YEMEN
Council sacks PM
The nation’s internationally recognized presidential council on Monday sacked the prime minister in an unexpected move that comes at a time when a US-led coalition has been striking targets of the government’s rivals, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. A decree from the council appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak the new prime minister. Bin Mubarak, who is close to Saudi Arabia, replaced Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, who was the prime minister since 2018. The council did not give a reason behind the reshuffle.
UNITED STATES
Haley requests protection
Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley has requested secret service protection after receiving a growing number of threats during her presidential campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Haley told the paper while campaigning in South Carolina that she had made the request. “We’ve had multiple issues,” she said. “It’s not going to stop me from doing what I need to do.” Neither Haley’s campaign nor the Secret Service responded to requests for comment. President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump receive Secret Service protection. The Secret Service is also authorized to provide protection to major party presidential candidates. Haley is the last major challenger to Trump in the Republican primary race.
THAILAND
Thaksin charged with insult
Police have charged former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra with lese majeste over comments he made almost a decade ago, officials said yesterday. The nation has some of the world’s strictest royal defamation laws protecting King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family, with each charge bringing a potential 15-year prison sentence. Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, returned from self-exile in August last year and was immediately jailed on old graft and abuse-of-power charges. Prayuth Pecharakun, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, told reporters police filed lese majeste charges late last month against Thaksin, over comments he made in Seoul in 2015. Prosecutors will wait for police to complete their investigation before deciding whether to proceed with the case against Thaksin, Prayuth said, adding that Thaksin denies the charge and has written to the attorney general asking for fair treatment.
THAILAND
‘Elephant pants’ under eye
The government yesterday ordered its ports to keep a close watch out for rogue “elephant pants” being imported to the kingdom, as Bangkok trumpeted its copyright claim to the popular print. The thin cotton trousers have long been a staple of European backpackers traveling through Southeast Asia. In recent months, they have become an unexpected hit with young Thais, but a jumbo influx of cheap Chinese-made pants has sparked concern over foreign imports edging out local manufacturers, and caught officials’ attention. “We have ordered the surveillance of elephant pants in all ports,” Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters. Phumtham, who is also commerce minister, said the elephant design that stomps across the ubiquitous trousers was copyrighted. “If we allow foreign producers to produce it, it might impact the local Thai products,” he said, warning of the inferior quality of some imports. “Thai products are standardized. Some [imported] products are easily torn after using them a couple of times,” he said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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