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 fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
The US government has banned US government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, The Associated Press (AP) has learned. Four people with direct knowledge of the matter told the AP about the policy, which was put into effect by departing US ambassador Nicholas Burns in January shortly before he left China. The people would speak only on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a confidential directive. Although some US agencies already had strict rules on such relationships, a blanket “nonfraternization” policy, as it is known, has
SUSPICION: Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing returned to protests after attending a summit at which he promised to hold ‘free and fair’ elections, which critics derided as a sham The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen to more than 3,300, state media said yesterday, as the UN aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation. The quake on Friday last week flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, new figures published by state media showed. More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses. A UN estimate
OPTIONS: Asked if one potential avenue to a third term was having J.D. Vance run for the top job and then pass the baton to him, Trump said: ‘That’s one,’ among others US President Donald Trump on Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029. “There are methods which you could do it,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club. He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One from Florida to Washington that “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term
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