.
Red Cross is 'very worried'
In Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “very worried” by recent developments and urged states to remind themselves what the conventions were for.
“It is precisely now that these treaties are relevant... and not in times of peace or stability,” ICRC chief spokesman Christian Cardon told reporters at the organization’s headquarters.
Cordula Droege, who heads the ICRC’s legal department, added: “As states seem to be preparing for war... we also have a questioning of the humanitarian treaties.
“There is a bit of panic in Europe at the moment, and I think states are taking very rash decisions.”
The flurry of announcements on land mines and cluster bombs “came as a bit of a shock,” Droege said.
“There’s a huge concern here that you will see an acceptance of weapons that are stigmatized and should continue to be stigmatized,” she said, recalling that most victims of cluster munitions and land mines are civilians.
“This idea that you can use these mines in a way that’s compatible with international humanitarian law, that you will only use them in areas or on front lines where they will be perfectly distinguishing between civilians and combatants, is just an illusion.”
Droege said it was worth asking “how far does it go?“
“Because will the next thing be that you say, well, actually, we need chemical weapons. They have a great military utility. Is that then acceptable?“
Inspired by diabetic father, Bangladeshi man’s juice recipes go viral in Ramadan
- Imran Ahmed Saudagar started making healthy fresh juices for his father during COVID-19 pandemic
- His first viral juice video, a Goa Lemon recipe based on a Nando’s drink, got 2 million views
DHAKA: In a two-minute video, Imran Ahmed Saudagar playfully juggles wood apples before cracking them open, scooping out the flesh, and blending it with jaggery, salt, and water into a creamy juice — one of his signature recipes, which for the past few years have accompanied Bangladeshi netizens during Ramadan.
The wood apple juice video was Saudagar’s first this fasting month and it immediately drew the attention of the tens of thousands of his followers, who welcomed back the “much awaited series” and the “Shorbot Saudagar Season.”
The word “shorbot” means “juice” in Bengali, and Shorbot With Saudagar is what the Dhaka-based advertising professional and accidental healthy juice influencer called his short recipe videos, which he started during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The inspiration to create the recipes came from his late father.
“He was around 75 years old at the time. And he started refusing all kinds of fruits. So, I started creating different combinations of fruits and blended them together to make a new juice every day,” Saudagar told Arab News.
As he mixed new ingredients, his father enjoyed guessing them by taste and looked forward to the juice game the next day.
To make sure his father consumed what was beneficial, Saudagar consulted his doctors and sought help from nutritionists while preparing new blends.
Initially a family affair, the juices started to reach a wider audience a few months later, when Saudagar got married and his wife suggested that they should record the recipes.
“We started researching what kind of crockery I should use to cut the fruits, what fruit should we buy, what are the best fruit combinations. We discussed it every night and we started making different juices every day,” he said.
Their first viral blend was inspired by a Goa Lemon juice they tried at the fast chain Nando’s. Saudagar recalled it was with yoghurt, mint and lime, to which he added some vanilla ice cream.
“It was a blast. People started loving it. They tried it at home, and they were saying: ‘Oh man, this is like the original Goa Lemon,’” he said.
“I didn’t have the recipe. I just tried making it and it happened. The Goa Lemon video was (viewed by) around 2 million people.”
While pursuing a corporate career, Saudagar did the videos only in his free time but tried to make more, especially during the month of fasting, as his fans inspired him to do so.
“People started knocking to me just before the day Ramadan started: ‘Brother, when is Shorbot With Saudagar coming? When are you making new juice? When are you making new recipes?’” he said.
“Every day, people were commenting and replying on my posts: ‘I’m waiting for the new recipe, new video. But the best comment was: ‘Brother, I think, Ramadan is incomplete without your videos.’”
Since he started the project, Saudagar has recorded over 70 videos. While he may be short of new local fruits to explore, as he has already tried most of them, this fasting month he will try to develop some fruit-based electrolyte drinks.
“I’m still researching how to make it,” he said. “That should be one new thing. And also, I want to add more smoothies to help you with stomach health and digestion. You need to be healthy during Ramadan.”
