MANILA: Philippine Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu said on Wednesday that he will uphold President Rodrigo Duterte’s plans to ban open-pit mining.
“We will eventually abide by the instruction of the president to stop open-pit mining in the future,” Cimatu told lawmakers during a confirmation hearing in Congress.
Duterte said last month he agreed with banning open-pit mining in the world’s top nickel ore exporter, given the environmental damage it causes, but would give mining firms time to find other ways to extract minerals.
Open-pit mining is formally allowed under the Philippines’ mining law, but Cimatu’s predecessor, Regina Lopez, slapped a ban on it during the 10 months she spent in office before being forced out after failing to win congressional confirmation.
Philippine environment minister says to uphold President Duterte’s open-pit mining ban
Philippine environment minister says to uphold President Duterte’s open-pit mining ban
California firefighters battle wind-driven wildfire east of San Francisco
- Gusty winds have fueled the Corral Fire burning near the city of Tracy, 96 kilometers east of San Francisco
- The blaze grew to 18 square kilometers within hours, sending dark plumes of smoke high into the sky
SAN FRANCISCO: California firefighters aided by aircraft battled a wind-driven wildfire burning Saturday in an area straddling the San Francisco Bay Area and central California, authorities said.
Gusty winds have fueled the Corral Fire burning near the city of Tracy, 96 kilometers east of San Francisco, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the city of Livermore, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
The blaze grew to 18 square kilometers within hours, sending dark plumes of smoke high into the sky. It was 40 percent contained, Cal Fire said.
Interstate 580, which connects the San Francisco Bay Area to San Joaquin County in central California, was closed in both directions from Corral Hollow Road to Interstate 5 due to the lack of visibility from the smoke, the California Department of Transportation said in a statement.
The San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services issued an evacuation order, pinpointing the wildfire in an area east of Interstate 580. Residents between Corral Hollow Road and Tracy Boulevard were ordered to leave their homes, with residents south of Tracy Boulevard told to be prepared for evacuation.
North Korea sends 600 more trash balloons over border, South says
- Balloons carrying garbage such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste and plastic were found across Seoul overnight
- Military monitoring the starting point and conducting aerial reconnaissance to track down and collect the balloons
SEOUL: North Korea sent some 600 balloons carrying trash into South Korea overnight, Seoul said on Sunday, in Pyongyang’s latest move to rile its rival neighbor.
The balloons carrying garbage such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste and plastic were found across the capital from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. (1100 GMT on Saturday to 0100 GMT on Sunday), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
It said the military was monitoring the starting point and conducting aerial reconnaissance to track down and collect the balloons, which have large bags of trash suspended beneath them.
North Korea on Wednesday sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash and excrement across the heavily fortified border as what it called “gifts of sincerity.” Seoul responded angrily, calling the move base and dangerous.
South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said during a meeting with US Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd on the sidelines of the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore on Sunday that the balloons violated the armistice agreement, according to South Korea’s military.
The two reaffirmed a coordinated response to any North Korean threats and provocations based on the South Korea-US alliance’s combined defense posture, it added.
Emergency alerts were issued in North Gyeongsang and Gangwon provinces and some parts of Seoul on Sunday, urging people not to come into contact with the balloons and to alert police.
South Korea’s National Security Council standing committee will meet on Sunday afternoon to discuss whether to resume blasting loudspeakers at North Korea in response to the trash balloons, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the presidential office.
South Korea stopped blaring propaganda across the border in 2018 after a rare summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
After South Africa’s historic election, what now for its global role on issues like the war in Gaza?
After South Africa’s historic election, what now for its global role on issues like the war in Gaza?
- South Africa is the most visible critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza by accusing it of genocide in a case at the world court
- The case has been largely driven by the ANC, which has long identified with the Palestinian cause
CAPE TOWN, South Africa: It was a historic day for South Africa. The political party that ended the racially divisive era of apartheid and sent global hopes soaring with a vibrant new democracy has lost its three-decade grip on power, according to election results Saturday.
For the first time, the African National Congress will have to form a coalition to govern South Africa, whose role on the global stage is growing as it takes Israel to court over its actions in Gaza and assumes the presidency of the Group of 20 nations late this year.
Here’s what might lie ahead for a leading voice for the developing world after the ANC lost its dominance at home.
Challenging Israel over Gaza
South Africa has become the most visible critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza by accusing it of genocide in a case at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court.
The case has been largely driven by the ANC, which has long identified with the Palestinian cause and sees in Gaza and the occupied West Bank uncomfortable parallels with the distant “homelands” created for South Africa’s Black people by the former white-controlled government under the brutal system of apartheid.
Israel vehemently denies the allegations of genocide. The ANC’s loss of its parliamentary majority in this week’s election made news in Israel.
