29/05/2026

FRIDAY | MAY 29, 2026

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Ashes of French Korean War veterans buried alongside fallen comrades BUSAN: Two French veterans of the Korean War were laid to rest on Wednesday in South Korea, their ashes buried alongside fallen soldiers who had fought with them more than seven decades ago. war who have chosen to be buried at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan. this magnificent international cemetery. It was meaningful for him,“ Grisolet’s daughter, Elisabeth Magrou, told AFP. “will never be alone. He will rest in peace on Korean soil, in this incredible country that he loved”. Since the war ended, ties between South Korea and France have remained close. Many foreign veterans have visited numerous times, watching the Asian country transform in just a few decades into a global economic power. – AFP Rescuers find five survivors in Laos cave Warrant Officer Jacques Grisolet and Cpl Andre Datcharry, who died recently in France, were among 37 foreign veterans of the 1950-1953 The world’s only UN cemetery, located in the heart of South Korea’s second city, holds the remains of more than 2,300 soldiers from 14 nations. “We are very happy that dad chose to have his ashes interred in The children of both veterans – members of the French UN battalion formed in 1950 to help counter North Korean forces – attended the military ceremony in the vast burial ground. Magrou said now, her late father Patrick Beaudouin, a French former lawmaker who heads a national association of UN veterans, told AFP that many former soldiers felt a deep connection to Korea. The sight of war refugees “reminded them of what they had themselves lived through in their youth, when France was occupied in 1940.”

VIENTIANE: Specialist divers found five of seven individuals trapped for a week in a flooded cave in Laos alive on Wednesday, with one rescuer saying their extraction from its terminal chamber was the next challenge. The seven Laotians entered the cave in central Xaysomboun province, northeast of the capital Vientiane on May 20, according to state media. They were searching for gold but got trapped inside the cave after heavy rain triggered flash flooding, blocking their exit. Five men with their clothes, hands and faces covered in mud huddled in a tight passage of the cave, while two rescuers in dive gear and standing in stomach-deep water filmed them, a video posted by Thai rescuer Chakkit Taengtan showed. “We found five Laotians. Everybody is safe. We’ll continue to provide help,” Thai rescue diver Norrased Palasing said in the video. Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, also seen in the cave footage, said he and Norrased needed to “dive straight back” and bring the men more supplies to gain strength and prepare o Divers to bring stranded men supplies in preparation for exit

The discovered survivors huddled within the cave terminal chamber. – REUTERSPIC

nearly three weeks trapped by flash floods in the Tham Luang cave complex in Thailand’s north. The Laos cave system extends deep underground, with multiple levels and narrow passages. – AFP

Norrased and Paasi, who arrived at the Laos cave on Monday, were among the rescuers who aided the 2018 retrieval of a youth football team from a flooded cave in Thailand. The “Wild Boars” team spent

Paasi in a social media post. State-run Lao Security News said rescuers would now bring food and medicine to the five survivors and continue searching for the two others who are missing.

to exit the cave. “This is only a brief relief as the five survivors are still in the terminal chamber, all healthy and in good spirits, but the extraction is still ahead and it is not going to be easy,” said

Thai court dismisses royal defamation case BANGKOK: A Thai court yesterday dismissed a royal defamation case against a former opposition leader over comments he made during the Covid-19 pandemic, in a rare ruling in favour of a prominent government critic. criticising the government’s procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, linked to a company owned by the king. whom rights advocates say have been targeted by judicial processes because they are perceived as challenging to the nation’s conservative establishment.

Van crash in China kills 13

reform the strict law. If found guilty, they could face lifetime bans on holding political office and be stripped of their right to vote for 10 years. The 47-year-old heir to one of Thailand’s largest auto parts manufacturers, Thanathorn was banned from holding office in a separate case in 2020. However, he remains active in politics and helped campaign for the People’s Party, the latest iteration of Future Forward, in the last election in February. – AFP partly by trafficking victims living in brutal conditions have proliferated across Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and lawless areas of the Myanmar-Thai border. The United Nations estimates hundreds of thousands of individuals have worked in the centres, some lured with the promise of a well-paid job but many forced to do so under threats of violence. – Reuters

BEIJING: An overloaded minivan collided with a truck in central China yesterday, killing 13 individuals and injuring three, police said. The van, which had a maximum capacity of nine passengers but was carrying 16, hit the rear of the truck while on an expressway in the Henan province at 2:40am (1840 GMT Wednesday), the traffic management bureau of China’s Public Security Ministry said. It added that the truck was travelling on the G40 expressway in the city of Nanyang when it “rear-ended a semi-trailer truck travelling ahead of it. The ministry said it “attached great importance” to the incident, “immediately dispatching a working group to Nanyang led by a traffic management bureau official to direct investigations and handling work.” Deadly traffic crashes occur frequently in China due to lax safety standards and widespread disorderly driving. – AFP

Bangkok’s Criminal Court ruled the comments were aimed at then-prime minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha’s vaccine administration and did not amount to royal defamation, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. “The evidence brought by the plaintiff was not sufficient,“ the group wrote on social media. The verdict is a rare success for a major opposition figure, many of

At least three former MPs from the opposition Move Forward Party, a successor of Future Forward, have previously been sentenced under the lese majeste law over their political activities. Another 10 MPs, including current opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, are under court investigation over their support to

Thailand’s strict lese majeste law protects the royal family from criticism and carries jail terms of up to 15 years per offence. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, former leader of the now-defunct Future Forward Party, was charged over a Facebook live broadcast in 2021

Six sentenced to life over torture, murder of scam centre victim PHNOM PENH: A Cambodian court has convicted and sentenced six Chinese nationals to life in prison on charges they tortured and murdered a South Korean student involved with one of Cambodia’s notorious scam centres, a court spokesperson said on Wednesday. travel bans for parts of Cambodia, imposed sanctions and launched joint efforts to crack down on the sprawling centres, which have been accused of enslaving and abusing workers, and stealing billions of dollars from scam victims around the world. spokesperson said in a statement. According to an autopsy report released by Korean authorities in November 2025, the 22-year-old victim died from blunt force trauma after beatings and torture. Southeast Asia has emerged in recent years as an epicentre of the global cyberfraud industry.

The Kampot Provincial Court found all six men guilty of torture, murder and aggravated fraud, the

The student’s death in August 2025 kicked off a diplomatic firestorm with Seoul, which issued

Compounds that are mostly run by Chinese criminal gangs and staffed