Trump cases thrust Supreme Court into US election fray - CNA

WHAT'S NEXT FOR COLORADO CASE?

The Colorado Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, said Trump is "disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution".

Section Three of the 14th Amendment ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, bars anyone from holding public office if they engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" after once pledging to support and defend the Constitution.

The ruling, if it withstands Supreme Court review, would bar Trump from appearing on the ballot in the primary to be held in Colorado on Mar 5 to select the Republican Party's nominee for the November 2024 election.

Colorado's highest court issued a stay, or freeze, of its bombshell ruling until Jan 4 pending an expected appeal by Trump's lawyers to the Supreme Court.

Steven Schwinn, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Illinois Chicago, said he expects the Supreme Court to intervene in a case he described as "uncharted territory."

"The court needs to make a ruling so that Colorado and other states can decide whether they're going to list Donald Trump on the ballot or not," Schwinn said.

"The court's going to have to act quickly on this and I expect that it will act quickly on this," he said.

Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, noted that it is the first time that the 14th Amendment has been used to exclude a presidential candidate from the ballot.

Granting the Colorado case for review would force the Supreme Court to "step into the thorniest of political thickets," Muller wrote on the Election Law Blog.

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2023-12-20 21:24:44Z
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CNA Explains: Beijing vs Manila in the South China Sea - what's the endgame? - CNA

Each episode has been accompanied by a war of words. The Philippines has described China’s “unprovoked acts of coercion” as violating international law, damaging maritime assets and putting lives of Filipino crew at risk.

Beijing has said it’s applying “law enforcement activities” to deal with violations of "indisputable" Chinese sovereignty. This claim relies on what it calls "historic rights" to the South China Sea.

So does the South China Sea belong to China?

Depends on who you ask.

Back in 2009, China unveiled to the United Nations its “nine-dash” line laying claim to over 80 per cent of the South China Sea.

In addition to the Philippines, Southeast Asian countries Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also claim parts of the vast ocean, which serves as a crucial maritime route for over US$3 trillion in annual global trade, and as a key source of both fishing and gas reserves.

After a 2012 standoff between the Philippines and China in Scarborough Shoal, Manila took the matter to arbitration in The Hague the next year. 

The Philippines wants China to abide by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS, which sets a country's exclusive economic zone or EEZ at 200 nautical miles from a national landmass.

A historic 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling subsequently found that China’s claim had “no legal basis". Beijing squarely rejected this as “null and void”.

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2023-12-20 06:28:46Z
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Companies, including Ikea, warn of possible product shortages and delays due to Red Sea attacks - The Straits Times

STOCKHOLM – Global shipping rates rose sharply and companies scrambled to avoid disruption to shipments after attacks on vessels in the Red Sea stymied traffic through the key Suez Canal trade artery.

Recent attacks by Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militant group on vessels forced leading shipping companies such as Maersk to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

The attacks have stirred memories of 2021 when container ship Ever Given ran aground in the canal, blocking dozens of container ships for six days.

The current disruption has caused container shipping costs to rise sharply, but those rates are still far below peak pandemic levels.

Electrolux, the world’s largest appliance company, has set up a task force to find alternative routes or identify priority deliveries, while Inter Ikea has warned of potential product shortages.

As at Dec 19, the price to ship a container from China to the Mediterranean was US$2,413 (S$3,207), having surged 44 per cent in December because of the disruptions, after hitting a low of $1,371 earlier in 2023, said Mr Eytan Buchman, chief marketing officer at Freightos, a booking and payments platform for international freight.

However, that rate still falls far short of the pandemic era high in January 2022 of US$14,158, when shipments of goods were delayed by months due to lack of available container vessels.

With worldwide economic demand softening, particularly in China, ship owners have not been able to fill ships with containers.

Electrolux said late on Dec 18 that it expects any effect on deliveries will be limited.

The Swedish group has worked with shipping companies such as Maersk and CMA.

In a statement on Dec 19, global home furnishing brand Inter Ikea said it is looking at alternative transportation options to the canal, a key route for the budget furniture maker.

“The situation in the Suez Canal will result in delays and may cause availability constraints for certain Ikea products,” it said.

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2023-12-20 05:06:00Z
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Chinese rescuers brave freezing cold to find earthquake survivors - CNA

Earthquakes are common in provinces such as Gansu, lying on the northeastern boundary of the tectonically active Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. China's deadliest quake in recent decades was in 2008 when a magnitude-8.0 temblor struck Sichuan, killing nearly 70,000 people.

The freezing cold would not be the only concern weighing on rescuers and working groups assessing the situation.

The Gansu Provincial Seismological Bureau said through comprehensive analysis, strong aftershocks of magnitude 5 were still possible around the area in the coming days, based on the characteristics of the Monday quake, historical seismic activity and other factors.

The aftershocks will be closely tracked to issue early warnings, official news agency Xinhua cited the bureau's deputy director as saying.

By early Wednesday, there were two aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 and above, and eight magnitude 3.0 and above, China Earthquake Networks Center said.

