PHILIPPINES
President drops holiday
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr dropped a public holiday marking the anniversary of a revolution that ousted his father as president, an official document showed yesterday. A military-backed “People Power” revolt in February 1986 ended the rule of Ferdinand Marcos Sr and forced the family into exile in Hawaii. Feb. 25 was declared a “special national holiday” in 2000 by then-president Joseph Estrada. Rights advocates typically hold rallies on the day to commemorate the restoration of democracy. A presidential proclamation declaring holidays for next year makes no mention of the anniversary. Rights group Karapatan said that the removal of the holiday showed the administration’s contempt for “meaningful social actions that pursue justice, truth and accountability.”
UNITED STATES
Senator linked to Egypt
Senator Bob Menendez on Thursday was accused of conspiring to act as an agent of the Egyptian government in a new indictment. The superseding indictment, filed in Manhattan federal court, accuses Menendez of contravening the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people to register with Washington if they act as “an agent of a foreign principal.” As a member of Congress, Menendez is prohibited from being an agent of a foreign government.
UNITED NATIONS
Torture tools ban urged
A top UN expert on Thursday urged law enforcement agencies around the world to ban 20 “modern-day torture tools,” such as spiked batons, electric shock bands and caged beds. “They are as horrifying as the racks and thumbscrews favored by medieval torturers,” special rapporteur on torture Alice Edwards said at the UN. “They have no place in human rights-compliant law enforcement.” On the list of “inherently cruel, inhuman” tools compiled by Edwards were “spiked batons that literally just rip through the skin,” knuckle cuffs and finger cuffs with serrated edges, and electric shock bands worn by defendants in court. Other torture devices include “caged beds so people are literally constrained in those places,” Edwards said. “We’re talking about tiger chairs and metal chairs where people cannot move and are held in stress positions for hours while they are being interrogated,” she said.
HAITI
Border kept closed
The nation on Thursday declined to join the Dominican Republic in reopening a key commercial border crossing, leaving some trade at a standstill and prolonging a diplomatic crisis over the construction of a canal on its soil. Dominican President Luis Abinader had closed all borders, including the crossing at the Dominican city of Dajabon for nearly a month to protest the construction of the canal, which he says contravenes a treaty and would take water needed by Dominican farmers. Haiti says it has the right to build the canal. Abinader’s government partially reopened the borders on Wednesday, including the one at Dajabon, but allowed only limited trade and kept a ban on Haitians entering the Dominican Republic for work, school, tourism or medical issues. Haiti declined to follow suit at its gate in the nearby community of Ouanaminthe. President Moise Charles Pierre told reporters that the Dominican side needed to apologize and resume full border operations. “Abinader needs to respect the Haitian people and apologize publicly,” Pierre said.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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