OTTAWA - Canada has detected its first presumptive case of H5 bird flu in a person, a teenager in the western province of British Columbia, health officials said on Saturday (Nov 9). The teenager likely caught the virus from a bird or animal and was receiving care at a children's hospital, the province said in a statement. The province said it was investigating the source of exposure and identifying the teenager's contacts. The risk to the public remains low, Canada's Health Minister Mark Holland said in posting on X. "This is a rare event," British Columbia Health Officer Bonnie Henry said in a statement. "We are conducting a thorough investigation to fully understand the source of exposure here in B.C." H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and US dairy cows, with several recent human cases in US dairy and poultry workers. There has been no evidence of person-to-person spread so far. But if that were to happen, a pandemic could unfold, scientists have said.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson didn't speak to each other for "weeks at a time" when they worked on The X Files. The 64-year-old actor and Gillian, 56, enjoyed huge success with the iconic sci-fi series — but the duo actually had a turbulent relationship for many years. David said on the Fail Better podcast: "There was a long time, working on the show, where we were just not even dealing with one another off-camera. And there was a lot of tension. Which didn't matter, apparently, for the work cause we're both f****** crazy, I guess. We could just go out there and do what we needed to do." Gillian was amazed that they achieved so much success while their off-screen relationship was so tense.

Megan Fox is pregnant. The 38-year-old actress — who has Noah, 12, Bodhi, ten, and Journey, eight, with her ex-husband Brian Austin Green — has confirmed via social media that she's expecting her first child with Machine Gun Kelly.

Monday blues were non-existent at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday (Nov 11) as fans of Blackpink's Lisa strolled into the venue in their Y2K-style outfits inspired by the Thai singer's Rockstar music video. Singapore was the first stop for the 27-year-old's first solo fan-meet tour and needless to say, the excitement could be felt, and heard. Once the lights turned off and Lisa appeared, the screams were deafening. The show started with a bang, fittingly with her self-titled hit song Lalisa. Usually at fan-meets of K-pop idols, the special effects are kept to a minimum unlike concerts. PHOTO: UnUsUaL Entertainment But at Lisa's, the performances were elevated with bursts of pyrotechnics and visual effects. After the first song, she sat down for a few interactive segments. During Welcome Lisa, she tried local delicacies like kaya toast and chicken rice.

My Chemical Romance teased a new project on social media. The Welcome to the Black Parade rockers — who broke up in 2013 before releasing new song The Foundations of Decay nine years later — have largely kept things quiet since their reunion tour ended in March 2023, besides a headline slot at When We Were Young Festival last month. On Monday (Nov 11), the band's official Instagram shared an image of a hazy skyline and confetti alongside Russian letters which translate to "TPK". The cryptic post was captioned: "If you could be anything, what would you be?" https://www.instagram.com/p/DCPw84izQkN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== While there are no further hints about the message and what it could mean, fans have suggested it may refer to MCR's scrapped record The Paper Kingdom, which was ditched in 2013 and would have been their fifth album.

Denzel Washington has confirmed he will star in Black Panther 3 before his retirement. The 69-year-old actor is the first to talk about the existence of a third film in the blockbuster Marvel franchise — which will follow the 2018 original and 2022 sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — and has also revealed the film will be among a handful of roles he will take on before he bows out of acting after a career spanning four decades. Confirming director Ryan Coogler has written a role just for the Oscar-winner for the third instalment, Denzel told Australia's Today show: "At this point in my career, I'm only interested in working with the best, I don't know how many more films I will make, probably not that many. I want to do things that I haven't done." Sharing the roles he has lined up before he bids farewell to his Hollywood career, he said: "I played Othello at 22, I'm now going to play it at 70. After that, I'm playing Hannibal. After that, I've been talking with Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther.

South Korean actor Song Jae-rim died yesterday (Nov 12) at the age of 39. The Seongdong Police Station in Seoul confirmed that he was found deceased in his apartment at around 12.30pm. According to media reports, a friend whom he was supposed to meet for lunch had visited his home and reported the death. A two-page letter was reportedly found at the scene but the cause of death has not been confirmed. A police official, however, stated that there are "no signs of foul play". His wake was held at Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital Funeral Hall at 5.30pm yesterday. His funeral will be held tomorrow at Seoul City Crematorium. Jae-rim gained popularity after starring in the 2012 drama The Moon Embracing the Sun and the 2014 reality series We Got Married. This year, he starred in two dramas — My Military Valentine and Queen Woo. Following news of his death, comedian Hong Seok-cheon and other celebrities posted tributes to Jae-rim on social media.