The quake in Gansu's Jishishan county was logged at a depth of 10km, which experts consider shallow. Earthquakes with shallow focal points can easily cause considerable damage to the ground, Xinhua reported citing a senior engineer with the China Seismological Network Center.

Rice, flour and oil supply in Gansu's Jishishan were sufficient at stable market prices, state grain reserves and food processing institutions said, having organised warehouses to deliver emergency supplies to the quake-stricken area.

Within 50km of the epicentre on the side of neighbouring Qinghai province, the earthquake affected 22 towns and villages, but of that, two villages suffered the worst damage.

Qinghai's Minhe county earlier recorded 20 missing people from two villages, where a mudslide swept through half-burying many buildings in brown silt. Search and rescue operations and efforts to resettle residents continued as state media footage showed bulldozers removing thick mud.

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2023-12-20 04:00:56Z
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Govt bans Israeli-owned ships from docking in Malaysia - New Straits Times

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Govt bans Israeli-owned ships from docking in Malaysia  New Straits TimesView Full coverage on Google News
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2023-12-20 03:25:21Z
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Trump barred from Colorado ballot for role in attack on US Capitol - CNA

One of the dissenting justices, Carlos Samour, said in a lengthy opinion that a lawsuit is not a fair mechanism for determining Trump’s eligibility for the ballot because it deprives him of his right to due process, noting that a jury has not convicted him of insurrection.

“Even if we are convinced that a candidate committed horrible acts in the past - dare I say, engaged in insurrection - there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified from holding public office,” Samour said.

VICTORY FOR ADVOCACY GROUPS

The ruling applies only to the state's Mar 5 Republican primary, but its conclusion would likely also affect Trump’s status for the Nov 5 general election.

Nonpartisan US election forecasters view Colorado as safely Democratic, meaning that President Joe Biden will likely carry the state regardless of Trump's fate.

The case was brought by a group of Colorado voters, aided by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who argued that Trump should be disqualified for inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol in a failed attempt to obstruct the transfer of presidential power to Biden after the 2020 election.

CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement that the court’s decision is "not only historic and justified, but is necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country".

Trump's campaign has condemned 14th Amendment challenges as an attempt to deny millions of voters their preferred choice for president.

The decision is a victory for advocacy groups and anti-Trump voters who have mounted several similar legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War.

Courts have rejected several lawsuits seeking to keep Trump off the primary ballot in other states.

The decision reverses a ruling by a lower court judge who found Trump engaged in insurrection by inciting his supporters to violence, but, as president, Trump was not an “officer of the United States” who could be disqualified under the amendment.

A lawyer for Trump argued that the riot at the Capitol was not serious enough to qualify as an insurrection and that Trump’s remarks to his supporters in Washington that day were protected by his right to free speech.

The lawyer contended that courts do not have the authority to order Trump removed from the ballot.

Advocates have hoped to use the case to boost a wider disqualification effort and potentially put the issue before the US Supreme Court.

The US Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees.

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2023-12-20 00:55:00Z
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'Don't make use of us': Operators of children's shelters in Malaysia lament some parents who leave kids behind - CNA

Parents who intend to send a child to House of Love are first interviewed to determine if they are really incapable of caring for the kid, said Dr Pang.

“If I sense an attitude problem (with the parents), I will tell them straight away that I won’t take in the child,” he said.

Sometimes, he urges parents to take back their children earlier than expected if he sees signs that they actually have the means to raise their kids.

“I help the children, but they’re (the parents) not helping themselves. They go to nightclubs, they don’t save the money they earn. You can see it,” he told CNA.

In one case, Dr Pang instructed a mother to take back her 10-year-old daughter after the girl spent three years at House of Love as he saw that the mother had enough free time.

The daughter, now 16, has matured well, Dr Pang said. She helps her mother with the housework and is doing fine in her studies.

“Of course, we got the experience to see the parents’ attitude and intention. If the intention isn’t good, I wouldn’t allow the kid to go back,” he said.

This is also why Dr Pang is wary of easily rejecting applications to send kids to his home, fearing that the children would suffer if he insists on parental responsibility.

He estimated that he has rejected about 30 to 40 applications since House of Love started operations.

“If not because of protecting kids' rights, I would not have started this orphanage,” he added.

ORPHANAGES SEEING MORE KIDS

Ms Jennifer Arokiam, chairman of the Rainbow Children's Home in Ipoh, said she gets about four to five cases each year of parents trying to send their children to her home for reasons that are not justifiable.

“We don’t help them; we only help those who really need help with caring for their children. Like those who are needy, or those who cannot be cared for by any party, including grandparents,” she told CNA.

“Some come to us and merely say their child is naughty. We tell them this is not a home for naughty children. If I help everyone, I won’t have enough space.”

Ms Arokiam said her home currently has 20 girls, a 20 per cent increase since last year. The girls - aged four to 19 - mainly came from parents who separated or lost a spouse to prison or death.

When asked if these parents also have financial difficulties, Ms Arokiam said some of them have jobs but still send their child away.

“They don’t even help us and visit their children. Even when their children go to school, they don’t give us any (monetary) assistance even though they are working,” she said.

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2023-12-19 22:00:00Z
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