US Supreme Court to issue ruling; Trump ballot case looms

Justices of the US Supreme Court on Feb. 8 heard arguments in Trump’s appeal of the Colorado ruling kicking Republican frontrunner Donald Trump off the ballot. (Reuters)
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Updated 03 March 2024
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US Supreme Court to issue ruling; Trump ballot case looms

  • The highest court did not specify what ruling it would issue, but the justices on Feb. 8 heard arguments in Trump’s appeal to overturn a lower court ruling that kicked him off the ballot for taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court plans to issue at least one ruling on Monday, the day before Colorado holds a presidential primary election in which a lower court kicked Republican frontrunner Donald Trump off the ballot for taking part in an insurrection during the Jan. 6, 2021 US Capitol attack.
The Supreme Court, in an unusual Sunday update to its schedule, did not specify what ruling it would issue. But the justices on Feb. 8 heard arguments in Trump’s appeal of the Colorado ruling and are due to issue their own decision.
Colorado is one of 15 states and a US territory holding primary elections on “Super Tuesday.” Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 US election.
The Republican Party of Colorado has asked the Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump, to rule before Tuesday in the ballot eligibility case.
During arguments, Supreme Court justices signaled sympathy toward Trump’s appeal of a Dec. 19 ruling by Colorado’s top court to disqualify him from the state’s ballot under the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars from holding public office any “officer of the United States” who took an oath “to support the Constitution of the United States” and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Trump supporters attacked police and swarmed the Capitol in a bid to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump gave an incendiary speech to supporters beforehand, telling them to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” He then for hours rebuffed requests that he urge the mob to stop.
Anti-Trump forces have sought to disqualify him in more than two dozen other states — a mostly unsuccessful effort — over his actions relating to the Jan. 6 attack. Maine and Illinois also have barred Trump from their ballot, though both those decisions are on hold pending the Supreme Court’s Colorado ruling.
During arguments in the Colorado case, Supreme Court justices — conservatives and liberals alike — expressed concern about states taking sweeping actions that could impact a presidential election nationwide. They pondered how states can properly enforce the Section 3 disqualification language against candidates, with several wondering whether Congress must first pass legislation to enable that.
In another case with high stakes for the election, the Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden.
The court appears likely to reject Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution, according to legal experts, but its decision to spend months on the matter could aid his quest to regain the presidency by further delaying a monumental criminal trial.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that he should be shielded from prosecution for his effort to reverse Biden’s victory because he was president when he took those actions, a sweeping assertion of immunity firmly rejected by lower courts.
But the Supreme Court’s decision not to schedule its arguments on the issue until late April reduces the chances that a trial on the election subversion charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith could be finished before the presidential election.


Cambodian court jails 13 pregnant Filipino surrogates

Updated 7 sec ago
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Cambodian court jails 13 pregnant Filipino surrogates

Phnom Penh: A Cambodian court has sentenced 13 pregnant Filipino women to four years in jail for acting as surrogate mothers, in the latest crackdown on the outlawed practice.
The 13 were among 24 foreign women detained by Cambodian police in Kandal province in September and charged with attempted cross-border human trafficking, according to a statement from the Kandal court.
Following a trial, the court on Monday sentenced the 13 to “four years in prison,” although two years of the sentence would be suspended, the statement said.
The court said it had strong evidence showing that the 13 “have the intention... to have babies to sell to a third person in exchange for money, which is an act of human trafficking.”
The court statement did not give details on what would happen to the babies of the 13 when they were born.
A Cambodian woman, who cooked meals for the Filipino women, was also jailed for two months and one day for being an accomplice, the court said.
Seven other Filipino and four Vietnamese women, who were not pregnant, have been deported from Cambodia, Chou Bun Eng, vice-chair of Cambodia’s National Committee for Counter Trafficking, told AFP on Tuesday.
In 2016, Cambodia issued a snap ban on commercial surrogacy after neighboring Thailand pulled the plug on the trade the previous year — putting an abrupt end to a thriving industry for hopeful parents, many from Australia and the United States.
But demand for commercial surrogacy remains high after China eased its one-child policy and agencies in Cambodia continue to offer the service.
Sources in the kingdom have previously told AFP that couples — mostly from China — are willing to pay between $40,000 to $100,000 to surrogacy agents to find a Cambodian woman who can carry their child.
In 2018, an Australian nurse who ran a surrogacy clinic was jailed for 18 months in Cambodia.
Dozens of Cambodian women paid to carry babies for Chinese clients were also arrested in recent years but they were released on bail after agreeing to keep the children.

