CAMBODIA
Opposition figure jailed
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday jailed a senior opposition figure for three years over a social media post discussing the disputed history of the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. Thach Setha, a vice president of the opposition Candlelight Party, in January posted a video on Facebook discussing the politically sensitive history of Jan. 7, but his critical comments drew the ire of authorities accusing him of incitement ahead of the July election. The court found Thach Setha guilty of two incitement charges. He was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a US$1,000 fine, said his lawyer, Sam Sokong. The case can be appealed. In January, Thach Setha was also arrested for allegedly issuing bad checks and received an 18-month jail sentence last month. Government critics say that case was politically motivated, because he was taken into custody ahead of the national election which the ruling party won by a landslide.
UGANDA
Shooters kill tourists, guide
Gunmen killed three people, including two foreigners, in Queen Elizabeth National Park, police said on Tuesday, blaming the attack on a militia group. The trio were driving through the park when they came under attack from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group, which has ties to the Islamic State, police spokesman Fred Enanga said on social media platform X. “The three were killed, and their safari vehicle burnt,” Enanga said. “Our joint forces responded immediately upon receiving the information and are aggressively pursuing the suspected ADF rebels,” he said. Uganda’s wildlife authority identified the victims as a British citizen, a South African and their Ugandan guide. “We urge the public to remain patient and allow the investigative process to run its course,” it said in a statement, adding that all parks would remained open.
BRAZIL
Charge Bolsonaro: court
A congressional committee on Tuesday found that former president Jair Bolsonaro should face charges of an attempted coup for his supporters’ invasion of the presidential palace, Supreme Court and legislative headquarters in January. The committee investigating the Jan. 8 riots in the capital, Brasilia, wrapped up nearly five months of drama-filled hearings with a final report recommending that prosecutors also charge the far-right former president with attempting to overthrow the rule of law, political violence and criminal conspiracy. The report does not legally bind the prosecutor general’s office to act, but it is the latest in a raft of legal woes for Bolsonaro, 68, who is already under investigation for allegations of corruption and abuse of office.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
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