THAILAND
Court clears way for vote
The Constitutional Court yesterday rejected a request from the election-winning Move Forward Party to review a parliamentary decision that blocked its prime ministerial candidate from being renominated. The move all but kills off any hope of the party leading the next government and paves the way for the legislature to hold another vote on a prime minister as soon as this week. The court in its decision said it declined to accept the case because it was lodged by a group of more than 20 individuals that did not include Pita Limjaroenrat, the prime ministerial candidate. “Their rights were not violated and they did not have the rights to file the complaint,” it said of the petitioners, in what was a unanimous decision.
PAKISTAN
Japanese mountaineer dies
A Japanese mountaineer died and another was injured when rocks apparently hit them while they were trying to climb the never-scaled 5,800m Virgin Peak, a mountaineering official and the injured climber said on Tuesday. The climbers were on an expedition organized by a local tour operator in the Andaq Valley, Alpine Club of Pakistan secretary Karrar Haidri said. Shinji Tamura on Friday slipped and fell at an altitude of 5,380m, Haidri said. Semba Takayasu, the other climber, said their rappelling point was broken and they fell together, holding a double rope about 60m long. “Shinji was heavily hit” and had a big injury from what Takayasu said he thought was a rock. Takayasu managed to reach base camp to seek help, and Haidri said a search team was quickly sent to the area where Tamura slipped. A search for his body was called off on Monday and local authorities in the region confirmed Tamura’s death.
INDIA
Tomatoes on ‘vacation’
Burger King has scrapped tomatoes from its wraps and burgers in many Indian outlets after prices more than quadrupled, the latest symptom of surging food inflation that is hitting consumers hard across world’s most populous nation. “Even tomatoes need a vacation ... we are unable to add tomatoes to our food,” read notices posted at two Burger King India outlets. The chain has cited quality issues in explaining the shortfall. The burger chain, one of the nation’s biggest with nearly 400 outlets, joins many McDonald’s and Subway stores that have removed tomatoes from menus as food inflation this week hit its highest since January 2020. Rival Domino’s has tried bringing down prices to appeal to struggling consumers with a US$0.60 pizza — its cheapest in the world.
UNITED STATES
Musk’s X delays links
Social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, delayed access to links to content on the Reuters and New York Times Web sites, as well as rivals such as Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram, a Washington Post report said on Tuesday. Clicking a link on X to one of the affected Web sites resulted in a delay of about five seconds before the site loaded, the Post reported. By late Tuesday afternoon, X appeared to have eliminated the delay. When contacted for comment, X confirmed the delay was removed, but did not elaborate. Billionaire Elon Musk, who bought Twitter in October last year has previously lashed out at news organizations and journalists who have reported critically on his companies, which include Tesla and SpaceX.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
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