07/06/2025

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Thailand ready to counter Cambodian ‘violation’

MYANMAR DETAINS GIRL AS TERRORIST NAYPYITAW: Myanmar’s military has arrested a six-year-old as part of a group it labelled “terrorists” for the daytime killing of a retired military officer and diplomat last month, a junta-run newspaper reported yesterday. “Thirteen men and three women were arrested,“ the Global New Light of Myanmar reported. The child was identified as the daughter of the alleged assassin. Anti-junta insurgent group Golden Valley Warriors said they killed the retired general because of his continued support for military operations. – Reuters S’PORE EX-MINISTER FINISHES SENTENCE SINGAPORE: Former Singapore transport minister S. Iswaran has completed his sentence and is no longer in prison, local media reported. The Singapore Prison Service said yesterday he has completed his emplacement on the Home Detention Scheme, the Straits Times reported. He was sentenced on Oct 3, 2024 after pleading guilty to four charges of accepting valuable items as a public servant and one charge of obstruction of justice. – Bernama she done so, that would sadly have made no difference to the ultimate outcome,“ he said in his decision. “In those circumstances, I find the charge is not proved.” Gamble said she accepts how “deeply and tragically this incident impacted so many people and families”. “I realise those scars will remain for an extremely long time, likely forever,“ she said in a statement to the Australian national broadcaster ABC. “There are no words to describe how I have felt ever since that tragic incident took so much away from so many people and left nothing but heartbreak and emptiness in its place. “I never meant for something like this to happen. And I am just so sorry that it did.” Andrew Dodt, the father of one of the children who died in the incident, said he has been “broken for a long time”. “And I think I am going to be broken for a lot more,“ he said in a statement to ABC. – AFP use this result” for future missions, he said, describing a “strong will to move on, although we have to carefully analyse what happened”. Last year, Houston-based Intuitive Machines became the first private enterprise to reach the moon. Although its uncrewed lander touched down at an awkward angle, it managed to complete tests and transmit photos. In March, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, which was launched on the same SpaceX rocket as Resilience, aced its lunar landing attempt. – AFP

BR I E F S

o Military claims Phnom Penh boosting border enforcement

skirmish in an undemarcated border area on May 28, in which a Cambodian soldier was killed. Although the countries have a historic rivalry, their governments enjoy friendly ties, partly due to a close relationship between their former leaders, Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodia’s Hun Sen, whose daughter and son are now respectively prime ministers in their countries. The issue comes at a tricky time for the Pheu Thai Party-led administration as it battles to revive a flagging economy that could be hit by steep US tariffs while facing a challenge to its popularity after having paused a signature cash handout to tens of millions of people. The party of the billionaire Shinawatra family has a troubled history with the Thai military, which

toppled its governments in 2006 and 2014 coups. Deadly clashes between Cambodia and Thailand last erupted in 2011 over the Preah Vihear, a 900-year-old temple at the heart of a decades-long row that has stirred nationalist sentiment on both sides. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2013 ruled in favour of Cambodia, clarifying a 1962 decision to award it jurisdiction over the temple and saying part of the land around it was Cambodia’s and Thai troops must withdraw from the area. Cambodia said this week it is committed to peace and plans to resolve the issue by referring disputes over four parts of their border to the ICJ and has asked Thailand to cooperate. Thailand said it does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction. – Reuters

government just hours earlier, when it urged Cambodia to positively engage in dialogue via an existing mechanism between them. “The army is ready for a high-level military operation in case it is necessary to retaliate against a violation of sovereignty,” it said. “Operations of units at the border have been conducted carefully, calmly and based on an understanding of the situation to prevent losses on all sides, but we are ready to defend the country’s sovereignty to the fullest extent if the situation is called for.” Cambodia’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Thai military statement yesterday. The governments of the two countries had for days exchanged carefully worded statements committing to dialogue after a brief

BANGKOK: Thailand’s military said it is ready to launch a “high-level operation” to counter any violation of its sovereignty, in the strongest words yet in a border dispute with Cambodia that re-erupted with a deadly clash last week. It said in a statement on Thursday its intelligence gathering indicated that Cambodia has stepped up its military readiness at their border while diplomatic efforts are ongoing, describing that as “worrisome”. The statement was in sharp contrast with one from the

Woman cleared over deaths of children in ‘Bouncy Castle’ case

frequent access to space. On board the Resilience lander were several high-profile payloads, including Luxembourg-built micro-rover Tenacious, a water electrolyser to split molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, a food production experiment, a deep-space radiation probe and a small model home Moonhouse, designed by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg. “I take the fact that the second attempt failed to land seriously,“ CEO Takeshi Hakamada told reporters. “But the most important thing is to SYDNEY: An Australian woman whose“Bouncy Castle”inflatable was blown into the air by a freak wind event, killing six children, was found not guilty of failing to meet her health and safety duties yesterday. In December 2021, a gust of wind lifted the inflatable castle about 10m into the air while children were celebrating the end of their year at a primary school in Devonport, northern Tasmania. Six children died and three were seriously injured. Party equipment company Taz-Zorb owner Rosemary Gamble was charged with failing to comply with a workplace health and safety duty. She pleaded not guilty and yesterday the Devonport Magistrate’s Court dismissed the charges against her. Magistrate Robert Webster said the inflatable was lifted into the air by an “unprecedented weather system, namely a dust devil”. “Gamble could have done more or taken further steps. However, given the effects of the unforeseen and unforeseeable dust devil, had

MARITIME VIGILANCE ... Philippine marines standing guard during a routine patrol at West York Island, one of the islands occupied by the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea. – AFPPIC Japanese startup aborts moon mission after assumed crash-landing

TOKYO: Japan’s hopes of achieving its first soft touchdown on the moon by a private company were dashed yesterday when the mission was aborted after an assumed crash-landing, the startup said. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to make history as the third private firm, and first outside the United States, to achieve a controlled arrival on the lunar surface. But “based on the available data, it is assumed that the lander likely performed a hard landing”, it said. “It is unlikely that communication

with the lander will be restored”, so “it has been decided to conclude the mission”, ispace said in a statement. The failure comes two years after a prior mission ended in a crash. The company’s unmanned Resilience spacecraft began its final descent and “successfully fired its main engine as planned to begin deceleration”, said ispace yesterday. Mission control confirmed that the lander’s positioning was “nearly vertical” but contact was then lost, with the mood on a livestream from mission control turning sombre.

After contact was lost, announcers on the ispace livestream signed off with the message, “never quit the lunar quest”. Technical problems meant that “the lander was unable to decelerate sufficiently to reach the required speed for the planned lunar landing”, said ispace. To date, only five nations have achieved soft lunar landings, namely the Soviet Union, United States, China, India and most recently, Japan. Private companies are now joining the race, promising cheaper and more