World News Quick Take
ICC charges Duterte
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors have charged former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” A heavily redacted charge sheet dated July 4, but only made public on Monday, lays out the accusations against the 80-year-old former leader, currently sitting in ICC detention in The Hague. The first count concerns his alleged involvement as a coperpetrator in 19 murders carried out between 2013 and 2016 while mayor of Davao City. The second count relates to 14 murders of so-called “high value targets” in 2016 and 2017 when Duterte was president. The third charge is about 43 murders committed during “clearance” operations of lower-level alleged drug users or pushers.
Photo: AP
NEW ZEALAND
Mother guilty of killing kids
A mother yesterday was found guilty of killing her two children and stashing their bodies in suitcases, in a high-profile case that drew international attention. Lee Hak-yung, a New Zealand citizen originally from South Korea, was extradited from Seoul in 2022 after the remains of her children were discovered in suitcases left at a storage unit in south Auckland. The children were aged eight and six at the time of their murders, and had been dead for three to four years before their bodies were found.
AUSTRALIA
Body returned without heart
Officials have demanded answers from Indonesian counterparts after the body of a young man who died on the island of Bali was repatriated without his heart. Queensland man Byron Haddow, 23, was found dead in the plunge pool of his Bali villa this year while on holiday. His body was returned to Australia four weeks later, where a second autopsy found he was missing his heart. “They just rung us to ask if we were aware that his heart had been retained over in Bali,” mother Chantal Haddow told Channel Nine. “Just when I thought I couldn’t feel any more heartbroken, it was another kick in the guts,” she said.
UNITED STATES
Trump links autism to Tylenol
President Donald Trump on Monday linked autism to childhood vaccine use and the taking of popular pain medication Tylenol by women while pregnant, elevating claims not backed by scientific evidence. In an extraordinary news conference at the White House, the Republican president delivered medical advice to pregnant women and parents of young children, repeatedly telling them not to use or administer the painkiller and suggesting that common vaccines not be taken together or so early in a child’s life. The advice from Trump, who acknowledged he is not a doctor, goes against that of medical societies.
CHINA
Fireworks prompt outcry
The Canadian outdoor brand Arc’teryx has issued an apology after a promotional fireworks display in the Tibetan Plateau led to an outcry over potential environmental damage. The Rising Dragon high-altitude show involved long stretches of pyrotechnics and colored smoke along snow-topped Himalayan ridgelines in the Tibetan region of Shigatse. The organizers said the display used biodegradable, environmentally friendly materials, but videos of the display posted online by the brand were met with a barrage of criticism. “Imagine selling US$800 jackets for mountain lovers, then nuking the mountains,” one commenter wrote on Instagram.
Young Chinese, many who fear age discrimination in their workplace after turning 35, are increasingly starting “one-person companies” that have artificial intelligence (AI) do most of the work. Smaller start-ups are already in vogue in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with rapidly advancing AI tools seen as a welcome teammate even as they threaten layoffs at existing firms. More young people in China are subscribing to the model, as cities pledge millions of dollars in funding and rent subsidies for such ventures, in alignment with Beijing’s political goal of “technological self-reliance.” “The one-person company is a product of the AI era,” said Karen Dai
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
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