BEIJING (WS News) – China will expand its visa-free arrangements to include Japan, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro and other countries, effective from Nov 30, 2024, to Dec 31, 2025, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.
It will also extend the visa-free stay period to 30 days from 15 days for citizens of all 38 countries within its visa-free program, state television CCTV reported.
MELBOURNE (WS News) – India’s Adani Group, whose billionaire chairman has been indicted for fraud by US prosecutors, is facing accusations of racism at its Australian coal unit after an Aboriginal group filed a complaint with the country’s Human Rights Commission.
The Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians in Queensland state said it filed a complaint alleging serious racial discrimination by the unit, Bravus Mining and Resources, earlier this week.
The complaint details how Adani employees sought to “verbally and physically obstruct and prevent” members of the Aboriginal group from accessing springs near Adani’s Carmichael coal mine “in order to perform cultural rites and share cultural knowledge”, the group said in a statement.
“We have endured years of discrimination and vilification from Adani, and we’re not putting up with this anymore,” Nagana Yarrbayn Senior Cultural Custodian, Adrian Burragubba said in the statement.
“Adani has been on notice about their conduct since our lawyers sent a concerns notice last year, and they refused to take action. Legal recourse is the only answer,” he added.
A Bravus spokesperson “wholly rejected” the group’s allegations, saying it was an attempt to stop Bravus from telling its side of the story and “sharing facts with the public about our interactions with him and members of his ‘Family Council’.”
It said the mine had been operating safely and responsibly in line with Queensland and Australian law and in partnership with the majority Traditional Owner group for the mining area under the terms of ratified Indigenous Land Use Agreements and Cultural Heritage Management Plans for more than two years.
It has not received any notification from the Australian Human Rights Commission of a complaint, it added.
A spokesperson said the Commission was unable to confirm if a complaint has been received until it had been publicly acknowledged by both the complainant and the respondent.
The Aboriginal group said it was seeking compensation, an apology, the removal of offending social media, a retraction of media statements, and anti-racism and cultural awareness training for Adani’s directors, managers and employees.
The Carmichael coal mine battled a seven-year campaign from climate activists and some Aboriginal groups before shipping its first cargo in December 2021.
Adani Group companies’ shares fell for a second straight day on Friday after US prosecutors charged chairman Gautam Adani in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme.
BANGKOK (WS News) – A second Australian woman hospitalised after drinking contaminated alcohol in a popular tourist town in Laos has died, the government said on Friday, the sixth fatality from suspected methanol poisoning.
Holly Bowles, 19, died in a hospital in neighbouring Thailand, where she had been evacuated for emergency treatment, the Australian foreign ministry said. Her friend died on Thursday in another Thai hospital.
“It is with broken hearts, and we are so sad to say that our beautiful girl Holly is now at peace,” her father, Shaun Bowles, told Australia’s Nine News.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia would continue efforts with Lao authorities to investigate what she described as a tragedy.
“I know tonight all Australians will be holding both families in our hearts,” Wong said.
Altogether, six tourists – two Danes, two Australians, a Briton and an American – have died after visiting Vang Vieng, an idyllic town in the Southeast Asian nation that is popular with foreign backpackers.
Lao state-run news agency KPL said on Friday that authorities were gathering evidence and witness accounts following the foreigners’ deaths due to suspected “consumption of tainted alcoholic beverages”. An official statement was expected soon.
Counterfeits of well-known alcohol brands and home-made spirits are a problem in Laos. Australia and Britain have warned their citizens to be cautious when consuming drinks there.
The US embassy in Laos issued a warning on Friday for its citizens to be on the alert for risks of methanol poisoning in consuming spirit-based drinks, advising them to buy from licensed vendors and check for signs of tampering or counterfeiting.
Methanol is a toxic alcohol that is used industrially as a solvent, pesticide, and alternative fuel source, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(WS News) – Ten pro-Palestinian NGOs asked a Dutch court on Friday to stop the Netherlands from exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, citing high civilian casualties in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
According to the plaintiffs, the Dutch state, as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, must take all reasonable measures at its disposal to prevent genocide.
Lawyer Wout Albers, acting for groups including Palestinian rights organisations Al Haq and Al Mezan and pro-Palestinian Jewish organisation Een Ander Joods Geluid, said the Netherlands had failed to take the measures needed by continuing its exports of weapons parts and military cooperation.
“This has to stop immediately,” he said.
The case, heard by the district court in The Hague, cites a January order to Israel by the International Court of Justice to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza.
The plaintiffs cited “extreme numbers of civilian victims killed and wounded and the unprecedented destruction” to argue genocide is taking place.
