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.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘NO AMNESTY’: Tens of thousands of people joined the rally against a bill that would slash the former president’s prison term; President Lula has said he would veto the bill Tens of thousands of Brazilians on Sunday demonstrated against a bill that advanced in Congress this week that would reduce the time former president Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital, Brasilia, and in other major cities across the nation, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana’s boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted “No amnesty” and “Out with Hugo Motta,” a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday last week. It is
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