Kamis, 25 Januari 2024

Japanese man sentenced to death for Kyoto Animation arson attack that killed 36 people - CNA

"I WENT TOO FAR"

Aoba, who was arrested near the scene, faced five charges including murder, attempted murder and arson, and prosecutors sought capital punishment in the high-profile trial.

His lawyers entered a plea of not guilty, saying he "did not have the capacity to distinguish between good and bad and to stop committing the crime due to a mental disorder".

But on Thursday, the judge ruled Aoba was "neither insane nor suffering diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime", NHK reported.

Inside the courtroom packed with family members of the victims, one person cried and covered their eyes as the judge spoke, the broadcaster reported.

Later the court handed down a sentence of capital punishment, local media reported.

"I didn't think so many people would die, and now I think I went too far," Aoba told the Kyoto District Court when the trial opened in September, reports said at the time.

Aoba had a "delusion" that the studio known by its fans as KyoAni stole his ideas, prosecutors said, a claim the company has denied.

Aoba suffered burns in the fire that covered 90 per cent of his body and he reportedly needed 12 operations.

He regained consciousness weeks later and was said to have sobbed with relief after undergoing a procedure that restored his ability to speak.

DEATH ROW

Japan is one of the few developed countries with capital punishment, typically meted out in murder cases with more than one victim, and polls show public support is high.

Criticism from rights groups though is rife, with inmates often informed of their imminent execution on the morning of the day they are to be hanged.

The last execution was in 2022 and, as of December, 107 people were on death row.

The highest-profile executions in recent years were in 2018, when Japan hanged 13 people – including the guru of a doomsday cult – responsible for the 1995 sarin attacks on Tokyo's subway.

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2024-01-25 06:13:00Z
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Rabu, 24 Januari 2024

Singaporean man arrested in Cambodia during drug raids; over 1.5 tonnes of drugs seized - CNA

SINGAPORE: A 59-year-old Singaporean man has been arrested in Cambodia for suspected drug trafficking after local authorities seized more than 1.5 tonnes of drugs during raids.

According to a Facebook post by Cambodia's Anti-Drug Department on Wednesday (Jan 24), the man was arrested with four other suspects on Monday. All five are foreigners.

The drug raids took place at three locations at 3.15am on Monday: A port in Stueng Hav District; a rented house in Sihanoukville, the capital of Preah Sihanouk province; and a residential address in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital.

The drugs, which include ketamine and methamphetamine, had been brought into Cambodia from Laos and were intended for trafficking to Taiwan, said the authority.

Two fishing boats, a car, a motorcycle and eight mobile phones were also seized.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Cambodia has become a major transit country for drug trafficking.

The country has seen a sharp increase in the number of illicit drug users, particularly users of amphetamine-type stimulants, UNODC said on its website.

CNA has contacted Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more information.

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2024-01-25 04:31:00Z
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UN Security Council session to meet on plane crash that killed 65 Ukrainian POWs - The Straits Times

WASHINGTON - The UN Security Council has agreed to meet on Jan 25 to discuss the crash of a Russian plane that Moscow says was carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia has called for an emergency United Nations Security Council session to discuss the crash.

Russia has accused Ukraine of deliberately shooting down the military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to the prisoner exchange in what it called a barbaric act of terrorism that had killed a total of 74 people.

The UN Security Council has agreed to meet on Jan 25 at 5pm (6am Singapore time on Jan 26).

Mr Lavrov called the downing of the aircraft on Jan 24 a “criminal” act by Ukraine and said Russia sought the session so the Ukrainians could explain how the plane went down.

“The Ukrainian prisoners of war were transported to the Belgorod region in order to conduct yet another swop that was agreed between Moscow and Kyiv,” he said.

“Instead of this, the Ukrainian side launched an air defence missile from the Kharkov region. It targeted the airplane and was a fatal strike.”

Ukraine did not directly confirm it had shot down the plane, nor that Ukrainian prisoners were on board.

