Global Pulse

分类： politics

  • Philippine congressional committee rules there’s evidence to impeach Vice President Duterte

    Philippine congressional committee rules there’s evidence to impeach Vice President Duterte

    MANILA, Philippines — In a major development roiling the country’s already fractured political landscape, a Philippine congressional justice committee announced a unanimous ruling Wednesday that confirmed “probable cause” exists to advance impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. The 53-member panel’s decision moves two separate impeachment complaints forward to a full debate and vote by the 300-plus member House of Representatives, marking a critical escalation of allegations that include unexplained personal wealth, misuse of public funds, and direct threats to the life of sitting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

    The core accusations against Duterte focus on her alleged illegal misappropriation and mismanagement of confidential intelligence funds, allocated both to her current office as vice president and to the Department of Education, which she led before Marcos took office in 2022. While Duterte has issued a broad denial of all wrongdoing, she has repeatedly declined to address the specific claims levied against her in detail.

    During Wednesday’s public hearing, officials from the National Bureau of Investigation testified that comments Duterte made during a 2024 online press conference constituted a clear threat to national security. In those remarks, Duterte allegedly stated that if she were assassinated, orders would be carried out to kill President Marcos, the first lady, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    Committee chairperson Rep. Gerville Luistro publicly criticized Duterte for her repeated refusal to testify at six televised impeachment hearings, as well as her decision to petition the Supreme Court to halt the inquiry over the allegations, which include unreported large-scale bank transactions that Duterte was legally required to disclose. “If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct,” Luistro stated at the opening of Wednesday’s session. “The only people who fear the disclosures of these transactions are those with dirty secrets.”

    In the aftermath of the committee’s ruling, legal representatives for Duterte pushed back aggressively, arguing that the entire proceeding deviated from the Philippines’ constitutional framework for impeachment. “Instead of confining itself to the verified complaints and their attachments, the process expanded into matters that properly belong to a full trial,” the legal team said, offering no further details on their objection.

    The political clash has already spilled into additional legal action: Duterte’s husband, Manases Carpio, filed criminal complaints Monday against Luistro and multiple other legislators and inquiry officials after records of the couple’s bank transactions were publicly released during a recent House hearing. The Duterte camp maintains the disclosure violates the country’s strict bank secrecy laws.

    Sara Duterte, the daughter of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, carries notable political baggage from her father’s tenure: the former leader is currently facing prosecution before the International Criminal Court in The Netherlands on allegations of crimes against humanity, stemming from the thousands of extrajudicial killings that occurred during his nationwide anti-drug crackdown between 2016 and 2022.

    This is not the first impeachment effort against the vice president: she survived a similar attempt last year on a procedural technicality, after the Supreme Court ruled that the House had violated constitutional rules limiting the body to processing just one impeachment proceeding per calendar year. Most of the current allegations against her were carried over from that unsuccessful 2023 complaint.

    Notably, despite the mounting legal and political pressure, independent public opinion polls still rank Duterte as one of the most popular political figures in the Philippines. She has already publicly confirmed her intention to run for the presidency in the 2028 national election, a declaration that has amplified opposition scrutiny of her conduct and financial history.

    If the full House of Representatives, which is currently controlled by allies of President Marcos Jr., votes to impeach Duterte, she will next face an impeachment trial conducted by the Philippine Senate. A conviction would remove her from the vice presidency immediately.

    The current standoff between Duterte and Marcos caps a rapid collapse of what was once a powerful political alliance: the two ran as a joint presidential-vice presidential ticket in the 2022 national election, but their relationship has devolved into open, bitter conflict in recent years, adding a new layer of instability to Philippine politics that has long struggled with systemic governance challenges and recurring political upheaval.

