The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has elected To Lam as general secretary of the CPV Central Committee, according to a statement on Saturday.
He will continue to serve as Vietnam’s president, Xinhua news agency reported.
Lam has served as the 13th General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam since August 2024 and the 13th President of Vietnam since May 2024.
He served as Minister of Public Security from April 2016 until his election to the presidency in May 2024. AGENCIES
Two people were killed, eight injured and 12 others went missing after a flash flood and mudslide in southwest China’s Sichuan Province Saturday, local authorities said.
The flash flood and mudslide took place early in the morning in Ridi Village, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, according to the emergency rescue and disaster relief headquarters, Xinhua news agency reported.
The injured have been sent to hospital for treatment and over 300 people have been relocated.
Rescue work is underway. AGENCIES
Three policemen were injured while eight protesters were arrested for a range of offences, including violent disorder and burglary in Sunderland, northeast England.
On Friday, three officers sustained injuries during the protests, which were “utterly deplorable”, the Northumbria Police said in a statement on Saturday.
One officer has been discharged from the hospital, while the other two remain hospitalised, the police said.
A statement from the police read, “Anyone involved in the disorder we have seen can expect to be dealt with robustly – and that action has already begun.”
During the clashes, a police office building was attacked, and the adjacent property was set alight. Protesters threw beer cans and stones at police near a mosque, and at least one car was set on fire, it said.
“The shocking scenes we have witnessed in Sunderland are completely unacceptable. We want to make it clear that the disorder, violence, and damage which has occurred will not be tolerated,” the statement read.
The police also urged the public to avoid the area while officers manage the situation, stressing that public safety is the “utmost priority.”
While acknowledging that the right to lawful protest is a fundamental part of democracy, the police warned that using protests as a “means to commit crime” will not be tolerated.
An investigation is underway to identify the people responsible for the unrest and violence.
The disorder in Sunderland occurred as police nationwide prepared for planned far-right rallies and other demonstrations this weekend, following two nights of unrest in several areas in the wake of Monday’s knife attack that claimed the lives of three young girls. AGENCIES
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for safeguarding the rights of indigenous people to live in peace and dignity, in his message on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, observed annually on August 9.
Indigenous peoples represent around 6 per cent of the world’s population, but their stewardship signifies an outsized contribution to our global community, Guterres said on Friday.
Highlighting their roles as “keepers of knowledge and traditions” that help safeguard some of the most biodiverse areas of the planet, and as “guardians of the environment,” the UN chief said, “Their survival is our survival.”
While their unique way of life is a testament to the rich tapestry of humanity, Indigenous people also face serious challenges that threaten their very existence, Guterres warned, adding that they are often the victims of threats and violence, and extractive and productive sectors like mining, agriculture and transport have accelerated deforestation and land degradation, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Ancestral homelands and natural resources that they depend on for survival are coming under siege. And their rights to self-determination and agency — enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — are yet to be fulfilled,” he said.
Noting that this year’s theme “Protecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact” reminds us of their rights to protect themselves from unwanted contact, the UN chief warned that contact “can have a devastating impact,” including “exposure to infectious diseases, forced assimilation and the disruption of culture, language, and livelihoods”.
He called on the international community to “stand behind the rights of indigenous peoples to chart their own futures” and “safeguard their rights to live in peace and dignity”.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in December 1994 to designate August 9 as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
According to the United Nations, there are an estimated 476 million indigenous people in the world living across 90 countries, making up less than 6 per cent of the world’s population. They speak an overwhelming majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures. AGENCIES
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has overrode a plea agreement reached earlier this week for the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks and two other defendants, reinstating them as death penalty cases, media reported.
The move comes two days after the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, announced it had reached plea deals with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accused accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, in the attacks, The Arab News reported.
Austin wrote in an order released on Friday night that “in light of the significance of the decision,” he had decided that the authority to decide on accepting the plea agreements was his. He nullified the agreements.
“I have determined that in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused… responsibility for such a decision should rest with me,” Austin said in a memorandum addressed to Susan Escallier, who oversaw the case.
“I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024, in the above-referenced case,” the memo said.
Letters sent to families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Al-Qaeda attacks said the plea agreement stipulated the three would serve life sentences.
Some families of the attack’s victims condemned the deal for cutting off any possibility of full trials and possible death penalties.
Republicans were quick to fault the Biden administration for the deal, although the White House said after it was announced it had no knowledge of it, The Arab News reported.
Mohammed and the other defendants had been expected to formally enter their pleas under the deal as soon as next week.
The US military commission overseeing the cases of five defendants in the September 11 attacks has been stuck in pre-trial hearings and other preliminary court action since 2008.
The torture that the defendants underwent while in CIA custody has slowed the cases and left the prospect of full trials and verdicts still uncertain, in part because of the inadmissibility of evidence linked to the torture. AGENCIES
A US military helicopter on Saturday morning made an emergency landing in a rice field in the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa, south of Tokyo, local media reported.
No injuries have been reported in the incident which took place in Ebina city, national broadcaster NHK reported citing the local fire department, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters, a report was received at 10:56 a.m. local time stating that a helicopter marked with the word “Navy” had landed in a rice field in the city.
The police believed the helicopter to be a US military aircraft but its exact affiliation remains unknown.
When the police arrived, they were unable to approach the helicopter, but no damage to the aircraft or oil leakage was observed, and there were no reports of injuries or falling debris in the vicinity.
The helicopter left the scene by taking off at around 12:40 p.m. local time, heading towards the US military’s Atsugi base, according to media reports citing local officials.
