WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Friday approved a $2 billion arms sale package for Taiwan including advanced surface-to-air missile systems and radar, a move that could provoke Beijing.
The sale, which awaits approval by Congress, includes several anti-aircraft systems, including NASAMS and 123 missiles totaling $1.16 billion, according to the agency responsible for the sale.
The agency also announced the sale of radar systems to Taiwan worth $828 million.
The equipment will be derived from US Air Force supplies.
While the United States does not officially recognize Taiwan diplomatically, it is Taipei’s key partner and major provider of weapons — a point of consternation for Beijing, which has repeatedly called on Washington to stop arming the island, which it claims is part of its territory.
Beijing has regularly expressed anger at international support for Taipei and accused Washington of meddling in its affairs.
China maintains a near-daily presence of fighter jets, drones and warships around the island.
Beijing has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and has also stepped up rhetoric about “unification” being “inevitable.”
Earlier this month, Taiwan detected a record 153 Chinese aircraft in one day.
In September, Beijing sanctioned US defense companies in retaliation for Washington’s approval of the sale of military equipment to Taiwan.
US approves $2 billion arms sales to Taiwan including missiles
https://arab.news/wyzue
US approves $2 billion arms sales to Taiwan including missiles
- The sale, which awaits approval by Congress, includes several anti-aircraft systems
- The agency also announced the sale of radar systems to Taiwan worth $828 million
US, UK urge Iran not to respond to latest Israel attack
- UK leader: ‘I’m equally clear that we need to avoid further regional escalation and urge all sides to show restraint’
- The Israeli military conducted air strikes against Iran on Saturday, hitting military bases and missile sites
WASHINGTON/LONDON: The United States and UK urged Iran on Saturday to stop attacking Israel to break the cycle of violence after Israel launched strikes against the Islamic republic in retaliation for a missile barrage.
“We urge Iran to cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation,” US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett told reporters.
“I am clear that Israel has the right to defend itself against Iranian aggression. I’m equally clear that we need to avoid further regional escalation and urge all sides to show restraint. Iran should not respond,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, speaking at a press conference in Samoa, where he has been attending a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The Israeli military conducted air strikes against Iran on Saturday, hitting military bases and missile sites, and other systems in several regions.
“Their response was an exercise in self-defense and specifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets, contrary to Iran’s attack against Israel that targeted Israel’s most populous city,” he added.
Stressing that the United States did not participate in the operation, he said “it is our aim to accelerate diplomacy and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region.”
A senior administration official said President Joe Biden and his national security team have worked with the “Israelis over recent weeks to encourage Israel to conduct a response that was targeted and proportional with low risk of civilian harm.”
“And that appears to have been precisely what transpired this evening,” the official told reporters.
President Biden had encouraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to design a response that served to deter further attacks against Israel while reducing risks of further escalation, and that is our objective.”
Russians behind fake video of ballots being destroyed, US officials say
- Video connected to a Kremlin-aligned disinformation network known as Storm-1516, according to researchers
- Account on X that distributed the video has regularly amplified other narratives from this network
WASHNGTON: Russian actors were behind a viral video falsely showing mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in the swing state of Pennsylvania, US officials said Friday, amid heightened alert over foreign influence operations targeting the upcoming election.
The video, which garnered millions of views on platforms such as the Elon Musk-owned X, purports to show a man sorting through mail-in ballots from the state’s Bucks County and ripping up those cast for Trump.
On Thursday, the Bucks County Board of Elections declared the video as “fake,” saying that the envelope and other materials depicted in the footage are “clearly not authentic materials” belonging to or distributed by them.
In a joint statement on Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the video was part of a Russian disinformation operation.
“Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania,” the statement said.
“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans,” it added.
The statement said Russia was expected to create and release more such content in an attempt to “undermine trust” in the integrity of the November 5 elections.
