VIENTIANE: Foreign ministers of the Southeast Asian regional bloc ASEAN on Saturday condemned violence against civilians in military-ruled Myanmar and urged all parties to end hostilities and follow an agreed peace plan.
In a joint communique issued two days after their closed-doors retreat in Laos, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also welcomed unspecified practical measures to reduce tension in the South China Sea and prevent accidents and miscalculations.
It described North Korea's missile tests as worrisome developments and urged peaceful resolutions to the conflicts in Ukraine, as well as Gaza, expressing concern over the dire humanitarian situation and "alarming casualties" there.
Meetings on Saturday in Vientiane are bringing together in the same room allies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — including the United States, China, Russia, Japan, India and Australia — to bolster their relationships and discuss key security issues and other regional affairs.
In a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday, Indonesia Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the bloc’s good partnership with Washington should also contribute to global peace. She said they should be respecting international laws “in a consistent manner,” whether about Ukraine, the South China Sea or the crisis in Gaza.
Blinken said he hopes to work closely with the ASEAN nations on those matters, as well as violence in Myanmar and provocations by North Korea.
The Secretary of State is expected to meet on the sidelines with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, as both countries are looking to expand their influence in the region.
Participants in these meetings represent either critical US allies and partners, or Washington’s two largest rivals, Moscow and Beijing, which have grown closer over the past two years, prompting deep concerns about their combined global influence. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was also in Vientiane, and already held direct talks with Wang on Thursday.
Indonesia said it emphasized in their opening meetings Thursday that it’s important the bloc doesn’t get drawn into any rivalry between China and the US
ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei all have conflicts with China over its claim of sovereignty over virtually all of the South China Sea, one of the world’s most crucial waterways for shipping. Many worry that direct confrontations there could lead to broader conflict. Indonesia has also expressed concern about what it sees as Beijing’s encroachment on its exclusive economic zone.
There are divisions within ASEAN on how to deal with China’s maritime claims. The Philippines has been critical over a perceived lack of support from the bloc, but in a rare deal, China and the Philippines said they had reached an agreement that they hope will end their confrontations, aiming to establish a mutually acceptable arrangement for the disputed area without conceding each other’s territorial claims.
Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo said after the gala dinner on Friday that he had a bilateral meeting with China’s Wang, where they agreed that they would “honor the provisional agreement in a clear and sincere effort to defuse tensions and try and prevent any incidents of course from leading to further tension in our relationship.”
On Saturday, the Philippines said it was able make a supply trip to the disputed area without having to confront Beijing’s forces, the first such trip since the deal was reached a week ago. Blinken applauded it as a success in his opening remarks at the meeting with ASEAN foreign ministers, while calling China’s past actions against the Philippines — a US treaty partner — “escalatory and unlawful.”
Prior to the deal, tensions between the Philippines and China escalated for months, with China’s coast guard and other forces using powerful water cannons and dangerous blocking maneuvers to prevent food and other supplies from reaching Filipino navy personnel.
The United States and its allies have regularly conducted military exercises and patrols in the area to assert their “free and open Indo-Pacific” policy — including the right to navigate in international waters — which has drawn criticism from China.
Wang said in his meeting with Manalo that the deployment of a US intermediate-range missile system in the Philippines would create regional tension and trigger an arms race, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The increasingly violent civil war in ASEAN member state Myanmar is one of the other issues dominating talks. Thailand has said the group gave their support for it to take a broader role as one of Myanmar’s immediate neighbors.
Nikorndej Balankura, spokesperson of Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters Friday that more dialogue mechanisms have been proposed to include more stakeholders, especially countries that share borders with Myanmar. He however noted that those proposals have just been submitted to Laos, which currently chairs ASEAN and is in charge of recommending them directly to Myanmar to seek its approval.
The army in Myanmar ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule, leading to increasing violence and a humanitarian crisis.
ASEAN has been pushing a “five-point consensus” for peace, but the military leadership in Myanmar has so far ignored the plan, raising questions about the bloc’s efficiency and credibility. The peace plan calls for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels, and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties.
