CANADA
Trudeau, wife separate
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, on Wednesday announced that they are separating after 18 years of marriage. The two said in statements posted on Instagram that they made the decision after “many meaningful and difficult conversations.” A statement from the prime minister’s office said they both have signed a legal separation agreement. Trudeau, the 51-year-old scion of one of Canada’s most famous politicians, was sworn into office in 2015. Sophie Trudeau is a former model and TV host. The couple were married in 2005. They have three children: Xavier, 15, Ella-Grace, 14, and Hadrien, 9.
Bosnia
Genocide denial waning
The denial of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide by Serb officials and media in Bosnia and the Balkans has significantly waned over the past year, but is still present, a report said yesterday. Bosnian Serb forces captured the eastern town on July 11, 1995. They then killed about 8,000 Muslim men and boys, an act labeled genocide by two international courts. The genocide is mostly denied by leaders of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska, which, along with the Muslim-Croat Federation, makes up post-war Bosnia, notably its leader, Milorad Dodik. “There was no genocide in Srebrenica ... I say that with a clear conscience,” Dodik said in April. The Srebrenica memorial center said in an annual report that from May last year to May this year, there were 90 cases of denial in Bosnia and the region compared with almost 700 cases the previous 12 months. Since 2021, the denial of the Srebrenica genocide and other war crimes, as well as glorification of war criminals, is punishable by up to five years in jail. As a consequence the number of reported cases has dropped, the report said, although no one has yet been prosecuted.
AUSTRALIA
Cambodia to get artifacts
The National Gallery yesterday said it would return three sculptures to Cambodia after an investigation found they were likely to have been “illegally exported” from the country. The bronze sculptures from the 9th to 10th century were bought for US$1.5 million in 2011 by British art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was later “convincingly implicated in the illegal trade of antiquities,” the gallery said. Latchford died in 2020, a year after being charged with trafficking in stolen and looted Cambodian antiquities. Charges have also been laid posthumously related to works of art he sold, it said. The sculptures — Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Padmapani, Bodhisattva Vajrapani and Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Padmapani — are to remain on display at the museum while Cambodia prepares a new home for them.
THAILAND
PM vote postponed
House of Representatives Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha yesterday said that a parliamentary vote for the next prime minister that was scheduled for today would be postponed, prolonging a political deadlock since a May general election. Many voters in the May 14 vote rejected nearly a decade of rule by the military and a military-backed government, but the progressive party that won, Move Forward, has been blocked from taking power because of conservative opponents and a nominated upper house. Wan Noor told reporters that the vote could only be held after the Constitutional Court on Aug. 16 rules on a appeal by Move Forward against the thwarting of its bid to appoint a prime minister.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS