MYANMAR
Rebels admit beheadings
A rebel group yesterday said its members beheaded two prisoners in a rare admission of deadly violence, as it fights to maintain control of the western borderlands. The incident, which “violated military discipline,” occurred in February last year during an Arakan Army (AA) offensive on Kyauktaw township in Rakhine state, group spokesman Khaing Thu Kha said. “Our local [AA] militias were unable to control their anger and committed crimes ... in retaliation for the terrorist Myanmar army soldiers who had unjustly arrested, tortured and killed their families,” he said. In a two-minute clip that circulated on social media, about seven men, some wearing AA uniforms and holding firearms, kicked and beat two shirtless men on the ground. In another video, the same alleged killers were seen beheading the captives with machete-like knives.
PHILIPPINES
Manila amenable to Interpol
Manila would respond favorably if Interpol is asked by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants related to its probe into former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs,” a top official said yesterday. Thousands of people were killed in Duterte’s crackdown on drugs launched in 2016, many in mysterious circumstances, prompting the ICC to launch an investigation into possible crimes against humanity. Duterte and police have denied activists’ allegations of systematic executions and cover-ups, and say drug suspects were killed in self defense. “If the ICC makes a move, and courses the move through the Interpol, and the Interpol makes the request to us for the arrest of delivery of the custody of a person subject to ICC jurisdiction, we will respond favorably or positively to the Interpol request,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin told a media briefing.
UNITED KINGDOM
Rolls-Royce wins sub deal
The Ministry of Defence yesterday said it had awarded Rolls-Royce a ￡9 billion (US$11.2 billion) eight-year contract to design, make and provide support services to nuclear reactors that power its fleet of submarines. The deal would strengthen the Royal Navy’s continuous at-sea deterrent — under which at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine patrols the seas at all times — while also boosting the AUKUS defense pact with the US and Australia, the ministry said. Minister of Defense John Healey said the contract with Rolls-Royce, which also makes engines for aircraft, would save the kingdom ￡400 million over eight years by combining multiple contracts into one.
FRANCE
Fake tracks swamp Deezer
Music streaming site Deezer yesterday said that one in 10 tracks uploaded to the streaming service each day is either fake or just noise created by artificial intelligence programs. The company’s fraud detection technologies, rolled out in 2023, discovered that “around 10,000 tracks completely generated by AI are uploaded to the platform every day, representing around 10 percent of the total,” the Paris-based firm said in a statement. The success of its technologies, which can identify AI content “without the need for extensive training on specific databases,” had led it to seek two patents last month. Deezer says it aims to pay genuine musicians better by weeding out fake songs that are then streamed by fraudulent accounts created in order to remunerate the “artists.” Many fake tracks can clone the voices of existing artists, which currently cannot be copyrighted, or copycat popular songs.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
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