TORONTO — A teenager is in critical condition in a British Columbia children's hospital, sick with Canada's first presumptive human case of avian influenza. "This was a healthy teenager prior to this, so no underlying conditions," said provincial health officer Bonnie Henry in a news conference on Tuesday (Nov 12). "It just reminds us that in young people this is a virus that can progress and cause quite severe illness and the deterioration that I mentioned was quite rapid." British Columbia health officials said on Saturday the province had detected Canada's first human case of H5 bird flu in a teenager.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is expected to take a slew of executive actions on his first day as president to ramp up immigration enforcement and roll back signature Biden legal entry programs, a sweeping effort that will be led by incoming "border czar" Tom Homan and other Republican immigration hardliners, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The executive actions would give federal immigration officers more latitude to arrest people with no criminal records, surge troops to the US-Mexico border and restart construction of the border wall, the sources said. Homan, who served as acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2017-2018 under Trump, will bring a deep understanding of the US immigration system after a four-decade career that took him from a frontline Border Patrol agent to head of the agency that arrests and deports immigrants in the US illegally.

Donald Trump has begun the process of choosing a cabinet and selecting other high-ranking administration officials following his presidential election victory. Here are the early picks and top contenders for some of the key posts overseeing defence, intelligence, diplomacy, trade, immigration and economic policymaking. Some are in contention for a range of posts. Susie Wiles, chief of staff Susie Wiles reacts as Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks, following early results from the 2024 US presidential election in Palm Beach County Convention Center, in West Palm Beach, Florida, US on Nov 6, 2024. PHOTO: Reuters Trump announced last week that Wiles, one of his two campaign managers, will be his White House chief of staff.

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM — The Israeli military pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes on Tuesday (Nov 12), mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area, and struck the middle of the country where more than 20 people were killed. Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs starting in midmorning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets in Beirut's Dahiyeh area and later said it dismantled most of the group's weapons and missile facilities. Israel said it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians and repeated its standing accusation that Hezbollah deliberately embeds itself into civilian areas to use residents as human shields, a charge Hezbollah rejects. In northern Israel, two people were killed in the city of Nahariya when a residential building was struck, Israeli police said. Hezbollah later claimed responsibility for a drone attack that it said was aimed at a military base east of Nahariya.

SEOUL - South Korea's military said it will hold a three-day joint exercise with the United States and Japan starting on Wednesday (Nov 13), featuring fighter jets and marine patrol aircraft as well as the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington. The Freedom Edge exercise is a response to what the South Korean military said were threats from North Korea, which recently conducted an intercontinental ballistic missile test, drawing condemnation from Seoul, Tokyo and Washington. It also comes as the US State Department said North Korean troops have started engaging in combat operations in Russia's war with Ukraine. The exercise will include South Korean and Japanese fighter jets and maritime patrol aircraft, as well as the USS George Washington, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement. The trilateral exercise follows a first round held earlier this year after the leaders of the three countries agreed at a summit in 2023 to hold annual training drills. Pyongyang has long condemned joint drills between South Korea and the United States, calling them a rehearsal for invasion.

The Public Service has expressed its commitment to implementing flexible work arrangements (FWAs) for its employees, taking into account the workforce's changing needs. In a written answer to a Parliamentary question posed by Choa Chu Kang GRC MP Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim on Monday (Nov 11), Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing said the Government recognises the growing need for FWAs, given Singapore's demographic changes and its ever-changing demands on Singaporeans. Zhulkarnain had asked whether the Civil Service will continue to support flexible working arrangements despite some companies in the private sector requiring employees to work from the office five days a week. Grab Singapore, for example, said it will enforce its five-day return-to-office mandate starting Dec 2, reported CNA. Referencing the Tripartite Guidelines on FWA Requests (TG-FWAR), which will be enforced starting Dec 1, Chan stressed the importance of such arrangements in supporting working caregivers, encouraging workforce re-entry, sustaining labour force participation, and attracting and retaining talent.

