Fri, Mar 21, 2025 page5

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  PHILIPPINES

  Duterte arrest defended

  Officials yesterday defended the arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) of former president Rodrigo Duterte amid allegations that he was illegally abducted at the behest of a foreign institution. Officials told a Senate inquiry that the handover of Duterte was above board, as it was at the request of Interpol and not in cooperation with the ICC. “The ICC tries people for individual crimes, not states. So the Philippines as a state cannot be called upon by the ICC to do something for them,” Secretary of Justice Juanito Remulla said, citing “international humanitarian law” as the basis of the arrest. Duterte is set to be the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC after he was arrested last week and sent to The Hague, where he faces accusations of murder as a crime against humanity over a “war on drugs.” Duterte has assumed full responsibility for the killings, but denies he led a campaign of systematic murder and says he instructed police to kill only in self-defense. The government’s decision to hand Duterte over triggered a backlash among his supporters, family and allies, who have petitioned the Supreme Court, arguing that the arrest was illegal and the ICC no longer has jurisdiction in the Philippines. “Justice rendered by a foreign country is not justice. It’s slavery,” said Senator Imee Marcos, who presided over yesterday’s televised hearing. Duterte’s arrest followed years of him taunting the ICC in speeches since he unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the court’s founding treaty.

  

  Greenpeace activists hold a bannner as they protest in the main hall of the Congress Center during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025.

  Photo: AFP

  NORTH KOREA

  Pyongyang warns Japan

  Pyongyang yesterday warned Japan against deploying long-range missiles in the Kyushu region in March next year, saying such attack capability would “bring about constant escalation of tension” in Northeast Asia, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. Tokyo was considering deploying long-range missiles on Kyushu as part of attempts to acquire “counterstrike capabilities” to hit enemy targets in the event of an emergency, Japan’s Kyodo News reported this month, citing government sources. Pyongyang accused Japan of continuing aggression through moves such as a constant strengthening of the Japan-US military alliance and collusion with NATO forces, KCNA said, citing the policy section chief of the Institute for Japan Studies. “All military means and various forms of movement directly targeting the DPRK ... are an object to be wiped out,” it said, using the abbreviation of North Korea’s official name.

  UNITED STATES

  Greenpeace found liable

  A North Dakota jury on Wednesday found that Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to a pipeline company in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. The jury found Greenpeace liable for defamation and other claims, and awarded Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access more than US$650 million in damages. The lawsuit accused Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc of defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy and other acts. Greenpeace said earlier that a large award to the pipeline company would threaten to bankrupt the environmental group. Following the nine-person jury’s verdict, Greenpeace’s senior legal adviser said the organization’s work “is never going to stop.”
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