Thai court dismisses PM Srettha over cabinet appointment

Update Thai court dismisses PM Srettha over cabinet appointment
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin visits a food market in Bangkok on Aug. 14, 2024. Srettha denies wrongdoing in appointing to cabinet former Shinawatra lawyer Pichit Chuenban. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 14 August 2024
Follow

Thai court dismisses PM Srettha over cabinet appointment

Thai court dismisses PM Srettha over cabinet appointment
  • Real estate tycoon Srettha becomes the fourth Thai premier in 16 years to be removed by verdicts by the same court
  • Court rule Srettha violated the constitution by appointing a minister who did not meet ethical standards

BANGKOK: Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who served jail time, raising the spectre of more political upheaval and a reset of the governing alliance.

Real estate tycoon Srettha becomes the fourth Thai premier in 16 years to be removed by verdicts by the same court, after it ruled he violated the constitution by appointing a minister who did not meet ethical standards.

Srettha’s removal after less than a year in power means parliament must convene to choose a new premier, with the prospect of more uncertainty in a country dogged for two decades by coups and court rulings that have brought down multiple governments and political parties.

The same court last week dissolved the anti-establishment Move Forward Party, the hugely popular opposition, ruling its campaign to reform a law against insulting the crown risked undermining the constitutional monarchy. It regrouped on Friday under a new party.

Srettha’s Pheu Thai Party and its predecessors have borne the brunt of Thailand’s turmoil, with two of its governments removed by coups in a long-running grudge match between the party’s founders, the billionaire Shinawatra family, and their rivals in the conservative establishment and royalist military.

The decision could rock a fragile truce between political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra and his enemies among the conservative elite and military old guard, which enabled the tycoon’s return from 15 years of self-exile in 2023 and ally Srettha to become premier the same day.

Srettha had maintained his appointment of former Shinawatra lawyer Pichit Chuenban, who was briefly imprisoned for contempt of court in 2008 over an alleged attempt to bribe court staff, was above board. The bribery allegation was never proven and Pichit resigned in May.

Deputy premier Phumtham Wechayachai is expected to take over as caretaker prime minister.

RETURN OF THE SHINAWATRAS?

According to some political experts, it is likely Pheu Thai would still have the clout to lead the next administration, after a period of horse-trading and uncertainty over who will be in charge.

“The coalition remains united,” said Olarn Thinbangtieo, deputy dean of Burapha University’s Faculty of Political Science and Law.

“There may be some impact on confidence, but that would be in the short term.”

The next premier would need to have been nominated a prime ministerial candidate by their parties prior to the 2023 election, with Thaksin’s 37-year-old daughter and party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra among Pheu Thai’s options.

If successful, she would be Thailand’s third Shinawatra premier after Thaksin and her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Other potential candidates include Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga and Prawit Wongsuwan, an influential former army chief who was involved in the last two coups.

The court decision comes at a tricky time for an economy that Srettha struggled to jumpstart, with weak exports and consumer spending, sky-high household debt and more than a million small businesses unable to access loans.

The government has estimated growth of just 2.7 percent for 2024, lagging regional peers, while Thailand has been Asia’s worst-performing market this year with its main stock index down about 17 percent year-to-date.


China’s Wang warns US official over support to Philippines in sea dispute: state media

China’s Wang warns US official over support to Philippines in sea dispute: state media
Updated 55 min 45 sec ago
Follow

China’s Wang warns US official over support to Philippines in sea dispute: state media

China’s Wang warns US official over support to Philippines in sea dispute: state media
  • ‘The US must not use bilateral treaties as an excuse to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’

BEIJING: China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Wednesday warned visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan over supporting the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea, state media reported.

“The United States must not use bilateral treaties as an excuse to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor should it support or condone the Philippines’s actions of infringement,” Wang told Sullivan, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Sullivan landed in the Chinese capital on Tuesday for a three-day trip, saying on arrival he looked forward to “a very productive round of conversations” with foreign minister Wang.

Washington’s allies Japan and the Philippines have blamed China in the past week for raising regional tensions, with Tokyo accusing Beijing of violating its airspace and Manila calling it the “biggest disrupter” of peace in Southeast Asia.

According to CCTV, Wang emphasized to Sullivan that “China is firmly committed to safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights over the South China Sea islands.”

Sullivan and Wang have met five times over the past year-and-a-half — in Washington, Vienna, Malta and Bangkok, as well as alongside US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a November 2023 summit in California.


