14/10/2026

WEDNESDAY | OCT 14, 2026

7

Philippine VP Duterte faces one charge

o Prosecutors focus on unexplained wealth

votes needed to find her guilty. With at least four senators loyal to the vice-president now absent from the trial – two in jail, another in hiding and a fourth on extended medical furlough abroad – only 14 votes are needed to find her guilty. Senators voted that the constitutionally required two-thirds guilty verdict by “all members of the Senate” referred only to those “capable of participating”. Despite her impeachment by the House of Representatives, the vice president remains firmly in the lead in polling for the 2028 presidential election, independent surveys show. – AFP President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have expressed their concerns over the derailment. Zardari ordered the authorities to “conduct transparent investigations to determine the cause of the accident”. At least 34 people were killed in August 2023 in southern Pakistan near Nawabshah when a train came off the tracks. Crashes and derailments occur frequently on Pakistan’s antiquated railway system, which has nearly 7,500km of track and carries more than 80 million passengers a year. The colonial-era network still has tracks, junctions and bridges dating back more than 150 years, although modernisation is underway as part of the massive China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. – AFP

stand on its own,” Luistro said, referring to allegations that Duterte had failed to declare all her assets, something government officials are required by law to do each year. “We’re going all in here. We believe that the evidence is substantial and compelling and warrants the respondent’s removal from office.” Chief defence lawyer Sheila Sison called the ruling “completely unfair”, noting prosecutors had already put 14 witnesses on the stand to lay out evidence against the vice-president. Last month, in a ruling widely seen as a blow to Duterte, the 24-seat Senate approved a lower threshold of

submitted to the members of the court for a vote or for a verdict of conviction or acquittal,” Senator and presiding officer Francis Escudero said in approving the motion. The unexpected move by prosecutors on the trial’s 39th day came after they presented weeks of evidence backing the now-dismissed charges. Chief prosecutor Gerville Luistro told the tribunal the decision would ease the court’s job and speed up the conclusion of the trial, which began on July 6. “The prosecution believes it has presented sufficient evidence for Article 2 (unexplained wealth) to

funds and a death threat made against President Ferdinand Marcos also be eliminated. Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, has been on trial before the Philippine Senate for months, with conviction on any of four charges carrying a punishment of barring her from elected office permanently. The court is still weighing the last remaining charge, and thus she could still be hit with a ban that would end her bid to become president in 2028 if found guilty. “Articles 1, 3, and 4 shall no longer form part of the Articles of Impeachment ... shall not be

MANILA: A Philippine impeachment court yesterday granted prosecutors’ request to drop two charges against Vice-President Sara Duterte, including an alleged assassination threat against the president, leaving accusations of unexplained wealth the sole remaining count against her. Prosecutors, who last week requested a bribery charge be removed from the case, asked yesterday that allegations of misused

Train derailment kills four MULTAN: At least four people were killed and over a dozen others injured in a train derailment yesterday near Multan in the south of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Farooq Ahmed, a spokesman for Punjab’s emergency services department, said four people had been killed and at least 17 injured while the cause of the incident remained unknown. Ahmed said 11 ambulances and 30 rescue workers had been dispatched to the scene after the accident was called in at 5.21am (8.21am in Malaysia). A rescue worker at the derailment site confirmed at least four people were killed in the incident giving a higher figure of 25 people injured. An AFP journalist saw the body of one person who had died in the accident inside a train carriage.

A mother and child wearing face masks look on from a bridge in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan. – AFPPIC

Indonesia contains fires JAKARTA: Indonesia has brought forest and land fires in six provinces largely under control, with

remain the most challenging provinces,” he said, adding that authorities were preparing weather modification measures ahead of rainfall forecast from mid-October into November. Central Kalimantan military commander Maj-Gen Zainul Arifin said firefighting operations in Tanjung Puting National Park were difficult due to scattered fire locations, swampy terrain and dangerous wildlife. “The fire locations are widely scattered and the terrain is swampy. There are also dangerous animals, including crocodiles and snakes, so we must take precautions to ensure the safety of our personnel,” he told the meeting. Zainul also reported a shortage of portable water pumps, as vehicles could not reach some affected locations while existing equipment remained deployed for operations elsewhere. – Bernama

the largest remaining affected area at 524.69ha, including 513.89ha within Tanjung Puting National Park, followed by Jambi with 81.50ha and West Kalimantan with 16.34ha. According to BNPB, more than 60,177 personnel from various agencies were involved in the firefighting operations, supported by water bombers, with more than 80% of newly burned areas extinguished each day on average. Looking beyond the immediate firefighting efforts, Prabowo reiterated his proposal to expand the forest police force to 70,000 personnel to strengthen forest protection, suggesting that the national police or military could assist with training. BNPB chief Suharyanto said Tanjung Puting National Park remained a major concern, with additional personnel and equipment deployed to tackle fires in the protected area. “Central and South Kalimantan

firefighting now concentrated on just 639.23ha after nearly 130,000ha were affected. President Prabowo Subianto said the remaining areas requiring firefighting had fallen to fewer than 1,000ha following extensive efforts to contain the fires. “Without large-scale intervention, we would not have been able to handle this situation, especially as we prepare to undertake mitigation measures,” he said in a video released by the Presidential Secretariat yesterday. Figures presented by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prabowo on Monday showed that firefighting had been completed across 129,260.36ha, leaving 639.23ha still requiring attention. Central Kalimantan accounted for

Late Cantopop diva Anita Mui’s ashes missing HONG KONG: The ashes of late pop superstar Anita Mui, once dubbed the “Madonna of Asia”, have gone missing from a monastery here. Mui’s family reported to the police in July after a fan spotted that the urn was no longer in its place, but without going public.

The statement, coinciding with what would have been Mui’s birthday, triggered outrage from fans. Hong Kong police said in a statement yesterday that the case had been referred to the Regional Crime Unit of New Territories South. No arrests have been made as yet. – AFP

But on Saturday they issued a statement saying that the lack of progress in the investigation was causing them “tremendous distress and emotional anguish”.

The diva of Cantopop, a popular music genre sung in the Cantonese language, died from cervical cancer aged 40 in 2003 after selling millions of records.

Passengers gather as ambulances queue up at the site of the derailment near Multan yesterday. – AFPPIC