1

MAY 25 (GMT) – MAY 26 (AEST), 2021

AUSTRALIAUKNORTH AMERICA

US will be ‘robust’ in Middle East

As military leaders grapple with how to carry out President Joe Biden’s order to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by September, the Pentagon insists the US commitment to the region is not wavering. “Just because we are removing our troops and our and ending our military mission in Afghanistan doesn’t mean that we’re walking away from the region,” Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said.

Push to review ballots spreads

Six months after Donald Trump’s loss, Trump backers are continuing their push for repeated examinations of ballots and finding limited successes. A Georgia judge last week awarded a group the chance to review mail ballots in a large Georgia county that includes Atlanta. Officials in a rural Michigan county have expressed interest in a review of their voting machines. A similar debate has caused sharp divisions in a New Hampshire town.

Australia to close Kabul embassy

Australia will close its embassy in Afghanistan within days as international troops prepare to leave the country. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials will instead visit Afghanistan from other residential posts in the region. “It is Australia’s expectation that this measure will be temporary and that we will resume a permanent presence in Kabul once circumstances permit,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Hotspot advice not ‘out of blue’

A senior Government minister said she was “surprised” to hear local leaders declare that they were not told about fresh guidance calling on people in Indian variant hotspot areas to limit their travel and social interactions. Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said the updated guidance, affecting areas such as Bolton and Leicester, had not come “out of the blue”.

Government winds back borrowing

The level of Government borrowing fell in April as the easing of lockdown restrictions started to regenerate the UK economy, according to new data. But levels of debt remain high, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing that borrowing hit £31.7 billion in April – the second highest April on record. Public sector net borrowing was £15.6 billion less than the same month a year ago, with central Government receipts at £58 billion – up £3.8 billion on April 2020.

Kiwis shut border to Victoria

New Zealand’s government has suspended quarantine-free travel from Victoria after the discovery of five community cases this week. COVID-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said a three-day suspension would take effect from 8pm NZST Tuesday night. “The government understands the disruption this will temporarily cause affected passengers. It was a close call but the correct one given the current unknowns,” Hipkins said.

NEW ZEALANDUKNORTH AMERICA

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2

MAY 25 (GMT) – MAY 26 (AEST), 2021

AUSTRALIAREST OF THE WORLDREST OF THE WORLD

Mysterious base on volcanic island

A mysterious air base is being built on a volcanic island off Yemen that sits in one of the world’s crucial maritime chokepoints for both energy shipments and commercial cargo. While no country has claimed the Mayun Island air base in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipping traffic associated with a prior attempt to build a massive runway across the 5.6-kilometer (3.5 mile)-long island years ago links back to the united Arab emirates.

Belarus draws ire over arrest

european airlines are skirting around Belarus at the urging of the european Union, which also imposed new sanctions to punish the nation’s forced diversion of a passenger jet to arrest an opposition journalist. eu leaders agreed to ban Belarusian airlines from using the airspace and airports of the bloc, imposed sanctions, and urged the International Civil Aviation Organization to start an investigation into the episode some described as state terrorism or piracy.

Power plant fire in Queensland

Queenslanders have been told to cut their energy use to make sure the network can cope after a fire took out a major plant and cut power to half a million customers. The Australian energy Market Operator said to avoid using heavy appliances, after the blaze at Queensland’s Callide Power Station robbed the state of a major generator. Consumers have been urged to “minimise stress on the system” to ensure there’s no shortfall – something that could cause brownouts or blackouts.

Cross-border vaccine clinic closed

A feel-good story in which a Montana First Nation was holding COVID-19 vaccination clinics at the Canada-United States border in southwestern Alberta has come to an end. The Blackfeet Tribe, 150 kilometres south of lethbridge, began offering shots of Pfizer-BionTech and Moderna at the Carway border crossing a month ago. Initially it was being offered to members of the Blackfoot Confederacy, but it was later opened up to anyone who wanted it.

Hundreds hurt in train crash

Two light rail trains collided in a tunnel in the Malaysian capital Kuala lumpur, injuring more than 200 people, in the first major crash for the 23-year-old metro system. Of the 213 injured, 47 were hospitalised for serious injuries and 166 had minor injuries. Pictures on social media after the collision showed injured passengers, some lying on the floor of the carriage strewn with shattered glass.

