SOUTH KOREA
‘Victory’ banner offends
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Russian embassy in Seoul to take down a large banner reading “Victory will be ours,” ahead of the fourth anniversary this week of the start of the war in Ukraine. The ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it had conveyed its concerns to the embassy without clarifying whether it had received a response. As of yesterday, the roughly 15m banner remained in place. In its statement, the ministry reiterated Seoul’s position that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illegal. It also said that military cooperation between Russia and North Korea should stop, describing it as a grave threat to South Korea’s security and a violation of the UN Charter and UN Security Council resolutions.
MALAYSIA
PM term limits mulled
The government yesterday introduced new legislation to restrict the prime minister’s tenure to a maximum of two terms, a move aimed at boosting accountability and curbing the overreach of executive powers. Former leader Mahathir Mohamad held office for 24 years across two stints — from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim last month announced a push for a two-term limit amid renewed calls for him to tackle corruption and improve governance. Anwar last week said that if the law is implemented, it would apply to him first. He added that a 10-year period was sufficient for those in office to carry out their responsibilities effectively. The proposed change requires approval from at least two-thirds of lawmakers, or 148 out of the 222 seats in the lower house, to pass. Currently, there is no formal constitutional limit on how long a prime minister may serve, provided the individual commands majority support in parliament.
VENEZUELA
Hundreds on hunger strike
More than 200 political prisoners have launched a hunger strike to demand their release, family members said on Sunday, after a new mass amnesty law was enacted following the ouster of former president Nicolas Maduro. The strike began on Friday night at the Rodeo I prison on the outskirts of Caracas, with the inmates complaining the law excludes many of them because they are accused of terrorism. “Approximately 214 people in total, including Venezuelans and foreigners, are on hunger strike,” said Yalitza Garcia, mother-in-law of a prisoner named Nahuel Agustin Gallo, an Argentine police officer accused of terrorism. Not all the inmates at the prison are joining the hunger strike, the relatives said. More than 1,500 political prisoners have applied for amnesty under the new law, the head of the legislature said on Saturday. Opposition figures have criticized the new legislation, which appears to include carve-outs for some offenses previously used by authorities to target Maduro’s political opponents.
NEPAL
Bus crash kills 19 people
A packed bus on its way to Kathmandu drove off a mountain highway early yesterday, killing 19 people, including a British national, and leaving another 25 wounded. There were dozens of people on board the bus, which was heading from the resort city of Pokhara to Kathmandu when it drove off the Prithvi highway after midnight, police said. The bus rolled down a mountain slope and landed on the banks of Trishuli river near Benighat, about 80km west of the capital. Among those who died was a 24-year-old British national, a statement from the Dhading district police office said. Only nine bodies have been identified.
The injured included a Chinese national, who is being treated at the National Trauma Center in Kathmandu, and a 27-year-old woman from New Zealand who received minor injuries and was being treated at a local hospital. China’s Xinhua news agency, citing the Chinese embassy in Nepal, reported earlier that one other Chinese national was missing. Rescuers reached the accident site soon after the accident, and the injured were pulled out of the wreckage and driven to hospitals for treatment, government administrator Mohan Prasad Neupane said. Police are investigating the cause of the accident.
FEROCIOUS FISH-EATER Scientists have found a new species of dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period, a ‘hell heron’ that stalked the rivers, deep in the Saharan desert At a remote Sahara desert site in Niger, scientists have unearthed fossils of a new species of Spinosaurus, among the biggest of the meat-eating dinosaurs, notable for its large blade-shaped head crest and jaws bearing interlocking teeth for snaring fish. It prowled a forested inland environment and strode into rivers to catch sizable fish like a modern-day wading bird — a “hell heron,” as one of the researchers put it, considering it was about 12 meters long and weighed 5-7 tons. The dinosaur presented a striking profile on the Cretaceous Period landscape of Africa some 95 million years ago as it hunted
‘COST OF DEFECTION’: Duterte’s announcement could be an effort to keep allies in line with the promise of a return to power amid political uncertainty, an analyst said Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte yesterday announced she would run for president of the Southeast Asian nation of 116 million in 2028. Duterte, who is embroiled in a bitter feud with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, was impeached last year only to see the country’s Supreme Court throw the case out over procedural issues. Her announcement comes just days before her father, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, begins a pretrial hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands over crimes against humanity allegedly committed as part of a brutal crackdown on drugs. “I offer my life, my strength and my future
NOT YET THERE: While the show was impressive, it failed to demonstrate their ability to move in unstructured environments, such as a factory floor, an expert said Dancing humanoid robots on Monday took center stage during the annual China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched official television broadcast. They lunged and backflipped (landing on their knees), they spun around and jumped. Not one fell over. The display was impressive, but if robots can now dance and perform martial arts, what else can they do? Experts have mixed opinions, with some saying the robots had limitations and that the display should be viewed through a lens of state propaganda. Developed by several Chinese robotics firms, the robots performed a range of intricate stunts, including martial arts, comedy sketches and choreographed
DRUG WAR: The former president said there was no campaign to kill addicts, but his speeches called for violence and told police to use lethal force if necessary Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte earned global infamy for the deadly drug crackdown that led to his arrest over crimes against humanity charges, despite his huge popularity at home. A profane-lipped populist and self-professed killer, Duterte’s anti-crime campaign resulted in the deaths of thousands of alleged dealers and addicts. Rights groups said many of those killed were poor men, often without any proof they were linked to drugs. Yet, while drawing condemnation abroad, tens of millions of Filipinos backed his swift brand of justice — even as he joked about rape in his rambling speeches, locked up his critics and failed to
RSS