SAUDI ARABIA
Rights advocate released
The government has released women’s rights activist Aisha al-Manea, 70, following her arrest last week with several other activists, Amnesty International said yesterday. “We welcome her release, but we still do not know the conditions around it, and we call on authorities to release the other human rights defenders immediately,” Amnesty Middle East director of campaigns Samah Hadid said. “Unfortunately, the chilling smear campaign of these women and men has caused damage and tarnished not only these women, but any form of activism and dissent in the country.”
ITALY
Train-truck crash kills two
Two people died and 20 were injured late on Wednesday, when a regional train crashed into a truck in the northern region of Piedmont, emergency services said yesterday. The five-carriage train smashed into the heavy goods vehicle, after the truck had broken through a level crossing and got stuck on the tracks, the state train company said. The drivers of both the train and a vehicle accompanying the heavy truck, which was carrying an exceptional load, were killed. Three carriages derailed. Local police said there were 40 to 50 people in the train. Media reports said four of the injured were in serious condition.
THAILAND
Buddhists arrested in raid
More than 100 police commandos yesterday raided four Buddhist temples in Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom Province, arresting several prominent monks and worshipers amid a crackdown on illegal financial dealings by temples. “This is the investigation stage ... It will all come down to facts and evidence,” Thai Central Investigation Bureau official Thitiraj Nhongharnpitak told reporters. Among those arrested was Phra Buddha Issara, 62, a monk who in 2014 launched a campaign to clean up Buddhism. He was held over an alleged 2014 robbery. Phra Phrom Dilok, 72, a member of the Sangha Supreme Council that governs the nation’s monks, was arrested over alleged embezzlement of temple funds.
MALAYSIA
Public funds given to 1MDB
The government of former prime minister Najib Razak used funds from deals with the central bank and the sovereign wealth fund to pay for some of the liabilities of beleaguered state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), sources with knowledge of the matter told reporters. The payments, which were kept secret by Najib’s administration, show the extent to which federal agencies and government money were used to bail out debt-ridden 1MDB, a fund subject to money laundering investigations in at least six nations. About US$500 million raised from a land sale agreement with the central bank and about US$300 million from the sell-back of shares of sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad were used to fund the settlement owed to Abu Dhabi state fund IPIC, the sources said.
UNITED STATES
Gamers charged over killing
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday indicted two Call of Duty: WWII online gamers and a man accused of making hoax calls that led a police officer to fatally shoot an unarmed man in Kansas. The indictment charged Tyler Barriss, 25, of Los Angeles with conspiracy to make false reports, making false reports and hoaxes, cyberstalking. The gamers were identified as Casey Viner, 18, of Ohio, and Shane Gaskill, 19, of Kansas.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
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