“This is like nothing we’ve seen before as people who work on human rights violations,” Ahmed Abofoul, legal advisor for one of the NGOs, told the court. He said 80 of his relatives had been killed, including many children.
“I cannot be sure my family will be the same after this hearing,” he said, adding that as a Dutch national the state is using his tax money to send weapons to Israel.
This is not going to have any significant effect on the conflict, and it should not affect any reasons for Western countries to continue supporting Ukraine.
Israel says accusations of genocide in its Gaza campaign are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Hamas and other armed groups who threaten its existence and hide among civilians, something the groups deny.
The NGOs also cited arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including persecution, murder, and starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
Israel said the warrants were shameful and absurd.
Lawyers for the Dutch state asked judges to dismiss the demands of the NGOs, arguing that it is not up to a judge to dictate foreign policy towards Israel.
“The Dutch state is not contributing to attacks by Israel on the Gaza strip (…) or maintaining settlements” in occupied Palestinian territories, a lawyer for the state Reimer Veldhuis told the court.
In February, a Dutch court ordered the government to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were being used to violate international law during the war in Gaza. The government has appealed that ruling.
The court will rule on the demand of the pro-Palestinian NGOs on December 13, the judge said at the closing of Friday’s one-day hearing.
The Netherlands said on Thursday after the arrest warrants were issued that a visit to Israel by Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp had been postponed.
TAIPEI (WS News) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will visit Taipei’s three remaining diplomatic allies in the Pacific on a trip starting at the end of the month, his office said on Friday, but the government declined to give details on US transit stops.
Taiwanese presidents usually use visits to allied countries to make what are officially stop-overs in the United States, Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier, which frequently anger Beijing.
On two occasions in the past two years China staged military drills around Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory, after presidential or vice-presidential stopovers in the United States.
On those stopovers, Taiwanese presidents often meet with friendly politicians and give speeches. Reuters reported last week that Lai was planning to stop off in Hawaii and maybe the US territory of Guam while he was in the Pacific.
Asked repeatedly by reporters at a news conference for details on the stop overs, Deputy Taiwan Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang said they were in the planning stages and would be announced at an “appropriate time”.
“But there is a principle, which is that they are handled with safety, dignity, convenience and comfort” in mind, said Tien.
China will do all it can to stymie the trip – Lai’s first abroad since being inaugurated in May – but Taiwan won’t be deterred, he added.
“We won’t dance to their tune. We will do what we have to do and what we plan.”
Two sources familiar with the situation said details of the US part of the trip would likely only come a day or so before Lai departed.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian did not directly address the prospect of Lai transitting the United States, but said the “one-China principle” was the general consensus of the international community.
‘LONG TERM PARTNER’
Of the 12 countries which maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, three are in the Pacific – Palau, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu – and Lai will go to all of them starting from Nov 30, his office said.
His official schedule has him then arriving in the Marshall Islands only in the following week, on Dec 3, without saying where he would be in the intervening period.
The Pacific island nations visits are also important as China is competing for influence with the United States there and has been gradually whittling away at the number of countries in the region who retain ties with Taiwan. In January, tiny Nauru switched relations back to Beijing.
Palau, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu all put out statements on Friday saying they welcomed Lai’s visit.
“As a long-term partner and good friend of the Marshall Islands, we look forward to the warmly receiving President Lai,” the office of President Hilda Heine said on its Facebook page.
China has ramped up its military activities around Taiwan in the past five years, including holding another round of war games last month it said were a warning to “separatist acts”.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says it has a right to engage with other countries and for its leaders to make foreign trips.
In August of last year, China held a day of military drills around Taiwan after then-vice president Lai returned from the United States, where he officially made only stopovers but gave speeches on his way to and from Paraguay.
In April of last year, China also held war games around Taiwan in anger at a US trip by then-president Tsai Ing-wen, who met then-US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles. In 2017 and 2019, Tsai stopped in Hawaii during her visits to Pacific allies.
WASHINGTON (WS News) – US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will attend a meeting of the Group of Seven major democracies in Italy at the weekend, the State Department said on Friday, amid rising tensions in the war in Ukraine.
G7 leaders last Saturday reiterated a pledge to keep imposing severe costs on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine through sanctions, export controls and other measures, and vowed to support Kyiv for as long as it takes.
The State Department said Blinken would discuss issues including “conflicts in the Middle East, Russia’s war against Ukraine, Indo-Pacific security, and the ongoing crises in both Haiti and Sudan” at the gathering in Italy.
During his Nov. 23-27 trip, Blinken also plans to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican following the G7 talks, it said in a statement.