ASEAN urges Myanmar to start peace process, alarmed over Gaza casualties
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ASEAN urges Myanmar to start peace process, alarmed over Gaza casualties
- Top diplomats from Southeast Asia are gathered in the Laotian capital with partners that include the United States, China, Russia, Japan, India and Australia
Biden to discuss Ukraine with allies on swansong Berlin trip
“We’re wheels down in Berlin,” Biden wrote in a post on X overnight. “Ready to greet old friends and strengthen our close alliance as we stand together for freedom and against tyranny around the world.”
Biden, who sought to improve ties with Europe after the 2017-2021 presidency of Donald Trump, will be greeted with military honors before receiving Germany’s highest order of merit from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The distinction honors the 81-year-old’s “contributions to both the German-American friendship and the transatlantic bond” in all the offices he has held over the last five decades, according to the German presidential office.
Biden’s overnight trip comes just weeks before the US presidential vote, during which Republican nominee Trump is seeking re-election in a dead heat race against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.
Biden, who dropped out of the race in July in favor of Harris, is due before lunch to hold closed-door talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the late morning on security, trade and other economic issues.
Later British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron will jet into Berlin to join them for talks focused largely on how to end the fighting in Ukraine as Russian forces advance in the east and a bleak winter of power cuts looms.
“The key question is the nature of security guarantees and so that’s what we will talk about tomorrow,” Macron told reporters on Thursday.
US election looming
Next month’s US presidential election is adding to the sense of urgency about Ukraine given Trump has signaled he would be much more reluctant to continue to support Kyiv.
That Biden is paying what could be his last visit to Europe as president to Berlin is testament to the close working relationship he has with Scholz.
Biden built trust with Germany at the start of his term and looked the other way for a while on the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, designed to double the flow of Russian gas direct to Germany, said Sudha David-Wilp of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
That closer relationship enabled Washington to work closely with Berlin after Russia invaded Ukraine, with German spending on defense swiftly raised to meet the NATO target of 2 percent of GDP while Russian gas imports were slashed.
Berlin also played a critical role in a major prisoner swap in August between Russia and the West that saw the release of US journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan from Russian detention.
“It’s a thank-you tour but it’s also a message to say, ‘please stay the course on Ukraine no matter what happens’,” said David-Wilp.
Russia tests readiness of nuclear missile unit
- Russia has carried out a series of nuclear drills this year in what security analysts say are signals intended to deter the West from intervening more deeply in the war in Ukraine
MOSCOW: Russia is testing the combat readiness of a unit equipped with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles in a region northwest of Moscow, news agencies quoted the defense ministry as saying on Friday.
The Yars, which can be deployed in silos or mounted on mobile launchers, has a range of up to 11,000km is capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads.
Russia has carried out a series of nuclear drills this year in what security analysts say are signals intended to deter the West from intervening more deeply in the war in Ukraine.
The latest one is taking place in the same week that NATO conducted its annual nuclear exercise and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled his “victory plan.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that Moscow had extended the list of scenarios that could prompt it to use nuclear weapons, effectively lowering the threshold for their use. Ukraine accused Moscow of nuclear blackmail.
In the latest test, a unit in the Tver region will practice moving Yars missiles in the field over distances of up to 100km under camouflage and protecting them against air attack and enemy sabotage groups, Interfax quoted the defense ministry as saying.
Russia previously conducted two rounds of exercises involving Yars missile units in July. It has also held three sets of drills this year to test preparations for the launch of tactical nuclear missiles, which have a shorter range and lower yield than intercontinental strategic rockets.
In the course of the war, Putin has issued frequent reminders that Russia has the world’s biggest nuclear arsenal, but he has insisted that it does not need to resort to nuclear weapons in order to achieve victory in Ukraine.
Search underway for American reportedly abducted in southern Philippine town
- If confirmed to be a case of kidnapping for ransom, it would be the latest reminder of the long-running security problems that have hounded the southern Philippines
MANILA: The Philippine police said Friday it has launched a search after gunmen reportedly abducted an American national, who was shot in the leg as he tried to resist before being spirited away from a southern Philippine coastal town by speedboat.
