CAMBODIA
CNRP handing over posts
Elected officials from the now banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) have begun handing over their duties after a court last week ordered the party dissolved, the government said yesterday. Among those told to give up their positions were councilors elected to communes in June, when the CNRP gained control of 40 percent of local councils. “The implementation has been going smoothly,” Ministry of the Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said yesterday. He said he did not know how long it would take for all the CNRP commune officials to hand over their communes, most of which are going to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. The CNRP’s 55 seats in parliament are to be shared among six minor parties.
THAILAND
Uighurs escape center
Twenty ethnic Uighur Muslims from China broke out of a detention center in southern Songkhla Province after digging holes in the wall and using blankets as ladders, officials said yesterday. The 20 were part of the last remaining group of more than 200 Uighurs who were detained in 2014. More than 100 were forcibly returned to China in July 2015. The 25 Uighurs dug through their cell wall using broken tiles, while heavy rain masked the noise of the escape, officials said. Five were caught, but the rest fled, they said.
JAPAN
Alcohol ban after crash
US military personnel on Okinawa have been banned from drinking alcohol and restricted to base after a US Marine was arrested over a crash that killed a local resident. Police arrested 21-year-old Nicholas James-McLean late on Sunday on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in injury or death and driving under the influence of alcohol, said Kazuhiko Miyagi of the Okinawa police. He said a breath test indicated James-McLean had an alcohol level that was three times the legal limit. Hidemasa Taira, 61, who was driving a small truck, died in the Sunday morning crash in Naha. Buying and drinking alcohol has been banned for US military personnel in the entire country, but only those on Okinawa were restricted to base and their residences.
CHINA
Chongqing slams ex-leaders
The Chongqing city government yesterday renewed its attacks on two of its disgraced former leaders. In a front page commentary, the official Chongqing Daily said there could be no excuses for ignoring Chinese Communist Party instructions. “Bo Xilai (薄熙來) raised his own flag, started something new in order to be different, and set up an independent kingdom,” the paper wrote, in apparent reference to his “Chongqing model” policy of more equal growth and big infrastructure projects. “Sun Zhengcai (孫政才) practiced lazy and indolent politics, bullied those below and hoodwinked those above, and was passively handled enforcement of decision from the party center,” it added.
INDIA
Peeing minister goes viral
Maharashtra Minister for Water Conservation Ram Shinde, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has been left red-faced after a video of him urinating in public went viral on World Toilet Day on Sunday, despite government efforts to stop people relieving themselves in the open. He was filmed on Saturday answering the call of nature in a field by the side of a road. Shinde defended his actions with an excuse familiar to many, effectively saying: “When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go,” adding that he had been ill.
FRANCE
Libyan refugees welcomed
The nation is to be the first to welcome African refugees evacuated from Libya to Niger by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), officials announced yesterday. After experiencing appalling living conditions at camps, the refugees were taken to Niger on Nov. 11 by the UNHCR, where they have been looked after. The 25 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Sudanese should reach France “at the latest in January,” the Ministry of the Interior said. Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons Director-General Pascal Brice said that the nation will take in the migrants following a visit to Niger’s capital Niamey. He said the migrants — who were selected because they need protection — will be given refugee status “very quickly.”
YEMEN
Millions cannot get food aid
Millions of people face the risk of more deaths as aid deliveries cannot get to the needy, because the blockade by the Saudi-led coalition is still in place, UN World Food Programme country director Stephen Anderson said. It is “heartbreaking” that millions depend on sustained access to humanitarian aid, he said. Of a population of 26 million, about 17 million do not know where their next meal is coming from and 7 million are totally dependent on food assistance. Humanitarian flights to the northern, rebel-held region have been grounded amid the blockade, following a rebel missile attack in Riyadh, he said.
CHILE
Pinera heads to run-off
Billionaire businessman Sebastian Pinera late on Sunday held a big lead in returns from a presidential election, although he did not get enough votes to avoid a runoff. With just less than 92 percent of ballots counted, Pinera had nearly 37 percent of the vote, against nearly 23 percent for Senator Alejandro Guillier, an independent center-left candidate, and 20 percent for Beatriz Sanchez, who ran for the leftist Broad Front coalition. Five other candidates shared the remainder.
FRANCE
Officer kills three, himself
A 31-year-old police officer in Paris shot three people dead before turning the gun on himself, in a killing spree sparked by a row with his girlfriend, authorities said on Sunday. Arnaud Martin finished his shift on Saturday evening and went to meet his girlfriend in Sarcelles to discuss ending their relationship, but after an argument broke out, Martin shot the young woman in the face and killed two men, aged 30 and 44, who attempted to intervene, Pontoise Department prosecutor Eric Corbaux said. He then went to his girlfriend’s home just a few meters away, where he killed the girl’s father and seriously injured her mother in the throat. He also shot the woman’s sister in the leg and killed the family dog.
UNITED STATES
Tambor quits Amazon series
Following two allegations of sexual harassment against him, actor Jeffrey Tambor said he does not see how he can return to the Amazon series Transparent. In an ambiguous statement on Sunday that heavily implies, but does not confirm, an imminent departure from the series, Tambor referenced what he calls a “politicized atmosphere” that has afflicted the set. He said that this is “no longer the job I signed up for four years ago.” Two women have come forward over the past few weeks to accuse Tambor of sexual harassment.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
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