04/10/2025

SATURDAY | OCT 4, 2025

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Killer of Cambodian ex-MP jailed for life

o Thai gunman confessed to

Lim Kimya was an MP in Cambodia from 2013 to 2017, when his party, the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, was banned by the country’s Supreme Court. His wife’s lawyers said he then withdrew from politics and returned to France. The Bangkok court yesterday also dismissed charges against a second defendant, Thai national Chakrit Buakhil, who was accused of driving Paenoi to the Cambodian border after the shooting. Chakrit’s lawyer Natchapong Moosakopas said he was “only a driver and did not know what was happening”. Certain Thai media outlets earlier reported that Paenoi was paid 60,000 baht (RM7,799) for the killing but police said he claimed he did not receive payment and took the job “to pay a debt of gratitude”. – AFP Vietnam typhoon deaths rise to 51 HANOI: The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Bualoi and the floods it triggered has risen to 51, according to a Friday government report, as the central bank urged banks to support affected businesses. Bualoi made landfall on Monday in northern central Vietnam, bringing huge sea swells, strong winds and heavy rains that also left 14 people missing and injured 164 others, according to a report from the government’s disaster management agency. The agency also raised its estimate of property damage caused by the typhoon and its flooding to 15.9 trillion dong (RM2.5 billion). The typhoon damaged roads, schools and offices, and caused power grid failures that left tens of thousands of families without electricity. More than 230,000 houses were damaged or inundated, and nearly 89,000 hectares of rice and other crops were destroyed. Deputy governor Pham Thanh Ha said on yesterday the central bank has told banks to consider restructuring or freezing loans for firms hit by the typhoon. – Reuters allow split families to communicate with each other and exchange letters from a humanitarian perspective. About 36,000 South Koreans separated from their families in the North have requested reunions, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. The last family reunions between the two Koreas were hosted in August 2018. In February, North Korea was seen dismantling a facility used for the family reunions, a signal of its strained ties with the South. – Reuters

Cambodia’s ruling party released a statement saying he was dismissed from the role in March 2024. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, who is the eldest son of Hun Sen, has denied any official involvement. The former premier led Cambodia for nearly four decades until 2023, and Western nations and human rights organisations have long accused his government of using the legal system to crush the opposition. Cambodian rights group Licadho operations director Am Sam Ath said the life sentence for the Thai gunman offered partial justice for the slain politician. “Since Lim Kimya is also a Cambodian, we want to see that Thai authorities and the Thai court conduct further investigations in order to render full justice for him. “We want to see an investigation into people involved (in the killing).”

the “reason for this crime and who ordered it”. Bergman said yesterday they knew there were additional suspects in Cambodia, and the Thai government “could help push the extradition process to bring them to justice”. The judge did not offer details about the killer’s motive or a possible mastermind behind the murder. Thai police said in January that they were also seeking to arrest a Cambodian national believed to be behind the killing. They identified two Cambodian suspects; Ly Ratanakrasksmey, accused of having recruited the gunman, and Pich Kimsrin, the alleged lookout who local media reported was on the bus alongside the victim and his wife. Days after the killing, following media reports that Ratanakrasksmey was a former adviser to Hun Sen,

of who was behind it. Paenoi faced a potential death sentence for premeditated murder, but a judge said on Friday that the Bangkok court reduced his sentence to life imprisonment since he confessed. He was arrested in neighbouring Cambodia a day after the shooting, and admitted to committing the murder in a livestream video. The trial began three days ago with an examination of witnesses, including Lim Kimya’s widow, Anne-Marie Lim. “Anne-Marie is probably satisfied with today’s verdict, but she is still questioning who ordered the crime,” her lawyer Nadhthasiri Bergman told reporters outside the court yesterday. “She wants authorities to get to the bottom of it.” Anne-Marie, who is also French, attended the opening of the trial on Tuesday and said she wanted to know

Indonesia building floating solar plant JAKARTA: Indonesian state utility firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said yesterday it has started constructing a 92-megawatt-peak floating solar power plant in the West Java province as part of the country’s renewable energy drive. Indonesia plans to add 42.6 gigawatts of renewable energy, almost 61% of the additional power it plans to raise, to its grid by 2034. The upcoming plant on the Saguling reservoir, about 180km from the capital Jakarta, aims to begin commercial operations in November 2026. PLN said the plant would generate more than 130 gigawatt-hours of electricity every year, adding that it could reduce carbon emissions by 104,000 tonnes. “The Saguling floating plant would be an important marker of Indonesia’s clean energy transformation,” said its CEO Darmawan Prasodjo. The Saguling plant follows the 1.7 trillion rupiah (RM431.8 million) project in West Java that was developed by PLN’s Nusantara Power unit, and United Arab Emirates renewable energy company Masdar, a unit of Mubadala Investment Company. – Reuters Cambodian opposition figures have accused the country’s powerful former leader Hun Sen of ordering the shooting, and Lim Kimya’s widow called this week for a full accounting BANGKOK: A Thai gunman was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for the murder of a Cambodian opposition politician, with the former lawmaker’s widow left questioning who ordered the killing. French national Lim Kimya, a former opposition parliamentarian in Cambodia, was shot dead on Jan 7 by Ekkalak Paenoi as the ex-MP arrived in the Thai capital with his wife. committing murder in livestream video

CRUSHING COLLAPSE ... A vehicle partially buried under rubble amid destruction caused by a magnitude 6.9 quake in Bogo, Cebu in the Philippines. – REUTERSPIC

Death toll in Indonesian school collapse rises to nine SIDOARJO: The number of students confirmed dead after the collapse of an Islamic school building in Indonesia’s East Java province rose to nine yesterday, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said, as the search for survivors continued. The agency said 30 ambulances have been prepared as rescuers continue looking for more than 50 students, mostly boys from the ages of 13 to 19, still trapped under the rubble. equipment gets in there and disturbs the bodies beneath the rubble,” said agency chief Suharyanto, adding that there was a possibility that more dead bodies would be found. Alongside the ambulances, cranes were also deployed to excavate some of the debris.

South Korea urges counterpart to resume family reunions

SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on yesterday North Korea should consider resuming reunions of families separated during the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, as part of humanitarian cooperation measures between the neighbours. At a meeting ahead of the national Chuseok thanksgiving holidays, Lee told South Koreans who had families in the North that he hoped for an easing of hostility and resumption of cooperation. Lee said it is a political responsibility for the two Koreas to

The agency also said the death toll rose from five a day earlier, adding that rescuers had received the parents’ permission to make use of heavy equipment after failing to find signs of life during previous efforts. “Every family of the victims has given their blessing if the heavy

The Al Khoziny school in the town of Sidoarjo collapsed on Monday, cratering upon hundreds of teenage students during afternoon prayer, its foundations unable to support ongoing construction work on its upper floors.

The agency said 14 rescued victims were in treatment as of yesterday. Al Khoziny is an Islamic boarding school known locally as a pesantren . – Reuters