SINGAPORE
Woman to be hanged
The city-state is to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said yesterday, while urging that the executions be halted. A 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50g of heroin is to be hanged today at Changi Prison and a 45-year-old female convict, Saridewi Djamani, is to be sent to the gallows on Friday for trafficking about 30g of heroin, local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said. If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman to be executed since 2004. The two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions, the group said. “It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty International death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement. “There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.
BURKINA FASO
Over 40,000 near death
About 42,000 people are on the verge of starving to death in the northeast as Islamist militants lay siege to towns and villages, an International Rescue Committee (IRC) official said. About 800,000 people are trapped in the settlements, most notably in Djibo, which has largely been cut off from the outside world for more than a year, said Modou Diaw, regional vice president for the IRC in West Africa. In that town, which Diaw traveled to by helicopter this month, 360,000 people are sheltering, with 75 percent of those being refugees from elsewhere in the country. “People are already dying of hunger,” Diaw said in an interview. “If nothing is done, it can be much worse.” Djibo is one of the most stark examples of how rising insecurity, coupled with climate change, has left millions of people displaced and hungry across swathes of West Africa’s Sahel region. The 42,000 are classified as IPC 5, a technical term that refers to people suffering from famine.
SWEDEN
Thunberg fined, but defiant
Hours after being fined for disobeying police during an environmental protest at an oil facility last month, Greta Thunberg conce again attempted to block access to the facility and was removed by police. Earlier on Monday, Thunberg, 20, admitted to the facts, but denied guilt, saying the fight against the fossil fuel industry was a form of self-defense due to the existential and global threat of the climate crisis. “We cannot save the world by playing by the rules,” she told reportes after hearing the verdict, vowing she would “definitely not” back down. The court rejected her argument and fined her 2,500 kronor (about US$240). Thunberg and several Reclaim the Future youth activists were indicted for refusing a police order to disperse after blocking road access to an oil terminal in the city of Malmo on June 19.
THAILAND
PM vote postponed
The parliament yesterday canceled a vote to select a new prime minister tomorrow as a coalition of pro-democracy parties struggled to drum up enough parliamentary support to form a new government. It will set a new date later, House of Representatives Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said. The vote at a joint sitting of the two chambers was canceled after the Office of the Ombudsman challenged the legality of last week’s rejection of Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s renomination as a candidate.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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