  • Irish government announces further fuel supports after protests

    Irish government announces further fuel supports after protests

    Weeks after widespread public demonstrations against skyrocketing fuel prices brought major Irish infrastructure to a standstill, the Irish government has formally announced a new €220 million (£191 million) targeted relief package designed to ease cost pressures on commercial transport operators, farmers, agricultural contractors and fishers. The government has emphasized that policy work on the support framework began long before protests kicked off early in April, when demonstrators blocked key motorways across the country and paralyzed Dublin’s main commercial thoroughfare.

    This new package marks the latest round of government intervention to address volatile fuel costs, following earlier cuts to excise duty on both petrol and diesel rolled out in preceding months. Details of the two new targeted schemes were laid out by cabinet ministers on Wednesday at Dublin’s Government Buildings.

    The first initiative, the €120 million Road Transporters Supports Scheme, is tailored for road hauliers, bus companies and coach operators. The program will be backdated to March, covering the period when average national diesel prices surged past the €1.90 per litre benchmark – a threshold the government identifies as the point where fuel costs become unsustainable for commercial transport operators. Payments under the scheme are structured on a graduated sliding scale tied to the number of vehicles an operator holds on their license: operators with five or fewer vehicles will receive €1,350 per vehicle, those with 6 to 20 vehicles get €790 per vehicle, and businesses with more than 21 vehicles will receive €300 per vehicle. Applications for the scheme will open in May 2026.

    The second initiative, the €100 million Fuel Support Scheme, targets farmers, agricultural contractors and commercial fishers, who rely heavily on green diesel – a marked fuel priced lower for agricultural use that has seen significant cost hikes in recent months. This program is also backdated to March and will run through the end of July, providing support equal to roughly 20 euro cents per litre of green diesel (€200 per 1,000 litres), based on verified fuel usage from 2025.

    Alongside the two sector-specific support schemes, the government is launching a public communications campaign to share guidance for households and small businesses looking to manage rising energy and fuel costs. Counting this latest announcement and all prior excise cuts, the Irish government has now allocated a total of €755 million (£654 million) to fuel-related relief measures in recent months. It has also paused scheduled annual increases to the national carbon tax to avoid further pushing up fuel costs for consumers and businesses.

    Speaking at the announcement, Irish Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien framed the new package as targeted and time-limited, noting that while the government retains flexibility to introduce additional support if needed, it must maintain sustainable management of public finances. Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon added that the package reflects the government’s commitment to responding in real time to the cost challenges facing key sectors of the Irish economy.

  • Read the complete transcript of King Charles III’s speech to Congress

    Read the complete transcript of King Charles III’s speech to Congress

    WASHINGTON — In a landmark address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, King Charles III has delivered a sweeping, history-rooted speech celebrating the centuries-long interconnected destiny of Britain and the United States, while calling for renewed collective action to confront modern global crises against a backdrop of widespread international uncertainty.

    Opening his remarks, the King extended sincere gratitude to congressional members and the American public for the opportunity to speak during his first visit to the U.S. as monarch and head of the Commonwealth, marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. He began with a lighthearted nod to the shared cultural ties between the two nations, quoting Oscar Wilde’s famous quip: “We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.”

    King Charles acknowledged the precarious global moment the address was delivered in, noting ongoing conflicts stretching from Europe to the Middle East that have created ripple effects felt in communities on both sides of the Atlantic. He also directly referenced the recent violent incident near the Capitol that targeted U.S. national leadership and sought to sow division, stating with unwavering conviction that such acts of aggression will never undermine democratic resolve. “Whatever our differences, whatever disagreements we may have, we stand united in our commitment to uphold democracy, to protect all our people from harm, and to salute the courage of those who daily risk their lives in the service of our countries,” he affirmed.

    The monarch traced the deep historical roots of the bilateral relationship, noting that the modern connection between the two nations stretches back more than four centuries, and he is the 19th British sovereign to follow U.S. affairs closely. He paid tribute to Congress as a “citadel of democracy” founded to advance universal rights and freedoms, and recalled his late mother Queen Elizabeth II’s 1991 address to the same chamber, drawing a throughline of diplomatic friendship between the two nations. He even added a touch of gentle humor referencing the ancient British parliamentary tradition of holding a member of parliament hostage at Buckingham Palace during the State Opening of Parliament, prompting a light response from assembled lawmakers.