Auckland approves 10-year budget

Auckland Council today voted through rates increases each year for the next decade. The 10-year spending plan has been dubbed the Recovery Budget and aims to plug the $750 million hole left by the COVID-19 pandemic. It lays out big spending on infrastructure – along with how that investment will be paid for. Ratepayers can expect to foot some of the bill – a one-off 5 per cent increase is due next year and an average 3.5 per cent increase each year thereafter.

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3

MAY 25 (GMT) – MAY 26 (AEST), 2021

NORTH AMERICA

Maricopa County ballots are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-

based company, Cyber ninjas at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. - AP

Push to review 2020 ballots spreadsSix months after Donald Trump’s loss, Trump backers are continuing their push for repeated examinations of ballots and finding limited successes.

A Georgia judge last week awarded a group the chance to review mail ballots in a large Georgia county that includes Atlanta. Officials in a rural Michigan county have expressed interest in a review of their voting machines. A similar debate has caused sharp divisions in a New Hampshire town. In some cases, the efforts have been inspired by an audit of the votes in Arizona’s Maricopa County, an elaborate exercise engineered by the GOP-led state Senate.

The efforts are unlikely to yield any new revelations about President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. The votes have been counted – and often recounted – and certified by local officials. Still, the lingering debate and legal wrangling have propelled suspicions and advanced debunked theories.

The profusion of audits alarms election experts, who note that the Arizona audit has set a troubling new precedent of third-party, partisan review of the ballots, long after elections are over.

The audits are serving a clear political purpose in firing up the Republican Party’s base. At a rally outside Phoenix last week featuring GOP reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, references to the Arizona audit drew much more enthusiastic applause than even immigration.

In a statement, Trump criticized Republican Party leaders for not doing more about “what went on” in November. He cited the ballot reviews underway and promised “more to follow.”

The Arizona audit has been cited as a template for the others, although each is distinct. In Arizona, the Republican-controlled state Senate subpoenaed more than two million ballots and voting machines from Arizona’s most populous county.

But the biggest new entry into the audit field is in Georgia’s Fulton County, where a judge ruled that plaintiffs could inspect 147,000 mail ballots as part of their lawsuit alleging fraud in the most populous county in the state. ■

- AP

NORTH AMERICA

US will be ‘robust’ in Middle EastAs military leaders grapple with how to carry out President Joe Biden’s order to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by September, the Pentagon insists the US commitment to the region is not wavering.

“Just because we are removing our troops and our and ending our military mission in Afghanistan doesn’t mean that we’re walking away from the region,” Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.last week, Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of uS

Central Command, said negotiations with Afghanistan’s neighbors for overflight rights and troop basing are “moving forward” but will take time.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary lloyd Austin spoke with Pakistan’s chief of Army staff, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. The Pentagon didn’t get specific about what the two military leaders discussed, other than to says they talked about “shared regional interests and objectives.”

Commanders have said they will monitor threats from “over the horizon,” to ensure that terrorists cannot again use Afghanistan as a base to launch attacks against the US But they have acknowledged that the US does not yet have any agreements for basing or overflights from any of the neighboring countries.

“There’s still going to be a robust United States presence in the Middle east, in the Central Command area of responsibility,” Kirby said.

“There’s absolutely going to be no diminution of our commitment to our allies and partners in the region,” he said. ■

4

MAY 25 (GMT) – MAY 26 (AEST), 2021

Uk

Chancellor of the exchequer rishi Sunak. - PA

Government winds back borrowingThe level of Government borrowing fell in April as the easing of lockdown restrictions started to regenerate the UK economy, according to new data.

But levels of debt remain high, with the Office for national Statistics (ONS) revealing that borrowing hit £31.7 billion in April – the second highest April on record.

Public sector net borrowing was £15.6 billion less than the same month a year ago, with central Government receipts at £58 billion – up £3.8 billion on April 2020.

Central Government bodies spent £95.9 billion – down £12.9 billion on a year earlier.

The ONS also revised down its estimates for last year’s total deficit, which hit levels not seen since the Second World War Two, from £303.1 billion to £300.3 billion – or 14.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

This was £27.1 billion less than the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) forecasts as the economy starts to recover following the vaccine rollout and lifting of COVID restrictions.

The amount of Government debt now sits at £2.17 trillion at the end of April 2021, or around 98.5 per cent of GDP, the highest ratio since the 99.5 per cent recorded in March 1962.

A large proportion of the additional spending by Government was generated from the various support schemes for businesses and workers during the COVID-19 pandemic – increasing day-to-day spending by £204.1 billion to £942.7 billion.

