US halts Blinken China visit after spy balloon row
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his trip to China after a Chinese spy balloon flew across the US.
A senior State Department official said conditions were not right at this time for what would have been the first high level US-China meeting there in years.
A Chinese apology was noted, the official said, but described the balloon as a clear violation of sovereignty and international law.
The visit was to come amid fraying tensions between the US and China
America's top US diplomat was set to visit Beijing to hold talks on a wide range of issues, including security, Taiwan and Covid-19.
UAE oil company employees given roles in office hosting Cop28
Exclusive: at least 12 officials at body hosting Cop28 appear to have come straight from fossil fuel industry
Ben Stockton and Lawrence Carter
At least a dozen employees from the United Arab Emirate’s state-owned oil company have apparently taken up roles with the office of the UAE’s climate change special envoy, who will host this year’s Cop28 UN climate summit.
The revelation adds to growing concerns over the potential for blurred lines between the team hosting this year’s crucial summit and the oil-rich country’s influential fossil fuel industry.
The officials were apparently working in the UAE’s oil and gas industry immediately before taking up roles in the Cop28 team, according to an analysis of LinkedIn accounts by the independent investigative group Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR), and seen by the Guardian.
India: Crackdown on underage marriage, 1,800 men arrested
Police in the state of Assam began arresting over 1,800 people violating underage marriage laws. India has the highest proportion of child brides in the world.
Police in the Indian state of Assam in the east of the country have launched a crackdown on underage marriage, and arrested more than 1,800 men on Friday.
The state's chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said a statewide operation was underway "against those violating provisions of Prohition of Child Marriage Act," and confirmed the number of arrests in a Twitter post.
The minister went on to say he had asked police to adopt a "zero tolerance" approach against what he called an "unpardonable and heinous crime against women."
A day in Bakhmut as Ukrainian city's last residents face Russian advance
Tensions simmer among Palestinian prisoners as Israel cracks down
After Hamas’s armed wing in the besieged Gaza Strip launched rockets towards Israel on Wednesday night, it explained its reasons; chief among them was the treatment of what it termed a “red line”: female Palestinian prisoners.
The announcement touched on an issue that has gone under the radar in the past week, with the focus instead on the escalating violence in the occupied West Bank.
But Israeli prison authorities have also taken increasingly tough measures against Palestinian inmates in the past week, according to Palestinian prisoners’ legal and rights groups.
These include solitary confinement, increased searches of cells and bans on visits.
Kishida cautious on gay marriage because it would ‘change society’
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
February 3, 2023 at 15:09 JST
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is taking heat for expressing hesitation in legalizing same-sex marriage saying that it would fundamentally “change society” and people's values.
When Chinami Nishimura, co-deputy president of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, argued for legalizing gay marriage at a Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 1, Kishida replied, “That’s a topic we should consider very carefully."
“Because it’s a topic that will change people’s perception of family, values, and society, it’s important to make a decision only after deeply contemplating the mood of the whole of society.”
Critics charge that the remarks show he is out of touch because society has moved on from the matter.
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