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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 | New York's Cuomo seeks state police help to probe war memorial vandalism
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he was "disgusted" at an apparent act of vandalism of a Vietnam War memorial in New York City, and asked state police to help with an investigation.
His comments came after New York City Councilman Robert Holden posted images of the apparent vandalism of the memorial in the borough of Queens, and said he was working with police to make sure those responsible would be brought to justice.
The images Holden posted on Twitter showed graffiti of Nazi symbols, profane words and the term "baby killers" painted around the memorial.
Top 2 | Pelosi rules out having Biden create Jan. 6 commission
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ruling out a presidential commission to study the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, telling House Democrats that having President Joe Biden appoint a panel is unworkable even after the Senate blocked an independent probe last week.
Pelosi on Tuesday laid out possible next steps after last week's Senate vote, in which Senate Republicans blocked legislation to create an independent, bipartisan panel to investigate the siege by former President Donald Trump’s supporters. She proposed four options for an investigation of the attack, according to a person on the private Democratic caucus call who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
The first option, Pelosi said, is to give the Senate another chance to vote on the commission. Six Republicans voted with Democrats to move forward with the bill, and a seventh missed the vote but said he would have backed it. That means Democrats would only need support from three additional Republicans to reach the 60 votes needed for passage. The commission would be modeled after a highly respected panel that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Top 3 | Russian upper house votes to exit from overflight treaty
The Russian parliament's upper house voted Wednesday to withdraw from an international treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities following the U.S. exit from the treaty.
The vote comes after U.S. officials told Moscow last month that President Joe Biden's administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities before President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact.
As a presidential candidate, Biden had criticized Trump’s withdrawal as “short-sighted.” Moscow has signaled its readiness to reverse the withdrawal procedure and stay in the 1992 treaty if the United States returns to the agreement.
Top 4 | New Mexico congressional election tests Democrats' dominance
A special congressional election in New Mexico is testing political enthusiasm among Democrats in an increasingly progressive district last won by a Republican in 2006, as voters prepared Tuesday for a final day of balloting.
The winner of the four-way race for the 1st Congressional District will fill a seat left vacant by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland as she joined the Biden Cabinet.
Republican state Sen. Mark Moores' campaign to flip a seat held by Democrats since 2009 has highlighted concerns about crime in Albuquerque and has painted his Democratic opponent as a progressive with a radical agenda to defund traditional police agencies.
Democratic state Rep. Melanie Stansbury has aligned her campaign closely with initiatives from the White House on pandemic relief, infrastructure spending and interventions to slow climate change.
Top 5 | France and Germany 'seeking full clarity' from US and Denmark on spying report
France and Germany are "seeking full clarity" on a report claiming that one of Denmark's intelligence agencies helped the United States spy on several senior European officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday.
Revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) tapped Merkel's cellphone emerged in 2013 after former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden shared documents with The Guardian showing that a US official had handed the agency 200 phone numbers, including those of world leaders, for the agency to monitor.
The report did not name any of the 35 world leaders that were allegedly on in the list. However, few months after the initial reports, the German government publicly said it had information that suggested the US might have monitored Merkel's cell phone. Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the allegation, but dropped it in 2015, saying it had uncovered insufficient evidence to launch a successful prosecution.
Top 6 | Nepali billionaire says the country underestimated its second Covid wave
Nepal underestimated its second wave of Covid-19 infections and needs to step up its efforts to address the crisis, Nepali billionaire Binod Chaudhary said last week. The country also should not hold its elections until the situation stabilizes, he said.
The South Asian country's Covid cases surged in April and continued to hit new record highs in May.
As of May 30, Nepal has reported 557,124 coronavirus infections and 7,272 deaths, according to data from local health authorities.
The situation is similar to what's playing out in neighboring India, which has the second highest number of cases in the world.
Top 7 | UK PM Boris Johnson marries fiancee in private ceremony
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds married Saturday in a small private ceremony in London, his Downing Street office said Sunday.
Johnson’s office confirmed reports in the Mail on Sunday and the Sun that the couple wed at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral in front of a small group of friends and family.
The couple have reportedly sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for a celebration on July 30, 2022.
Under current coronavirus restrictions in England, no more than 30 people can attend a wedding.
Top 8 | Marijuana legalization prompting police K-9 retirements
Asking dogs to follow their noses won’t work anymore in states that have legalized marijuana.
As Virginia prepares to legalize adult possession of up to an ounce of marijuana on July 1, drug-sniffing police dogs from around the state are being forced into early retirement, following a trend in other states where legalization has led to K-9s being put out to pasture earlier than planned.
In Virginia, the rush to take marijuana-detecting dogs out of service began even before lawmakers voted last month to accelerate the timetable for legalization. A separate law that went into effect in March prohibits police from stopping or searching anyone based solely on the odor of marijuana.
Top 9 | In time for summer, Europe sees dramatic fall in virus cases
When Italy won the Eurovision Song Contest with an over-the-top glam-rock performance, the victory signaled more than just a psychological boost for one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19: Held before a live, indoor audience of 3,500, the annual kitsch fest confirmed that Europe was returning to a semblance of normalcy that was unthinkable even a few weeks ago.
Coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths are plummeting across the continent, after Europe led the world in new cases last fall and winter in waves that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, forced more rolling lockdowns and overwhelmed intensive care units.
Now, vaccination rates are accelerating across Europe, and with them, the promise of summer vacations on Ibiza, Crete or Corsica. There are hopes for a rebirth of a tourism industry that in Spain and Italy alone accounts for 13% of gross domestic product but was wiped out by the pandemic.
Top 10 | Teenager in court charged with conspiracy to murder Sasha Johnson
An 18-year-old man has appeared in court charged with conspiracy to murder in relation to the shooting of the Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson.
Johnson, 27, was shot at a house party in Peckham, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday and remains in a critical condition in hospital.
Cameron Deriggs, from Lewisham, south London, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Saturday morning after being charged on Friday night.
He was one of five males arrested on Wednesday in connection with the incident. The other four have since been released on bail until late June.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