SINGAPORE — On more than 460 occasions, a man forged Grab receipts and sent them to his company, causing the firm to disburse over $16,400 to him. He also made false medical certificates and an electronic letter purportedly from the Singapore Armed Forces, causing the Ministry of Health (MOH), where he worked as a temporary staff, to excuse him from reporting for work. On Nov 12, Muhammad Fariz Shaik Sha Marican, 33, pleaded guilty to two forgery charges. Two other similar charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing. Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelly Ng said that Fariz was employed by recruitment firm Persolkelly (PSK), which worked with MOH to provide manpower. Fariz was deployed by PSK in November 2021 to work as a temporary staff for MOH to support the ministry's Covid-19 operations. In April 2023, MOH checked on Fariz's annual leave balance as the ministry wanted to convert him into a staff member.

The Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT) will be able to mandate mental health treatment for those who cause unreasonable interferences in the community if a bill to amend the Community Disputes Resolution Act (CDRA) goes through.  The bill was proposed in Parliament by Minister for Community, Culture and Youth Edwin Tong on Tuesday (Nov 12). The CDRT currently hears disputes under CDRA between neighbours involving acts of unreasonable interference with the enjoyment or use of places of residence. Under the bill, the tribunal will be able to issue Mandatory Treatment Orders (MTO) should there be a belief that the acts of disturbance stem from an underlying psychiatric condition. "In those cases, the issue therefore is not just a disamenity one," Minister Tong said. "Hence, the MTO is intended to address the root cause of certain acts that a resident may engage in." Tong added that their priority remains in persuading the resident to go for treatment voluntarily, and that the CDRT-issued MTO is a measure of last resort. There are also criteria that must be met for the MTO to be issued.

As a group of friends circled a hearse, chants were heard. Then, they stopped and bowed to the portrait displayed at the front of the vehicle. This was not a typical Buddhist funeral, but rather the unconventional birthday celebration of a funeral director, reported Shin Min Daily News. According to the Chinese evening daily, a video circulating online showed the friends chanting a birthday song. The hearse's interior had been decorated with balloons and a birthday banner, with the man even laying inside for photos. The clip garnered criticism from netizens, with some deeming it overboard and disrespectful to the funeral industry. In an interview with Shin Min, director of Xin An Funeral Services Chen Weisong (transliteration) explained that he had celebrated his birthday at the company's premises with his friends and family last week. Halfway through the performances by singers, his employees and business partners had surprised him with the birthday-themed hearse bearing his portrait. Chen told 8world he was not angry and did not think it was taboo. "I was too embarrassed to turn down their gesture," he said. 

SINGAPORE - When an online retailer began selling his products on e-commerce platform Qoo10 in August 2023, he did not bat an eyelid when it took 30 to 45 days for the platform to disburse his first payout, compared with about three to seven days for other e-commerce sites he was using. But nearly a year later in July, payments owed to his business by Qoo10 had ballooned to about $1.6 million, as the platform’s payment delays exceeded two months and disbursements began trickling in, in smaller amounts. The Singaporean, who wanted to be known only as Mr T and did not wish to divulge what he sold, pulled the plug on his Qoo10 shop this year in the middle of July, and filed a civil claim with the courts. He obtained a default judgment in October for Qoo10 to pay him what he is owed, after the e-commerce site failed to serve a notice of intention to contest or not contest the claim. Mr T, who added that he had borrowed nearly $1 million from banks, friends and relatives to pay his suppliers, said: “I am not holding out hope that I will get much, or any, of my money back from Qoo10... By this point, I just want closure because it’s been so stressful.”

TAIPEI — Taiwanese businessman Robert Tsao said on Nov 11 that he would sue in a Taiwan court senior Chinese officials over sanctions they had placed on him, saying he was seeking to counter China's intimidation of lawful activity. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, said in October it would punish and sanction Tsao, the retired founder of chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), for alleged criminal and pro-Taiwan independence activities. China's Taiwan Affairs Office said the "Black Bear Academy" that Tsao has helped fund was seeking to incite separatism that would endanger cross-strait ties. Tsao, one of Taiwan's richest men who has pledged to provide millions to two civilian defence training programmes, told a press conference that China was threatening the lawful holding of political views in Taiwan and his personal safety. The lawsuit will be lodged in a Taipei court against Song Tao, head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, and also the office's spokesman Chen Binhua. Taiwan courts have no jurisdiction in China and senior Chinese officials do not visit the island.

