Cambodian court jails union leader over border comments
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — A Cambodian court on Wednesday jailed outspoken union leader Rong Chhun for two years on incitement charges relating to comments about the country’s border, the latest legal case activists say is aimed at cracking down on opposition voices. Rong Chhun, the leader of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, was arrested […].....»»
Cambodian court jails union leader for two years over border comments
A Cambodian court on Wednesday jailed outspoken union leader Rong Chhun for two years on incitement charges relating to comments about the country's border, the latest legal case activists say is aimed at cracking down on opposition voices. .....»»
US Treasury seeking coalition against Hamas financing: official
Washington aims to build an international coalition to target the financing of Hamas, a top US Treasury official said Tuesday, as conflict rages on in the Middle East. The comments to AFP by Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo come after the United States unveiled fresh sanctions last week on Hamas members, operatives and financial facilitators. "Our goal is to build a coalition with countries both in the region but also around the world to go after their financing," Adeyemo said on the sidelines of an event in Washington. Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7, carrying out the deadliest attack since the country was created in 1948 and taking over 200 people hostage. In retaliation, Israel announced it would destroy Hamas and began a relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Thousands of civilians have been killed on both sides since the conflict began. Adeyemo said that during a trip to Europe later this week, he plans to meet with "allies and partners and talk about what we can do in a coordinated way to go after Hamas' financial network." While the United States has previously issued a number of sanctions against Hamas, which Washington has designated a terrorist group, Adeyemo said the organization has tried to find ways around the restrictions -- such as by using cryptocurrencies and new facilitators. On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron -- on a solidarity visit to Israel -- called for Hamas to be added to the targets of an international coalition against the Islamic State group. Without commenting on Macron's specific remarks, Adeyemo told AFP that "the strategy that was used to counteract the Islamic State and other terrorist groups is the one we have to use here." Brian Nelson, the Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, is also visiting Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week. He held a meeting with "a number of Gulf countries, where they talked about what they can do to increase their focus on terrorism as well," said Adeyemo. "We look forward to taking additional actions when it comes to sanctions and using some of our other tools against Hamas," Adeyemo added. The post US Treasury seeking coalition against Hamas financing: official appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Pentagon amps up posture in Mideast in response to ‘escalations’
The United States warned against any "escalation" in the Middle East in the wake of Israel's war with Hamas, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday, hours after the Pentagon moved to step up military readiness in the region. The United States has seen a "prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops" in the region, Austin said Sunday, adding that the US military was preparing for "the ability to respond." "If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation that we see, our advice is: don't," he told ABC News. "We maintain the right to defend ourselves and we won't hesitate to take the appropriate action," he added. His comments came hours after the Pentagon said it was upping readiness in the region in response to "recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces." Austin ordered the activation of air defense systems and notified additional forces that they may be deployed soon. Austin did not say how many US troops would be added to those already in the region. The Pentagon's moves came after what Austin had earlier described in a statement as "detailed discussions" with President Joe Biden. "These steps will bolster regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for US forces in the region, and assist in the defense of Israel," Austin said. The steps continued the Biden administration's response since Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip stormed Israel on October 7, taking more than 200 hostages and killing at least 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials. tensions rising Israel has since vowed to destroy Hamas, and says around 1,500 of the group's fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the area initially under attack. Austin said he had activated deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and additional Patriot battalions "throughout the region." "Finally, I have placed an additional number of forces on prepare-to-deploy orders as part of prudent contingency planning, to increase their readiness and ability to quickly respond as required," Austin said. Tensions are rising along Israel's northern border with Lebanon after the Israeli army traded fire with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah amid fears of a new front opening as Israel battles Hamas. In south Lebanon on Saturday, Hezbollah said four of its fighters were killed. Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said one of its fighters was also killed. Armed factions close to Iran have threatened to attack US interests in Iraq over Washington's support for Israel. Multiple Iraqi bases used by US-led coalition troops have been targeted in several attacks in recent days. Israel's military said Saturday it would intensify strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza ahead of a planned ground invasion. The military has pounded Gaza with relentless strikes in response to Hamas's 7 October attack. The bombing campaign has killed more than 4,650 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and reduced swaths of the densely populated territory to ruins. A first trickle of aid entered the Palestinian enclave from Egypt on Saturday, but the 20 trucks permitted to cross have been described as a "drop in the ocean" given the needs of 2.4 million residents. The post Pentagon amps up posture in Mideast in response to ‘escalations’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Israel to step up Gaza strikes: military spokesman
Israel is to step up its punishing strikes in Gaza to increase pressure on Hamas, a military spokesman told a press conference on Saturday. Since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, which left 1,400 dead, Israel has launched devastating air and ground bombardments of Gaza. The Hamas authorities say 4,385 people have died. Israel has also massed tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks along the Gaza border for a widely anticipated ground invasion. "We have to enter the next phase of the war in the best conditions, not according to what anyone tells us. From today, we are increasing the strikes and minimising the danger," military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari told a press conference. His comments came hours after the first international aid to reach Gaza since October 7 crossed the border from Egypt into the besieged Palestinian territory. In Israel, military commanders visited frontline units on Saturday. "Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there -- but we are also preparing for them," chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told one infantry brigade on a visit. The post Israel to step up Gaza strikes: military spokesman appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
PM wants Armenia to ratify ICC treaty
Armenia-Russia relations seemed on the brink of breakup Sunday as Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan lashed at Moscow for failing to help protect his countrymen against Azerbaijan’s military offensive in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. In nationally televised comments, Pashinyan, who is being blamed by Armenians for the deaths of separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, called the security guarantees of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization as “insufficient” and that Moscow failed to help Armenian defenders in the disputed territory. Azerbaijani troops defeated Armenian rebels in Nagorno-Karabakh last week and are now disarming the separatists under a truce brokered by Moscow on Friday and with Russian peacekeepers facilitating the demilitarization. Pashinyan added that Armenia should ratify the treaty which established the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war. No sympathy The first Red Cross aid convoy has crossed into the disputed Armenian enclave as Azerbaijan forces showed off Saturday part of the captured rebel arsenal: Sniper rifles, Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and four tanks painted with cross insignia. At Armenia’s Kornidzor border crossing, five kilometers from the Hakari bridge, the convoy’s route, dozens of angry Armenians await news of their relatives in Karabakh. The first group of Nagorno-Karabakh refugees entered Armenia on Sunday, an Agence France-Presse team at the border said. The group of a few dozen people were questioned by Azerbaijani border guards before entering the Armenian village of Kornidzor, where they were registered by Armenian officials. On the other side of the border in the Azerbaijani town of Beylagan, just outside the breakaway region, local civilians had no sympathy for their Armenian neighbors and were celebrating their government’s victory over the rebels. State television played patriotic music paying tribute to the nation and its army, and the roadside was lined with flags and portraits of dozens of local “martyrs,” fallen in the fighting during the previous 30 years. WITH AFP The post PM wants Armenia to ratify ICC treaty appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
N. Korea claims American soldier defected
