NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Arms sale: The State Department approved arms sales to Taiwan worth a total of $1.4 billion, the first such deal with the self-governing island since President Trump took office, officials said Thursday. The sale will anger China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory. It comes at a delicate time for relations between Washington and Beijing over efforts to rein in nucleararmed North Korea. The sale to Taiwan comprises seven items, including technical support for early warning radar, antiradiation missiles, torpedoes and components for SM-2 missiles. The U.S. is legally obligated to sell weapons to Taiwan for its self-defense.
_2 Afghan troop levels: More than 16 years into the Afghanistan war, the United States and its NATO allies wrangled anew Thursday over how many more troops are needed to counter the resurgent Taliban and break a stalemate in the fight. At a meeting in Brussels, NATO agreed to send more forces in response to commanders’ requests for as many as 3,000 troops to train and work alongside Afghan security forces. That number does not include an expected contribution of almost 4,000 American forces, divided between the NATO mission and America’s counterterrorism operations against Taliban, al Qaeda and Islamic State militants in Afghanistan.
_3 Blogger sentenced: A prominent Vietnamese blogger was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of distorting government policies and defaming the Communist government in Facebook posts and in interviews with such foreign media as Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, her lawyer said. Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 37, has written about human rights, civilian deaths in police custody and the release of toxic chemicals by a Taiwanese-owned factory that killed thousands of fish.
_4 Mexico spyware: Mexico’s scandal of high-tech spying against journalists and human rights defenders widened Thursday with expert confirmation that leading members of a main opposition party were also targeted by Israeli-made spyware sold exclusively to governments. The conservative National Action Party had asked Internet watchdog Citizen Lab to investigate suspicious messages. On Thursday, the group released a research note saying it had determined that the mobile phones of the party president, its chief spokesman, and the party’s leader in the Senate were all sent text messages containing links to the same malware. The spyware, known as Pegasus, is made by NSO Group, which says it sells to government agencies only for use against criminals and terrorists. It turns a cell phone into an eavesdropper with the ability to remotely activate its microphone and camera and access its data.
_5 Mob attacks: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned a rise in mob attacks against cow traders, beef eaters and dairy farmers that have mainly hit Muslims. Modi said Thursday that killing people on the pretext of protecting cows is illegal and goes against the pacifist teachings of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi. Modi made the comments in his home state of Gujarat a day after protesters rallied in several cities against recent violence against minority Muslims. Cows are considered sacred by many members of India’s Hindu majority, and the slaughter of cows and eating of beef is illegal or restricted across much of the country.
Chronicle News Service