Tax and national Insurance contributions in the financial year to the end of March was down £32.7 billion to £670 billion.

Chancellor of the exchequer rishi Sunak said: “At the Budget, I set out the steps we are taking to keep the public finances on a sustainable footing by bringing debt under control over the medium term.

“But we also need to focus on driving a strong economy recovery from the pandemic. That is why the Government is continuing a comprehensive package of support to help businesses and workers get back on their feet – and the evidence shows that our Plan for Jobs is working.” ■

A COVID marshal on patrol in Bedford which has become one of the UK’s worst hotspots

for COVID-19 rates. - PA

Uk

Hotspot advice not ‘out of the blue’A senior Government minister said she was “surprised” to hear local leaders declare that they were not told about fresh guidance calling on people in Indian variant hotspot areas to limit their travel and social interactions.

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said the updated guidance, affecting areas such as Bolton and leicester, had not come “out of the blue”.

The updated advice – which is not law – was published on the Government website without an official announcement, encouraging people in areas including Kirklees and the London borough of Hounslow not to meet indoors in a bid to spread the halt of the highly-transmissible mutation.

People should avoid travelling into and out of the eight areas, with Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley and North Tyneside also on the list, while residents in the eight areas should also be tested twice a week, according to the Government advice.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the failure to alert local leaders was “utterly shameful”.

Blackburn’s director of public health Professor Dominic Harrison tweeted that local authority areas affected by the guidance were “not consulted with, warned of, notified about, or alerted” to the instruction changes.

North Tyneside’s director of public health Wendy Burke said the local authority had “queried” the information with the Department of Health and Social Care to “seek clarification”.

The Government, however, insisted that the recommendations were first issued on May 14 – with Boris Johnson urging people in the affected areas to be “extra cautious” – before being “formally” published online last week.

Cabinet minister Coffey said: “The Prime Minister set out that we need to take extra caution in certain areas regarding the Indian variant. It is good practice to formally put that guidance on the record affecting those communities. We have been working in close contact, so I’m surprised to hear that people think this has come out of the blue – it hasn’t.” ■

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MAY 25 (GMT) – MAY 26 (AEST), 2021

NEW ZEALAND

- AAP

New Zealand shuts border to VictoriaNew Zealand’s government has suspended quarantine-free travel from Victoria after the discovery of five community cases this week.

COVID-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said a three-day suspension would take effect from 8pm nZST Tuesday night.

“The government understands the disruption this will temporarily cause affected passengers. It was a close call but the correct one given the current unknowns,” Hipkins said.

“An epidemiological link has yet to be determined between these cases and there is currently no known link between people in the current outbreak and any of the exposure sites from Wollert.”

The suspension is the third pause since the creation of the trans-Tasman bubble last month.

Jacinda Ardern’s government blocked travel from WA and NSW following the discovering of community cases in those states’ capital cities. ■

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. - AAP

AUSTRALIA

Australia to close Kabul embassyAustralia will close its embassy in Afghanistan within days as international troops prepare to leave the country.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials will instead visit Afghanistan from other residential posts in the region.

“It is Australia’s expectation that this measure will be temporary and that we will resume a permanent presence in Kabul once circumstances permit,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

“This form of diplomatic representation is common practice around the world. It does not alter our commitment to Afghanistan or its people.”

Morrison said the departure of Australian and allied forces over the next few months brought with it an increasingly uncertain security environment.

“The government has been advised that security arrangements could not be provided to support our ongoing diplomatic presence,” he said.

The embassy in Kabul will close on Friday, May 28.The final 80 remaining Australian troops will pull out of

Afghanistan by September, in line with America’s timeline to end its “forever war” before the 20-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. ■

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MAY 25 (GMT) – MAY 26 (AEST), 2021

REST OF THE WORLD

Journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich. - PA

Belarus draws ire over dissident arrestEuropean airlines are skirting around Belarus at the urging of the European Union, which also imposed new sanctions to punish the ex-Soviet nation’s forced diversion of a passenger jet to arrest an opposition journalist.

In unusually swift action at a summit in Brussels, eu leaders agreed to ban Belarusian airlines from using the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc, imposed sanctions on officials linked to the flight diversion, and urged the International Civil Aviation Organization to start an investigation into the episode some described as state terrorism or piracy.

earlier, Belarusian flight controllers told the crew of a ryanair jetliner flying from Greece to lithuania that there was a bomb threat against the plane as it was crossing through Belarus airspace and ordered it to land. A Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet was scrambled to escort the plane in a brazen show of force by President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for over a quarter-century.

