PHILIPPINES
Duterte critic acquitted
A former opposition senator and justice secretary was acquitted of drug charges yesterday after key witnesses recanted and said they had lied about her involvement in narcotics trafficking. However, Leila de Lima, 63, remained jailed, as she has one outstanding charge against her. De Lima has been detained since 2017 on drug charges she says were fabricated by the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte in an attempt to muzzle her criticism of its deadly crackdown on illegal drugs. The campaign left thousands of mostly petty suspects dead and sparked an International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity. Duterte, who has insisted on De Lima’s guilt, left office last year.
THAILAND
Army head pledges no coup
Army Commander-in-Chief General Narongpan Jitkaewthae has pledged not to stage a coup, as political parties geared up for final campaign rallies yesterday ahead of an election tomorrow that could see the military-backed government voted out. Narongpan made the pledge despite the army seizing power a dozen times in Thailand in the past century, most recently in 2014. Voters are predicted to deliver a heavy defeat to the military-backed administration of prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, fueling fears that the military might seek to cling on to power. Narongpan told reporters on Thursday that there would be no return to military rule, saying that the coups of the past were “very negative... There shouldn’t be [a coup] any more.”
TURKEY
Candidate pans Russia
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the main election rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, issued a warning to Russia, accusing it of responsibility for the release of fake material on social media ahead of tomorrow’s election. Kilicdaroglu, who has a slight lead over long-time leader Erdogan according to opinion polls, did not specify to which material he meant. A third presidential candidate, Muharrem Ince, withdrew from the race on Thursday citing a faked “character assassination.” Kilicdaroglu accused Turkey’s “Russian friends” of responsibility for “the release in this country yesterday of montages, plots, deep fake content.” He said that “if you want to continue our friendship after May 15, withdraw your hand from the Turkish state. We are still in favor of cooperation and friendship.”
ASIA
Cyclone to make landfall
Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar prepared to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people yesterday, warning them to stay away from coastal areas as Cyclone Mocha churned in the Bay of Bengal. The storm is expected to roar in tomorrow with sustained wind speeds of up to 160kph, gusting to 175kph between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, the India Meteorological Department said. Bangladesh is a delta nation of more than 160 million people and is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. Evacuation of nearly 500,000 people is expected to start today with 576 cyclone shelters ready to provide refuge to those moved from their homes along a vast coast. “This is the first cyclone system in the north Indian Ocean this year,” department senior scientist Rajendra Kumar Jenamani said. “The cyclone is severe and will likely affect millions of fishers and coastal communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar.”
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
At first, Francis Ari Sture thought a human was trying to shove him down the steep Norwegian mountainside. Then he saw the golden eagle land. “We are staring at each other for, maybe, a whole minute,” Sture said on Monday. “I’m trying to think what’s in its mind.” The bird then attacked Sture five more times on Thursday last week, scratching and clawing the 31-year-old bicycle courier’s face and arms over 10 to 15 minutes as he sprinted down the mountain. The same eagle is believed to be responsible for attacks on three other people across a vast mountainous area of southern Norway
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