But after a long pause, the Ukrainian military said it would continue to destroy Russian military transport aircraft it believed were carrying missiles with which to strike Ukraine.

Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said Ukraine had not been asked to ensure airspace security around Belgorod unlike previous swaps and had not been informed about what means of transport would be used and which routes.

“On this basis, we may be talking about planned and deliberate actions by Russia to destabilise the situation in Ukraine and weaken international support for our state,” GUR said in a statement on Telegram.

If the details are confirmed, it would be the deadliest incident of its kind inside Russia’s internationally recognised borders during the almost two-year-old war.

Ukraine’s intelligence agency confirmed a prisoner swap with Russia had been planned for Wednesday and said the captured Russian servicemen had been delivered to the agreed exchange point on time and were safe.

Video footage posted on Telegram by Baza, a channel linked to Russian security services, and verified by Reuters, showed a large aircraft falling to the ground near the village of Yablonovo in Belgorod region and exploding in a vast fireball.

Reuters could not immediately verify details of who was on board the downed plane, but Moscow and Kyiv have regularly swapped prisoners since Russia began what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian state media published a list of names of the 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers it said were on board, along with their dates of birth. The list could not be verified by Reuters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Jan 24 called for full clarity on the circumstances of the crash and accused Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war”.

“It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, the feelings of their loved ones and the emotions of our society,” he said in his nightly video broadcast. REUTERS

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2024-01-24 23:27:13Z
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Israel denies attack on UN refuge in Gaza that drew rebuke from Washington - CNA

"The compound is a clearly marked UN facility and its coordinates were shared with Israeli Authorities as we do for all our facilities. Once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war," Lazzarini posted.

In Washington, US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said: "We deplore today's attack on the UN's Khan Younis training centre."

"Civilians must be protected, and the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected, and humanitarian workers must be protected so that they can continue providing civilians with the life-saving humanitarian assistance that they need," Patel said.

Israel's military initially released a statement describing the wider Khan Younis area as a base of Hamas fighters and acknowledged that fighting was taking place near large numbers of civilians.

In a second statement sent following Washington's criticism, the military said an examination of its operational systems ruled out that its forces had struck the centre. It added that a thorough review was still underway to examine the possibility that the strike was a result of Hamas fire.

Since Israel's ground offensive began in late October, Washington has raised concerns and asked Israel for information about incidents, but has rarely been openly critical of a specific Israeli action.

Hours after the attack as night fell, UN staff were still unable to reach the area and all communications were shut down.

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2024-01-24 21:48:15Z
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Trump wins New Hampshire, but race also exposes chinks in his armour - The Straits Times

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Trump wins New Hampshire, but race also exposes chinks in his armour

Republican presidential hopeful and former US president Donald Trump at an election night party in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Jan 23. PHOTO: AFP

SALEM, New Hampshire – It might seem too soon to crown former United States president Donald Trump the official candidate of the Republican Party.

The primary season began just two weeks ago and only two states have held nominating contests in which fewer than half a million Americans participated.

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2024-01-24 13:52:21Z
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Thai court clears opposition figure Pita Limjaroenrat to return to Parliament - The Straits Times

Mr Pita Limjaroenrat had been suspended from Parliament since July 2023 pending this verdict. PHOTO: AFP

BANGKOK - Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled on Jan 24 that prominent Thai opposition figure Pita Limjaroenrat had not breached media shareholding rules, clearing the way for his return to Parliament six months after his suspension.

Mr Pita, 43, the former leader of the Move Forward Party (MFP), had been suspended from Parliament since July 2023 pending this verdict.

He had been blocked from assuming the premiership in Thailand despite his party winning the most seats in the May 2023 general election, largely due to opposition from senators appointed under military rule.

The case on Jan 24 pertains to Mr Pita’s holding of shares in ITV, a company which lost its broadcasting concession in 2007.

People owning media businesses are not allowed to run for Parliament.

Mr Pita, who inherited the shares from his late father, had argued that it was not an active media organisation.

