NEW ZEALAND
Whale rights proposed
The Maori king yesterday said that whales should be granted the same legal rights as people in a bid to protect them. Kiingi Tuheitia Potatau te Wherowhero VII said that marine mammals should be given inherent human rights, such as having a healthy environment, to allow the restoration of their populations. “The sound of our ancestors’ song has grown weaker and her habitat is under threat, which is why we must act now,” King Tuheitia said in a public statement.
THAILAND
Red Shirt detained
Red Shirt dissident Jakrapob Penkair yesterday returned to the kingdom after 15 years of self-imposed exile and was immediately detained by police, his lawyer said. Penkair was a government spokesman for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and then a prominent member of the Red Shirt movement that supported him after he was ousted by a coup in 2006. Facing multiple charges, Jakrapob fled in 2009 to live in self-imposed exile. He landed at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday morning and was immediately held by police. “He will enter the legal process, and we will see what we can do,” lawyer Chokchai Angkaew told reporters.
TOGO
Opposition calls for protests
Opposition leaders on Wednesday called for protests to stop the president from signing off on a new constitution that would scrap presidential elections. The constitution, which was passed by lawmakers earlier this week and awaits President Faure Gnassingbe’s final approval, grants parliament the power to choose the president, doing away with direct elections.
ECUADOR
Prison inmates riot
Authorities on Wednesday were working to quell a prison revolt in Guayaquil. The “internal revolt” was started by a group of inmates, the SNAI prisons service wrote on X, adding that authorities had regained control of more than 80 percent of the jail. Journalists heard gunshots coming from the prison, which is part of a vast penitentiary complex in southwestern Guayaquil.
COLOMBIA
Argentine envoys expelled
Bogota on Wednesday said that it had ordered the expulsion of Argentine diplomats after Argentine President Javier Milei called President Gustavo Petro a “terrorist” and “murderer.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited Milei’s “denigrating” remarks, which were made in an interview with CNN that had not been aired in full at the time. “The Argentine president’s comments have deteriorated the trust of our nation, in addition to offending the dignity of President Petro, who was democratically elected,” the ministry said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
Joe Lieberman dies
Former senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore and who almost became Republican John McCain’s running mate eight years later, has died, a statement issued by his family said. He was 82. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday due to complications from a fall, the statement said. Lieberman’s independent streak rankled many Democrats. “In an era of political carbon copies, Joe Lieberman was a singularity. One of one,” Senator Chris Murphy said. “He fought and won for what he believed was right and for the state he adored.”
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
U-TURN? Trami was moving northwest toward Vietnam yesterday, but high-pressure winds and other factors could force it to turn back toward the Philippines Tropical Storm Trami blew away from the northwestern Philippines yesterday, leaving at least 65 people dead in landslides and extensive flooding that forced authorities to scramble for more rescue boats to save thousands of terrified people, who were trapped, some on their roofs. However, the onslaught might not be over: State forecasters raised the rare possibility that the storm — the 11th and one of the deadliest to hit the Philippines this year — could make a U-turn next week as it is pushed back by high-pressure winds in the South China Sea. A Philippine provincial police chief yesterday said that 33
PROPAGANDA: The leaflets attacked the South Korean president and first lady with phrases such as: ‘It’s fortunate that President Yoon and his wife have no children’ North Korean propaganda leaflets apparently carried by balloons were found scattered on the streets of the South Korean capital, Seoul, yesterday, including some making personal attacks on the country’s president and first lady. The leaflets attacking South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee found in the capital appear to be the first instance of the North Korean government directly sending anti-South propaganda material across the border. They included graphic messages accusing the Yoon government of failures that had left his people living in despair, and describing the first couple as immoral and mentally unstable. The leaflets included photographs of the
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