Trump: US to take Gaza the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’

Today's news: Philippine House votes overwhelmingly to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte; Delhi to vote on the renewal of the capital's Legislative Assembly; Trade war leads to blocake on goods arriving in the USA from China and Hong Kong; Protests in Yerevan against increased public transport fares.

UNITED STATES-ZAZA-ISRAEL

Donald Trump said he wanted the US to ‘take control’ of Gaza, taking a ‘long-term ownership position’ and turning it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’. He said this last night at a press conference at the end of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, adding that Palestinians will have to be resettled away from Gaza, ‘in areas where leaders currently say no’. Egypt and Jordan had already said in recent days that they were against this hypothesis, considered unacceptable by everyone in Palestine and dangerous even for the internal balance of the two countries. In a speech very much squashed on Netanyahu's positions, Trump also said that the birth of a Palestinian State would not be a precondition for the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, an opposite statement to what Riyadh has so far declared.

PHILIPPINES

The Philippine House of Representatives today voted in favour of the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, setting the stage for the opening of the Senate trial that could lead to her disqualification from public office. A total of 215 deputies, more than two-thirds of the 306 members of the House, supported the resolution. Today's move is a new chapter in the political saga between President Marcos's family and the Duterte family, with the country's two highest offices at loggerheads after forming a seemingly strong alliance in the elections three years ago.

INDIA

In Delhi, the vote for the capital's Legislative Assembly is underway today, a very important political test for the entire country. The BJP, the nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is aiming to take over the local government dominated for some years by the AAP, the party of populist leader Arvind Kejriwal, which has its stronghold here but has been weakened in recent months by judicial investigations. More than 15 million voters are expected at the polls; the results will be announced on 8 February.

CHINA-UNITED STATES

The US Postal Service (USPS) stated that it has stopped accepting parcels from mainland China and Hong Kong until further notice. Letters, on the other hand, will not be affected by the suspension, which is linked to the war on tariffs: a loophole hitherto allowed small parcels worth up to 800 US dollars to be sent to the US without paying fees or taxes.

THAILAND-MYANMAR

Thailand has cut off cross-border electricity supply to five locations in Myanmar in an attempt to eliminate online scam centres. Sprouting like mushrooms in the lawless borderlands of Myanmar, these centres are run by criminal gangs with Chinese staff who are trafficked and forced to work scamming their countrymen in an industry that analysts say is worth billions of dollars.

RUSSIA

Demographer Aleksej Rakša, as reported by The Moscow Times, has accused the Russian statistical institute Rosstat of lying about the timing of Russia's population decline, with the real number of inhabitants being 6 million lower than the declared 146 million, calculating the proportions of births and deaths and the decline in new nationalities.

ARMENIA

Protests have been going on for three days in Yerevan against the increase in transport fares, with many passengers getting on without paying, others symbolically putting up 100 dram (25 euro cents, the old fare). The increase in metro fares, without any work being done to improve the lines, provokes reactions in particular, and the protests are supported by former mayor Ajk Marutyan and some members of the Council of Elders.