The court concurred on Jan 24: “There’s no information indicating that ITV conducted media business since its media licence was suspended on March 7, 2007. So ITV was not conducting media business when (Mr Pita) registered to be an MP.”

After the verdict, Mr Pita posted a message on platform X, formerly known as Twitter: “Thank you everyone for your encouragement; we will continue with our work without waiting.”

He later told reporters: “I will go back to working in the Parliament as soon as I am allowed too.”

The ruling comes as a reprieve for the MFP.

The party had gone from election winner to the largest opposition party after the Pheu Thai Party, the runner-up in the polls, formed its own coalition government.

Chulalongkorn University political scientist Pandit Chanrochanakit saw the verdict as a turning point for Thailand to move along the path of political reconciliation, four years after the court-mandated dissolution of the progressive Future Forward Party sparked youth protests that snowballed into larger demands for reforms in Thailand’s conservative establishment.

“It could help them make peace with the youth movement,” he told The Straits Times on Jan 24.

The Constitutional Court had determined in 2020 that Future Forward had violated campaign funding rules.

Key party executives, including leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, were banned from politics for 10 years following the 2020 court decision.

Remaining members of Future Forward, including Mr Pita, went on to form the Move Forward Party.

The government then was headed by Mr Prayut Chan-o-cha, a former army chief who staged a military coup in 2014, ushering in junta rule in Thailand for the next five years.

“In the past, we have seen the use of the judicial branch to get rid of political opposition that challenges the authoritarian regime,” Dr Pandit said.

“Pita not only represents the voters who voted for him, he (also) represents people’s hopes for change.”

On Jan 31, the MFP will face another legal challenge.

The Constitutional Court is set to rule on whether the party’s bid to amend the lese majeste law amounts to an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy.

The controversial law, which critics argue could lead to political abuse, recently resulted in a man receiving a cumulative jail sentence of 50 years.

If found guilty, the MFP could be ordered to stop trying to change this law.

MFP supporters fear it could be used as a pretext to dissolve the party itself.

Mr Pita, currently acting as adviser of the MFP, has argued that political parties should disappear only when they cannot get popular support, rather than be disbanded through judicial intervention.

In an interview with ST in December 2023, he talked about the need to take a long-term view on the current challenges faced by his party and the progressive sections of Thai society.

“I felt like we might not win immediately, but we will win definitely, and we will win eventually,” he said then.

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2024-01-24 09:10:00Z
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Selasa, 23 Januari 2024

Trump closes in on Biden rematch after New Hampshire win - CNA

DIM OUTLOOK FOR HALEY

Trump won a crushing victory in the first Republican contest in Iowa last week, with Haley a distant third.

What was once a crowded field of 14 candidates then narrowed to a one-on-one matchup on Sunday after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out, following his second-place Iowa finish.

No Republican has ever won both opening contests and not ultimately secured the party's nomination.

Trump did little actual campaigning in New Hampshire. However, his message - a mixture of personal grievance and right-wing culture war firing his base - has delivered the kind of momentum that supporters believe will sweep him back into the White House.

"I think it's gonna be a wipeout for Biden. He's gone," said Luis Ferre, 72, who travelled from New York to be at Trump's election night party at a Nashua hotel.

Haley spent the week hammering the message, backed by polling, that most Americans do not want to see a Trump-Biden rematch. That, however, may not be enough to prevent the inevitable.

"Nikki Haley's supporters will surely feel that Tuesday night in New Hampshire was a reasonably good night. But once the relative shine of the Granite State result wears off... all but the most ardent Haley supporters will be looking through a glass darkly," said Aron Solomon, a political analyst for legal marketing agency Amplify.

GOOD NIGHT FOR BIDEN

Biden, meanwhile, won an unofficial Democratic primary in New Hampshire, giving him a symbolic boost.

The president marked the day by campaigning alongside Vice President Kamala Harris in Virginia at a rally for abortion rights.

With Trump touting his role in the ending of the constitutional right to abortion, Biden told an enthusiastic crowd that the Republican was "hell-bent" on further restrictions.

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2024-01-24 02:06:00Z
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