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Cambodian senator sanctioned over scams

Thai court accepts ethics case against lawmakers

BANGKOK: Thailand’s Supreme Court yesterday said it had accepted a petition that accuses 44 current and former opposition lawmakers of ethics violations over their attempt in 2021 to amend a law that protects the monarchy from criticism. The 44 individuals set to go on trial from June 30 include current and former members of the progressive People’s Party and its disbanded predecessor Move Forward. They face a maximum penalty of a lifetime ban from holding office. The court said in a statement it had decided not to suspend from duty the 10 serving lawmakers among the 44 implicated. Hundreds of individuals have been prosecuted in recent years under Thailand’s strict lese-majeste law, which is among the strictest of its kind in the world, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison for offenders. Move Forward had sought to SEOUL: South Korean special prosecutors yesterday requested a further 30-year term for jailed ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol for allegedly sending military drones into North Korea in 2024. Yoon is accused of ordering the incursion to help create the pretext for his failed declaration of martial law that year, which resulted in his impeachment, removal from office and life imprisonment for insurrection. Special prosecutors in a statement said they were seeking the new sentence on charges of aiding the enemy, adding that Yoon’s effort to “fabricate wartime conditions” had undermined state security. They also said the operation heightened tensions with North Korea and led to the leak of classified information, including details on force capabilities, after the drones crashed, the Yonhap news agency reported. Yoon was sentenced to life in jail in February for leading an insurrection to “paralyse” South wildfires in northern Japan were spreading towards the centre of a town yesterday, with authorities urging more than 2,500 individuals to evacuate their homes, media reports and the government said. As of yesterday morning, fires in the mountainous areas of Iwate region had burned more than 400 hectares since breaking out two days ago, government spokesman Minoru Kihara told reporters. Flames could be seen encroaching on homes in Otsuchi Town as smoke billowed from a nearby forest. Increasingly dry winters have

amend the legislation, arguing it had been misused for political purposes to stifle opposition. The court acceptance of the case is the latest in a string of setbacks for Thailand’s liberal, anti establishment Opposition, which has found itself on the wrong end of a succession of court rulings and was blocked from forming a government after winning the 2023 general election. A court in 2024 ruled Move Forward’s campaign to amend the law was unconstitutional and undermined the democratic system. The party was dissolved by the same court later that year and its lawmakers regrouped as the People’s Party. Among the 44 are party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut and deputy leader Sirikanya Tansakul. Despite big leads in opinion polls, People’s Party finished second in February’s general election to Prime Minister Anutin Chanvirakul’s Bhumjaithai Party. – Reuters Korea’s National Assembly. He has appealed the conviction tied to his martial law declaration, insisting he took the measure “solely for the sake of the nation”. Drone flights have continued to be a flashpoint in recent tensions between North and South Korea, which remain technically at war. This month, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret to Pyongyang after an investigation found that government officials had sent drones into the nuclear-armed North in January. The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later called Lee’s statement “wise behaviour”, but hopes for a rapprochement faded after the diplomatically isolated nation returned to calling the South its “most hostile” enemy. Lee has vowed to mend ties with North Korea by halting the kind of provocations carried out under his predecessor, and has suggested a rare apology may be warranted for Yoon’s actions involving the drones. – AFP raised the risk of wildfires. A blaze that broke out in the Iwate city of Ofunato early last year was Japan’s worst in over half a century. Kihara said the flames prompted authorities to issue evacuation advisories, and they are increasing measures to extinguish the blaze, with about 700 firefighters and 13 aircraft mobilised. As of 5am yesterday, 329 residents were taking shelter, public broadcaster NHK said. “The sound was crazy. All these cedar trees were cracking as they burned, sending flames and smoke soaring,“ a local firefighter told major broadcaster TV Asahi. – AFP

information leading to the seizure or recovery of proceeds linked to “Tai Chang” scam centres in Myanmar, said to be conducting online fraud. Cambodia and Myanmar have emerged as hotspots for cyber scam operations in recent years. Transnational crime groups initially mostly targeted Chinese speakers before widening their reach and stealing tens of billions of dollars annually from victims around the world. Organised criminal gangs have used casinos, hotels and fortified compounds in Southeast Asian countries as bases to carry out sophisticated online scams, defrauding people through cryptocurrency investment schemes and fake romantic relationships, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. – AFP

Apart from Kok, 28 individuals and entities were also targeted by the department. It added that Kok runs a business called Crown Resorts, which owns casinos and other buildings in Cambodian cities. It also charged in a separate statement that “Kok and his associates have operated and profited from scam compounds that target US citizens and often use human trafficking victims who are forced to commit unlawful acts under the threat of violence”. Separately, the US Justice Department announced charges against two individuals said to have managed a cryptocurrency investment fraud compound in Myanmar and who tried to start another complex in Cambodia. The US State Department meanwhile announced rewards for

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a Cambodian senator, alongside people and entities in his network, charging that they have been “defrauding Americans” at scam compounds across the Southeast Asian country. Senator Kok An and his affiliates were said to have operated “out of casinos and office parks retrofitted for fraudulent activity”, laundered victims’ funds and provided a base to target US citizens, the US Treasury Department said in a statement. o US Treasury also targets 28 other individuals, entities

South Korean prosecutors seek extra jail time for ex-president

WATER WORKS ...

A firefighter shows kindergarten pupils how to use a water hose in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. – AFPPIC

Wildfires approach Japan town TOKYO: Flames from raging

India rebukes US ‘hellhole’ remarks NEW DELHI: India has dismissed as “uninformed” comments shared by United States President Donald Trump that described the country as a “hellhole”, saying they were inappropriate and inconsistent with the strong relationship between the two countries. entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet,“ Savage said, according to the transcript. “That there’s almost no loyalty to this country among the immigrant class coming in today, which was not always the case. No, they’re not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors.”

issue in a historic visit to the court. India’s foreign ministry on Thursday reacted strongly to the comments. “The remarks are obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste,“ Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement. “They certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests.” The US embassy in New Delhi said: “The president has said ‘India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top’.” – Reuters

The comments were made by conservative commentator Michael Savage in an episode of T he Savage Nation radio talk show. Trump posted a transcript of the show on his Truth Social account on Thursday without any comments. “A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the

Reuters could not immediately contact Savage. Trump has issued a directive seeking to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States, a move that has been challenged in the US Supreme Court. Earlier this month, he attended a hearing on the