Mexico cancels multi-billion dollar airport project; South Korea asks US for sanctions exemption

Trump wants to build 'tent cities' to make immigrants fed up with America

US President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in North Carolina on October 26. Photo:Reuters

The president said that keeping migrants waiting while their asylum claims are processed would deter them from coming to the US. "If they apply for asylum, we will hold them until their applications are processed. We will build tent cities, set up tents everywhere instead of building structures and spending hundreds of millions of dollars," AFP quoted US President Donald Trump on October 29.

Trump's announcement came as the Pentagon announced it would deploy 5,200 troops to the southwest border this week to deal with a caravan of 7,000 Honduran migrants trying to reach the US by land. "We're going to have tents set up, very nice. They're going to have to wait, and if they're not granted asylum, they're going to have to leave," Trump said, adding that asylum seekers would be detained while their applications were processed, a move he said would stem the flow of people to the US.

Russian President affirms partnership with German Chancellor

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks at a parliamentary session in Berlin. Source: AFP/VNA

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on October 30 that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plans not to run for another term in 2021 were Germany's internal affairs but that Merkel would remain a partner of Russian President Vladimir Putin until then.

A day earlier, Ms. Merkel announced that she would not run for re-election as Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the December elections, nor would she run for the position of German Chancellor or any other political position after 2021.

Japan builds military base in East China Sea to deter China

Japan's rapid deployment amphibious brigade during a drill in May. Photo:Reuters

The closest Japanese military base to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea is currently on Okinawa Island, about 440 km from the disputed islands with China.

Türkiye rejects proposal to close military base in Qatar

Photo for illustration purposes only. Source: RT

Türkiye has rejected "unrealistic" proposals to close its military base in Qatar, according to news reports on October 30. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the presence of Turkish troops in Qatar has nothing to do with the ongoing crisis between Arab countries.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have called for the closure of the Tariq bin Ziyad barracks in the Qatari capital Doha, among a series of conditions aimed at ending the diplomatic and political isolation of Qatar. The Saudi-led boycott of Qatar began in June 2017 over suspicions that Doha supports Islamist extremist groups and is seeking closer ties with regional rival Iran.

South Korea asks US for sanctions waiver to reduce damage from Iranian oil imports

• US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right) and his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha at a press conference in Washington, DC on May 11. Photo: AFP/TTXVN

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said on October 30 that it has asked the United States for "maximum flexibility" in applying sanctions exemptions, thereby helping South Korean companies minimize the impact of Washington's additional sanctions on Iran.

Sanctions on Iran’s crude oil exports are set to take effect on November 5, part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to force Tehran to agree to a tougher deal to curb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and missile programs. South Korea, a U.S. ally and one of Asia’s biggest importers of Iranian oil, has already stopped importing crude from Iran. South Korean construction companies have also terminated energy-related contracts in Iran due to difficulties in financial transactions.

Mexico cancels multi-billion dollar airport project due to corruption and cost overruns

Texcoco International Airport project in Mexico is under construction - Photo: Reuters

Mexico's newly elected president has announced that he will cancel the $13.3 billion Mexico City airport project in response to the people's wishes. "The decision of the Mexican people is democratic, wise and effective," President-elect Lopez Obrador declared after 70% of voters voted against the airport project in a four-day referendum that just ended.

It remains unclear what Mexico’s next administration will do with the massive, unfinished foundations of a new airport on what used to be a lake called Texcoco. The referendum itself was controversial, with just over 1 million voters turning out, or 1.2% of the eligible electorate. The Mexican peso fell 3.3% against the dollar after the president-elect announced the decision (October 29). Mexico’s IPC stock index also fell 4.2% by the end of the day.

Syria: Türkiye fails to fulfill obligations under Idlib agreement

Syrian soldiers are deployed in Hamidiya village, Quneitra province on July 26, 2018. Photo: AFP/TTXVN

The Syrian government has accused Türkiye of failing to fulfill its obligations under an agreement with Russia to establish a demilitarized zone free of Islamist militants in the northwest, contrary to Russia's view that Ankara has fulfilled the agreement, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the same day that Türkiye is making every effort to fully implement its difficult obligations regarding the establishment of a demilitarized zone in Syria's Idlib, and Russia sees no threat that the agreement will fail.

Australian intelligence wants to "ban" Chinese technology group

Huawei employees use laptops to introduce 5G technology at the PT Exhibition in Beijing, China in September. Photo:AP.

Australia's critical infrastructure such as power grids, water supplies and hospitals could be left vulnerable if Chinese telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE are allowed to participate in the country's 5G network rollout, Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), warned on October 30.

Burgess said cybersecurity experts at the Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASD), part of the Australian Intelligence Community, supported the Australian government's decision in August to block the two Chinese companies. Huawei and ZTE are "high-risk contractors," Burgess said.Times Dailyreport

More than 90% of children have to inhale toxic gases every day.

Photo: CNN

According to a report released by the World Health Organization ahead of the first global conference on air pollution and health in Geneva on October 30: 93% of children under 15 years old around the world breathe and live in polluted air. In 2016, an estimated 600,000 children died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air.

Air pollution is one of the leading health threats for children under five, accounting for nearly one in 10 deaths in this age group, the report said. Children are more vulnerable to pollution because they are shorter than adults and inhale more pollutants closer to the ground than adults, according to the WHO. In low- and middle-income countries, 98% of children under five are regularly exposed to PM2.5. In high-income countries, 52% of children under five are exposed to PM2.5.