简体中文
Every weekend, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.
This week, the following hot news you should know:
**Top 1 |**Congressman Ruben Gallego Says He Might Battle Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema in Primary
Representative Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) refused to rule out a 2024 Democratic primary challenge against Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) this week as she faced heavy criticism for refusing to support changing Senate filibuster rules.
Serious efforts to draft Gallego as a progressive challenger to Sinema began last year. While Gallego has not committed to running against her, he has hinted at his potential candidacy as Democratic furor aimed at both Sinema and Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) increased over their refusal to back filibuster reform to pass voting rights legislation.
Gallego told CNN last week that he was "focusing on" his 2022 House re-election campaign while noting that a 2024 challenge to Sinema remained a possibility.
**Top 2 |**Marianne Williamson says difference between two political parties is 'performative'
Former 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson said that the two political parties in the United States are not so different from each other, saying the only difference is "performative."
"What's happening here is that we are seeing that the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans, certainly under this president and under current corporatist leadership in the Democratic Party, is more often than not basically performative," Williamson said during a Thursday appearance on Hill.TV's "Rising."
She claimed that President Biden had allowed similar levels of drilling on public lands to proceed just as former President Trump had, and noted that the Defense budget had increased under Biden.
**Top 3 |**Rwanda's national carrier resumes flights to Dubai
Rwanda's national carrier, RwandAir is set to resume flights to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) starting January 20.
The airline announced the development on Tuesday, ending a four-week suspension of operations on the route.
RwandAir's flights to Dubai were suspended on December 27 after the UAE banned flights from some African countries following the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant on the continent.
The airline in a statement clarified that the resumption of flights to Dubai will, however, be dependent on passenger origins, as some points of the departure remain blocked from traveling to the UAE.
**Top 4 |**Indian PM Modi addresses WEF Davos Agenda virtually
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said his country was battling a third wave of COVID-19, but expressed confidence that progress had been made in the fight against the virus.
Modi spoke at the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Davos Agenda, where he addressed a host of issues, also including his country's progress in tackling climate change and its contribution to the world's fight against COVID-19.
The Davos Forum is once again being held virtually due to COVID, just as it was in 2021.
This year's forum has focused on working together to rebuild from the devastation caused globally by the COVID-19 pandemic.
**Top 5 |**Youngkin asks divided Virginia General Assembly to help enact 'vision of change'
In his first State of the Commonwealth address, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) asked the divided General Assembly to help enact his "vision of change," The Associated Press reported.
Youngkin reiterated many of his campaign pledges and offered some new specifics on issues including firearms and abortion policy, according to the AP.
He also called on the House chamber to allocate $150 million to meet his goal of creating 20 new charter schools in the state.
**Top 6 |**Ukraine blames Russia for cyberattack against government agencies
Ukrainian authorities have blamed Russia for a cyberattack on their government websites, alleging that Moscow is engaging in a "hybrid war" on it also masses troops along the border.
In a statement, Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Development said that all evidence indicates that Russia is behind the cyberattack. "Moscow continues to wage a hybrid war and is actively building up its forces in the information and cyberspaces," the ministry said.
Microsoft said on Saturday that a dozen of their computers at unspecified Ukrainian government agencies were infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware, according to the Associated Press.
**Top 7 |**Biden calls Texas synagogue hostage situation 'act of terror'
The U.S. President Joe Biden said a hostage taker killed at a Texas synagogue got his weapons off the street. He said this on Sunday, a day after the safe release of four people held there by a gunman in what Biden called "an act of terror."
The hostage incident in Colleyville, Texas, "was an act of terror", said Biden, who was in Philadelphia with first lady Jill Biden packing carrots and apples at a food bank in a visit to the city to honor the legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The U.S. President addressed the issue of measures needed to stop gun violence.
**Top 8 |**Biden to meet Japan's new PM Kishida virtually on Friday
President Joe Biden is set to virtually meet Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan on Friday, after a planned meeting in the U.S. was cancelled due to the latest global wave of COVID-19 cases.
The meeting aims to "further deepen ties between our governments, economies, and our people," the White House said in a statement Sunday. It will be the first meeting for the two leaders since Kishida's election in November.
In April, Biden met with former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Washington, where they discussed their strategic vision for the Indo-Pacific amid the growing unrest in China and North Korea.
**Top 9 |**China, Iran vow to launch implementation of comprehensive cooperation plan
The foreign ministers agreed to step up cooperation in energy, infrastructure, production capacity, science and technology, and medical and health care, according to a statement of the meeting.
Bilateral cooperation will also be expanded to agriculture, fisheries, cybersecurity and the third party market, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges in education, film and personnel training, said the statement.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian (2nd L) hold talks in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, January 14, 2022. /China's Foreign Ministry
China will continue to do its utmost to provide vaccines to Iran and is ready to expand cooperation in all areas to elevate the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level, Wang said.
Top 10 | In Effort to Slam Joe Biden, PA State Senator Wants to Send Relocated Migrants to Delaware
A Republican state senator in Pennsylvania announced his intentions to present legislation that would transport undocumented migrants residing in Pennsylvania to President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware.
State Senator Mario Scavello, who served as a state representative for 12 years before being elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 2015, told Newsweek that he intends to push the measure next month "or sooner."
He said that he was inspired to introduce the action, which is being co-sponsored by fellow GOP State Senator Doug Mastriano after he noticed that migrants were being flown to the airports near his district, Pennsylvania's 40th, and put up hotels around the area.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
