PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — The United States is scheduled to sign a new security pact with Papua New Guinea on Monday as it competes with China for influence in the Pacific. Papua New Guinea’s location just north of Australia makes it strategically significant. It was the site of fierce battles during World War II, and with a population of nearly 10 million people, it’s the most populous Pacific island nation. The State Department said the new agreement would provide a framework to help improve security cooperation, enhance the capacity of Papua New Guinea’s defense force and increase regional stability.
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — As India prepares to host a meeting of tourism officials from the Group of 20 in the disputed region of Kashmir, authorities have deployed elite commandos and stepped up security in the region’s largest city. The meeting will be the first significant international event in Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the Muslim-majority region of semi-autonomy in 2019. Indian authorities are hoping the meeting will show that the controversial changes have brought “peace and prosperity” to the region. Since the 2019 changes, the city, known for rolling Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, has become a major domestic tourist destination.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A massive fire tore through Manila’s historic post office building overnight, slightly injuring one person and razing the nearly 100-year-old landmark in the Philippine capital, police and postal officials said Monday. The fire started before midnight in the basement of the neoclassical, five-story building and was brought under control Monday morning more than seven hours after it began, firefighters said. An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire and what was damaged, officials said. The Manila Central Post Office was one of the capital’s busiest office buildings but was closed when the fire started.
HIROSHIMA (AP) — 8:15 on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. It’s a big reason leaders from the world’s most powerful democracies descended on Hiroshima for this weekend’s Group of Seven summit: Part commemoration, part effort to confront the continuing consequences of the moment a U.S. B-29 Superfortress released what the Americans named “Little Boy” over the city in the first wartime use of a nuclear bomb. It also presents Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the driving force behind Hiroshima’s selection for the G7 venue, with a unique dilemma. On the one hand, he is keen to promote the vision of a world without nuclear weapons that has long been a cornerstone of his political rhetoric.
DILI, East Timor (AP) — Vote counting was underway in East Timor’s parliamentary election Sunday with two former independence fighters considered for the post of prime minister. Two main political parties — the incumbent Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, or Fretilin, and opposition National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction, or CNRT — are believed to be in a close race for the 65-seat National Parliament. A total of 17 parties were running. No parties have formed any pre-election coalitions, but analysts said CNRT, a party led by former prime minister and independence leader Xanana Gusmao, is favored to win following a successful presidential campaign in 2022 that saw its candidate, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, back in office.
BEIJING (AP) — Stepping up a feud with Washington over technology and security, China’s government on Sunday told users of computer equipment deemed sensitive to stop buying products from the biggest U.S. memory chipmaker, Micron Technology Inc. Micron products have unspecified “serious network security risks” that pose hazards to China’s information infrastructure and affect national security, the Cyberspace Administration of China said on its website. Its six-sentence statement gave no details. “Operators of critical information infrastructure in China should stop purchasing products from Micron Co.,” the agency said. The United States, Europe and Japan are reducing Chinese access to advanced chipmaking and other technology they say might be used in weapons at a time when President Xi Jinping’s government has threatened to attack Taiwan and is increasingly assertive toward Japan and other neighbors.
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s last-minute participation Sunday in the Group of Seven summit has brought intense global attention to Russia’s invasion of his nation. But it has also worried atomic bomb survivors who said the high-profile visit overshadowed a rare chance to push world leaders to focus on nuclear abolishment. Zelenskyy’s inclusion at the G7 gathering of the richest democracies — and his pursuit of more weapons and other support for Ukraine, rather than a diplomatic pursuit to end the war — sends the wrong message, activists and victims said. “Zelenskyy’s visit is not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city,” said Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945.
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit closed in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country’s war effort even as Russia claimed a battlefield victory that was quickly disputed by Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader’s in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was committed to “strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension.” Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea.
BEIJING (AP) — The collapse of a nine-story building in central China that killed 54 people last year was caused by shoddy, illegal construction and local officials’ failure to enforce standards, according to an official report released Sunday. At least nine people including the building owner were reported arrested following the April 2022 disaster in Changsha, which trapped survivors under rubble for up to five days. Nine people were injured. The report by investigators appointed by the ruling Communist Party said the collapse of the “self-built” structure was due by “illegal and irregular construction” and additions by residents, according to state TV.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The leaders of South Korea and Germany on Sunday pledged more cooperation in building stable industrial supply chains and addressing the challenges posed by nuclear-armed North Korea as they met in Seoul after flying in from the Group of Seven meetings in Japan. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, pointed to the similarities between the two major manufacturing nations that are dependent on foreign trade and said a stronger supply chain partnership would help them cope with “intensifying global economic instability and geopolitical conflicts.” He said the countries in particular will work to advance trade relations in high-tech industries and clean energy, including semiconductors and hydrogen projects, and pursue further opportunities in defense cooperation.
