01/03/2026

theSun on Sunday MAR 1, 2026

WORLD 7

Duterte murdered no one, say defence lawyers

SEOUL: North Korea released a rare image yesterday of leader Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter Ju Ae has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including this week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju Ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope with her finger on the trigger, smoke rising from the barrel. She was wearing what appeared to be a leather jacket, a garment often worn by both her and her father at major political events, symbolising authority and legitimacy. KCNA reported yesterday that Kim presented new sniper rifles to senior party and military officials, describing the move as a gesture of appreciation and “absolute trust”, without mentioning Ju Ae. He then visited a shooting THE HAGUE: Rodrigo Duterte killed thousands during his anti drug campaign, an International Criminal Court prosecutor alleged on Friday, as the crimes against humanity hearing against the former Philippines president wrapped up. His defence team countered that Duterte had murdered no one and that the prosecution’s argument was based on “hearsay” and “conjecture”, falling far short of the bar needed to confirm the charges against him. “He’s proud of his killings. He wants to be remembered for them,” said Julian Nicholls, summing up for the prosecution. “Decades of murdering his own people, murdering the children of the Philippines, and he claims that he did it all for his country. He doesn’t deny it. “He ran a death squad in Davao (city) that he created. He ran it for over 20 years before he became president. His promise was to kill thousands and he did.”

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s president has cleared investigators to detain the country’s former intelligence chief for up to three months of questioning over his alleged role in the 2019 Easter bombings that killed 279 people, police said yesterday. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake signed an order under the Prevention of Terrorism Act to hold retired army major-general Suresh Sallay for 90 days for questioning by detectives. Criminal investigators arrested Sallay on Wednesday, making him the most high-profile official netted in the long-running investigation into the bombings, which wounded about 500 people. Forty-five foreigners were among those killed. Nine suicide bombers carried out the coordinated attacks on April 21, 2019, targeting three churches and three luxury hotels. “The president signed the DO (detention order) last night to keep Sallay in custody for 90 days after the initial three-day period he was held,” a police spokesman said. – AFP Sri Lanka probes ex-spy chief over bombings They can confirm all of the charges and proceed to trial, throw out some of the charges, or reject the case outright, in which case Duterte would walk free. – AFP by saying that his clients experienced defence rebuttals “like their murdered loved-ones are being murdered again”. He called on the court to confirm the charges so that the victims can be “reintegrated into their communities”. Following the hearing, judges will have up to 60 days to issue a written verdict.

“But he murdered nobody,” Kaufman told the court. He urged the judges not to confirm the charges and to free Duterte to “live out the rest of his days in peace” in the Philippines. He said during a visit to explain proceedings to his client, he “lost the desire to follow me within a minute”. However, he cited the former leader as asking how the prosecutors could prove that he murdered anyone, again denying the charges against him. Gilbert Andres, a lawyer representing victims, summed up

Judges have 60 days to issue verdict

Davao City and then as president of the Philippines. The prosecution has put forward 76 cases of alleged murder, which they say is an “emblematic fraction” of those killed, which rights groups say number thousands. Duterte’s defence lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, summing up his case, said if his client could be faulted for anything, it was his “inappropriate choice of language”.

Throughout the week, a panel of three judges has heard from the prosecution, defence and victims’ representatives as they weigh whether to proceed to a full trial. Duterte has not been in the courtroom. The defence says he is too ill to attend. Victims say he does not want to face the loved ones of those he killed. He faces three counts of crimes against humanity over his “war on drugs” when he was mayor of

North Korea leader grooms daughter for key role

Ju Ae trying out her new rifle in Pyongyang. – KCNA HANDOUT/REUTERSPIC

department – a role analysts describe as akin to a party secretary-general. The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country. – AFP

to handle and fire a weapon, the photos “suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor”, said Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. KCNA also said Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong will head the party’s general affairs

range with the officials, where he fired the rifle and took a group photo. South Korea’s spy agency said this month that Pyongyang appears to have started the process of designating Ju Ae as leader Kim’s successor. By underscoring Ju Ae’s ability

Looted Khmer artefacts returned PHNOM PENH: Buddhist monks chanted blessings and scattered flowers on Friday over 74 artefacts returned to the country after being plundered by a smuggler.

not merely works of art; they are living witnesses to the genius of the Khmer ancestors and the spiritual heart of Khmer civilisation,” it said. In 2024, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art returned 14 artefacts looted by Latchford, including a 10th century sandstone goddess statue and a large 7th century Buddha head. Thousands of relics are believed to have been trafficked out of Cambodia over the years. Since 1996, Cambodian law has forbidden the unauthorised removal of antiquities, with a punishment of up to eight years in prison. – AFP

books detailing the art of the ancient Khmer Empire, which spanned modern-day Cambodia and much else of Southeast Asia. Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many told reporters the return of the artefacts was a matter of “national pride” because the pieces “connect the national soul from our ancestors’ era to the current time”. The objects, to form part of the collection at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, include “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works and significant ritual objects”, said a Culture Ministry statement. “These 74 sacred objects are

Scholar Douglas Latchford, once regarded as a key authority on Cambodian antiquities, was charged by prosecutors in New York in 2019 with smuggling looted Cambodian relics to sell on the international black market. Cambodia’s Culture Ministry said the repatriation from Britain of the relics was sealed in a deal with the estate of Latchford, who died in Bangkok in 2020. Before the scandal came to light, Latchford earned acclaim for

Hun Many (right) being briefed on the history of the returned cultural artefacts. – AFPPIC