    Reflecting on the foundational dispute of American independence, King Charles framed the conflict as a testament to the shared democratic roots that bind the two countries today. The core principle of “no taxation without representation,” he noted, grew from democratic values inherited from British legal and political tradition, turning an early disagreement into the foundation of a resilient partnership. Citing former U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2019 remarks during a state visit to the UK, he echoed that the kinship between the U.S. and UK is “priceless and eternal. It is irreplaceable and unbreakable.”

    He further traced shared ideological origins back to the 1215 signing of Magna Carta, noting that the foundational document’s principles of checks and balances on executive power have been cited in more than 160 U.S. Supreme Court cases since 1789. He pointed to the shared memorial stone at Runnymede, where an acre of the historic Magna Carta site was gifted to the U.S. by the British people in memory of President John F. Kennedy, as a lasting symbol of shared commitment to liberty.

    Against the current era of global turbulence, King Charles called for a revitalization of the transatlantic alliance, echoing Henry Kissinger’s framing of an Atlantic partnership built on twin pillars of Europe and America, a partnership he says is more critical today than at any point in history. Recalling his grandfather King George VI’s 1939 visit to the U.S. on the cusp of World War II, he noted that while the geopolitical context has shifted dramatically, the shared values that united the two nations then remain just as vital today.

    Addressing modern security challenges, King Charles announced the UK’s commitment to the largest sustained increase in defense spending since the Cold War, a transformation he said is necessary to address evolving global threats. He also marked the upcoming 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, noting that he and Queen Camilla would pay their respects to victims and their families during their stop in New York, reaffirming that Britain stood with the U.S. then and continues to stand with the nation today. He recalled the unified global response after the attacks, when NATO invoked Article V for the first time in its history, as a testament to the centuries-long history of shared sacrifice between the two nations.

    The King reaffirmed unwavering support for Ukraine and its people, calling for continued collective resolve to secure a just and lasting peace. He outlined deep integrated defense cooperation between the U.S. and UK, from joint production of F-35 fighter jets to the groundbreaking AUKUS submarine partnership with Australia, noting these projects are built not on sentiment alone but on a shared commitment to long-term regional and global security.

    Beyond security, King Charles highlighted the deep economic and technological ties that bind the two economies, noting $430 billion in annual bilateral trade and $1.7 trillion in mutual investment that supports millions of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. He outlined new partnerships in cutting-edge fields including nuclear fusion, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and pharmaceutical discovery, partnerships he said hold the promise of saving millions of lives around the globe.

    He also drew attention to shared environmental responsibility, noting that the ancient Appalachian and Scottish mountain ranges were once a single continuous landmass, a natural reminder of the shared global fate of the two nations in confronting climate change and biodiversity collapse. He emphasized that the collapse of natural systems threatens both global prosperity and national security, a risk the world cannot afford to ignore.

    Closing his historic address, King Charles framed the U.S.-UK relationship as one of the most consequential alliances in human history, forged from early division into a partnership that has shaped global order for decades. He called on both nations to reject inward-looking nationalism and reaffirm their shared commitment to defending democratic values alongside global partners. Echoing Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, he noted that the world will remember actions more than words, and called for a rededication of the two nations to serving their people and all the people of the world. He closed with a simple, heartfelt toast to the enduring friendship between the two nations: “God bless the United States and God bless the United Kingdom.”

  • Beijing clamps down on drones: Sales banned citywide from May 1

    Beijing clamps down on drones: Sales banned citywide from May 1

    The Chinese capital Beijing will enact a complete ban on all drone operations and sales across its entire administrative area beginning May 1, according to an announcement from city authorities. This sweeping new regulation, formally approved by the city government in late March, codifies and expands long-standing informal restrictions that have barred private drone flights within Beijing’s core and outer city limits for years.

