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BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) – Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday suspended Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha from office while it considers a legal challenge that could see him thrown out months before an expected general election. The court agreed unanimously to hear a case brought by opposition parties who argue Prayut has reached the end of his eight-year term limit as prime minister. Judges also agreed by five votes to four to suspend Prayut from office until […]
AL-AGHAWAT, Iraq (AFP) – Younes Ajil turns on the tap in his home but nothing comes out: dozens of villages are without running water in drought-hit Iraq, surviving on sporadic tanker-truck deliveries and salty wells. For everything from drinking to bathing and washing dishes and clothes, Ajil and his eight children wait at their home in Al-Aghawat for trucked-in water from the Diwaniyah provincial authorities once or twice a week. In burning summer temperatures that […]
Jakarta, Indonesia | AFP | A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Indonesia late Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey, sending people fleeing their homes but with no casualties or damage immediately reported. The shallow quake occurred in the waters off the southwestern coast of Sumatra island, at around 9:30 pm (1430 GMT) — nearest to Bengkulu, South Sumatra and Lampung provinces. It sent people in South Sumatra and Bengkulu rushing from their […]
Bangkok, Thailand | AFP | by Rose TROUP BUCHANAN A legal showdown that could oust embattled Thai Prime Minister Prayut Cha-O-Cha reaches the country’s constitutional court this week, threatening fresh political turmoil for the kingdom just months before national elections. The former general has clung on to office through major anti-government protests in 2020, a bruising pandemic, a faltering economy and scores of political near-misses — but now the very constitution whose design he oversaw […]
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s highest court Tuesday upheld former prime minister Najib Razak’s 12-year jail sentence for corruption in the 1MDB financial scandal. “We find the appeal devoid of any merits. We find the conviction and sentence to be safe,” Chief Justice Maimun Tuan Mat said on behalf of a five-judge panel. “Based on the foregoing, it is our unanimous view that the evidence led during the trial points overwhelmingly to guilt on […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — A United States governor met Taiwan’s president Monday, days after Washington announced trade talks with Taipei in a show of support following China’s military threats toward the self-ruled island. Eric Holcomb, the Republican governor of the US state of Indiana, landed in Taiwan on Sunday for an “economic development trip”. US-China tensions have risen since Beijing staged huge military drills in retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – The United States and South Korea began their biggest combined military drills since 2018 on Monday, Seoul said — a move likely to enrage North Korea, which has been ramping up its nuclear threats. Washington is Seoul’s key security ally and stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect it from its nuclear-armed neighbour. The two countries have long carried out joint exercises, which they insist are purely defensive […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan is considering the deployment of more than 1,000 long-range cruise missiles to increase its ability to counter growing regional threats from China, local newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday. The country plans to upgrade its existing surface-to-ship missiles to extend their range from 100 kilometres (62 miles) to about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), which would be enough to reach Chinese coastal areas as well as North Korea, the newspaper […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Five Hong Kongers have been arrested for allegedly setting up job scams in which victims were lured to Southeast Asia and then held against their will, police announced Sunday. In recent months, victims have reported travelling to countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos on false promises of romance or high-paying jobs, and then being detained and forced to work. On Thursday, authorities set up a task force […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia has recorded its first case of monkeypox in a 27-year-old man who returned from travelling overseas, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday. The World Health Organization designated the outbreak of the virus an emergency last month — something it reserves for diseases of highest concern. Indonesian health ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said the patient had a “high awareness and knowledge of the disease”. “So when he got the […]
SHIMLA, India (AFP) — At least 15 people were killed in India after heavy monsoon rains triggered flash floods and landslides near the Himalayan foothills, authorities said Saturday. Flooding and landslides are common and cause widespread devastation during India’s treacherous monsoon season. Experts say climate change is increasing the number of extreme weather events around the world, with damming, deforestation and development projects in India exacerbating the human toll. Rescue officials were rushed to […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s military chief said Friday the junta is open to negotiations with ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end the crisis sparked by its coup after her trials in a junta-run court have concluded. Suu Kyi, 77, has been detained since the generals toppled her government in a coup on February 1 last year and plunged the Southeast Asian nation into chaos. She has been jailed for 17 years for […]