The video surfaced as American authorities brace for a surge in disinformation in the final days of a nail-biting election between Republican nominee Trump and the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
The video, also debunked by AFP’s fact-checkers, was connected to a Kremlin-aligned disinformation network known as Storm-1516, according to researchers including Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub.
Linvill, who has closely studied the network, said the account on X — previously called Twitter — that distributed the video has regularly amplified other narratives from this network.
Storm-1516 has previously produced fake videos to discredit the campaign of Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, according to disinformation researchers.
Last month, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center said Russian operatives are ramping up disinformation operations to malign Harris’s campaign by disseminating conspiracy-laden videos.
Aside from Russia, Iran and China are also fanning “divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the US democratic system,” the ODNI warned in a memo earlier this week.
“Foreign influence efforts will intensify in the lead-up to Election Day, especially through social media posts — some of which are likely to be AI generated or enhanced,” the report said.
“These actors probably perceive that undermining confidence in the elections weakens the legitimacy of our democracy and consequently makes the United States less capable of effectively pursuing policies that are counter to their interests,” it added.
Final campaigning in tight Japan election
- Opinion polls suggest the ruling coalition Liberal Democratic Party might fall short of a majority
- Such a bombshell outcome could potentially be a knockout blow to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
TOKYO: Candidates in Japan’s super-tight election made last-ditch appeals to voters on Saturday, with opinion polls suggesting the ruling coalition might fall short of a majority.
Such a bombshell outcome would be the worst result for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2009, and potentially a knockout blow to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Ishiba — a fan of trains, 1970s pop idols and making model ships and planes — only last month took the helm of the LDP, which has governed Japan for almost all of the past seven decades.
After a tough internal contest, the 67-year-old former defense minister became premier on October 1.
Days later, he called the snap parliamentary elections, promising a “new Japan.”
Ishiba pledged to revitalize depressed rural regions and to address the “quiet emergency” of Japan’s falling population through policies such as flexible working hours.
But he has since rowed back his position on issues including allowing married couples to take separate surnames.
He also named only two women ministers in his cabinet.
A poll on Friday by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily suggested that the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito might struggle to get the 233 lower house seats needed for a majority.
Ishiba has set this threshold as his objective, and missing it would undermine his position in the LDP and mean finding other coalition partners or leading a minority government.
Local media speculated that Ishiba could potentially even resign immediately to take responsibility, becoming Japan’s shortest-serving prime minister in the post-war period.
The current record is held by Naruhiko Higashikuni who served for 54 days — four days more than British leader Liz Truss in 2022 — just after Japan’s 1945 defeat in World War II.
“The situation is extremely severe,” Ishiba said on the stump Friday, Japanese media reported.
In many districts, LDP candidates are in neck-and-neck battles with those from the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) — the second-biggest in parliament — led by popular former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda.
“The LDP’s politics is all about quickly implementing policies for those who give them loads of cash,” Noda said at a rally on Saturday.
“But those in vulnerable positions, who can’t offer cash, have been ignored,” he added, referring to insufficient support by the LDP-led government for survivors of a huge New Year’s Day earthquake in central Japan.
“This kind of politics must be changed.”
Noda’s stance “is sort of similar to the LDP’s. He is basically a conservative,” Masato Kamikubo, a political scientist at Ritsumeikan University, said.
“The CDP or Noda can be an alternative to the LDP. Many voters think so,” Kamikubo said.
Also dogging Ishiba is the continuing fallout from a slush fund scandal within the LDP that angered voters and helped sink his predecessor, Fumio Kishida.
Ishiba promised to not actively support LDP politicians caught up in the scandal running in the election, although they are still standing.
According to media reports, the party has also provided 20 million yen ($132,000) each to district offices headed by these figures.
“It is truly frustrating that such reports come out at a time like this,” Ishiba said in a campaign speech on Thursday. “Those candidates will not use the money.”
“We cannot be defeated by those with biased views,” he added.
Hitomi Hisano, an undecided voter from the central Aichi region, said in Tokyo that the LDP’s funding scandal was a big factor for him.
