AUSTRALIA
Whistle-blower loses appeal
Army whistle-blower David McBride, who leaked allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan to the media, yesterday lost a court bid to have his prison sentence reduced. The three Australian Capital Territory Court of Appeal judges unanimously rejected the 61-year-old former army lawyer’s appeal against the severity of a five-year and eight-month prison sentence imposed a year ago. His “oath obliged the appellant to discharge his duties ‘according to the law,’” the judges said.
Photo: AP
UNITED KINGDOM
Thames Water fined
Thames Water yesterday was fined a record ￡122.7 million (US$165 million) over pollution and improper dividend payments, a regulator said. Water watchdog Ofwat said that an investigation into “how the company was managing its treatment works and wider wastewater network uncovered failings that have amounted to a significant breach of the company’s legal obligations.”
Photo: AP
PANAMA
State of emergency imposed
The government on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in one province after US banana giant Chiquita Brands laid off about 5,000 workers following a strike that had ground its production to a halt. The declaration allows the government to speed past bureaucratic hurdles to address economic or social crises quickly. Chiquita, which employed more than 7,000 workers, laid off about 5,000 of them last week for what it called unjustified abandonment of work.
Photo: EPA-EFE
MALAYSIA
Minister steps down
Minister of Economic Affairs Rafizi Ramli yesterday said that he was resigning from his Cabinet post after losing his position as deputy president of the People’s Justice Party (PKR) to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter in a party poll. “My defeat in the recent PKR party election means I no longer have the mandate from my party to translate the people’s agenda — championed by PKR — into government policy,” Ramli said in a statement.
THAILAND
Armies clash on border
The army and Cambodian soldiers yesterday briefly fired at each other in their disputed border area, the two sides said. The Cambodian soldiers entered a disputed area and its soldiers approached the area to negotiate, but due to misunderstanding, the Cambodian side opened fire and the army retaliated, it said. Cambodian Army spokesman Mao Phalla said the Cambodian troops were conducting a routine patrol along the border when the other side opened fire. The clash lasted about 10 minutes until local commanders spoke to each other and ordered a ceasefire. Both sides said they had no casualties or no immediate information on its casualties.
IRAN
Man executed for spying
Tehran has executed a man convicted of spying for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, the judiciary said yesterday. “After identification, arrest and judicial proceedings against Pedram Madani, who was spying in favor of the Zionist regime, and following the complete process of criminal procedure and the final confirmation and upholding of the verdict by the Supreme Court, he was brought to justice and executed,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online reported. Madani was accused of transmitting classified information and holding meetings with Mossad officers abroad, including in Brussels, the report said.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
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