The American soldier who crossed into North Korea during a tour at the demilitarized zone defected to escape “mistreatment and racial discrimination in the United States Army,” Pyongyang’s state media said Wednesday, its first official confirmation they were holding him. “Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army,” Korean Central News Agency said, referring to the North by its official name. King “came to be kept under control by soldiers of the Korean People’s Army” after he crossed the border, KCNA said. “He also expressed his willingness to seek refuge in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society,” KCNA said, adding that a government investigation was still ongoing. KCNA did not provide any details about King’s health or location, or about what they planned to do with him. The US has previously said that King crossed the border at the Joint Security Area in the DMZ separating the North and the South “willfully and without authorization.” Following a North Korean investigation, King “admitted that he illegally intruded,” KCNA reported. Just before they issued their comments on King, KCNA put out a statement criticizing discussion of Pyongyang’s rights record at the United Nations, describing America as “the anti-people empire of evils, totally depraved due to all sorts of social evils.” “Not content with conniving at and fostering racial discrimination, gun-related crimes, child maltreatment and forced labor rampant in its society, the US has imposed unethical human rights standards on other countries and fomented internal unrest and confusion,” the statement reads. King crossing the border comes as relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points ever, with diplomacy stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for increased weapons development, including of tactical nuclear warheads. WITH AFP The post N. Korea claims American soldier defected appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Russia strikes Odesa cathedral, Putin dismisses counteroffensive
Russia's latest strike on Odesa on Sunday killed two people and severely damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral, drawing a vow of retaliation from Ukraine's leader. The attack came as President Vladimir Putin met his Belarusian counterpart for talks in Russia and claimed Kyiv's counteroffensive had "failed". Russia has pounded the Ukrainian port city of Odesa since quitting the Black Sea grain deal last week. Locals watched in disbelief as the Transfiguration Cathedral -- originally built in 1794 under imperial Russian rule -- was hit. The biggest Orthodox church in Odesa lies within the UNESCO-protected historic city center. UNESCO condemned the "brazen" attack, which hit several sites in the World Heritage area, marking "an escalation of violence against (the) cultural heritage of Ukraine", according to UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay. Clergymen rescued icons from rubble inside the badly damaged shrine, which was demolished under Stalin in 1936 and rebuilt in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The culture ministry said it had so far identified damage to 29 monuments of important cultural heritage. The Ukrainian government condemned the cathedral strike as a "war crime", saying it had been "destroyed twice: by Stalin and Putin". President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed retaliation: "They will definitely feel this," he said. "We cannot allow people around the world to get used to terrorist attacks," Zelensky added in his evening speech late on Sunday. "The target of all these missiles is not just cities, villages or people. Their target is humanity and the foundations of our entire European culture." Icons pulled from rubble Images showed smashed mosaics on the cathedral floor as workers cleared the rubble. The outside of the building appeared intact. "There was a direct hit to the cathedral," said Father Myroslav, the assistant rector, adding that three altars were ruined. Icons were pulled out from under the rubble and the shrine was "very badly damaged inside", with "only the bell tower intact", he added. Clergymen said a security guard and a priest getting ready for a morning liturgy were inside during the attack but both survived. Russia blamed the cathedral damage on Ukrainian air defense. It said it had hit all its intended targets in the Odesa strike, claiming the sites were being used to prepare "terrorist acts" against Russia. But local people said Russia had hit residential areas. "We have ordinary residential buildings here, where people live," a woman who owns a beauty salon nearby, Tetiana, told AFP. "There are no military facilities here. Just simple beauty salons, a marine agency, a groomer. Nothing military here at all." Russia launched a wave of attacks on the Black Sea port this week, after exiting a deal between Moscow, Kyiv, Istanbul and the UN allowing the safe passage of cargo ships. Ukraine has vowed to find a way to continue exports from the ports and said Sunday repeated Russian strikes on Odesa this week were an attempt to "prevent and neutralise international efforts to restore the functioning of the "grain corridor." Putin meets Lukashenko As Odesa cleared rubble from the Russian strikes, Putin hosted his closest ally, Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, in his native city of Saint Petersburg -- their first meeting since Minsk helped end a revolt by Russia's Wagner force. Both leaders were dismissive of the Ukrainian counteroffensive to take back land captured by Russia. "There is no counteroffensive," Lukashenko said at the