LAHORE — Pakistan's Punjab province banned most outdoor activities and ordered shops, markets and malls in some areas to close early from Monday (Nov 11) to curb illnesses caused by intense air pollution. The province has closed educational institutions and public spaces like parks and zoos until Nov. 17 in places including Lahore, the world's most polluted city in terms of air quality, according to Swiss group IQAir's live ratings. The districts of Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujranwala have seen an unprecedented rise in patients with respiratory diseases, eye and throat irritation, and pink eye disease, the Punjab government said in an order issued late on Sunday. The new restrictions will also remain in force until Nov. 17. "The spread of conjunctivitis/ pink eye disease due to bacterial or viral infection, smoke, dust or chemical exposure is posing a serious and imminent threat to public health," the Punjab government said.

ISLAMABAD — The International Monetary Fund's Pakistan mission chief Nathan Porter on Tuesday (Nov 12) opened unusual talks with Pakistan over a US$7 billion (S$9.4 billion) bailout approved by its board in September, the finance ministry and sources said. The unscheduled visit of the IMF mission and talks beginning with meeting the country's finance team are too early for first review of the IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which is due in the first quarter of 2025. The chiefs of Pakistan's central bank and federal board of revenue also attended the meeting besides other officials from both the sides, the statement said. The ministry and the IMF have not officially released details of the visit. Sources in the finance ministry said the Nov 11-15 visit will discuss recent developments and programme performance to date, adding the mission was not part of the first review. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with the media. Pakistan has been struggling with boom-and-bust economic cycles for decades, leading to 23 IMF bailouts since 1958.

ISLAMABAD — A bus carrying 27 passengers fell into the Indus river in northern Pakistan on Nov 12, killing 14 people, according to a statement from the Gilgit Baltistan authorities. Twelve of the remaining passengers are missing, and one passenger has survived the accident with injuries, the statement from the authorities said. The accident occurred due to speeding, and the driver losing control of the vehicle, according to the authorities. According to local broadcaster Geo, the bus was part of a wedding procession headed towards Pakistan's Chakwal district when it fell into the river from Telchi bridge at the limits of Diamer district. Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads in many rural areas are in poor condition. Earlier in August, two bus accidents in north-east and south-west Pakistan killed at least 34 people.

ISLAMABAD — Beijing is pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working in the South Asian nation, during talks after a car bombing in Karachi that was seen as a major security breach, sources said. Last month's airport bombing in the southern port city that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest in a string of attacks on Beijing's interests in Pakistan. The attacks, and Islamabad's failure to deter them, have angered China, which has pushed Pakistan to begin formal negotiations for a joint security management system. Reuters spoke to five Pakistani security and government sources with direct knowledge of the previously unreported negotiations and demands on condition of anonymity, as the talks are sensitive, and reviewed a written proposal sent by Beijing to Islamabad. "They (Chinese) want to bring in their own security," said one official, who sat in on a recent meeting, adding that Pakistan had not so far agreed to such a step.

Dec 5, 2023

David W. Kearn argues that deployment of nuclear weapons cannot rectify a perceived imbalance in conventional forces in the western Pacific.

Feb 10, 2024

Assaf Zoran argues that it is crucial to hold Iran accountable and convey the cost associated with arming, training, financing, and promoting violence through proxies.

May 11, 2022

When the U.S. military trains other states’ forces, it tries to impart liberal norms such as respect for human rights. But when liberal norms clash, these soldiers prioritize loyalty to their unit, the military, and shared goals.

Sep 28, 2022

As the best documented major crisis in history, in substantial part because Kennedy secretly taped the deliberations in which he and his closest advisers were weighing choices they knew could lead to a catastrophic war, the Cuban missile crisis has become the canonical case study in nuclear statecraft. Over the decades since, key lessons from the crisis have been adapted and applied by the successors of Kennedy and Khrushchev to inform fateful choices.

