BIDEN ANGERS CHINA WITH VOW TO DEFEND TAIWAN

President Joe Biden vowed Monday that US forces would defend Taiwan militarily if China attempted to take control of the island by force, prompting Beijing to warn that America was "playing with fire."

Speaking in Tokyo, Biden compared China's threat to self-ruled Taiwan to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, delivering his strongest remarks to date on the issue amid rising tensions over Beijing's growing economic and military power.

Asked if Washington was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, he gave the unequivocal reply: "Yes... That's the commitment we made."

"We agreed with the One China policy, we signed on to it," Biden said — referring to Washington's diplomatic recognition of Beijing as the sole government of China.

"But the idea that it can be taken by force is just not appropriate," he said of Taiwan. "It would dislocate the entire region and would be another action similar to Ukraine."

The United States is "playing with fire," warned the Chinese State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office.

IMRAN WANTS CIVIL WAR: SHEHBAZ ON EX-PM’S PROTEST CALL

Islamabad : PM Shehbaz Sharif alleged on Monday that his ousted predecessor Imran Khan wants a “civil war” and warned that the nation will not forgive him and “will hold him by the collar”. His remarks followed Khan’s announcement on Sunday that supporters of his PTI party will organise peaceful march to Islamabad on May 25 to demand dissolution of the National Assembly and adate for general elections.

Shehbaz reacted sharply to Khan’s statement and said: “Imran Niazi wants to initiate a civil war in the country. But he is mistaken. The nation will never forgive him and will hold him by the collar. ” When asked if the government would call in the army to stop Khan’s march, news agency PTI quoted him as saying a decision will be taken if and when needed.

Following Khan’s call to protest, heads of the coalition in office met on Monday and decided to stay the course, rejecting Khan’s demands. The fragile government, said sour- ces, has also decided to take tough decisions to try to steer the beleaguered country out of a grave economic crisis. So far, Shehbaz has been reluctant about taking unpopular calls —such as withdrawal of subsidies on petroleum products that were announced by Khan’s government this February —without the support of influential security establishment. But sources said he reportedly had got the go-ahead from powerful quarters to make tough economic decisions, present l budget in June and announce an election date only after that.

Finance minister Miftah Ismail has left for Doha for talks with theIMF for resumption of a $6 billion loan programme stalled since early April. There is speculation that if in a couple of days, economic support is not forthcoming, then the National Assembly may be dissolved and snap polls announced. The security establishment, sources said, have Plan B ready — bring in a caretaker setup of technocrats — if the coalition government fails to take tough economic measures.

MONKEYPOX VIRUS OUTBREAKS ARE CONTAINABLE - WHO

Monkeypox can be contained in countries outside of Africa where the virus is not usually detected, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

More than 100 cases of the virus - which causes a rash and a fever - have been confirmed in Europe, the Americas and Australia.

That number is expected to rise still, but experts say the overall risk to the broader population is very low.

"This is a containable situation," the WHO's emerging disease lead Maria Van Kerkhove said at a news conference on Monday.

"We want to stop human-to-human transmission. We can do this in the non-endemic countries," she added - referring to recent cases in Europe and North America.

The virus has now been detected in 16 countries outside Africa.

Despite being the largest outbreak outside of Africa in 50 years, monkeypox does not spread easily between people and experts say the threat is not comparable to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Transmission is really happening from skin-to-skin contact, most of the people who have been identified have more of a mild disease," Ms Van Kerkhove said.

Another WHO official added that there was no evidence the monkeypox virus had mutated, following earlier speculation over the cause of the current outbreak.

Viruses in this group "tend not to mutate and they tend to be fairly stable", said Rosamund Lewis, who heads the WHO's smallpox secretariat.

ZELENSKY SEEKS MORE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for “maximum” sanctions against Russia during a virtual speech on Monday to corporate executives, government officials and other elites on the first day of the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos.

He said sanctions need to go further to stop Russia’s aggression, including an oil embargo, blocking all of its banks and cutting off trade with Russia completely. He said that it's a precedent that would work for decades to come.

“This is what sanctions should be: They should be maximum, so that Russia and every other potential aggressor that wants to wage a brutal war against its neighbour would clearly know the immediate consequences of their actions,” Mr. Zelensky said through a translator.

He also pushed for the complete withdrawal of foreign companies from Russia to prevent supporting its war and said Ukraine needs at least $5 billion in funding per month. “The amount of work is enormous: we have more than half a trillion of dollars in losses, tens of thousands of facilities were destroyed. We need to rebuild entire cities and industries,” Mr. Zelensky said, coming days after the Group of Seven leading economies agreed to provide $19.8 billion in economic aid.

