18/05/2025

WORLD 7 ON SUNDAY MAY 18, 2025

Thai tycoon surrenders over skyscraper collapse

Canberra slams Russian jailing of Australian fighter SYDNEY: Australia said yesterday it was “appalled” by a Russian-controlled court’s 13-year penal colony sentence for an Australian captured fighting for Ukraine. Oscar Jenkins, a 33-year-old from Melbourne, was convicted of being a “mercenary in an armed conflict” by the court in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied east Lugansk region, prosecutors said. The former biology teacher was ordered to serve his time in a “penal colony”. “The Australian government is appalled at the sham trial and 13-year sentence given to Australian man Oscar Jenkins,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said. The government has “made clear” to Moscow that Jenkins must be treated as a prisoner of war, as a serving member of the regular Ukraine army, she said. “Russia is obligated to treat him in accordance with international law, including humane treatment,” she said. Australia had “serious concerns” for Jenkins, she said, and was working with partners including Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross to press for his welfare and release. Russia and its eastern Ukrainian proxies consider foreigners travelling to fight in Ukraine as “mercenaries”. This enables them to prosecute the fighters criminally, rather than treating them as prisoners of war with protections and rights under the Geneva Convention. Prosecutors said on Friday that Jenkins “took part in combat operations against Russian military personnel between March and December 2024”. They posted a video showing Jenkins standing in a courtroom behind a glass cage, his hands behind his back and his expression despondent. Russian forces captured Jenkins in December. Australia said it was providing consular support to Jenkins’ family. Australia opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, condemning it as illegal and immoral. – AFP Enduring Kashmir ceasefire in the works ISLAMABAD: Britain is working with the US to ensure a ceasefire between India and Pakistan endures and “confidence-building measures” and dialogue take place, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said yesterday. “We will continue to work with the United States to ensure that we get an enduring ceasefire, to ensure that dialogue is happening and to work through with Pakistan and India how we can get to confidence and confidence-building measures between the two sides,” Lammy said here at the end of a two-day visit. The South Asian arch rivals agreed on May 10 to a ceasefire in attacks, which followed a deadly shooting of Hindu tourists that New Delhi blames on Islamabad. Pakistan denies involvement. Asked about India’s suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, potentially squeezing Pakistan’s water supply, Lammy said: “We urge all sides to meet treaty obligations.” Pakistan has said Britain and other countries, in addition to the United States, played a major role in de-escalating the fighting. Diplomats and analysts say the ceasefire remains fragile. – Reuters

BANGKOK: A Thai construction tycoon and 14 others surrendered to police on Friday over a building collapse that killed nearly a hundred workers during a powerful earthquake in March. The partially built 30-storey State Audit Office tower in Bangkok was the only building to collapse from tremors emanating from the powerful 7.7 magnitude quake in Myanmar. Rescue teams have recovered 92 bodies during a six week operation from the collapsed site. Four were still missing. Premchai Karnasuta, president of Italian Thai Development, and the 14 other suspects were affiliated with companies responsible for building design and construction, said Metropolitan Police Bureau deputy commissioner Noppasin Poonsawat. They have been accused of negligence and breaching construction regulations. Magnate faces up to 10 years in prison

faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 baht (RM25,772). An investigation was still under way over the causes of the collapse, one of the country’s deadliest. Italian Thai Development has said it is cooperating with authorities. This is not the tycoon’s first legal tangle. Premchai was convicted and sentenced to more than three years in jail in 2021 for poaching protected species after he was caught by rangers at a campsite in a wildlife sanctuary with carcasses of protected animals, including a black Indochinese leopard. He was released early in 2023 as part of a group of inmates granted clemency for good behaviour. According to public filings with the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Premchai owns nearly 12% of ITD’s shares. Thai justice department investigators said on Friday they will examine cement plates used in the tower’s construction to gather further evidence for their case. – Reuters/AFP

“Expert assessments revealed that the architectural design did not comply with ministerial regulations or meet the technical standards outlined in the terms of reference,” Noppasin said. There were also irregularities in construction materials used, including substandard concrete and steel, he said, adding that investigators also discovered forged signatures in engineering documents. A watchdog organisation flagged days after the quake that corruption may have been involved in the building’s construction. Initial tests of materials gathered at the site in March indicated the presence of substandard steel among the wreckage structure, according to Industry Ministry officials. The 15 suspects have been brought to court for pre-trial proceedings and have denied all charges, Noppasin said, while two additional suspects would report to authorities tomorrow. If convicted, the 71-year-old magnate

EASY DOES IT ... A humanoid robot named Tiangong, made by Beijing Innovation Centre of Humanoid Robotics Co, moves an orange as a demonstration at its company, during a media tour to Beijing Robotics Industrial Park on Friday. – REUTERSPIC

US state attorneys oppose AI regulation ban SAN FRANCISCO: A mix of Democratic and Republican state attorneys on Friday called on Congress to reject a moratorium on regulating artificial intelligence included in President Donald Trump’s tax Bill. harms associated with AI,” the letter states. “This Bill will affect hundreds of laws passed and considered by Republican and Democratic state legislatures.”

mandates that all states abandon their leadership in this area as well.” “This Bill does not propose any regulatory scheme to replace or supplement the laws enacted or under consideration by the states, leaving Americans entirely unprotected from the potential harms of AI.” The letter notes that states have put in place laws designed to protect against AI-generated porn, deepfakes intended to mislead voters and spam calls or text messages. – AFP

The amendment added by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to the Budget Reconciliation Bill imposes a 10 year prohibition on states from enforcing any state regulation addressing AI or “automated decision-making systems”, according to the state attorneys. “The amendment added to the Bill abdicates federal leadership and

Top attorneys representing 40 states signed a letter urging leaders in Congress to reject the AI regulation moratorium language added to the Budget Reconciliation Bill. “The impact of such a broad moratorium would be sweeping and destructive of reasonable state efforts to prevent known