SPAIN
Madrid backs Palestinians
Madrid is to recognize Palestinian statehood by July, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told journalists during a Middle East tour, according to several local media reports yesterday. State news agency EFE and newspapers El Pais and La Vanguardia cited Sanchez as making the informal remarks to the traveling press corps late on Monday in Amman. Reports quoted Sanchez as saying he expected events to unfold in the conflict ahead of the European Parliament elections in early June and highlighted ongoing debates at the UN. He expected Spain to extend recognition to the Palestinians by July, he said, adding that he believed there would soon be a “critical mass” within the EU to push several member states to adopt the same position, EFE reported.
PHILIPPINES
Schools shut over heat
Dozens of schools in Metro Manila yesterday suspended in-person classes due to dangerous levels of heat, education officials said. The nation’s heat index measures what a temperature feels like, taking into account humidity. The index was expected to reach the “danger” level of 42oC yesterday and 43oC today, the state weather forecaster said. The actual highest temperature forecast for Manila yesterday was 34oC. Primary and secondary schools in Quezon City, the most populous part of the metropolis, were ordered to shut while schools in other areas were given the option by local officials to shift to remote learning. Some schools shortened class hours to avoid the hottest part of the day. A heat index of 42oC to 51oC can cause “heat cramps and heat exhaustion” with heat stroke “probable with continued exposure,” the weather forecaster said in an advisory. Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are also possible at 33oC to 41oC, it said.
SINGAPORE
Money launderer jailed
The first person to plead guilty among 10 people arrested last year in the city-state’s record S$3 billion (US$2.2 billion) money laundering case was sentenced to 13 months in jail. Su Wenqiang (蘇文強), 32, pleaded guilty during a court hearing yesterday. His jail sentence is to be backdated to his arrest in August. Su faced 11 charges, including for forgery and laundering criminal proceeds through activities like buying multiple bottles of prized liquor and paying S$48,000 a month to rent a luxury condominium near the Orchard Road shopping belt. The prosecution proceeded with two charges.
UNITED STATES
Trump’s gag order expanded
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal case on Monday expanded the former president’s gag order after Trump assailed the judge’s daughter and made a false claim about her on social media last week. Judge Juan M. Merchan said his original gag order issued last Tuesday did not include members of his family, but Trump’s subsequent actions warranted including them. Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, is a Democratic political consultant. Prosecutors had urged Merchan to clarify or expand his gag order after Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Loren Merchan “makes money by working to ‘Get Trump,’” and wrongly accused her of posting a social media photo showing him behind bars. The trial, which involves allegations Trump falsified payment records in a scheme to cover up negative stories during his 2016 presidential campaign, is scheduled to begin on April 15. Trump denies wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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