Oct 27, 2022

Kennedy’s statecraft in the missile crisis provides a rich source of clues that can help illuminate the challenge the United States now faces, and the choices President Joe Biden is making.

Nov 2, 2022

U.S. power extends beyond the military and economic spheres to include policing. The United States has used its global policing power to capture terrorists, warlords, and drug kingpins. But extradition is not simply a bureaucratic tool. States’ geopolitical interests shape their willingness to cooperate with others in extraditing fugitives. 

Feb 9, 2023

In the first comprehensive post-mortem analysis of the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project (NKMCAP), Reine Rambert and Amanda Sardonis examine how NKMCAP failed to live up to its potential, by focusing on three different dimensions of partnership effectiveness: 1) the sustainability of the partnership, 2) the effectiveness of the collaboration process itself, and 3) the achievement of the planned objectives. Rambert and Sardonis extract several transferable lessons from the challenges faced by NKMCAP that are highly consequential to partnership effectiveness.

Feb 28, 2023

Policymakers need to act now and place child welfare professionals, not law enforcement actors, at the border to effectively screen and interview migrant children. Information sharing practices need to be improved, with a movement away from paper documents that can easily get lost to an approach that is digital, secure, and accessible by the child, their guardian, their lawyer, and their doctor. Further, the enforcement processing facilities need to undergo an immediate infrastructural transformation with the addition of new design features that are necessary and sensitive to the majority demographic that are held within facilities—children and families.

These actions are doable and require no legislative action. Migrant children deserve decisive action to ensure that their health, safety, and well-being is not jeopardized as they seek refuge in the United States.

Aug 1, 2023

Using the private journals of commission secretaries Henry Marie Brackenridge and Dr. William Baldwin, as well as Captain Sinclair, this chapter will explore the establishment of American naval identity through its diplomatic experiences in South America. It will also exhibit the role of the U.S. Navy in a proto framework of the Monroe Doctrine.

Aug 8, 2023

When states use moral language in a dispute, they reduce the possibility of compromise. The possibility of military escalation, meanwhile, rises in response to moral language when states’ domestic audiences accuse their governments of hypocrisy for their willingness to compromise. The Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas case explores the theory.

Sep 5, 2023

Stephen Walt critiques Vivek Ramaswamy's claim of being a foreign policy realist.

Dec 15, 2023

Calder Walton writes that if proved, Victor Manuel Rocha's espionage would place him among the longest-serving spies in modern times. Allowing him to operate as a spy in the senior echelons of the U.S. government for so long would represent a staggering U.S. security failure.

I have had a long-standing interest in South Africa, and in 1995 briefly contemplated moving there to work. The country had just had its first multi-racial election, and the great Nelson Mandela had been elected President. I was deeply curious to see, at first-hand, what the land and its people would make of their hard [...]

My first editor, Rukun Advani, once described himself as ‘a composite hybrid of the Indian and the Anglo-European’, who sought to reconcile ‘within himself those varying cultural influences which chauvinistic nationalists could only see as contradictions.’ This self-characterization I might avow as my own. One mark of the Anglo-European in me is that, unlike members [...]

The Indian socialist tradition is now moribund, but there was a time when it had a profound and mostly salutary influence on politics and society. Yet few people now know of its past vigour and dynamism. The Congress, the Communists, the regional parties, the Ambedkarites, and (especially in recent years) the Jana Sangh and the [...]

Pakistan's National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister, Mahmud Ali Durrani, on the 2008 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul

‘If Mumbai attack suspects arrested in Pakistan are freed, India is at fault'

U.S. feared another LeT attack in India in mid-2009, and sought Pakistan's help to ‘disrupt and prevent' it

This cable contains information which we hope will be useful to you in engaging host governments, media, and the public after the President's address.

In a June 11 meeting, Prime Minister Singh assured Under Secretary Burns of his strong personal commitment to strengthening further India's ties to the United States.

In a wide-ranging meeting with CODEL McCaskill February 17, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon touched on several regional security and trade-related issues.

‘India does not want to play into the hands of terrorists by shunning dialogue.'

Menon emphasized that India had been tough on Pakistan with regard to accountability, but restrained in its rhetoric and actions.