Sweden charges Qur’an burners with hate crime

Sweden charges Qur’an burners with hate crime
Updated 28 August 2024
Follow

Sweden charges Qur’an burners with hate crime

Sweden charges Qur’an burners with hate crime
  • Relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries were strained by the pair’s protests

STOCKHOLM: Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday charged two men with inciting ethnic hatred over several protests involving the burning of Qur’ans in 2023, which sparked widespread outrage in Muslim countries.
Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qur’ans at a slew of protests, and co-protester Salwan Najem were charged with “agitation against an ethnic group” on four occasions in the summer of 2023.
“Both men are prosecuted for having on these four occasions made statements and treated the Qur’an in a manner intended to express contempt for Muslims because of their faith,” senior prosecutor Anna Hankkio said in a statement.
According to the charge sheet, the duo desecrated the Qur’an, including burning it, while making derogatory remarks about Muslims — in one case outside a Stockholm mosque.
“In my opinion, the men’s statements and actions fall under the provisions on agitation against an ethnic or national group and it is important that this matter is tried in court,” the prosecutor added.
Relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries were strained by the pair’s protests.
Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
In August last year, Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo raised its threat level to four on a scale of five after the Qur’an burnings had made the country a “prioritized target.”
The Swedish government condemned the desecrations while noting the country’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.
Earlier this month, prosecutors charged Swedish-Danish right-wing activist Rasmus Paludan with the same crime over a 2022 protest in the southern city of Malmo, which also included burning the Qur’an.
In October 2023, a Swedish court convicted a man of inciting ethnic hatred with a 2020 Qur’an burning, the first time the country’s court system had tried the charge for desecrating Islam’s holy book.
Prosecutors have previously said that under Swedish law, the burning of a Qur’an can be seen as a critique of the book and the religion, and thus be protected under free speech.
However, depending on the context and statements made at the time, it can also be considered “agitation against an ethnic group.”


Two more crew members from Lynch’s yacht under investigation, source says

Two more crew members from Lynch’s yacht under investigation, source says
Updated 28 August 2024
Follow

Two more crew members from Lynch’s yacht under investigation, source says

Two more crew members from Lynch’s yacht under investigation, source says
  • Ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith are being investigated over the same crimes
  • The Bayesian is lying on its right side, at a depth of around 50 meters

PALERMO: Italian prosecutors are investigating two more crew members from British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s yacht, along with its captain, in connection with the vessel’s sinking over a week ago, a judicial source said on Wednesday.
Lynch and six other people were killed when the British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-meter-long (184-foot) yacht, capsized and went down on Aug. 19 within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm while anchored off northern Sicily.
On Monday, the boat’s 51-year-old captain James Cutfield, a New Zealander, was put under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck. Cutfield declined to respond to prosecutors during questioning on Tuesday.
Ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith are being investigated over the same crimes, the source said, adding that Parker Eaton is suspected of having failed to protect the yacht’s engine room and operating systems.
Griffith was on watch duty on the night of the incident, the source said.
Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.
The sinking has puzzled naval marine experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and, in any case, should not have sunk as quickly as it did.
Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation would take time, and would require the wreck to be salvaged from the sea. The Bayesian is lying on its right side, at a depth of around 50 meters (164 feet).


Poland says students arrested in Nigeria have been released

Poland says students arrested in Nigeria have been released
Updated 28 August 2024
Follow

Poland says students arrested in Nigeria have been released

Poland says students arrested in Nigeria have been released

WARSAW: A group of Polish students who were arrested in Nigeria have been released, the foreign ministry in Warsaw said on Wednesday.
Nigeria said earlier this month that it had arrested seven Polish nationals for raising Russian flags during anti-government protests in the northern state of Kano.
Following their arrest, a Polish foreign ministry spokesperson rejected the accusation that they were waving the flags and said they were merely in the vicinity of the protest.
“The Polish students have been released and are in Kano,” the Polish foreign ministry said in a post on social media platform X. “Thank you to everyone involved in the release of the Polish citizens!“
Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians had been protesting since Aug. 1 against President Bola Tinubu’s painful economic reforms that have seen a partial end to fuel and electricity subsidies, currency devaluation and inflation touching three-decade highs.
Some protesters waved Russian flags during protests in northern states, underscoring concerns about increased Russian activity in western Africa.


Kremlin, dismissing Zelensky’s talk of a peace plan, says Russia will keep fighting in Ukraine

Kremlin, dismissing Zelensky’s talk of a peace plan, says Russia will keep fighting in Ukraine
Updated 28 August 2024
Follow

Kremlin, dismissing Zelensky’s talk of a peace plan, says Russia will keep fighting in Ukraine

Kremlin, dismissing Zelensky’s talk of a peace plan, says Russia will keep fighting in Ukraine
  • Ukrainian president says he would present his plan to US President Joe Biden and his two potential successors

MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed talk by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about a plan he has to end the war and said Russia would continue what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Zelensky said on Tuesday he would present his plan — full details of which he did not publicly disclose — to US President Joe Biden and his two potential successors.

Zelensky, addressing a news conference, said Kyiv’s three-week-old incursion into Russia’s Kursk region was part of his plan, but that it also comprised other steps on the economic and diplomatic fronts.

The idea, said Zelensky — who is pressing Washington to allow his forces to use long-range US-supplied arms to strike deep inside Russia — was to force Moscow to end the war.

“This is not the first time that we have heard such statements from representatives of the Kyiv regime. We are aware of the nature of this Kyiv regime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about Zelensky’s plan.

“We are continuing our special military operation and will achieve all of our goals.”

Russia is currently engaged in repelling the Ukrainian incursion that began on Aug. 6, and is pressing ahead with its own offensive in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Peskov also said that Russia supported India’s view on the need for a peaceful settlement, but said it was “more than obvious” that there was no basis for talks right now.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that he backed an early, peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict, days after Modi held talks with Zelensky in Kyiv.