THAILAND
Dozens appear in court
Dozens of people arrested in a human trafficking crackdown, including a senior general, yesterday appeared in court, days after the police officer in charge of the investigation tendered his resignation saying he feared for his life. The nation has long been a major hub for human trafficking and people smuggling, with rights groups accusing officials of turning a blind eye to the grim trade — and even complicity in it. The nation’s military junta launched a belated crackdown in May, a move that uncovered death camps on the border with Malaysia and led to dozens of arrests, but also saw thousands of migrants abandoned on land and at sea by gang masters, eventually forcing a region-wide response. In court yesterday, a panel of seven judges detailed the charges against the group of suspects, some of whom spoke Rohingya and Malay dialects as well as Thai.
RUSSIA
Ball-busting artist detained
Authorities on Monday detained a political performance artist best known for nailing his scrotum to Red Square after he torched the doors to the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB. Pyotr Pavlensky set fire to the wooden doors of the sprawling FSB building in downtown Moscow about 1am, his lawyer Olga Chavdar told reporters from the Moscow police station where he was being held. Video footage posted online shows flames leaping to the top of the doorway as Pavlensky stands in front of it holding a gasoline canister, before a policeman comes running up.
PORTUGAL
Crucial vote to be held
The center-right minority government yesterday was due to face a crucial parliamentary vote with a left-wing alliance set to topple it after barely 10 days in power. The vote comes amid European fears about the prospect of a left-wing coalition taking power in a country still recovering after receiving a 78 billion euro (US$83.84 billion) bailout in exchange for strict austerity measures, and with investors concerned over the political crisis. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, whose center-right coalition won the most votes in last month’s elections, but lost the absolute majority it had enjoyed since 2011, said the rival bloc’s policies would “ruin Portugal” in remarks on the eve of the vote.
UNITED STATES
‘Shrimp boy’ trial opens
A prime defendant in a San Francisco racketeering case ordered the killing of a rival before taking over his organization in Chinatown and engaging in money laundering and trafficking in guns and drugs, a prosecutor alleged during his opening statement on Monday at the high-profile trial. The 2006 slaying of Allen Leung (梁毅) was a “cold-blooded, gangland-style hit” ordered by defendant Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow (周國祥), federal prosecutor Waqar Hasib said. Defense attorney Tony Serra said in his opening statement that Chow did not participate in any killings or other criminal activity detailed in the investigation that led to the conviction of former California state senator Leland Yee (余胤良) on a racketeering charge. Chow pleaded guilty to racketeering in 2000 amid accusations that included heroin and cocaine trafficking, attempted murder and robbery, according to an FBI affidavit in Chow’s current case. However, Serra said Chow, who is to testify in his own defense, reformed and was looking forward to a lucrative book deal about his life.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of