THAILAND
Court rules against party
The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled the biggest party in parliament had contravened the constitution in seeking to change a law against insulting the monarchy, in what could set a precedent for any future review of one of the world’s strictest lese majeste laws. The Move Forward Party won last year’s election on a progressive platform that included a once unthinkable proposal to amend the law, which carries penalties of up to 15 years in jail for each perceived insult of the crown. The court ordered the party to abandon that plan, which it said was tantamount to an attempt to “overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as a head of state.”
SOUTH KOREA
US pilot ejects before crash
A US Air Force pilot yesterday safely ejected from an F-16 jet that crashed into waters off the southwestern coast. The unidentified pilot was conscious and was transported to a medical facility for assessment, the US Eighth Fighter Wing said in a statement. It said it closely worked with US and South Korean mission partners to recover the pilot, who experienced an unspecified in-flight emergency and ejected before the plane crashed into the sea. The cause of the crash, which reportedly occurred in waters near the port city of Seosan, was being investigated.
CHINA
Couple executed for killings
The government yesterday executed a couple for throwing two young children out of the window of an apartment building, in a case that caused nationwide outrage. Zhang Bo (張波) and Ye Chengchen (葉誠塵) were previously found responsible for the fatal falls of the two-year-old girl and one-year-old boy from the 15th floor of a residential tower in Chongqing. Zhang, who was the father of the two children, had begun an affair with Ye, who was initially unaware he was married and had children. She then urged Zhang to kill his two children, which she “regarded as obstacles” to their getting married and a “burden on their future life together,” the Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement. In November 2020, Zhang threw his children out of the window of the apartment in the absence of their mother, with whom he had agreed to divorce.
AUSTRALIA
Sheep, cattle marooned
A ship carrying about 14,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle is marooned off the coast in sweltering heat after it was forced to abandon a trip through the Red Sea, causing an outcry from people concerned about the animals’ welfare. The vessel left on Jan. 5 for Israel, where it was to unload, but diverted from its course in the middle of last month due to the threat of attack by Yemen’s Houthi militia before being ordered home by the government. The animals are now in limbo and could be sent back to sea for a month-long journey to Israel around Africa, industry officials and the government said. Farm and exporter groups say the animals on board the MV Bahijah are in good health, but with temperatures close to 40°C, animal rights have criticized the situation. The ordeal shows that the live export trade is “rotten to its core,” lawmaker Josh Wilson said. “What is being contemplated is a 60-day voyage for 14,000 sheep on a stinking hot, and literally stinking, metal vessel,” he told 10 News. “It’s very hard to imagine that that is consistent with the animal welfare standards that Australians expect to be applied to Australian animals.”
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
COMFORT WOMEN CLASH: Japan has strongly rejected South Korean court rulings ordering the government to provide reparations to Korean victims of sexual slavery The Japanese government yesterday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after UN investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-finding and reparations for the victims. In its own response to UN human rights rapporteurs, South Korea called on Japan to “squarely face up to our painful history” and cited how Tokyo’s refusal to comply with court orders have denied the victims payment. The statements underscored how the two Asian US allies still hold key differences on the issue, even as they pause their on-and-off disputes over historical
CONSOLIDATION: The Indonesian president has used the moment to replace figures from former president Jokowi’s tenure with loyal allies In removing Indonesia’s finance minister and U-turning on protester demands, the leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is scrambling to restore public trust while seizing a chance to install loyalists after deadly riots last month, experts say. Demonstrations that were sparked by low wages, unemployment and anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks grew after footage spread of a paramilitary police vehicle running over a delivery motorcycle driver. The ensuing riots, which rights groups say left at least 10 dead and hundreds detained, were the biggest of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s term, and the ex-general is now calling on the public to restore their
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