“The LDP has sat in power for too long. I see hubris in there,” the 69-year-old said. “So part of me wants to punish them.”
“But there aren’t other parties that are reliable enough to win my vote.”
Rintaro Nishimura, of the think tank The Asia Group, said that win or lose, Ishiba’s position was tenuous.
“Regardless of what the election results are, Ishiba’s longevity as prime minister is in question.”
Police gear up for large, rival London protests
LONDON: Right-wing, anti-immigrant protesters and opposing anti-racism demonstrators are both planning large rallies in London on Saturday, closely watched by a beefed up police operation aimed at heading off any clashes between the rival gatherings.
A “Unite the Kingdom” march organized by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, is due to meet at London’s Victoria train station before marching toward parliament.
Meanwhile a counterprotest of anti-racism campaigners and trade unionists will gather at the other end of Whitehall, the main thoroughfare toward parliament from the opposite direction where many government departments are located.
“We are well prepared for what is set to be a busy day in the center of London,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams, who is leading a policing operation that will involve drafting in officers from around the country.
“We will have significant resources in place to respond to any incidents, to deal decisively with any offenses, and to keep disruption to other members of the public and businesses to a minimum,” she said on Friday.
Britain saw days of rioting in towns and cities across the country at the end of July in the wake of the murder of three young girls at a dance workshop in Southport, after misinformation on social media wrongly identified the suspected killer as a Muslim migrant.
The unrest, which targeted hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques, ended after a clampdown by the authorities that included more than 1,500 arrests and about 1,000 people charged.
The right-wing protesters describe themselves as “patriots,” who say Britain is under threat from migrants and Islamification. Their critics, including most lawmakers, say their number includes racists, far-right supporters and soccer hooligans bent on violence.
“Tomorrow we’re back, and won’t be ignored or silenced,” Yaxley-Lennon said on X on Friday.
However, according to his social media account, he will not be at the march in person as he is being held in police custody over the weekend ahead of a contempt of court case that is due to be heard on Monday.
Beyonce endorses Kamala Harris in joyful speech at Houston rally: ‘I’m here as a mother’
“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” Beyonce said at a Houston rally for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign Friday night. “A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided.”
“Imagine our daughters growing up seeing what’s possible with no ceilings, no limitations,” she continued. “We must vote, and we need you.”
At the end, Beyonce — who was joined onstage by her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland — introduced Harris with, “Ladies and gentlemen, please give a big, loud, Texas welcome to the next president of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris.”
She did not perform — unlike in 2016, when she performed at a presidential campaign rally for Hilary Clinton in Cleveland.
Houston is Beyonce’s hometown, and Harris’ presidential campaign has taken on Beyonce’s 2016 track “Freedom,” a cut from her landmark 2016 album “Lemonade,” as its anthem.
Harris first used the song in July during her first official public appearance as a presidential candidate at her campaign headquarters in Delaware. That same month, Beyonce’s mother, Tina Knowles, publicly endorsed Harris for president.
Beyonce gave permission to Harris to use the song, a campaign official who was granted anonymity to discuss private campaign operations confirmed to The Associated Press.
Arriving in the back-half of “Lemonade,” “Freedom” samples two John and Alan Lomax field recordings, which document Jim Crow-era folk spirituals of Southern Black churches and the work songs of Black prisoners from 1959 and 1948, respectively. It also features Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar.
Kinitra D. Brooks, an academic and author of “The Lemonade Reader,” says the song “‘Freedom” is so important because it shows that freedom isn’t free. The freedom to be yourself, the political freedom ... it’s the idea that you must fight for freedom, and that it is winnable.”
The Harris rally in Houston highlighted the perilous medical fallout from the state’s strict abortion ban and putting the blame squarely on Donald Trump.
Since abortion was restricted in Texas, the state’s infant death rate has increased, more babies have died of birth defects and maternal mortality has risen.
