THAILAND
Murder charges dismissed
Bangkok’s Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court yesterday dismissed a case against five men, including a senior police officer, charged with murdering a Saudi businessman over the theft of US$20 million worth of jewels in 1989. The court ruled there was insufficient evidence to try the five men. The theft and subsequent disappearance of Mohammad al-Ruwaili severely strained relations with Saudi Arabia. The gems and jewelry were stolen from a Saudi prince’s palace by a Thai gardener, who shipped the loot back home. He was arrested, but he had already sold many of the gems. Saudi authorities sent Ruwaili to Bangkok to investigate the case. Three Saudi diplomats were shot execution-style in Bangkok days before Ruwaili vanished in 1990. Some of the jewels were eventually returned to their owner, but Riyadh later complained most of them were fake.
THAILAND
PM appears in court
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra showed up to defend herself yesterday against charges linked to a ruinous government rice pledging scheme that could lead to her removal from office. The charges were brought against her by the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Should the commission forward the case to the senate for possible impeachment, Yingluck would be suspended from official duties. It was unclear when such a decision would be made, but it could take weeks. Yingluck has been charged with dereliction of duty for her role in overseeing a government rice-buying scheme that has run up huge losses and left hundreds of thousands of farmers unpaid.
PHILIPPINES
Shootout suspect nabbed
A band of robbers armed with guns and hammers shot it out with police inside one of the world’s largest shopping malls on Sunday, sending Manila shoppers scrambling for safety, police and witnesses said. Waves of police commandos in bulletproof vests and helmets and armed with assault rifles stormed the SM Mall of Asia after the gang entered a jewelry shop inside. “We were in the grocery when we heard gunshots. We ran for the door immediately and my wife nearly fell with our 10-month-old boy,” office worker Stacy Mercado, 32, said. Police said no one was seriously hurt in the firefight, and the authorities arrested one of at least four armed suspects.
CAMBODIA
Police beat protesters
Police yesterday beat anti-government demonstrators who tried to defy a ban on public demonstrations in Phnom Penh to demand a license for what would be the nation’s first opposition television channel. Several hundred supporters of Mam Sonando, a fierce government critic, came out to protest and at least two people were injured in the clash while several more were punched and kicked by security forces. Am Sam Ath, of the local rights group of Licadho, said one protester was clubbed in the head with a baton and another was punched in the eye.
CHINA
Tibet nun self-immolates
A Tibetan nun set herself on fire in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province on Saturday, British-based advocacy organization Free Tibet and US-funded Radio Free Asia said. Kalsang Gyaltsen, a lawmaker in the Tibetan government-in-exile in India, told radio station that the nun set herself alight while circumambulating a monastery. “The Tibetans who were at the scene intervened and put out the fire, and sent her to the hospital,” Gyaltsen said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in