Italy holds the 2024 rotating presidency of the G7, which also includes the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Britain.
BEIJING (WS News) – Chinese President Xi Jinping made a short visit to Morocco, according to state media from both countries.
Xi was welcomed in Casablanca by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan and the visit reflected the strong bonds of friendship, cooperation, and solidarity between the Moroccan and Chinese peoples, Morocco’s MAP said.
The Crown Prince and Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch met Xi at the airport, where Xi and Hassan had a “cordial conversation”, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said.
Xi made the visit after being in Brazil for the G20 Summit.
China has stepped up investments in Morocco’s infrastructure and rail sector in recent years.
Morocco’s geographic location close to Europe, its free trade agreements with key EU and US markets and its existing automotive industry, make it attractive to Chinese electric vehicle battery makers.
In June, Chinese EV battery manufacturer Gotion High Tech picked Morocco to set up Africa’s first gigafactory for a total cost of $1.3 billion.
NAIROBI (WS News) – Heavy gunfire erupted in South Sudan’s capital Juba after security forces moved to arrest the former head of the intelligence service, according to Reuters reporters and an alert sent to United Nations staff.
The gunfire began around 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) and continued sporadically for more than an hour before dying down, Reuters reporters said.
A UN safety alert to staff members in Juba, seen by Reuters, said the shooting was related to the arrest of the former head of the National Security Service (NSS). It urged UN staff to shelter in place.
In early October, President Salva Kiir dismissed Akol Koor Kuc, who had led the NSS since the country’s independence from Sudan in 2011, and appointed a close ally to replace him.
Army spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang said Akol Kuur had not been arrested and had stayed in his house throughout the shooting. Koang said he would address reporters later on Friday after a meeting with other security officials.
Analysts said the sacking of Akol Koor reflected a power struggle at the highest levels of government. It came weeks after the transitional government that Kiir leads announced that elections expected in December would be postponed for a second time.
Rival factions loyal to Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar fought a civil war from 2013 to 2018 that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The two have governed together since then as part of a transitional government. There has been relative peace, but the opposing forces clash periodically in addition to frequent fighting among a patchwork of armed groups in rural areas.
(WS News) – British police sent a bomb disposal team to London’s Gatwick Airport after a suspected prohibited item was found in luggage, authorities said on Friday, following the earlier evacuation of a passenger terminal.
Gatwick, Britain’s second busiest airport, is located about 30 miles south of London. It said earlier it had evacuated a large part of its South terminal, citing a security incident.
The incident disrupted weekend travel plans for thousands of passengers, with more than 600 flights due to land or take off on Friday from Gatwick, amounting to more than 121,000 passenger seats, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Sussex Police, the local force, said a security cordon would remain in place while the matter is dealt with.
“Police were called to the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8:20am on Friday following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage,” it said in a statement. “As a precaution, an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team is being deployed to the airport.”
Airport authorities said on X that passengers were being kept out of the building while the incident was ongoing, while police said there was significant traffic disruption in the area and advised people to avoid it.
In videos posted online, thousands of passengers could be seen outside the terminal and the surrounding area. Emergency foil blankets were distributed to some of the passengers to help shield themselves from the cold, social media pictures showed.
In a separate incident earlier on Friday, London police carried out a controlled explosion near the US embassy in south London after discovering a suspect package. Police later said they believed it was a hoax.
NEW YORK (WS News) – Donald Trump may seek dismissal of the criminal case in which he was convicted in May of 34 felony counts involving hush money paid to a porn star, a judge ruled on Friday, while also indefinitely delaying Trump’s sentencing in light of his victory in the Nov 5 US presidential election.
The sentencing had been scheduled to take place next Tuesday.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office this week asked New York state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to consider deferring all proceedings in the case until after Trump, 78, finishes his four-year presidential term that begins on Jan 20.
Lawyers for Trump, a Republican, have argued that the case must be dismissed because having it loom over him while he is president would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to his ability to govern.
Bragg’s office said it would argue against dismissal, but agreed that Trump deserves time to make his case through written motions.
Merchan on Friday set a Dec. 2 deadline for Trump to file his motion to dismiss, and gave prosecutors until Dec. 9 to respond.
The judge did not set a new date for sentencing or indicate how long proceedings would remain on hold. The judge also did not indicate when he would rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss.
The case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.
A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a US president – former or sitting – had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Tuesday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense chief, and a Hamas leader.
Trump pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has sought to portray as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfere with his presidential campaign.
“The American People have issued a mandate to return him to office and dispose of all remnants of the Witch Hunt cases,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. A spokesperson for Bragg’s office declined to comment.
