CAIRO (Reuters) -- Shipping traffic in the Suez Canal was proceeding normally on Monday after tugs towed a cargo vessel that broke down during its passage through the waterway, the Canal Authority said. The M/V Glory, which was sailing to China, suffered a technical fault when it was 38km into its passage southward through the canal, before being towed by four tugs to a repair area, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement. The Suez Canal is one of the world’s busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. In 2021, a huge container ship, the Ever Given, became stuck in high winds across a southern section of the canal, blocking traffic for six days before it could be dislodged. The M/V Glory is a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier, data from trackers VesselFinder and MarineTraffic showed. It departed Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port on Dec. 25 bound for China with 65,970 metric tonnes of corn, according to the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) overseeing Ukraine grain exports.

 

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MEXICO CITY (AFP) – U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Mexico on for talks on migration and drug trafficking as well as a North American leaders’ summit. Biden arrived at Mexico City’s new international airport, Felipe Angeles, located north of the capital, after a politically charged stop at the southern U.S. border -- his first since taking office. He received a red-carpet welcome from his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who then joined Biden in his armored limousine for the journey from the airport. Biden was to meet Monday and Tuesday with Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau one-on-one and also together, in what’s dubbed the “Three Amigos” summit. While trade and environmental issues are also on the table, Biden has put a surge in irregular migration and dangerous drug smuggling front and center of his trip, his first to Mexico as president.

 

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BEIJING (AFP) -- Almost 90 percent of people in China’s third most populous province have now been infected with Covid-19, a top official said Monday, as the country battles an unprecedented surge in cases. Kan Quancheng, director of the health commission for central Henan province, told a press conference that “as of January 6, 2023, the province’s Covid infection rate is 89.0 percent.” With a population of 99.4 million, the figures suggest about 88.5 million people in Henan may now have been infected. Visits to fever clinics peaked on December 19, Kan said, “after which it showed a continuous downward trend”. China is battling a surge in cases following its decision last month to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing that had hammered its economy and sparked rare nationwide protests. And Beijing is determined to press on with its reopening, on Sunday lifting mandatory quarantine for all international arrivals and opening its border with the semi-autonomous southern city of Hong Kong.

 

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PRAGUE (AFP) -- A Prague court acquitted billionaire former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis in an EU subsidy fraud case on Monday, only four days before he runs in a presidential election. Babis was charged for helping take his Stork Nest farm south of Prague out of his giant Agrofert food, chemicals and media holding to make it eligible for a $2-million European Union subsidy for small companies. Alongside former high-ranking NATO general Petr Pavel and economist Danuse Nerudova, Babis is one of three odds-on favorites to reach a second-round run-off scheduled for the end of January.

 

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BOGOR, Indonesia (AFP) -- Malaysia’s new prime minister met with Indonesia’s president Monday on his first foreign trip after winning a confidence vote and cementing his mandate last month following an inconclusive election. Anwar Ibrahim, a long-time opposition leader, was sworn in as the country’s 10th prime minister on November 24 to head a unity government in a shaky alliance with the graft-tainted party of his former political rivals. He met Indonesian President Joko Widodo for talks at a presidential palace in Bogor, south of capital Jakarta where he thanked his counterpart for his support after the election. “This is a bit personal, Mr President. When I was in a difficult situation, living in uncertainty and suffering, Indonesia welcomed me as a true friend,” he said after the meeting.

 

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PHNOM PENH (AFP) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned opponents Monday they would face legal action or a beating with sticks if they accused his ruling party of vote theft in national polls later this year. One of the world’s longest-serving leaders, Hun Sen will mark 38 years in power this weekend and has vowed to run again when Cambodia holds elections in July. Speaking at a ceremony in Kampong Cham province, he said political challengers would need to choose between the courts and violence if they criticized his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). “There are only two options -- one is using legal action, the other is using sticks... What do you want?” he said. “Either you face legal action in court or I rally CPP people for a demonstration and beat you guys up.”