THAILAND
Dozens flee scam center
Thirty-nine foreigners have fled an online scam center in Myanmar across the border to Thailand, where officials are working to identify potential trafficking victims, police said yesterday. The group from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia and Russia crossed into Tak province, the police chief in the city of Mae Sot said. They had fled from Myawaddy just across the border, Colonel Pittayakorn Petcharat said. Sri Lanka’s embassy had asked Thai authorities for help after it was informed that 32 of its citizens were trapped in Myanmar, Petcharat said. Five Nepalis, one Malaysian and one Russian were also in the group that arrived in Thailand. AFP has contacted the embassies of the four countries for comment.
SOUTH KOREA
Opposition leader cleared
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was yesterday cleared of charges that he forced a witness to commit perjury, the Seoul Central District Court said. Lee thanked the court for “bringing back truth and justice” after the ruling as his supporters cheered. He had been accused of ordering a witness in a 2019 trial related to an election law violation to give false testimony. The leader of the Democratic Party still faces several other trials, including for bribery and other charges mostly tied to a US$1 billion property development scandal.
NEW ZEALAND
Stranded whales saved
More than 30 pilot whales stranded on a beach were on Sunday safely returned to the ocean after conservation workers and residents helped to refloat them by lifting them on sheets. Four of the pilot whales died, the Department of Conservation said. A team was yesterday monitoring Ruaaka Beach near the city of Whangarei to ensure there were no signs of the whales stranding again, the department said, praising as “incredible” the efforts made by hundreds of people to help save the foundering pod. “It’s amazing to witness the genuine care and compassion people have shown toward these magnificent animals,” department spokesman Joel Lauterbach said in a statement. “This response demonstrates the deep connection we all share with our marine environment.”
MALAYSIA
Swatch wins Pride suit
The Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday ordered the Ministry of the Interior to return dozens of watches seized in a crackdown on LGBTQ-themed Swatch timpieces last year, a federal counsel said. The 172 watches, worth about US$14,000, were seized in raids of Swatch stores across the nation in May last year. An official said the watches were taken because they bore the “LGBTQ” acronym and depicted the six colors globally synonymous with the rainbow Pride flag. The government subsequently banned the watches, warning that owners or sellers could face up to three years in prison. Swatch said the products “did not promote any sexual activity, but merely a fun and joyous expression of peace and love.”
JAPAN
Weasel steals shoes
Police thought a shoe thief was on the loose at a kindergarten in Fukuoka Prefecture until a security camera caught the furry culprit in action. A weasel with a tiny shoe in its mouth was spotted on the video footage after police installed three cameras in the school. “It’s great it turned out not to be a human being,” Deputy Police Chief Hiroaki Inada said on Sunday. Teachers and parents had feared it could be a disturbed person with a shoe fetish.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery could be hampered by threatened trade union strikes over reduced benefits for government employees in this year’s budget, the IMF said yesterday. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s maiden budget raised public sector salaries, but also made deep cuts to longstanding perks in a continuing effort to repair the island nation’s tattered finances. Sri Lanka’s main doctors’ union is considering a strike from today to protest against cuts to their allowances, while teachers are also considering stoppages. IMF senior mission chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said the budget was the “last big push” for the country’s austerity
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