UZBEKISTAN
Voters back term change
Voters in Uzbekistan have overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes in the Central Asian country that could allow President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to remain in power until 2040, preliminary results released yesterday showed. The elections commission said that about 90 percent of voters backed the reforms, with a turnout of about 85 percent in the former Soviet country where rights groups say the government’s authoritarian tendencies limit space for dissent. Mirziyoyev, 65, became president in 2016. He says the overhaul of the constitution would improve governance and quality of life in the country of 35 million people. The proposed changes would extend presidential terms from five to seven years, allowing him to serve two more terms.
JAPAN
Jack Ma to be a professor
Jack Ma, a cofounder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, is to be a visiting professor at Tokyo College, a research institute run by the prestigious University of Tokyo, the university said yesterday. Ma is to research sustainable agriculture and food production, it said in a statement. Ma, who also heads his own Jack Ma Foundation, a philanthropic organization, will “share his rich experience and pioneering knowledge on entrepreneurship, corporate management and innovation,” with students and faculty, it said. Chinese regulators singled out Alibaba for scrutiny in a recent crackdown on technology and Internet companies. That came after Ma had criticized China’s regulators and financial systems in a speech in Shanghai. Ma’s appointment began yesterday and runs through the end of October, the university said.
PHILIPPINES
China to talk fishing rights
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said China has agreed to discuss fishing rights in the South China Sea, as he pushed for a “direct communication line” with Beijing on maritime differences. China has agreed to “sit down” and talk about Filipinos’ fishing rights in the South China Sea, Marcos said, adding that he has asked the coast guard and Department of Foreign Affairs “to put together ... a map of these fishing grounds” that would be presented to Beijing. Speaking to reporters on board a plane to Washington, Marcos also said a Philippines-China “direct communication line” must be finally adopted, when asked about his thoughts on a recent maritime confrontation between the two countries. “The overall priority is to safeguard our maritime territory,” he said, in remarks issued by his office.
FIJI
Ex-attorney general charged
Former attorney general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has been charged with abuse of office, police said yesterday, in a fresh blow to former prime minister Frank Bainimarama who is due in court next week to face similar allegations. Sayed-Khaiyum faces a single charge relating to a report lodged by the acting supervisor of elections in February, police said in a statement. The former attorney general was to remain in custody overnight before appearing at the Suva Magistrate’s Court today. Sakeo Raikaci, chief of investigations and prosecutions, called for patience in the high-profile case of Sayed-Khaiyum, a key ally of Bainimarama who was voted out of office last year. “The complex nature of the reports determines the course of the investigations which have no pre-determined timeline,” Raikaci said in a statement. Bainimarama, 69, is due in court on Thursday next week, having pleaded not guilty to a charge of abuse of office.
ISRAEL
Teen dies in West Bank raid
Israeli forces fatally shot a Palestinian teenager in a raid yesterday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has been staging near-nightly raids in West Bank cities, towns and villages in what it says is an attempt to stamp out militancy. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year and 19 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time. The Palestinian ministry identified the teen as Jibril al-Laada, 17. It said three others were seriously wounded in the fighting, which took place in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near Jericho. The camp has been a frequent target of Israeli raids.
BRAZIL
Lula vows new wage policy
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday pledged to introduce a new policy of real increases in the minimum wage and announced plans to raise the income tax exemption for low-income earners. The remarks, made during a radio and TV broadcast ahead of Workers’ Day, reinforce Lula’s strategy of boosting workers’ disposable income to help spur economic growth. Lula said the government would present a bill to congress to make the annual minimum wage adjustment above inflation a permanent rule. He also said that the income tax exemption would increase gradually through the end of his term in 2026 for workers earning up to 5,000 reais (US$1,002) a month. Currently, workers who earn up to 1,903.98 reais per month do not pay income tax, which has not been updated since 2015. At present, workers earning above 4,664.68 reais per month are already subject to the highest income tax rate.
THAILAND
Paetongtarn gives birth
An opposition frontrunner in the upcoming general elections has given birth two weeks before the polling day, her party confirmed yesterday. The kingdom is entering the final stretch before the May 14 election with reformist groups, including Pheu Thai and Move Forward, surging ahead of establishment parties. Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is one of Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidates and has been polling strongly. A near-constant presence on the campaign trail, for the past week she has rallied virtually, appearing by video link at an event on Saturday in Si Sa Ket province. “She gave birth this morning,” Pheu Thai acting spokeswoman Rinthipond Varinvatchararoj said. It is unclear how long Paetongtarn will rest, she said, but Rinthipond was confident that she would be present at the party’s final rally in Bangkok on May 12.
AUSTRALIA
‘MasterChef’ host dies
MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo has died at the age of 46, his family said in a message yesterday. Zonfrillo, a Scottish-Australian father of four who was a judge on the popular TV cooking competition, was found dead by police in Melbourne in the early hours yesterday. “With completely shattered hearts and without knowing how we can possibly move through life without him, we are devastated to share that Jock passed away,” his family said in a statement on social media. “For those who crossed his path, became his mate, or were lucky enough to be his family, keep this proud Scot in your hearts when you have your next whisky.” No cause of death was given, but Victoria state police said the death was not being treated as suspicious. Police said they were preparing a report for the coroner.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
Cook Islands officials yesterday said they had discussed seabed minerals research with China as the small Pacific island mulls deep-sea mining of its waters. The self-governing country of 17,000 people — a former colony of close partner New Zealand — has licensed three companies to explore the seabed for nodules rich in metals such as nickel and cobalt, which are used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Despite issuing the five-year exploration licenses in 2022, the Cook Islands government said it would not decide whether to harvest the potato-sized nodules until it has assessed environmental and other impacts. Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
STEADFAST DART: The six-week exercise, which involves about 10,000 troops from nine nations, focuses on rapid deployment scenarios and multidomain operations NATO is testing its ability to rapidly deploy across eastern Europe — without direct US assistance — as Washington shifts its approach toward European defense and the war in Ukraine. The six-week Steadfast Dart 2025 exercises across Bulgaria, Romania and Greece are taking place as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches the three-year mark. They involve about 10,000 troops from nine nations and represent the largest NATO operation planned this year. The US absence from the exercises comes as European nations scramble to build greater military self-sufficiency over their concerns about the commitment of US President Donald Trump’s administration to common defense and
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