Belarus authorities then arrested 26-year-old journalist and activist raman Pratasevich and his russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega. Pratasevich was later seen in a brief video clip shown on Belarusian state television, speaking quickly and saying that he was giving testimony about organizing mass disturbances.

Pratasevich, who left Belarus in 2019 and ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organize huge protests against Lukashenko, has been charged in absentia with staging mass riots and fanning social hatred. Those charges carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

The Telegram messaging app’s Nexta channel that he co-founded has been labeled as “extremist” by the Belarusian authorities, and some fear Pratasevich could face more serious charges, including some that carry the death penalty.

Belarus has been rocked by months of protests, which were triggered by Lukashenko’s reelection to a sixth term in an August 2020 vote that the opposition rejected as rigged. More than 34,000 people have been arrested in Belarus since then, and thousands beaten. ■

A mysterious air base is seen being built on Yemen’s volcanic Mayun Island. - AP

REST OF THE WORLD

Mysterious base on volcanic islandA mysterious air base is being built on a volcanic island off Yemen that sits in one of the world’s crucial maritime chokepoints for both energy shipments and cargo.

While no country has claimed the Mayun Island air base in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipping traffic associated with a prior attempt to build a massive runway across the 5.6-kilometer (3.5 mile)-long island years ago links back to the United Arab emirates.

Officials in Yemen’s internationally recognized government now say the emiratis are behind this latest effort as well, even though the uAe announced in 2019 it was withdrawing its troops from a Saudi-led military campaign battling Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

emirati officials in Abu Dhabi and the uAe’s embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

The runway on Mayun Island allows whoever controls it to project power into the strait and easily launch airstrikes into mainland Yemen, convulsed by a yearslong bloody war. It also provides a base for any operations into the red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and nearby east Africa.

Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. obtained by The Associated Press showed dump trucks and graders building a 1.85 kilometer (6070-foot) runway on the island on April 11. By May 18, that work appeared complete, with three hangars constructed on a tarmac just south of the runway.

A runway of that length can accommodate attack, surveillance and transport aircraft. An earlier effort begun toward the end of 2016 and later abandoned had workers try to build an even-larger runway over three kilometers (9800 feet) long, which would allow for the heaviest bombers.

Military officials with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which the Saudi-led coalition has backed since 2015, say the uAe is building the runway. The officials, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity, say emirati ships transported military weapons, equipment and troops to Mayun Island in recent weeks. ■

7

MAY 25 (GMT) – MAY 26 (AEST), 2021

REST OF THE WORLD

Rescue personnel help injured passengers at KLCC station after two light rail trains

collided in a tunnel, injuring more than 200 people in Kuala lumpur, Malaysia. - AP

Hundreds hurt in train crashTwo light rail trains collided in a tunnel in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, injuring more than 200 people, in the first major crash for the 23-year-old metro system.

Of the 213 injured, 47 were hospitalised for serious injuries and 166 had minor injuries. Pictures on social media after the collision showed injuried passengers, some lying on the floor of the carriage strewn with shattered glass.

Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said a metro train carrying 213 passengers collided with a vacant carriage on a test-run in a tunnel near the Petronas Towers, one of the world’s tallest twin towers.

“One carriage was travelling at 20km per hour (12.4 mph) and another at around 40km per hour (24.8 mph) when the collision happened. This caused a significant jolt that threw some passengers out of their seats,” he was quoted as saying.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin pledged a full investigation into the cause. Police said they suspected a miscommunication from the trains’ operation control centre. The vacant carriage had a driver while the train with passengers was controlled by the operation centre.

Some passengers were left in shock. Afiq luqman Mohamad Baharudin, 27, told national Bernama news agency that many people were flung from their seats or fell on the floor. He said the train had stopped for 15 minutes just before the mishap.

“We had only moved for a few seconds when the crash happened and the impact was so strong that I suffered injuries to my head, left leg and chest,” he was quoted as saying. ■

- CP

REST OF THE WORLD

Cross-border vaccine clinic closedA feel-good story in which a Montana First Nation was holding COVID-19 vaccination clinics at the Canada-United States border in southwestern Alberta has come to an end.

The Blackfeet Tribe, 150 kilometres south of lethbridge, began offering shots of Pfizer-BionTech and Moderna at the Carway border crossing a month ago. Initially it was being offered to members of the Blackfoot Confederacy, but it was later opened up to anyone who wanted it.