If confirmed to be a case of kidnapping for ransom, it would be the latest reminder of the long-running security problems that have hounded the southern Philippines, the homeland of a Muslim minority in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
Police in Sibuco town in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte tried to pursue the suspected abductors and their victim, who they identified as Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, from Vermont, after the reported abduction on Thursday night.
“We confirm that there was a report of the alleged abduction of an American national,” the regional police said in a statement. “We want to assure the public, particularly the community of Sibuco, that we are doing everything in our power to secure the safe recovery of the victim.”
The police asked the public to immediately provide any information that could help an ongoing investigation of the reported abduction.
Two police reports seen by The Associated Press said that a resident of Sibuco, Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, reported to police that four men in black clothing who were armed with M16 rifles and introduced themselves as police officers forcibly took Eastman, who tried to escape.
One of the gunmen shot Eastman in the leg before dragging him into a speedboat then fled by sea further south toward the provinces of Basilan or Sulu, the police reports said.
Policemen chased but failed to find the gunmen and Eastman and alerted other police and Philippine marine units in the region, according to the reports.
Philippine authorities did not immediately provide background details of Eastman, but a person with a similar name has posted pictures and videos of himself on Facebook saying he had married a Muslim woman in Sibuco.
The US Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to questions about the reported abduction.
The southern Philippines has bountiful resources but has long been hamstrung by stark poverty and an array of insurgents and outlaws.
A 2014 peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest of several Muslim separatist groups, has considerably eased widespread fighting in the south. Relentless military offensives have weakened smaller armed groups like the notoriously violent Abu Sayyaf group over the years, considerably reducing kidnappings, bombings and other attacks.
The Abu Sayyaf group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the Philippines, is an offshoot of decades-long Muslim separatist unrest in the south and carried out mass kidnappings for ransom, beheadings and bombings more than two decades ago in the southern region.
They targeted American and other Western tourists and religious missionaries, most of whom were freed after ransoms were paid. A few were killed, including an American who was beheaded on the island province of Basilan and a US missionary who was killed while Philippine army forces were trying to rescue him and his wife in 2002 in a rainforest in Sirawai town near Sibuco.
The Philippines will hold mid-term elections next year for more than 18,000 local, national and congressional posts, mostly provincial mayors and governors. In the traditionally volatile south, crimes including kidnappings and extortion have traditionally spiked as rogue politicians try to raise funds to fuel their campaigns ahead of elections in the past but only a few and isolated incidents have been reported in recent years, according to authorities.
US charges Indian agent over alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist
- Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering
- Yadav is the second Indian man to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
WASHINGTON: An Indian intelligence official has been indicted for his role in a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in the United States, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering, the department said.
Yadav is the second Indian national to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen who lives in New York.
Nikhil Gupta, 53, pleaded not guilty in June to involvement in the assassination plot after being extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic.
Pannun is affiliated with a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a northern Indian state with a large Sikh population.
Pannun, in a statement on X, denounced the alleged assassination plot as a “blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism” and a “threat to freedom of speech and democracy.”
The Justice Department accused Yadav of directing the plot and said he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to hire a hitman to carry out the murder.
Gupta allegedly contacted an individual he believed to be a criminal associate to hire a hitman. The individual was in fact a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on US soil,” Anne Milgram, the DEA chief, said in a statement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens.”
According to the Justice Department, Yadav was employed by the Indian government’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the country’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The United States said Wednesday it had been informed by India that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service.
“They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “We are satisfied with the cooperation.”
The action by New Delhi represented a sharp contrast to its defiant approach to similar charges from Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday accused India of violating his country’s sovereignty.
Canada has separately alleged that India arranged a plot on its soil that ended in the killing last year of a Sikh separatist, who was a naturalized Canadian citizen, outside a Vancouver temple.
Unlike the United States, Canada has highlighted its concerns publicly and at the highest level, with Trudeau criticizing India’s actions.