    Beyond prohibiting unauthorized flights, the new rules also require all commercial retailers to clear existing drone stock from their inventories ahead of the ban’s implementation. Checks on major Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao confirm that customers entering a Beijing delivery address are already blocked from completing checkout for any drone product, reflecting early compliance with the regulatory change. A staff member at a Beijing retail outlet of DJI, the world’s leading consumer drone manufacturer headquartered in China, told domestic state-affiliated media Jiemian that the location has been ordered to liquidate all remaining drone stock by this week.

    Under the terms of the new policy, narrow exceptions are permitted for drones used for academic research by universities and research institutions, as well as for public safety and government operations. However, all exempted users are required to obtain official written approval from local police departments before operating any unmanned aerial vehicles within city boundaries. Individual violators caught operating unapproved drones face penalties of up to 500 Chinese yuan, equal to roughly $73, along with potential confiscation of their equipment.

    This latest regulatory move builds on pre-existing national drone governance frameworks that already require all drone operators across China to register their devices and complete mandatory identity verification through an official government platform before flying.

    The policy also comes amid growing global scrutiny of Chinese drone dominance in the global consumer and commercial unmanned aerial vehicle market. Chinese manufacturers control over 70% of the global consumer drone market, a position that has triggered national security concerns in multiple Western countries, most notably the United States. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has already moved to ban the import and sale of new models of Chinese-manufactured drones over data security risks.

    Beijing has a long-standing pattern of maintaining stricter security and entry restrictions than most other regions of China, particularly in areas involving connected or sensor-equipped consumer technology. Prior similar restrictions include limits on Tesla electric vehicles, which have been barred from parking in certain sensitive government compounds and key infrastructure sites including airports, over concerns that the vehicles’ built-in camera systems could be exploited for espionage activities.

  • Another Russian oil facility burns after Zelenskyy touts Ukraine’s drone reach

    Another Russian oil facility burns after Zelenskyy touts Ukraine’s drone reach

    In a significant escalation of Kyiv’s cross-border long-range strike campaign, Ukraine has confirmed it carried out a drone attack on a critical oil facility deep in the Ural Mountains of Russia, more than 1,500 kilometers from Ukrainian territory, marking one of the farthest-reaching strikes in the more than four-year-old full-scale invasion. The target, located in Russia’s Perm region, was an oil pumping station operated by Transneft, Russia’s state-owned pipeline monopoly, which serves as a key hub for the country’s oil transportation network. Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, confirmed it orchestrated the strike as part of Kyiv’s systematic effort to disrupt Russia’s energy infrastructure and cut off revenue that funds its invasion.

    Multiple Russian sources have acknowledged the incident, though local authorities have offered limited details. Perm Governor Dmitry Makhonin only confirmed that an unspecified industrial site was hit by a drone, triggering a large blaze. This strike follows closely on the heels of a third attack on Russia’s Tuapse oil refinery and Black Sea terminal in less than two weeks, which forced mass civilian evacuations and prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to warn of potential severe environmental damage. By Wednesday, Russian officials stated the Tuapse fire had been contained.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly acknowledged the expanding scope of Kyiv’s long-range strike operations in a Telegram post Wednesday, alongside unverified footage showing a massive column of black smoke rising over a rural area near an urban settlement. Though he did not explicitly name the Perm facility, Zelenskyy made clear Ukraine is entering a new phase of targeting Russian war capacity. “We will continue to increase these ranges,” he stated, noting the 1,500-kilometer straight-line distance of the Perm strike and framing the attacks as a tactic to cut off the Kremlin’s access to critical oil revenue that sustains its war effort. Zelenskyy later praised the SBU for the precision of the operation, echoing claims from the security service that most oil storage tanks at the Perm hub were engulfed in flames. To date, none of Ukraine’s claims about the strike’s scale or damage have been independently verified by third-party outlets.

