19/05/2026

TUESDAY | MAY 19, 2026

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Philippines Senate convenes as impeachment court

Train driver charged after bus collision

BANGKOK: The driver of a train that collided with a bus in Thailand’s capital, killing eight people, has tested positive for drugs and was charged with reckless driving, police said yesterday. The freight train crashed into the public bus on Saturday afternoon at a busy junction in Bangkok, with the vehicle bursting into flames and 30 people left injured, authorities said. Police charged the train driver, who was also injured, and a railway guard on Sunday with negligence causing injury and death, said Urumporn Koondejsumrit, chief of the police station where the crash occurred. Both denied the charge. Urumporn said an initial urine test of the driver found illicit drugs in his system. Further testing would include the other driver and a technician aboard the train. Bangkok police chief Siam Boonsom said on Sunday that there was traffic congestion at the crossing daily, but never an accident. earthquake struck south China’s Guangxi region yesterday, killing two people and causing 13 buildings to collapse. The quake hit Guangxi’s Liuzhou city at 12.21am (same time in Malaysia), Xinhua news agency reported. The US Geological Survey recorded a lower magnitude of 5.0. State broadcaster CCTV identified the deceased as a couple: a 63-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman. A 91-year-old man who was missing earlier was found after search and rescue efforts and sent to the hospital for treatment, CCTV said. A video published by the broadcaster showed a team of

difficult,” said Ederson Tapia, public administration professor at the University of Makati. Dela Rosa’s return from six months in hiding created drama that has gripped the Philippines, with the former police chief taking refuge for days in the heavily guarded Senate before a warning of his imminent arrest led to pandemonium, gunfire and his escape hours later. As chief enforcer of the former president’s drugs crackdown, dela Rosa, 64, is accused of crimes against humanity. The Marcos administration on Friday confirmed it will seek his arrest. Dela Rosa, whose whereabouts are unknown, denies wrongdoing and has sought a Supreme Court injunction to block his arrest, arguing there is no legal basis to serve a warrant from a foreign court. – Reuters

It is unclear when the trial will start. Marcos has distanced himself from her impeachment, saying it is a legislative matter. Marcos and Duterte are both scions of powerful political families who ran together in the 2022 election. But cracks soon appeared in their alliance, leading to an acrimonious fallout and Marcos handing her father over to the ICC. Analysts say the Senate leadership change triggered by dela Rosa’s return may have shifted the balance of power in a chamber that counts Duterte loyalists and aligned politicians among its 24 members, who will serve as jurors. A conviction requires two-thirds support. “Given that we now have a new majority, thanks to the efforts of Senator Bato, it would make prosecuting Vice-President Sara in the impeachment court a little more

o Vice-president Sara Duterte faces trial

MANILA: The Philippine Senate convened as an impeachment court yesterday to decide the future of Vice-President Sara Duterte. The trial will be a high-stakes event that could either kill off Duterte’s 2028 presidential hopes, or strengthen her position as lead contender to succeed her rival, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who is constitutionally barred from running again. It comes against a turbulent political backdrop, just days after chaos and a shootout in the upper house and a potentially decisive change in its leadership, both stemming from the re-emergence from hiding of a pro-Duterte senator wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Just as lawmakers prepared to vote to impeach Duterte in the lower house on May 11, politician Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa reappeared to cast a crucial Senate vote to install Duterte loyalist Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president, effectively making Cayetano the presiding officer for the impeachment trial. Duterte is undergoing her biggest political test and faces a ban from holding office if convicted in the trial, which comes as her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, awaits his own trial at the ICC over his “war on drugs”. Sara Duterte, 47, is accused of misusing public funds, amassing unexplained wealth and threatening the lives of Marcos, his wife and an ex-speaker. She denies wrongdoing.

Police were reviewing footage of the scene to determine whether the guard was negligent. – AFP Quake kills two in south China BEIJING: A 5.2-magnitude

rescue workers carrying the injured man onto a stretcher. Authorities had evacuated over 7,000 people from the area, CCTV said. Other videos from CCTV showed people fleeing high-rise buildings and piles of rubble next to destroyed homes. Rescue workers were seen trudging through the debris, while their dogs tried to sniff out signs of life. Emergency workers wearing helmets were also seen using earthmovers to clear the wreckage. Earthquakes in China are relatively common. In January 2025, a devastating quake in the remote Tibet killed at least 126 people and damaged thousands of buildings. – AFP

Prabowo points to a weapon during a handover ceremony at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in Jakarta. – REUTERSPIC

Fighter jet boost for Indonesia JAKARTA: President Prabowo Subianto said yesterday that Indonesia will continue to build up its defence capabilities as the strengthening its defence capabilities. “We must continue to improve our defence capabilities to serve as a deterrent. We do not have any interests other than protecting our own territory,” he told reporters.

the nation’s sovereignty. “The government views the strengthening of defence equipment not merely as the procurement of combat platforms, but as a strategic investment aimed at safeguarding sovereignty, national honour and national defence readiness,” he said. Prabowo, a former military general who came to power in 2024, has sought to modernise Indonesia’s ageing military assets. He met French President Emmanuel Macron last month in Paris, where the two leaders discussed bolstering strategic cooperation, including through the “procurement of defence equiment and the strengthening of the defence industry”, according to an Indonesian government statement. – AFP

government handed over equipment including six French-made Rafale jets to the military. Prabowo presided over a handover ceremony at a military airbase in Jakarta, where he inspected recently acquired defence equipment including four Dassault Falcon 8x and an Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft, according to a presidential palace statement. Jakarta signed a US$8.1 billion (RM32 billion) deal in 2022 under then defence minister Prabowo to buy 42 French-made Rafale fighters. Prabowo said after the ceremony yesterday that Indonesia will keep

“We observe that the geopolitical landscape is fraught with uncertainty, and we recognise that defence is a primary prerequisite for stability.” Indonesia received the first batch of three Rafale jets in January, and yesterday’s ceremony included an additional three jets for the military, said Defence Ministry spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait. He underscored the jets’ importance to strengthen Indonesia’s air defence system and claimed that defence equipment modernisation was also an investment to safeguard

Rescuers walking past a collapsed building in Liuzhou, Guangxi yesterday. – AFPPIC