87 KILLED IN RUSSIAN AIR STRIKE ON DESNA BARRACKS: ZELENSKYY

Kyiv acknowledged its worst military losses from a single attack of the Ukraine war on Monday, saying 87 persons had been killed last week when Russian forces struck barracks housing troops at a training base in Desna.

The announcement that scores had been killed in a single strike in north Ukraine demonstrated Russia’s ability to inflict huge losses on the country, even far from the front. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed the toll during a speech on Monday by video link to business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

“History is at a turning point... This is really the moment when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world,” Zelenskyy said in his address, calling for maximum economic sanctions on Russia.

In the latest fighting at the battlefront, Ukraine said on Monday it had held off a Russian assault on Sievierodonetsk, an eastern city that has become the main target of Moscow’s offensive since it finally seized Mariupol last week.

Russian forces tried to storm Sievierodonetsk, but were unsuccessful.

‘20 NATIONS TO SEND SECURITY AID TO KYIV’

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said that some 20 countries had announced new security assistance packages for Ukraine during a virtual meeting with allies on Monday. The countries include Italy, Denmark, Greece, Norway and Poland, Austin told reporters following a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group. Denmark would provide a harpoon launcher and missiles to defend Ukraine’s coast, Austin said.

RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT TO UN RESIGNS

Davos: A veteran Russian diplomat to the UN Office at Geneva, Boris Bondarev (41), says he handed in his resignation before sending out a scathing letter to foreign colleagues inveighing against the “aggressive war unleashed” by President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

RUSSIAN GETS LIFE TERM IN UKRAINE’S FIRST WAR CRIMES TRIAL

A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison on Monday for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia’s invasion.

Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old tank commander, had pleaded guilty to killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in northeastern Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on February 28, four days after the invasion.

Judge Serhiy Agafonov said Shishimarin, carrying out a “criminal order” by a soldier of higher rank, had fired several shots at the victim’s head from an automatic weapon. Shishmarin’s lawyer, Viktor Ovsyannikov, said he was not surprised by the sentence.

AHEAD OF QUAD, ALBANESE SWORN IN AS AUSTRALIA PM

Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was sworn in on Monday and flew to Tokyo for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden while vote counting continued to determine whether he will control a majority in a Parliament that is demanding tougher action on climate change.

Mr. Albanese and Malaysian-born Penny Wong, Australia’s first Foreign Minister to be born overseas, were sworn into office by Governor-General David Hurley before the pair flew to Tokyo for a security summit with Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was also sworn in and will act as Prime Minister while Mr. Albanese is in Japan.

1,500 ARRESTED IN SRI LANKA FOR ANTI-GOVT CLASHES THAT KILLED 10

The Sri Lankan police have arrested 1,500 persons so far in connection with the violent clashes between anti- and pro-government protesters in the country earlier this month that killed at least 10 persons.

On May 9, violence erupted in Sri Lanka after supporters of former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked peaceful anti-government protesters.

According to Sri Lanka Police spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa 1,500 have been arrested in connection with the violence. He said 152 persons have been arrested in the past 24 hours. Top bureaucrat of Lanka’s Ministry of Security, Major General (retd) Jagath Alwis, who was in charge of the police department, resigned over his failure to curb the clashes.

IRAN WARNS IT WILL ‘AVENGE’ KILLING OF GUARDS COLONEL

Iran will avenge the killing of a Revolutionary Guards colonel who was shot dead in Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Monday.

Assailants on motorcycles on Sunday hit Colonel Sayyad Khodai with five bullets as he sat in his car outside his home.

Iran blamed “elements linked to the global arrogance” — the Islamic republic’s term for its arch enemy the United States and U.S. allies including Israel.

It was the most high-profile killing inside Iran since the November 2020 murder of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Mr. Raisi said: “I insist on the serious pursuit (of the killers) by security officials, and I have no doubt that the blood of this great martyr will be avenged.

“There is no doubt that the hand of global arrogance can be seen in this crime,” Mr. Raisi added, echoing the Guards’ assertion.

14 BODIES WASH UP ON COAST OF MYANMAR

The bodies of 14 persons have been found washed up on a beach in Myanmar, police said on Monday, with a local rescue group saying some were Rohingya attempting to reach Malaysia.

“Fourteen dead bodies were found, and 35 people including the boat owners were rescued alive,” a police spokesperson said.

Survivors said 61 people had been on board the vessel, a rescue group member told AFP, leaving 12 still missing.