The proposal received approval from the tribal administration and both the Canadian and United States governments to set up the mobile clinic on the US side of the border.

Canadians who attended the clinic were given exemptions from having to quarantine for 14 days. They lined up in their cars, drove through a loop, received their shots through the window, were monitored for 15 minutes and went home.

But an official with the Blackfeet Tribe in Browning, Mont., said that the clinics have come to an end.

“I am very sad and disappointed to report that we are not to able to continue our border vaccine clinics because of government bureaucracy on both sides.

“Apparently crossing the border to receive a vaccine is non-essential. Go figure,” said James Mcneely.

US Customs and Border Protection said last week Canadians attempting to drive across the American border solely for a COVID-19 vaccination, even with a doctor’s referral, would be denied entry.

The Public Health Agency of Canada also clarified that any Canadians travelling to the United States for the purpose of getting the vaccine are not exempted from a 14 day quarantine on their return and that vaccines are now “widely available” here.

Mcneely said 1,350 doses were given in three clinics the tribe held in the past month. Another clinic this week to give people their second shots has now been cancelled. ■

8

MAY 25 (GMT) – MAY 26 (AEST), 2021

Auckland approves 10-year budgetAuckland Council today voted through rates increases each year for the next decade.

The 10-year spending plan has been dubbed the recovery Budget and aims to plug the $750 million hole left by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It lays out big spending on infrastructure – along with how that investment will be paid for.

ratepayers can expect to foot some of the bill – a one-off 5 per cent increase is due next year and an average 3.5 per cent increase each year thereafter.

It comes as water bills might also increase as Watercare tackles the region’s long-lasting drought.

The council would also balance its books by slashing its own costs by $90m, collecting $70m in the first three years by shaving off some of its assets, and upping its debt-to-income ratio to 290 per cent for the first three years before gradually returning to 270 per cent.

The council’s 10-year budget funnelled $31.8 billion into infrastructure – including $12.6b for transport, and $11.1b for water, wastewater and stormwater.

Mayor Phil Goff said the council chose not to slash spending and cut services in the face of the pandemic, instead opting to boost investment to help the city and country recover from the economic fallout.

Infrastructure maintenance and renewal funding increased by 50 per cent compared to previous 10-year budget, he said

Goff pointed to the “plight” of Wellington’s water pipe woes as an example of why that spending needed to increase.

“Who hasn’t … felt for Wellington as its waste water, its storm water and its freshwater pipes have exploded in the streets because they are long past the need for renewal.

“We are not going to allow that to happen in our city.”The council had a responsibility to be financially prudent

without placing unreasonable burden on ratepayers, Goff said.He was conscious that the rates increase could add to

financial pressures already felt by Aucklanders. ■

NEW ZEALAND

Mayor Phil Goff. - rnZ / Dan Cook

Power plant fire in QueenslandQueenslanders have been told to cut their energy use to make sure the network can cope after a fire took out a major plant and cut power to half a million customers.

The Australian energy Market Operator has told people to avoid using heavy appliances, after the blaze at central Queensland’s Callide Power Station robbed the state of a major generator.

Consumers have been urged to “minimise stress on the system” to ensure there’s no shortfall – something that could cause brownouts or blackouts.

So far the system is coping with the help of imported electricity after the fire at the coal-fired power station, which is now surrounded by a 550-metre exclusion zone.

All plant workers have been evacuated and no one was hurt.Danny Donald from power company energex says he’s not

sure the Queensland network has experienced an outage of a similar scale. But he said restoration was quick, and everyone who lost power was back online about two hours later.

Donald warned there would be “instability” in the network in coming days and confirmed AMeO had issued a “lack of reserve” notice to the national market.

That means the national supply system may not have capacity to meet Queensland’s needs in the short term.

“It’s something that we will work on if we need to … but we’re not at that stage yet,” Donald has told the ABC.

Former Brisbane lord mayor Jim Soorley chairs the board of CS energy, which operates the Callide plant. He says there’s no information on the scale of the damage, and does not know when the four generating units will be back on line.

He’s hopeful staff will get back inside after such “a serious reduction of capacity in Queensland” and suggested reports of an explosion were wrong.

Queensland Fire and emergency Services deputy commissioner Mark roche says fire crews with breathing apparatus are waiting for the plant to be made safe before going inside. ■

- AAP

AUSTRALIA