meeting, before being interrupted by Putin: "There is one, but it has failed." The Belarus strongman now hosts Wagner fighters on his territory, after brokering a deal that convinced its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to end a march on Moscow and exile himself to Belarus. "We are controlling what is happening (with Wagner)," he said, thanking Putin for vowing to defend Belarus should it be attacked. Wagner's presence in Belarus has rattled EU and NATO member Poland, which has strengthened its border. On Sunday, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said a new battalion of sappers would be formed in the country's northeast. Polish, US, British, Romanian and Croatian soldiers were training "shoulder to shoulder", he said, during a visit to the northeastern city of Augustow. The comments came two days after Putin said western Poland was a "gift" from Stalin at the end of World War II, when victorious allies decided on the contours of post-war Europe. Warsaw summoned the Russian ambassador over the remarks. Both Putin and Lukashenko also accused Warsaw of having territorial ambitions on Ukraine and Belarus. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded quickly on Twitter. "Putin's attempts to drive a wedge between Kyiv and Warsaw are as futile as his failing invasion of Ukraine," he wrote. "Unlike Russia, Poland and Ukraine have learned from history and will always stand united against Russian imperialism and disrespect for international law." Fighting in Ukraine continued Sunday, with Russia launching 17 cruise missiles and two ballistic missiles, according to the Ukraine army. The post Russia strikes Odesa cathedral, Putin dismisses counteroffensive appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
All aboard the Cambodian cafe train to nowhere
PHNOM PENH — Train travel has largely ground to a halt in Cambodia due to the coronavirus but railway fans can still get their fix aboard a stationary carriage converted into a hipster cafe. The country has more than 600 kilometers of track extending from its northern border with Thailand to the southern coast, but […] The post All aboard the Cambodian cafe train to nowhere appeared first on Cebu Daily News......»»
How BYD Transformed from Battery Maker to Electric Vehicle Leader, Surpassing Tesla
Chinese automaker BYD, backed by Warren Buffett, has overtaken Tesla to become the world’s top electric vehicle (EV) maker in the fourth quarter of 2023,.....»»
PLDT puts up new unit for data centers
Telco leader PLDT Inc. has formed a new unit under its technology arm, delegating it with the task of building and operating data centers......»»
Resumption of FTA talks seen to spur higher EU investments
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority expects investments from European companies to increase with the resumption of the Philippines – European Union free trade agreement negotiations......»»
UnionDigital Bank revenue grows to over P5 billion
UnionDigital Bank, the digital banking arm of Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines, saw its revenue grow to over P5 billion in 2023 mainly driven by higher deposits and loans......»»
NZ-EU FTA gains Royal Assent for 1 May entry to force
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand's ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. "I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union of our ratification of the New Zealand European Union Free Trade Agreement (NZ-EUFTA)......»»
SC allows UN expert to act as friend of the court in Maria Ressa s cyber libel plea
Irene Khan, United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion, has been allowed by the Supreme Court (SC) to sit as an "amicus curiae" to the court in the appeal for the cyber libel case of Rappler.com chief executive officer Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos......»»
Nexperia workers decry mass ‘lay-offs’, claim union-busting
The lay-offs are set to begin while Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations are underway. The post Nexperia workers decry mass ‘lay-offs’, claim union-busting appeared first on Bulatlat......»»
Just seven of 116 SUCs offer medicine programs — lawmaker
House Minority Leader Rep. Marcelino Libanan (4PS Partylist) said that Congress should allot more funding to support "highly advanced" SUCs in establishing their own medical schools to subsidize the schooling of aspiring doctors......»»
SB19 s Pablo leads Earth Hour in Manila
SB19 leader Pablo, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippine's new Earth Hour Music Ambassador, led the annual switch-off event in Manila City last weekend......»»
BIFF leader bugha sa engkwentro
BIFF leader bugha sa engkwentro.....»»
Teves gets 15 more days in Timor-Leste
The detention of expelled Negros Oriental congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. in East Timor has been extended by a local court for 15 days following a trial on March 23, Teves’ lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said......»»
Philippines-European Union FTA talks resume in H2
The Philippines and the European Union (EU) are looking to resume formal negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) in the early part of the second half of the year, according to the Department of Trade and Industry......»»