ASIA
Record meth seizures: UN
A record 190 tonnes of methamphetamine was seized in East and Southeast Asia last year, as organized crime groups boosted production, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said yesterday in its annual report on synthetic drugs in the region. Drug trafficking has affected Southeast Asia for decades, with Shan state in Myanmar the leading source of synthetic drugs in the region. Much of it is produced in illegal labs in areas controlled by ethnic minority armed groups near the border with Thailand, a major transit route. The UN office said that drug gangs are changing their recipes to increase their output. “Organized crime groups are lowering the production costs and scaling up production by using non-controlled chemicals,” UNODC Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Masood Karimipour said in a statement. Greater production is enabling bigger shipments which are driving down prices, he said.
PERU
Boluarte accused of bribery
Attorney General Juan Carlos Villena on Monday accused President Dina Boluarte of accepting bribes in the form of Rolex watches. Villena “presented a constitutional complaint against Dina Boluarte as the suspected author of passive corruption,” his office wrote on X. The scandal erupted in March with the discovery of a trove of undeclared luxury Rolex watches and jewelry in the president’s possession. Boluarte last month told prosecutors the watches had been loaned by a friend, Ayacucho Governor Wilfredo Oscorima. She is being investigated on suspicion of “passive corruption” for receiving improper benefits from public officials. The attorney general’s accusation, presented to Congress, does not amount to an indictment, because the president has immunity while in power. A congressional committee must now debate the accusation before the whole chamber does so. Ultimately, it would be up to the courts to decide whether to put her on trial after her term ends in July 2026.
UNITED STATES
Slingshot ‘terror’ arrested
An 81-year-old man who investigators say terrorized a southern California neighborhood for years with a slingshot has been arrested, police said. While conducting an investigation, detectives “learned that during the course of 9-10 years, dozens of citizens were being victimized by a serial slingshot shooter,” the Azusa Police Department said in a statement. The man is suspected of breaking windows and car windshields, and of narrowly missing people with ball bearings shot from a slingshot, the statement said. No injuries were reported. The man was arrested on Thursday after officers served a search warrant and found a slingshot and ball bearings at his home in Azusa, police said.
AUSTRALIA
Naked runner arrested
A man accused of running naked down the aisle of a domestic flight, knocking down a flight attendant and forcing the plane to turn back, was arrested by police at the airport, officials said yesterday. The incident happened early in a Virgin Australia flight on Monday night from Perth to Melbourne. Flight VA696 returned to Perth airport due to a “disruptive passenger,” an airline statement said. Australian Federal Police officers were waiting for the plane and “the disruptive guest was offloaded,” Virgin said. “The man was transferred to hospital for assessment, where he remains,” a police statement said. Police expect to order the man by summons to appear in a Perth court on June 14.
‘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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