04/02/2026

WEDNESDAY | FEB 4, 2026

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Philippine lawmakers weigh impeachment for Marcos

Workers’ Party chief moves seat in parliament SINGAPORE: Workers’Party secretary general Pritam Singh is no longer sitting opposite Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in Singapore’s Parliament following his removal as leader of the opposition, the Straits Times reported. According to an updated seating plan, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Christopher de Souza will now occupy the seat across the aisle from Wong. Christopher will be flanked by fellow People’s Action Party (PAP) members of parliament Xie Yao Quan and Vikram Nair, who are chairmen of parliamentary committees, while Pritam will be seated to the left of Xie, who is also a deputy speaker. On Jan 15, Wong removed Singh from his post as leader of the opposition with immediate effect. The decision came a day after Parliament voted to express regret over Singh’s conduct. Singapore’s Parliament began its sitting yesterday with Speaker Seah Kian Peng acknowledging the submission of a letter from Wong. “I received a letter from the prime minister this morning which reads as follows: Mr Speaker, following Parliament’s resolution on Jan 14, 2026 and my subsequent written exchange with the Central Executive Committee of the Workers’ Party, I wish to inform Parliament through you that Pritam Singh’s designation as the leader of the opposition has ceased and that the position in this term will remain vacant. “Until such time that the Workers’ Party nominates another suitable elected member of parliament to take on this responsibility,” Seah said. – Bernama Air India checks Dreamliner fuel switches NEW DELHI: Air India has begun checking the fuel switches on its Boeing Dreamliner aircraft, after a pilot reported a possible defect on one of the long-haul jets, according to an internal memo. The checks have not unearthed any issues so far and will not require grounding of the fleet, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. The carrier has a fleet of 33 Boeing 787 aircraft. The airline’s engineering team has referred the matter to Boeing for “priority evaluation” after a potential switch defect in one plane, head of flight operations, Manish Uppal, said in the memo. Boeing said on Monday it was supporting the airline’s review. An Air India spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Air India said on Monday it had grounded a Dreamliner after the pilot reported a possible problem with the fuel control switch. Fuel switches were at the centre of last year’s crash involving an Air India Dreamliner, which killed 260 people in Gujarat, triggering tighter scrutiny. The switches regulate the flow of jet fuel into a plane’s engines. The switches are used to start or shut down engines on the ground or to manually shut down or restart engines if engine failure occurs during flight. – Reuters

wrong, did not violate the law and did not commit an impeachable offence,” presidential press officer Claire Castro told a briefing on Monday. If the lower house decides to impeach Marcos, it would be sent to the Senate for trial, where its 24 members serve as jurors. Five top officials have been impeached in the Philippines and of those, only one, a former chief justice, was convicted and removed from office. Among the five was Marcos’ estranged Vice-President Sara Duterte, whose impeachment was struck down by the Supreme Court last year. She is facing new impeachment complaints and denies wrongdoing. Gerville Luistro, who heads the justice committee, said its members would decide whether the alleged offences Marcos was accused of were enough to impeach him. “It’s not enough that an impeachable official committed wrongdoing. That wrongdoing must

house of Congress, which is dominated by allies of the president. If the complaints against Marcos succeed in a vote of the House, he would be the second Philippine head of state to be impeached after Joseph Estrada, whose 2001 trial was aborted when some prosecutors walked out. The complaints include Marcos’ decision to allow his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte to be arrested and taken to The Hague to face trial at the International Criminal Court over thousands of killings during his notorious “war on drugs”. Marcos is also accused of abusing his authority in spending public funds that led to a corruption scandal over flood-control projects. His alleged drug use, which he has denied, also made him unfit to run the country, according to one of the complaints. The office of Marcos said he respects the process. “Even before, the president already said he did not do anything

MANILA: Philippine lawmakers met yesterday to decide whether to advance impeachment complaints against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (pic) , who is accused of betraying the public’s trust, corruption and violating the constitution. Marcos, who is midway through his six-year term and denies wrongdoing, faces two separate complaints filed by a lawyer and activists, which hurdled an initial step at the House justice committee on Monday when lawmakers said both were “sufficient in form”. The committee reconvened yesterday to determine whether there was “substance” to move the complaints forward. The committee’s decision, regardless of which way it goes, would be put to a vote of the lower o President denies wrongdoing

constitute an impeachable offence,” Luistro told broadcaster Teleradyo. Luistro said if lawmakers vote in favour of advancing the complaint, Marcos would have the chance to respond to the allegations. The backing of one-third of the House is needed to impeach the president. – Reuters

Scam compounds in the O’Smach area‚ – REUTERSPIC

Cambodia scam compound yields fraud evidence CHONG CHOM: The Thai military said yesterday it had recovered a trove of evidence of transnational fraud from a Cambodian scam compound seized during clashes last year between the two countries along their disputed border. year. The six-storey building was strewn with documents, including long lists of what appeared to be potential targets and their contact details, as well as scripts for scam dialogues. Touch Sokhak, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s Interior Ministry, told Reuters Thailand had used scam centres as a pretext for military attacks.

used to store weapons and launch attacks. Parts of Southeast Asia, including border areas between Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, have become hubs for online fraud in recent years, generating billions of dollars annually. Among the items seized at O’Smach were 871 SIM cards enabling anonymous international communication, dozens of smartphones, counterfeit police insignia and police uniforms, the Thai military said. Reporters visiting the complex also saw several rooms set up to resemble police offices from different countries. – Reuters

He said Cambodia was carrying out a crackdown on scams and had pledged to eradicate the illicit industry before April. Thailand and Cambodia ended weeks of fierce border clashes in late December with a ceasefire, the second in recent months, that halted the worst fighting in years between the Southeast Asian neighbours. During the clashes the Thai military struck several casino complexes it alleged were scam compounds, saying they were also

O’Smach has previously been named as a base for scam operations including by the United States, which cited trafficking and forced criminality. “The reason we are showing this place today is that we want the world to see how it’s being used as a criminal base against humanity,” Lieutenant General Teeranan Nandhakwang, director-general of the Royal Thai Army’s Directorate of Intelligence, told reporters.

Briefing reporters and foreign delegates in Surin province, senior Thai military officials said the O’Smach complex had housed thousands of people, many of them victims of human trafficking who were forced to scam strangers or face punishment. Soldiers later showed reporters around one of several buildings in the complex that were bombed and occupied by the Thai military late last