    The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) released an analysis this week noting that Kyiv’s escalating strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are specifically designed to block unexpected financial gains Moscow has secured from a U.S. sanctions waiver, at a time when global energy supplies remain constrained by geopolitical conflict. The think tank added that Ukraine is effectively exploiting a key structural vulnerability of Russia: its vast territory stretches thousands of kilometers, creating an enormous attack surface that Russia’s overstretched air defense systems cannot fully cover. “Ukrainian forces will likely continue to exploit the large attack surface of Russia’s deep rear and overstretched Russian air defenses to launch more frequent and larger strikes against Russian oil infrastructure and military assets, supported by increased Ukrainian domestic drone production,” the ISW’s analysis read.

    This strike comes amid a landmark shift in Ukraine’s defense production capacity. After relying heavily on Western military aid for the first years of the war, Kyiv has now ramped up domestic drone manufacturing to the point that it is reporting a surplus of some weapons systems, and is poised to share drone technology and expertise with partner nations around the world. In a Telegram post Tuesday, Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine is now producing a surplus of up to 50% for some types of weapons, and that military cooperation projects are already active with partners across the Middle East, Gulf states, Europe, and the Caucasus. These partnerships cover joint production and supply of drones, missiles, related software, and defense technology, Zelenskyy said, adding that Kyiv has also submitted a formal proposal to the U.S. for expanded joint cooperation on drones, multi-domain defense systems, and other weaponry.

    On the same day as the Perm strike, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses intercepted 98 Ukrainian drones overnight across multiple Russian regions and Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow illegally annexed in 2014. Meanwhile, Russia continued its own campaign of near-nightly long-range strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, killing and wounding civilians across multiple regions. In Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, regional prosecutors confirmed eight people were wounded in an overnight attack. In neighboring Sumy region, officials reported a 60-year-old woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a Russian strike. In the southern Odesa region, Russian forces hit the port city of Izmail, damaging critical infrastructure and a district hospital. Ukraine’s air force reported it intercepted 154 of the 171 drones Russia launched in the overnight wave of attacks.

  • South Korean court sentences ex-President Yoon to 7 years for charges including resisting arrest

    South Korean court sentences ex-President Yoon to 7 years for charges including resisting arrest

    A key ruling on Wednesday from a South Korean appellate court delivered another heavy legal blow to impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, sentencing him to seven years in prison for obstruction of justice and a series of procedural violations tied to his short-lived 2024 declaration of martial law. The new conviction comes on top of a life sentence Yoon already received earlier for rebellion charges stemming from the unprecedented authoritarian power grab that pushed South Korea’s democracy into its most severe crisis in decades.

    The Seoul High Court’s judge Yoon Sung-sik laid out the details of the guilty verdict in court, documenting that the conservative former leader intentionally skipped a legally required full Cabinet meeting before announcing martial law on December 3, 2024. To hide the violation of constitutional procedure, Yoon falsified official government documents, the court ruled. It also found that after Yoon was impeached and removed from office, he deployed presidential security personnel as what the ruling described as “a private army” to block law enforcement from executing an arrest warrant against him. Yoon stood silent throughout the verdict delivery and offered no public comment after the ruling.

    This appellate decision reverses an earlier ruling from a lower court issued in January. The lower court had originally sentenced Yoon to five years in prison, but partially cleared him of abuse-of-power charges connected to the Cabinet meeting procedural violation, ruling he could not be held responsible for the absence of two invited Cabinet members. The Seoul High Court overturned that partial acquittal, convicting Yoon on all counts before the court. The judge emphasized that by convening only a small selection of loyalists to simulate a full Cabinet meeting, Yoon violated the constitutional rights of nine Cabinet members who were either uninvited or unable to attend the sham gathering.

