JAMAICA – Jamaica is to seek to build deeper ties with The Philippines with talks to be had on a Memorandum of Understanding on collaborating on tourism. Tourism Minister Edmond Bartlett says the collaboration will focus on key tourism outcomes such as human capital development, training and certification in customer service excellence, craft development, resilience and sustainability and community tourism. “The importance of human capital development is a key pillar of the potential agreement, especially given the Philippines’ remarkable success in training over 170,000 tourism workers annually,” Bartlett told The Gleaner. He was speaking against the background of being recognised on Wednesday by the Gusi Peace Prize Foundation as one of its 2024 awardees. The accolade celebrates Bartlett’s visionary leadership and ground-breaking contributions to the global tourism industry. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Photo: Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett (left), and Secretary of Tourism for the Philippines, Christina Garcia-Frasco, shared lens time after he received his global Gusi Peace Prize.

SWEDEN – An unidentified drone flew over the Russian embassy in Stockholm early on Friday, dropping paint on the grounds of the diplomatic compound, Swedish police said. No arrests have been made and no suspects identified, a police spokesperson added. “We insist that all incidents against the Russian embassy be thoroughly and impartially investigated and that the perpetrators be found and brought to justice,” Russia’s embassy in Sweden said in a statement. Investigators will look at whether the incident was in any way linked to a reported case of vandalism at Sweden’s embassy in Moscow on Thursday, according to the police spokesperson.

Following the Moscow incident, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard urged Russia to ensure the protection of Sweden’s diplomatic mission and its staff. A Swedish foreign ministry spokesperson said Sweden’s embassy in Moscow was in contact with Russian authorities over Friday’s incident in the Swedish capital.

“It is serious when a country’s embassy is subject to vandalism,” Stenergard said in an emailed statement on the incident in Stockholm.  “Swedish authorities are responsible for the embassy’s security and the police have initiated a preliminary investigation.” (The Jerusalem Post)

Photo: Sweden expels five Russian diplomats, ministry says. (Photo: Reuters)

BEIJING – The militaries of China and Russia conducted a joint strategic air patrol over the Sea of Japan on Friday, according to China’s Ministry of National Defense.

The patrol, the ninth of its kind, was carried out as part of the two militaries’ annual cooperation plan, the ministry said in a statement. (Xinhua)

Photo: The militaries of China and Russia conducted a joint strategic air patrol over the Sea of Japan on Friday, according to China’s Ministry of National Defense. (Sun Liren/Xinhua)

STILFONTEIN  –  South Africa’s police minister has pledged to rescue all the people still trapped in an abandoned goldmine in the northwestern town of Stilfontein “as soon as possible”. In an interview with Al Jazeera on Friday, Senzo Mchunu said the exact number of people underground is still not known. The authorities have been stationed for weeks outside the abandoned pit in Stilfontein, about 150km (100 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, intermittently blocking locals from sending down food and water to try to force the miners out.

The operation has triggered outrage with some fearing that the men could be starving or even dying underground. Police had earlier indicated that up to 4,000 miners may be trapped. On Thursday, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said they believe that number was exaggerated and gave an estimate of 350 to 400 miners. Describing the conditions in the shaft, which the police have sought to check through camera surveillance, Mchunu said six to seven people who are at the top of the shaft are “commanding the whole thing”. “The food and water that trickle down would be under the control of those people. … They command everything there, and people below are kept against their will,” he said.

Three teenagers who recently emerged, one 19 and two aged 16, told Al Jazeera about the mistreatment they faced. “The men who hire us sometimes don’t give us food. But we see them eating every day. If you complain, they beat you up,” said one of the three who comes from Mozambique. The three said they were not rescued by the government but came out because they were allowed to. It is unclear how long the miners have been underground because they are reported to often stay there for months, depending on supplies of basic necessities like food and water from the outside. The police’s “Vala Umgodi”, or “Close the Hole”, operation has cut off miners’ supplies to force them to return to the surface and be arrested.

This week, 14 people, including a teenage boy, who emerged unassisted were arrested. President Cyril Ramaphosa defended the police for blocking supplies in a bid to force the miners out. “So far, more than 1,000 miners have surfaced and been arrested,” Ramaphosa said last week, calling the site in Stilfontein “a crime scene”. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Mineworkers are being rescued from the goldmine. (AFP)

LONDON – MPs have backed proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales in a historic vote which paves the way for a change in the law. Under draft legislation being considered by Parliament, terminally ill adults expected to die within six months could seek help to end their own life. In the first Commons vote on the issue in nearly a decade, MPs supported the bill by 330 to 275, a majority of 55. The bill will now face many more months of debate and scrutiny by MPs and peers, who could choose to amend it, with the approval of both Houses of Parliament required before it becomes law.

MPs were given a free vote, meaning they could make a decision based on their own conscience rather than having to follow a party line. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his Conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak voted in favour, while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch voted against. The PM, who previously supported a change in the law in 2015, did not speak in the debate or reveal how he planned to vote in advance, saying he did not want to influence the decisions of MPs.

The government has taken a neutral stance on the bill and at the end of the debate Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones confirmed if Parliament backed a change to the law the government would “ensure that any bill is effective and that its provisions can be enforced”. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who put forward the bill, said she was “a bit overwhelmed” following the vote and it meant “a huge amount” to be able to tell campaigners the bill had passed its first parliamentary hurdle. (BBC)

Photo: The bill was put forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater.