CAMBODIA
Ex-PM returns to spotlight
Officials yesterday voted in a Senate election, setting the stage for former prime minister Hun Sen to officially return to politics after he stepped down last year. Following nearly four decades of rule, Hun Sen handed power to his eldest son, Hun Manet. The 71-year-old lawmaker and chief of the ruling party cast his ballot near his home in Takhmao yesterday morning for a seat in the Senate. He has said that he intends to become president of the Senate, allowing him to act as head of state when the king is overseas.
ARGENTINA
Provinces to withhold oil
The country’s main oil-producing provinces have threatened to cut supplies to the rest of the country over funding reductions ordered by President Javier Milei. “Not a drop of oil will come out on Wednesday if they don’t respect the provinces once and for all and take their foot off our back,” Chubut Governor Ignacio Torres told television channel C5N on Saturday. He and counterparts from five other Patagonian provinces on Friday announced that “if the Economy Ministry does not deliver its [financial] resources to Chubut, then Chubut will not deliver its oil and gas.”
FRANCE
Macron heckled at farm fair
President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday spent the entire day at the annual agricultural fair, as angry farmers heckled him and scuffled with police. Riot police kept the protesters at a safe distance as Macron toured the fair, but as he entered the livestock area in the morning, hundreds of protesters crashed the gates and clashed with police. In the ensuing confusion, the fair was repeatedly closed and then reopened to the public. In a separate incident, farmers poured manure on the stand of dairy giant Lactalis, which they accuse of not paying enough for its milk. Macron finally left at about 9pm — 13 hours after he arrived.
CARIBBEAN
US couple missing
Police are investigating the possible murder of two people believed to be US citizens who owned a catamaran that was hijacked by three fugitives in waters off Grenada. The yacht’s alleged owners, Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry, were last seen on Feb. 18, when three men escaped from the custody of Grenadian authorities. Police in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines captured the men on Wednesday. The Royal Grenada Police Force said in a statement on Friday that preliminary information suggests the escaped prisoners had traveled from Grenada to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on a yacht. Investigators are working on leads “that suggest that the two occupants of the yacht may have been killed in the process,” it said.
UNITED KINGDOM
WWII-era bomb detonated
A World War II-era bomb, the discovery of which prompted one of the largest peacetime evacuations in British history, has been detonated at sea, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday. The 500kg explosive was discovered on Tuesday in the backyard of a home in Plymouth, England. More than 10,000 residents were evacuated to ensure their safety as a military convoy transported the unexploded bomb through a densely populated residential area to a ferry slipway, from which it was taken out to sea. “I think it is fair to say that the last few days will go down in history for Plymouth,” Plymouth City Council leader Tudor Evans said. The city, home to major naval bases for centuries, was one of the most heavily bombed in the UK during WWII.
‘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
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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