INDONESIA
PDIP backs Subianto
The nation’s largest political party on Wednesday said it would support president-elect Prabowo Subianto, but it was unclear whether it would formally join his coalition. If Prabowo, who is take over the presidency on Sunday, can reach a deal with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), there would be no opposition parties in parliament, an unprecedented situation since the nation began holding direct presidential elections in 2004. “We’re solid in supporting the incoming government as a way to build Indonesia’s future,” Puan Maharani, house speaker and a senior PDIP official, said on Wednesday, according to state media. It was unclear whether she meant the PDIP was joining the coalition.
Photo: AFP
BANGLADESH
Warrant issued for Hasina
A court yesterday ordered an arrest warrant for exiled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in August after she was toppled from power by a student-led revolution. “The court has ... ordered the arrest of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and to produce her in court on November 18,” International Crimes Tribunal chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told reporters.
NETHERLANDS
Ugandan plan mooted
The government is weighing a plan to send rejected African asylum seekers to Uganda, Minister of Trade and Development Reinette Klever said on Wednesday. Klever unveiled the idea during a visit to the east African country, but it was not immediately clear whether such a plan would be legal or feasible, or whether Uganda would be amenable to it. “We are open to any discussions,” Ugandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeje Odongo said in an interview with broadcaster NOS.
UNITED STATES
Constitution to be sold
A rare copy of the constitution printed 237 years ago was to be auctioned in North Carolina yesterday. Brunk Auctions was selling the copy — the only of its type thought to be in private hands. The copy was printed after the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the proposed framework of the nation’s government in 1787 and sent it to the Congress of the ineffective first government under the Articles of Confederation, requesting they send it to the states to be ratified. It is one of about 100 copies printed by the secretary of that congress. Just eight are known to still exist.
ARGENTINA
Singer Liam Payne dies
British singer Liam Payne, a former member of boy band One Direction, died on Wednesday after plunging from the third floor of a Buenos Aires hotel, police and emergency responders said. He was 31. It was not immediately clear if the fall was accidental. Payne had spoken publicly about struggles with alcohol and police said they responded to a report of “an aggressive man who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.” Payne appeared to have a fracture at the base of his skull from the fall of about 13m. British-Irish pop sensations One Direction emerged in 2010 when then-teenagers Payne, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik appeared on British television contest The X Factor. The band went on to release an album each year in time for the holiday shopping season and became one of the highest-grossing live acts in the world. In 2017, Payne had a son with his then-partner Cheryl Cole, a British singer and television personality.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
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