Indian police arrest seven from Hindu group for breaking into Bangladesh consulate

Updated 27 min 55 sec ago
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Indian police arrest seven from Hindu group for breaking into Bangladesh consulate

  • Attack comes after Bangladesh arrested a Hindu religious leader, Chinmoy Krishna Das, last week
  • Das, charged with sedition, is associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

GUWAHATI, India: Police in India’s northeastern state of Tripura arrested seven members of a Hindu group and charged them with breaking into the Bangladesh consulate and vandalising property, a police officer said on Tuesday.
The move came hours after after Muslim-majority Bangladesh called for immediate action against protesters who broke into the consulate, saying they tore down its main gate, damaged property and desecrated the national flag.
Those arrested were part of demonstrations organized by the Hindu Sangharsha Samiti, a group that says it protects Hindu interests, after Bangladesh arrested a Hindu religious leader, Chinmoy Krishna Das, last week.
“Around 50 of them broke into the property’s main gate, and brought down the Bangladeshi flag post,” said district police officer Kiran Kumar K. in west Tripura.
Among the 4,000 protesters were more people involved in the break-in and police were investigating, he said, adding that disciplinary action had been taken against four police officers in charge of consulate security.
In a statement on Monday, India’s foreign ministry called the incident deeply regrettable, adding that diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances.
In a post on X, Tarique Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and the acting president of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party, criticized the attack, saying such incidents caused division and discord among neighbors.
Das, arrested last week at the airport in Dhaka, the capital, on charges of sedition, among others, is associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
His arrest sparked protests in Dhaka and the southern port city of Chittagong, where his supporters clashed with security forces.
Hindu-majority India had also condemned the arrest and expressed concern over attacks on Hindus and other minorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.


Death toll in Thailand flooding jumps to 25

Updated 56 min ago
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Death toll in Thailand flooding jumps to 25

  • Flooding since November 22 has affected more than 660,000 homes in the kingdom’s south
  • Heavy monsoon rains lash Southeast Asia every year, but human-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns

BANGKOK: Thousands of people have been displaced by torrential floodwaters that slammed into southern Thailand, where the death toll has risen to 25, officials said on Tuesday.
Flooding since November 22 has affected more than 660,000 homes in the kingdom’s south, the country’s disaster agency said on its Facebook page.
Suwas Bin-Uma, a chicken farm owner in Songkhla province, told state broadcaster Thai PBS that the floods had wiped out his entire flock of more than 10,000 chickens.
“I’ve lost at least three million baht ($87,000),” he said.
More than 22,000 people have been displaced from their homes due to flooding in Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Yala provinces, the Thai government’s public relations department said on Monday.
Footage on social media showed residents in Songkhla province stacking up sandbags in front of their homes on Monday in an attempt to block the swelling floodwater.
The head of a village in Yala province, Abdullah Abu, told local media that flooding in his area had reached up to seven meters (23 feet).
People were receiving one meal a day from a rescue team, he told Channel 7.
In neighboring Malaysia’s Kelantan state, AFP images showed houses surrounded by inundated land and residents scooping water out of their homes.
Malaysian disaster officials said on Tuesday that more than 94,000 people were yet to return to their homes after being evacuated due to the floods, with five people reported dead.
Heavy monsoon rains lash Southeast Asia every year, but human-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.
Climate change is causing typhoons to form closer to the coast, intensify faster and stay longer over land, according to a study published in July.
Thailand’s weather agency forecast more heavy rain for the south until December 5.
On Tuesday, the Thai cabinet approved a 9,000 baht payment per family to support those affected.
Thailand’s northern provinces were hit by heavy floods in early September as Typhoon Yagi swept in from the South China Sea over Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
The storm triggered flooding and landslides across the region and killed hundreds.
One Thai district reported its heaviest inundation in 80 years while the UN’s World Food Programme said the floods wrought by Yagi in Myanmar were the worst in the country’s recent history.


Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration

Updated 03 December 2024
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Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration

  • Trump has vowed staunch support for Israel and to dispense with Biden’s occasional criticism
  • Israel’s retaliatory campaign post Oct. 7 has killed more than 44,000 people in Gaza

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday warned Gaza militants of massive repercussions if hostages are not released by the time he takes office.
The threat comes after exhaustive diplomacy by outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration that has so far failed to secure a deal that would both end Israel’s war in Gaza and free hostages seized 14 months ago.
“If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!“
Trump has vowed staunch support for Israel and to dispense with Biden’s occasional criticism, but has also spoken of his desire to secure deals on the world stage.
Hamas staged the deadliest ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The assault resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Militants seized 251 hostages during the attack, some of whom were already dead. Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 35 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 44,429 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.


Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia

Updated 03 December 2024
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Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia

JAKARTA: There were still many things to discuss on repatriating the five remaining members of the ‘Bali Nine’ drug ring to Australia and hopefully an understanding can be reached soon, Indonesia’s senior minister on legal affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra said.
The announcement was made after the minister met with Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“Hopefully we could find an understanding,” Yusril said, adding that he hoped to resolve the matter this month.
Indonesia has no regulations regarding transfer of prisoners, but the deal was initiated by President Prabowo Subianto’s good intentions, Yusril said.
Yusril said Indonesia would respect any decision taken by the country of origin of the prisoners, including an amnesty, adding that this was a transfer of prisoners and not an exchange.
Last month, Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas said Indonesia had agreed in principle to transfer the five prisoners, who are currently serving life sentences, after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised the issue with Prabowo.
Supratman had said Jakarta was seeking the repatriation of Indonesian prisoners held in Australia as part of the deal.
The Bali Nine were arrested in 2005 as they attempted to smuggle heroin out of the Indonesian resort island.
Two of the group’s ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015, and Australia recalled its ambassador in protest.
One of the members was released from prison in 2018, and another died of cancer the same year.
Indonesia last month agreed to repatriate Mary Jane Veloso, a Philippine woman on death row for drug trafficking, to serve the rest of her sentence in her home country.
France has also asked for the repatriation of a prisoner from Indonesia, Supratman said last month.