The case at the world court could go on for years, meaning a new South African coalition government will inherit it. The ANC likely will form a governing deal with one or more of South Africa’s three main opposition parties — the centrist Democratic Alliance, the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters and the populist new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma.
The Democratic Alliance, which received around 21 percent of the vote, has said it doesn’t agree with the genocide case against Israel and would rather see South Africa push for a mediated settlement in the Israel-Hamas war. The EFF is seen to be at least as pro-Palestinian as the ANC and has also accused Israel of genocide. The position of the MK Party, formed late last year, is not clear.
G20 presidency lies ahead
South Africa has long been seen as a leading representative of the African continent in the world, and on Dec. 1 it assumes the prominent presidency of the Group of 20 nations — 20 leading rich and developing nations. South Africa will take over from Brazil, which is using its presidency to push for greater representation of developing nations on the global stage.
South Africa is the only African nation in the G20. The ANC and its new governing partner or partners will need to look beyond South African politics and find a common stance on pressing global issues such as climate change, conflict and reforms of international financial institutions.
“Regardless of the electoral outcome, deep-seated elements of South African foreign policy will persist, such as championing the rights of Palestinians and calling for international institutions to reform to better reflect the priorities of African states,” Michelle Gavin wrote last month for the Council on Foreign Relations.
And then there’s Russia
South Africa’s diplomacy under the ANC has drawn attention for its historic pro-Moscow stance that continued after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. While the United States and others in the West have long recognized the ANC’s ties to Russia — they go back to the fight against apartheid — the US-South Africa relationship was seriously strained when the ANC government allowed Russian and Chinese warships to conduct drills off its coast in early 2023.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance has been strongly critical of the ANC over its relationship with Russia, accusing it of betraying its claimed position of nonalignment and neutrality with regards to the war in Ukraine and the larger tensions between Russia and the West.
Gavin suggested that an “unstable” governing coalition could hurt South Africa as a gateway for foreign investors and “push the country even closer to Russia and China.”
A Chinese spacecraft lands on moon’s far side to collect rocks in growing space rivalry with US
- China National Space Administration said the landing module touched down in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin
- The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess
BEIJING: A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon Sunday to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.
The landing module touched down at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the China National Space Administration said.
The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.
The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the US — still the leader in space exploration — and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.
The emerging global power aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the United States to do so. America is planning to land astronauts on the moon again — for the first time in more than 50 years — though NASA pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.
US efforts to use private sector rockets to launch spacecraft have been repeatedly delayed. Last-minute computer trouble nixed the planned launch of Boeing’s first astronaut flight Saturday.
Earlier Saturday, a Japanese billionaire called off his plan to orbit the moon because of uncertainty over the development of a mega rocket by SpaceX. NASA is planning to use the rocket to send its astronauts to the moon.
In China’s current mission, the lander is to use a mechanical arm and a drill to gather up to 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of surface and underground material for about two days.
An ascender atop the lander will then take the samples in a metal vacuum container back to another module that is orbiting the moon. The container will be transferred to a re-entry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region about June 25.
Missions to the moon’s far side are more difficult because it doesn’t face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.
Zelensky meets heads of state in Singapore, seeks support for security summit
- Russia has not attended the security summit in Singapore since it invaded Ukraine in 2022
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky met with heads of state and legislators in Singapore late on Saturday and early on Sunday, seeking security assistance and support for a peace summit after arriving for a surprise visit to the Shangri-La Dialogue.
On the social media platform X, Zelensky said he had met with Indonesia’s president-elect, Prabowo Subianto; a delegation from the US Congress; and the president of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta.
“It is very important for us to begin the process of establishing a just peace,” Zelensky said. “Russia does not want to end the war. Therefore, we must work together with the entire world to bring peace closer.”
He said Ramos-Horta had agreed to attend the summit, scheduled for mid-June in Switzerland. At last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, Prabowo had proposed an Indonesian plan for ending the war in Ukraine.
Russia has not attended the security summit in Singapore since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Zelensky and his defense minister, Rustem Umerov, will also meet with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday on the sidelines of the conference, a US defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
They will discuss the current battlefield situation in Ukraine and Austin will “underscore US commitment to ensuring Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself against ongoing Russian aggression,” the official said.
Zelensky is also scheduled to speak at the security summit’s final discussion session on Sunday on “Re-Imagining Solutions for Global Peace and Regional Stability.”
Ukraine is facing a renewed assault from Russian forces, particularly around the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The United States recently relaxed restrictions on the use of US-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia, which experts say will help Ukraine blunt attacks before they gather momentum.
The Shangri-La Dialogue, organized by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies, ends on Sunday.
