SINGAPORE
Lee to step down on May 15
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) is to relinquish his office on May 15 and hand the post to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), his office said yesterday. Lee, 72, is to formally advise the president to appoint Wong, who is currently deputy prime minister and finance minister, to succeed him, his office said in a brief statement. Wong, who has the unanimous support of People’s Action Party (PAP) lawmakers, is to be sworn in at the national palace later the same day, it said. Lee has served as prime minister and head of the PAP since August 2004. He announced in November last year that he would retire this year and has already named Wong as his designated successor.
PHILIPPINES
Marcos limits US access
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday said the US would not be given access to more Philippine military bases. “The answer to that is no. The Philippines has no plan to open or to establish more EDCA [Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement] bases,” Marcos said in response to a question at a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines. Manila last year announced the locations of four more military bases it is allowing the US military to use on top of the five agreed on under the 2014 EDCA. The deal allows US troops to rotate through and store defense equipment and supplies. The four additional bases include sites near the disputed South China Sea and another not far from Taiwan.
UNITED STATES
Girl killed in shooting
Eleven people standing outside a family gathering on Saturday night were shot, including a young girl who was killed in what Chicago police believe was gang-related violence on the city’s South Side. Four victims were children, police said on Sunday. An eight-year-old girl was fatally shot, while a one-year-old boy and an eight-year-old boy were each shot multiple times and listed in critical condition. A nine-year-old boy also was injured with a graze wound to his finger and hospitalized. The department’s Sunday statement updated the number of shooting victims to 11 from eight and gave new ages for the victims. As of Sunday, no one was in custody. “This was not a random act of violence. It was likely gang-related,” Department Deputy Chief Don Jerome told reporters. “The offenders’ actions, make no mistake, are horrific and unacceptable in our city.”
AUSTRALIA
Magpie, dog reunited
Authorities yesterday issued a license allowing a magpie called Molly to reunite with a pet dog, after sparking public outrage by keeping the unlikely friends apart. A Queensland couple’s pictures of the bird cozying up with their Staffordshire bull terrier Peggy drew an audience of hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram. However, the Gold Coast couple, who took the magpie in as a nestling in 2020, had to surrender the bird more than six weeks ago to the Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation. Under state law, magpies and other protected wildlife can only be cared for by people with a license to show they have the needed skills. The couple’s Instagram page was deluged with outraged reactions to the separation, and an online petition titled “Don’t Break Their 4-Year Bond” garnered more than 150,000 signatures. The department said it has issued a “specialized license” to the couple after they agreed to undergo wildlife carer training and make no commercial gain from the bird or its image. The bird was returned home, it said.
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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