Hezbollah vows revenge after pager explosion

Today's news: Taiwan's Gold Apollo company defends itself against accusations of manufacturing the devices that exploded in Lebanon; A Chinese aircraft carrier enters Japanese waters for the first time; West Bengal police chief removed after August rape protests; US urges Vietnam not to support Chinese submarine links.

ISRAEL - LEBANON

Hezbollah vowed to retaliate after blaming Israel for the explosion of pagers that killed at least nine people and wounded 2,750 others, including many of the group's fighters. The Lebanese Information Minister, Ziad Makary, condemned the detonation as ‘Israeli aggression’. For one Hezbollah official, the attack was the ‘biggest security breach’ the group has suffered in almost a year of conflict with Israel. There is great concern about the possible repercussions of this in Lebanon.

TAIWAN

After an initial accusation, the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said today that the pagers used in the detonations in Lebanon were not its products, but those of a company called BAC, which has a licence to use its trademark. Images of the destroyed pagers, analysed by Reuters, showed a format and stickers on the back compatible with the pagers produced by Gold Apollo. The company said in a statement that the AR-924 model was manufactured and sold under its licence by BAC, a Hungarian company.

CHINA - JAPAN

NHK has learned that a Chinese aircraft carrier briefly entered Japanese waters this morning. According to sources, the Liaoning sailed between two islands, Yonaguni and Iriomote, in Okinawa Prefecture, southwestern Japan. This is the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier has sailed in the contiguous zone of Japan. Under international law, ships from other countries are allowed. But the law states that the coastal state can take the necessary measures to prevent illegal acts in its territorial waters.

INDIA

West Bengal has agreed to remove the police chief of its capital, Kolkata, following a meeting with doctors protesting the rape and murder of one of their colleagues in early August. Two other senior officials - the director of medical education and the director of health services - will also be removed, said Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee. The protests that started on 9 August continue.

VIETNAM - CHINA - USA

The US is urging Vietnam not to support Chinese cable-laying firm HMN Technologies and other Chinese companies in its plans to build 10 new submarine links by 2030. Vietnam's five main outdated undersea connections, which link it to the global internet, have suffered repeated failures, making the new cables a top government priority. Since January, US officials and companies have held at least half a dozen meetings.

RUSSIA

According to Novaja Gazeta Evropa's calculations, 93 minors were declared “terrorists and extremists” in Russia in 2024, a record for the past six years, 20 of whom were placed on the list before the age of 16, including Egor Lauskis of St. Petersburg, who was 14 at the time of his arrest in February for setting fire to a railway switch.

GEORGIA

The leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party have declared that after their election victory they will ask forgiveness ‘from the brothers and sisters of South Ossetia’ for the 2008 ‘five-day’ war, and will set up a ‘Nuremberg tribunal’ for the culprits, the then president Saakašvili now in prison and his cronies, the opponents of the National Movement.

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