US limits companies producing chips in China
Washington — The US is making it more difficult for chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix to produce chips in China by revoking authorisations that allowed the companies to receive US semiconductor manufacturing equipment there, according to the Federal Register.
The US commerce department had given the companies exemptions to sweeping restrictions created in 2022 on the sale of US semiconductor equipment to China.
The companies will now need to obtain licences to buy the equipment for China. The federal filing also included Intel among the companies that lost their authorisation for China, though Intel sold its Dalian, China, unit in a deal that was finalised this year.
The revocations will take effect in 120 days, according to the posting. Reuters
At least 70 migrants die as boat capsizes off Gambia
Nairobi — At least 70 people were killed when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of West Africa, Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry said late on Friday, in one of the deadliest accidents in recent years along a popular migration route to Europe.
Another 30 people are feared dead after the vessel, believed to have departed from the country and carrying mostly Gambian and Senegalese nationals, sank off the coast of Mauritania early on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement.
It was carrying an estimated 150 passengers, 16 of whom had been rescued. Mauritanian authorities recovered 70 bodies on Wednesday and Thursday, and witness accounts suggest more than 100 may have died, the statement said.
The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, typically used by African migrants trying to reach Spain, is one of the world’s deadliest. Reuters
Villagers drown fleeing armed bandits in Nigeria
Maiduguri, Nigeria —At least 13 people died and more than 20 were missing in northwestern Nigeria’s Zamfara State after the boat they crowded aboard to escape an attack by armed men sank in a river, local residents and officials said on Saturday.
Zamfara is an epicentre of attacks by armed men, known locally as bandits, amid a surge across Africa’s most populous country in recent months of factional bloodshed that often involves Islamist militias or criminal gangs.
The assailants stormed two communities in Birnin Magaji ward on Friday afternoon, sending locals fleeing towards a nearby riverbank that had a single boat, residents said. Reuters
Australia government chides anti-immigration rallies
Sydney — Thousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country on Sunday that the centre-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis.
March for Australia rallies against immigration were held in Sydney and other state capitals and regional centres, according to the group's website.
“Mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,” the website says. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration”.
The group also said it was concerned about culture, wages, traffic, housing and water supply, environmental destruction, infrastructure, hospitals, crime and loss of community. Reuters
Archbishop of York decries Farage’s migration policy
London — The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has criticised the leader of Britain’s populist Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, describing his plans for mass deportations of asylum seekers as an “isolationist, short-term, knee-jerk” response.
Cottrell, the Church of England’s second most senior clergyman who is performing some functions of the Archbishop of Canterbury while a new head of the Church is selected, told Sky News that Brexit veteran Farage was “not offering any long-term solution to the big issues which are convulsing our world”.
He said in an pre-recorded interview aired on Sunday that people should “actively resist the kind of isolationist, short-term, knee-jerk ... send them home” policies.
In response, Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, said “the role of the Archbishop is not actually to interfere with international migration policy that is determined by the government”. Reuters
Indonesian parties cut parliamentarians’ privileges
Jakarta — Indonesian political parties have agreed to revoke a number of perks and privileges for parliamentarians, President Prabowo Subianto said on Sunday, in a major concession to antigovernment protests that left five people dead.
Protests over what demonstrators termed excessive pay and housing allowances for parliamentarians started on Monday. They expanded into riots on Thursday after one person — a motorcycle rideshare driver — was killed by police at a protest site. The homes of some political party members and state installations were ransacked or set ablaze.
Prabowo, speaking at a news conference at the Presidential Palace and flanked by the leaders of various political parties, said he had ordered the military and police to take stern action against rioters and looters, warning that some of the actions were indicative of “terrorism” and “treason”. Reuters
Hemedti sworn in to lead parallel Sudanese govt
Cairo — Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was sworn in as the head of a parallel Sudanese government, officials said, pushing the country a step closer towards de facto partition.
Dagalo, known as Hemedti, has rarely been seen in Sudan since the start of a 28-month war with the country’s national army. But he was sworn into office on Saturday in Nyala, the de facto capital for the RSF. A presidential council was also appointed.
The RSF, which controls most of Darfur, is fighting the Sudanese army for the city of El-Fashir, the region’s historic capital.
A medical source said on Sunday at least seven people had been killed in RSF shelling in El-Fashir. Reuters
Houthis seize 11 in raid on UN premises, says reports
Sanaa — Yemen’s Houthi rebels raided UN offices in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and detained at least 11 personnel, according to media reports on Sunday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the information and the UN in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The raid followed an Israeli strike on Sanaa that killed the prime minister of Yemen’s Houthi-run government and several other ministers. World Food Programme spokesperson Abeer Etefa told The Associated Press that security forces raided the agencies’ offices in the Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa on Sunday morning. World Health Organisation and Unicef offices were also raided, AP reported. Reuters
Trump to order ID requirement for every voter
Ottawa — US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he will issue an executive order to require voter identification from every voter.
“Voter ID must be part of every single vote. No exceptions. I will be doing an executive order to that end,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Also, no mail-in voting, except for those that are very ill, and the far away military.”
Trump has long questioned the US electoral system and continues to claim his 2020 loss to Democratic president Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud.
The president and his Republican have allies also made claims about widespread voting by non-citizens, which is illegal and rarely occurs. Reuters
Norway selects British-made frigates in £10bn deal
Oslo — Norway said on Sunday it had chosen Britain as its strategic partner for the acquisition of new frigates in its largest military investment to date, in a deal worth about £10bn to boost the Nordic country’s maritime defence.
Germany, France, Britain and the US had offered rival frigate designs in competition.
“The frigates are an essential part of our defence because they are key to defend our sovereignty,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a press conference.
Norway is defence alliance Nato’s monitor for the vast 2-million square kilometres area of the North Atlantic used by the Russian northern fleet’s nuclear submarines.
A key mission for the frigates will be to monitor Russian submarines, whose base is on the Kola Peninsula, an area in the Arctic bordering Norway.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the deal, which he said was worth £10bn. Reuters
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