Further details about the cause of the incident are still under investigation. AGENCIES
The US Defense Department will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon said, as President Joe Biden made good on his promise to beef up the American military presence to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and also safeguard US troops.
In a statement, the department said on Friday that Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defence weapons there.
The shifts come as US leaders worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent attacks by Israel on Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, which triggered threats of retaliation.
Biden in a call on Thursday afternoon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed new US military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones, according to the White House.
In April, US forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran against Israel and helped shoot down nearly all of them.
The assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut on Tuesday risk escalating the fighting into an all-out regional war, with Iran also threatening to respond after the attack on its territory.
Israel has vowed to kill Hamas leaders over the group’s October 7 attack, which sparked the war.
Lloyd Austin is ordering the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to replace the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which is in the Gulf of Oman but scheduled to come home later this summer. This decision suggests the Pentagon has decided to keep a carrier consistently in the region as a deterrent against Iran at least until next year.
The Pentagon did not say where the fighter jet squadron was coming from or where it would be based in the Middle East. A number of allies in the region are often willing to base US military forces but don’t want it made public.
The White House in a statement said that Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis”.
Earlier on Friday, Sabrina Singh, Pentagon Spokeswoman, told reporters that moves were in the works.
She said Austin “will be directing multiple” force movements to provide additional support to Israel and increase protection for US troops in the region.
In addition, a US official said that two US Navy destroyers that are currently in the Middle East will be heading north up the Red Sea toward the Mediterranean Sea. At least one of those could linger in the Mediterranean if needed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements. AGENCIES
Death Valley, one of the hottest locations in the world at the height of summer, just experienced the hottest month on record this July, with an average 24-hour temperature of 108.5 degrees Fahrenheit (42.5 degrees Celsius), said US Death Valley National Park officials.
Park officials noted in a news release that this beats the park’s previous record of 108.1 degrees Fahrenheit (42.3 degrees Celsius) set in 2018, Xinhua news agency reported.
The average high temperature during the record-breaking month was a sweltering 121.9 degrees Fahrenheit (49.9 degrees Celsius), with the park experiencing nine days 125 degrees Fahrenheit (51.7 degrees Celsius) or greater and only seven days that didn’t reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius).
The highest temperature came on July 7 when the weather station at the park’s Furnace Creek area recorded 129.2 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius), according to the news release.
Park officials pointed out that “high temperatures only tell half the story,” as the average low temperature of 95.2 degrees Fahrenheit (35.1 degrees Celsius) meant that there was little relief overnight.
“We just experienced the hottest month in history in the hottest place on Earth! Six of the 10 hottest summers have come in the past 10 years, which should serve as a wake-up call,” said Mike Reynolds, the superintendent of Death Valley National Park. “Record-breaking months like this one could become the norm as we continue to see global temperatures rise,” he added.
Death Valley National Park rangers responded to multiple life-threatening heat-related incidents in July, including one fatality where heat was a factor and another incident where a man had to be rescued from sand dunes after losing his flip-flops and experiencing second-degree burns.
Park rangers urge summer travellers to Death Valley National Park to stay within a 10-minute walk of an air-conditioned vehicle, drink plenty of water, eat salty snacks, and wear a hat and sunscreen.
Death Valley, located between the US states of California and Nevada, is the hottest, lowest and driest place in the country. The world’s highest air temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 degrees Celsius) was recorded at Furnace Creek in the park on July 10, 1913, according to the US National Park Service. AGENCIES
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has confirmed that President Nicolas Maduro won last week’s elections with 51.95 per cent of the vote.
With 96.87 per cent of the ballots counted, Maduro received 6,408,844 votes, while his main Opposition rival garnered 5,326,104 votes (43.18 per cent), according to Elvis Amoroso, Head of the National Electoral Council, on Friday.
Amoroso also announced the vote percentages for other candidates: Luis Martinez received 1.24 per cent of the vote, Antonio Ecarri, 0.94 per cent; Benjamin Rausseo, 0.75 per cent; Jose Brito, 0.68 per cent; Javier Bertucci, 0.52 per cent; Claudio Fermin, 0.33 per cent; Enrique Marquez, 0.24 per cent; and Daniel Ceballos, 0.16 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported.
He said a total of more than 12,386,000 votes were counted, representing 59.97 per cent of the eligible electorate, with a little more than 50,000 votes, or 0.41 per cent, declared invalid.
Amoroso blamed “massive cyberattacks” against the election technological infrastructure and the country’s main telecommunications companies for the delayed transmission of results and the delayed disclosure process.
Despite the burning of electoral offices, voting centres, and what he described as “terrorist attacks,” Amoroso said the National Electoral Council managed to transmit the majority of the results.
He expressed gratitude to the Armed Forces, international observers, and officials, who he said had made the July 28 presidential elections possible. AGENCIES
The water level at the cooling pond of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine, which is vital for the facility’s nuclear safety, has continued to decrease over the past weeks, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
“If this trend continues, ZNPP staff confirmed that it will soon become challenging to pump water from the pond,” the IAEA said on Friday in a statement.
“Maintaining the level of the pond is made more difficult by the hot summer weather.”
“The dwindling water levels in the cooling pond remains a potential source of concern,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said, adding that the agency would continue to closely monitor and observe the situation at the site to ensure a sufficient supply of cooling water for the plant’s needs at all times, Xinhua news agency reported.
The IAEA experts stationed at the ZNPP have continued to hear military activity at varying distances from the plant over the past week.
The team also “observed smoke in the distance multiple times in the past week, which the ZNPP reported was caused by fires,” the statement said.
All six reactors of the ZNPP remain in a state of cold shutdown, according to the United Nations nuclear watchdog. agencies