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.
BEIJING FORUM: ‘So-called freedom of navigation advocated by certain countries outside the region challenges the norms of international relations,’ the minister said Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) yesterday denounced “hegemonic logic and acts of bullying” during remarks at a Beijing forum that were full of thinly veiled references to the US. Organizers said that about 1,800 representatives from 100 countries, including political, military and academic leaders, were in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum. The three-day event comes as China presents itself as a mediator of fraught global issues including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Addressing attendees at the opening ceremony, Dong warned of “new threats and challenges” now facing world peace. “While the themes of the times — peace and development —
Venezuela on Saturday organized a day of military training for civilians in response to the US deployment in the Caribbean, and amid new threats from US President Donald Trump. About a month ago, Washington deployed warships to international waters off Venezuela’s coast, backed by F-35 jets sent to Puerto Rico in what it calls an anti-drug and anti-terrorism operation. Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino Lopez has accused Washington of waging “undeclared war” in the Caribbean, after US strikes killed over a dozen alleged drug traffickers off his country’s coast. Caracas also accused the US of seeking regime change, and
BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS: A prosecutor said they considered the risk of Hak-ja Han tampering with evidence to be very high, which led them to seek the warrant South Korean prosecutors yesterday requested an arrest warrant for the leader of the Unification Church, Hak-ja Han, on allegations of bribery linked to the country’s former first lady and incitement to destroy evidence. The move came a day after the 82-year-old was questioned over her alleged role in bribing former first lady Kim Keon-hee and a lawmaker. Founded in 1954 by her late husband, Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church has long been the subject of controversy and criticism, with its teachings centered on Moon’s role as the “second coming” and its mass weddings. Followers are derisively referred to as “Moonies.” However, the church’s
Decked out with fake crystal chandeliers and velvet sofas, cosmetic surgery clinics in Afghanistan’s capital are a world away from the austerity of Taliban rule, where Botox, lip filler and hair transplants reign. Despite the Taliban authorities’ strict theocratic rule, and prevailing conservatism and poverty in Afghanistan, the 20 or so clinics in Kabul have flourished since the end of decades of war in the country. Foreign doctors, especially from Turkey, travel to Kabul to train Afghans, who equally undertake internships in Istanbul, while equipment is imported from Asia or Europe. In the waiting rooms, the clientele is often well-off and includes men
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