Sat, May 13, 2023 page5

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  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.”
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