Canada and India on Monday expelled each other’s ambassadors as Ottawa said that the Indian campaign went further than previously reported.
India has rejected Canada’s charges and alleged a domestic political motive by Trudeau.
Canada has the largest Sikh community outside of India, concentrated in suburban areas that are critical in national elections.
Nigerians sacrifice cars as cost of living crisis worsens
- The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023
- In the short term, Nigeria has seen one of its worst crises in decades with inflation at a three-decade high
LAGOS: Nigeria’s economic crisis and soaring petrol prices forced Bolaji Emmanuel to give up his driver and his Honda Pilot utility vehicle, as he struggles with spiking living costs.
Emmanuel is not alone. Many in Africa’s most populous country are abandoning their cars as the costs strain disposable income.
The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023.
“I parked it at my son’s house. I use public transport now,” Emmanuel, a 72-year-old retired health worker, said. “It is not convenient, but it is what the economy demands.”
Since coming to power, Tinubu has ended a costly fuel subsidy and freed up the naira currency, in reforms that government officials and analysts say will revive the economy and attract investors.
But in the short term, Nigeria has seen one of its worst crises in decades with inflation at a three-decade high.
A liter of petrol sold for around 195 naira just before Tinubu took office. The price rose to at least 998 naira ($0.61) per liter in Lagos and 1,030 naira in the capital, Abuja, at the beginning of October. It can go for as much as 1,300 naira elsewhere.
Inflation reached an almost three-decade high of 34.19 percent in June. It has since slowed to 32.7 percent in September.
The slump in purchasing power is piling more hardship on locals, with more than 40 percent of the population living in poverty, according to the World Bank. That figure is expected to rise in 2024 and 2025, before it stabilizes in 2026.
The Nigerian middle class, which made up about 20 percent of the population in 2020, now readily sacrifices the comfort of private cars for survival.
Car dealers in Lagos and Abuja said that they had seen more and more people trading their fuel-guzzling cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for more efficient vehicles to cut costs.
“People are actually selling their big cars these days,” Maji Abubakar, a car dealer in Abuja, said. “The problem is that even if you put them on the market, there isn’t much demand for them.”
“It has been more than a year since I sold a car with an eight-cylinder engine, and the major reason is the price of petrol,” he added.
With fewer cars on the road, even the notorious Lagos traffic, known as “go-slow,” has thinned out.
Elijah Bello, a tech entrepreneur in the southern state of Ogun, has looked for a buyer for his Lexus RX 350 SUV for months.
He has since bought a smaller, energy-saving Toyota Corolla to replace it.
The trend, which began last year, “will intensify” and “we will see fewer cars on the roads,” said Bunmi Bailey, head of research at SBM Intelligence risk consultancy.
Bailey can fill his small car for 55,000 naira. “I can use it for two weeks for my normal home-to-work movement,” he said, while his larger car consumes 110,000 naira worth of petrol in just eight days.
The market for new cars has dropped by 10 to 14 percent in the last year, said Kunle Jaiyesinmi, deputy director at the Lagos-based CFAO Group, which specializes in automobile distribution.
“An SUV that sold for 40 to 45 million naira ($24,000 to $27,000) about two years ago, for now, if you want to negotiate the price, you see that it is within the range of 95 or 100 million ($57,000 to $60,000),” Jaiyesinmi said.
But unyielding inflation and high exchange rates are steering more middle-class people away from used Japanese- and American-brand cars, toward increasingly popular Chinese-made ones.
Some are turning to bicycles, despite the lack of appropriate infrastructure in cities like Lagos, where car crashes are common.
“Sure, we notice (a rise in) cycling... for months since the fuel hike,” said Femi Thomas, head of FT Cycle Care, a Lagos-based organization that promotes cycle use.
Food delivery platform Glovo said it had recorded a growing interest in bicycle deliveries among its riders.
About 20 percent of orders are delivered by bike, Chidera Akwuba, the group’s public relations manager in Nigeria, said.