    Yoon’s short-lived martial law decree sent immediate shockwaves through South Korea’s political and economic systems. The move triggered weeks of national turmoil that paralyzed domestic lawmaking, disrupted high-stakes diplomatic operations, and caused significant volatility in South Korea’s financial markets. The political crisis only began to stabilize after liberal opposition leader Lee Jae Myung won a snap presidential election in June 2025.

    The timeline of Yoon’s removal and legal process began on December 14, 2024, when the liberal-controlled National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon and suspend him from presidential powers. The Constitutional Court formally removed him from office in April 2025. After his suspension, Yoon refused to comply with a Seoul District Court detention warrant for questioning, leading to a tense public standoff in early January 2025. When dozens of criminal investigators arrived at the presidential residence to execute the warrant, they were turned away by barricades and Yoon’s security detail. Yoon was finally taken into custody later that month, only to be released by a separate court in March, and re-arrested on new charges in July. He has remained in custody since July, as a series of overlapping criminal trials against him continue to move through South Korean courts.

    Wednesday’s ruling comes one day after the same Seoul High Court issued an upward adjustment to the prison sentence of Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, increasing her original term to four years. Kim was convicted on charges including accepting bribes in the form of luxury gifts from the Unification Church, a religious organization that sought favorable political treatment from Yoon’s administration, and participating in a multi-million dollar stock price manipulation scheme.

    In a separate ongoing criminal trial last week, federal prosecutors formally requested a 30-year prison sentence for Yoon over another serious allegation: that he ordered South Korean military drones to conduct provocative flights over Pyongyang in 2024 to intentionally escalate cross-border tensions with North Korea. Prosecutors argue Yoon engineered the crisis to create a domestic pretext that would justify his declaration of martial law.

  • Russia to hold Victory Day parade without military equipment for 1st time since invading Ukraine

    Russia to hold Victory Day parade without military equipment for 1st time since invading Ukraine

    For the first time since Russia launched its full-scale incursion into Ukraine in 2022, Moscow will forgo rolling armored vehicles, artillery, and nuclear missile systems across Red Square for its iconic annual May 9 Victory Day parade, the Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement released late Tuesday. The event, which marks the 81st anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II, will proceed without the traditional procession of military equipment and exclude cadet participants, with the ministry only citing the “current operational situation” as justification for the change and offering no additional details.

    The scaled-back parade will still include marching contingents of service members from all branches of Russia’s armed forces and the country’s military higher education institutions, as well as the signature ceremonial flyover of military aircraft, the ministry confirmed.

    Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War, stands as Russia’s most widely revered secular national holiday. Unlike many divisive events in modern Russian history, the legacy of World War II victory unites political factions across the ideological spectrum, and the Kremlin has long leveraged this shared national sentiment to bolster collective pride and reinforce Russia’s standing as a major global power. The Soviet Union suffered an estimated 27 million civilian and military casualties during the conflict, a catastrophic loss that remains etched deeply into the Russian national collective psyche.

    For more than 25 years of his leadership, President Vladimir Putin has elevated May 9 celebrations to a central symbolic pillar of his administration, and has repeatedly invoked the legacy of World War II to frame and justify his current military campaign in Ukraine.

    Last year’s parade marked the largest display of Russian military might since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, drawing more international heads of state to Moscow than any event in the previous decade. High-profile global leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico attended the 2025 event, which featured more than 11,500 marching troops and over 180 pieces of military hardware. The display included frontline equipment actively used in Ukraine, such as main battle tanks, armored infantry vehicles, and artillery systems, alongside strategic assets including Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers armed with nuclear warheads and military drones. A full squadron of fighter jets also conducted the traditional flyover over Red Square.

