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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 | Israel's export of military equipment hits record high of 12.55 billion U.S. dollars in 2022
The export of Israel's military equipment reached an all-time high of 12.55 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, Israel's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the ministry, 2022 was the second year in a row that the overall value of defense agreements broke records. Israel's export of military equipment has surged by 50 percent over the past three years.
Some 120 Israeli companies signed "hundreds" of new sales deals in 2022, with about half of them valued at over 100 million dollars, according to the statement.
Top 2 | Japanese soldier arrested after fatal gun-range shooting
Japanese police arrested an 18-year-old soldier on Wednesday after he shot and killed two instructors and injured a third at a military firing range in central Japan, the country's Defense Ministry said.
The incident at about 9 a.m. (24:00 GMT) in Gifu City was the first such fatal shooting at a Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) firing range since 1984, GSDF Chief of Staff General Yasunori Morishita told reporters.
The three instructors, which public broadcaster NHK said included a man in his 50s and two in their 20s, were taken to a hospital, where two died, Morishita said.
Top 3 | Trump urges prosecutors to drop case, offers preview of defense
Former U.S. President Donald Trump urged prosecutors to drop the charges against him and insisted on his innocence in his first public remarks following his arraignment in federal court over mishandling classified materials.
In a 30-minute speech in front of supporters in New Jersey on Tuesday evening, Trump repeated his claims that the federal charges against him were "election interference."
Previewing a possible legal defense, Trump said he had a right to go through boxes and separate personal records from government documents.
Top 4 | India, Pakistan deploy rescuers and plan evacuations ahead of severe cyclone
India and Pakistan braced for the first severe cyclone this year expected to hit their coastal regions later this week, as authorities on Monday halted fishing activities, deployed rescue personnel and announced evacuation plans for those at risk.
From the Arabian Sea, cyclone Biparjoy is aiming at Pakistan's southern Sindh province and the coastline of the western Indian state of Gujarat. It is forecast to make landfall on Thursday and could reach maximum wind speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
Disaster management personnel have been deployed to densely populated regions and cities that will be in the storm's path. The cyclone will likely affect Karachi in Pakistan as well as two of India's largest ports, Mundra and Kandla, in Gujarat state.
Top 5 | OPEC holds 2023 oil demand view steady, warns about economic outlook
OPEC left its 2023 global oil demand growth forecast steady for a fourth month on Tuesday, although the producer group warned that the world economy faced rising uncertainty and slower growth in the second half of the year.
World oil demand in 2023 will rise by 2.35 million barrels per day (bpd), or 2.4 percent, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its monthly report.
This was virtually unchanged from 2.33 million bpd forecast last month.
Top 6 | U.S. suspends asylum appointments in Texas border city after extortion reports
U.S. asylum appointments at a dangerous Texas-Mexico border crossing can no longer be scheduled via an online app following reports that migrants face extortion in Mexico.
Advocates for migrants in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo, just across the border from Laredo, were informed of the suspension by a U.S. consular official, a June 2 message reviewed by Reuters showed. No reason for the change was stated.
A website for the app, called CBP One, no longer lists Laredo as a city where asylum seekers can schedule appointments. Nuevo Laredo has long been notorious for widespread kidnapping and extortion of migrants.
Top 7 | Trump is 'toast' if classified records case is proven: William Barr
Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Sunday defended Special Counsel Jack Smith's 37-count indictment against Donald Trump on Sunday, saying if the allegations the former president willfully retained hundreds of highly classified documents are proven true, then "he's toast."
Trump responded to Barr's comments with criticism and insults. Describing Barr as a "lazy" and "weak" attorney general, Trump on his social media platform Truth Social said he only made the comments because he was disgruntled and that they were misinformation.
The former president is due to appear in a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday to make his initial appearance on the charges, which include the willful retention of highly sensitive national defense records under the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, making false statements, conspiracy and concealment.
Top 8 | Montenegro holds parliamentary vote to secure reforms, EU path
Polls opened in Montenegro on Sunday for a snap election many hope will bring in a new government to implement economic reforms, improve infrastructure and take the NATO member state closer to European Union membership.
The vote is the first in the former Yugoslav republic since Milo Djukanovic, former leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), lost the presidential election in April and stepped down after 30 years in power.
Polling stations for the 540,000-strong electorate open at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). The first preliminary and unofficial results are expected about two hours later on the basis of a projection of results from a representative sample of polling stations.
Top 9 | Split ticket: Trump and Pence diverge in response to indictment
Former President Donald Trump’s first public remarks since he was hit with another indictment Thursday show he and his previous running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, hold markedly different views of the charges, with the latter calling for the process to play out as the former rails against the institutions charging him.
Pence echoed familiar GOP talking points, castigating the Department of Justice for its "unprecedented" move and punctuating the fact that Trump "is entitled to a presumption of innocence." However, Pence stopped well short of a full-throated defense of the former president, telling a ballroom full of North Carolina Republicans that "no one is above the law."
The remarks were more measured than what Trump told supporters hours later in Columbus, Georgia.
Top 10 | Trump risked national secrets, U.S. prosecutors allege in indictment
U.S. prosecutors unsealed a 37-count indictment against Donald Trump on Friday, accusing the former president of risking some of the country's most sensitive security secrets after leaving the White House in 2021.
Trump mishandled classified documents that included information about the secretive U.S. nuclear program and potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an attack, the federal indictment said.
Trump also discussed with his lawyers the possibility of lying to government officials seeking to recover the documents; stored some documents in boxes around a toilet, and moved others around his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida to prevent them from being found, the charges said.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
