Jiupeng, Taiwan
Reuters
 — 

Taiwan on Monday test-fired for the first time a new US-supplied rocket system that has been widely used by Ukraine against Russia and could be deployed to hit targets in China if there is a war with Taiwan.

The United States is Taiwan’s most important arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties. Taiwan has faced increased military pressure from China, including several rounds of war games, as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims over the island.

Taiwan has bought 29 of Lockheed Martin’s precision weapon High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, with the first batch of 11 received last year and the rest set to arrive by next year.

With a range of about 300 kilometers (186 miles), they could hit coastal targets in China’s southern province of Fujian, on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, in the event of conflict.

The US-trained Taiwan military team fired the rockets from the Jiupeng test center on a remote part of the Pacific coast.

Officer Ho Hsiang-yih told reporters US personnel from the manufacturer were at the site to tackle any problems.

“I believe that this rocket firing shows our people the military’s determination to protect the country’s security and safeguard our beautiful homeland,” he added.

HIMARS, one of Ukraine’s main strike systems, has been used multiple times during the war with Russia. In March, Australia said it had received the first two of 42 HIMARS launcher vehicles.

The test came a day after Taiwan said it had detected another “joint combat readiness patrol” by China’s military near the island, involving warplanes and warships.

Taiwan’s democratically-elected government rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.

Manila, Philippines
Reuters
 — 

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was almost certain to be elected mayor of his home city by a landslide on Monday, unimpeded by his detention at the International Criminal Court on charges of murder as a crime against humanity.

With 80% of votes counted in an unofficial tally, Duterte, who was brought to The Hague in March over his bloody “war on drugs” that killed thousands of people, was winning the Davao mayoral contest with eight times more votes than his nearest rival.

The victory during nationwide midterm elections is testament to the 80-year-old’s enduring influence in the southern city, owing to his reputation as a crime-buster that earned him the nicknames “Duterte Harry” and “the Punisher.”

Duterte’s old Facebook account was flooded with congratulatory messages from supporters, with some calling for his return to serve his people.

“Congratulations, Tatay (father) D! Let’s bring him home,” read one of the comments.

Duterte could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

His surprise arrest by Philippine police at the request of the ICC caused outrage among his army of supporters, who called it a kidnapping at the behest of a foreign court.

He has defended the anti-drugs crackdown and his legal team says his arrest was unlawful. The ICC maintains it has jurisdiction to prosecute alleged crimes committed before Duterte withdrew the Philippines from its founding treaty in 2019.

Despite the ICC’s case also including alleged killings of criminal suspects by a “death squad” in Davao while Duterte was mayor – which he has denied – analysts have said his arrest has only hardened support for him and his family, in Davao and beyond.

The former president’s two sons were also set to win posts on Monday, one reelected congressman and the other winning the contest for Davao vice mayor and likely to serve in his father’s absence.

The family’s political resilience and dominance in Davao could prove pivotal as Duterte’s popular daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, faces an impeachment trial that could see her banned from politics for life if convicted, killing off any hopes of a presidential run.

Asked earlier on Monday about her father’s likely victory, she said plans would be made for him to be sworn in as mayor.

“The ICC lawyer said once we get proclamation papers, we will discuss how he can take oath,” she said.

London
CNN
 — 

Britain will toughen its requirements for legal migrants and extend the wait for newcomers to claim citizenship, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday, announcing a slew of policy changes as he resists a political barrage from the country’s emboldened populist right.

Immigrants will now have to wait up to 10 years before they can seek to become British citizens – raised from five years – and requirements surrounding their skills level and proficiency in English will be raised, Starmer said, policies aimed at finally reversing a years-long increase in legal migration to Britain.

“This plan means migration will fall – that’s a promise,” Starmer said, declaring an end to what he called a “one-nation experiment in open borders.” He chastised the previous Conservative government for its record on migration, saying “the damage it has done to our country is incalculable.”

His intervention accompanied a long-awaited white paper on migration, but its timing was no coincidence; it comes less than two weeks after a round of local elections that were decisively won by Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party, an anti-immigration bloc, reflecting a sustained increase in support for the party in opinion polls.

Starmer adopted a tone more commonly associated with Farage during his Monday morning press conference in Downing Street, saying Britain risked becoming an “island of strangers” without tough reform.

More than 700,000 more people entered the UK legally than left it last year, according to government figures for the year up to June 2024, a figure strikingly higher than either dominant party in British politics had ever intended to allow. The increase has added to the already high demand for housing and on Britain’s public services, but it has also created an avenue for foreign workers to staff the country’s chronically undermanned health care system.

Under the new plans, Starmer sought to toughen rules without shutting off those pipelines. The number of years before a migrant can apply for citizenship was doubled to 10, but people who contribute significantly to society, such as doctors, nurses and engineers, could be fast-tracked through the process.

A higher level of English language skills will be required for all immigrants, and graduates will be allowed to remain in the UK for 18 months after their degrees end, down from two years.

Overseas recruitment of social care workers will also end, a move that brings with it the threat of disruption to a sector that successive governments have tried and failed to modernize.

Farage criticized the announcement on Monday, calling Starmer “a hypocrite who believes in open borders.”

But the government will hope its proposal takes the sting out of a surge in support for the right-wing party, which is taking away votes from both Labour and the Conservatives with a sharply anti-migration message.

Starmer has separately attempted to toughen his party’s rhetoric on illegal migration, but the number of people crossing the English Channel on small boats is higher so far this year than it was in 2024, a political gift to Farage’s party.