    In advance of last year’s parade, Putin announced a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine starting May 7, and Russian authorities shut down cellular internet access across Moscow for multiple days to reduce the risk of targeted Ukrainian drone strikes on the capital. The 2024 parade, by contrast, was already significantly scaled back, with a reduced troop contingent, far less equipment on display, and no aerial flyover component.

  • Trial begins for 4 Indonesian service members charged over acid attack on activist

    Trial begins for 4 Indonesian service members charged over acid attack on activist

    On Wednesday, a high-stakes military trial got underway in Jakarta for four Indonesian military intelligence personnel, charged with carrying out a brutal acid attack on a leading human rights advocate that has reopened long-simmering national debates over unaccountable violence within the country’s armed forces. The defendants include three navy marines and one air force officer — Sgt. Edi Sudarko, First Lt. Budhi Hariyanto Widhi Cahyono, Capt. Nandala Dwi Prasetya, and Air Force First Lt. Sami Lakka — all assigned to the Strategic Intelligence Agency of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI). They face charges of aggravated premeditated assault stemming from the March 12 attack, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment if the court returns a guilty verdict. The target of the attack was Andrie Yunus, a 27-year-old human rights lawyer and senior campaigner with KontraS, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, one of Indonesia’s most prominent human rights organizations.

    The attack unfolded as Yunus rode his motorcycle through central Jakarta on the evening of March 12, when assailants threw a vial of hydrochloric acid directly at his face. Prosecutor Mohammad Iswandi told the court that the assault left Yunus with chemical burns covering 20% of his body and permanent damage to 40% of his right cornea, resulting in total loss of vision in that eye. Iswandi confirmed that Yunus has undergone multiple emergency and reconstructive surgeries and remains in ongoing recovery, preventing him from attending the opening session of the trial. “The actions of the defendants who threw chemical liquid on Andrie Yunus, resulting in the loss of sight in his right eye and severe burns with no hope of complete recovery, were inappropriate actions for members of the TNI,” Iswandi told the court. Prosecutors have framed the attack as a coordinated act driven by personal motive, alleging the four assailants carried out the assault “to teach him a lesson and deter him from making disparaging remarks about the TNI.” Two of the defendants suffered minor acid splashes to the face and eyes during the attack, and all four declined to enter objections to the charges after prosecutors read the full indictment. Presiding judges have scheduled the next session of the trial for May 6, when witness testimony will begin.

    The handling of the case has drawn sharp criticism from domestic and international human rights groups, which have raised objections to both the official personal-motive narrative and the decision to try the defendants in a closed military court rather than an open civilian tribunal. Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, argues that authorities have deliberately narrowed the scope of the investigation to only the four accused, offering no transparency into potential higher-level involvement. Hamid noted that there is no documented personal or professional connection between Yunus and the four defendants, and evidence shows official military assets were used to carry out the attack. “It is difficult to accept that state facilities were used solely for personal revenge,” Hamid said, warning that opaque handling of the trial risks eroding already fragile public trust in Indonesia’s military accountability mechanisms.

    Yunus has long been a leading voice against military impunity in Indonesia, campaigning for security sector reform and expanded civil liberties. Last year, he was a prominent organizer of widespread protests against proposed revisions to Indonesia’s military law that would expand the TNI’s role in domestic civilian governance, and colleagues confirm he has faced repeated threats and intimidation tied to his advocacy work. The attack and subsequent trial have drawn immediate comparisons to the 2004 assassination of Munir Said Thalib, the iconic human rights advocate and founder of KontraS, who was poisoned with arsenic on a flight to Amsterdam. While a handful of low-level actors were convicted in Munir’s murder, activists have long argued that the masterminds behind the killing were never identified or prosecuted, leaving the case a persistent symbol of military impunity in the country.

    Widespread public and civil society pressure to uncover the full chain of command behind the attack on Yunus has prompted a response from Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, a former army general who took office with pledges to strengthen institutional accountability. Prabowo has pledged to hold all those responsible to account and confirmed he is considering establishing an independent fact-finding commission to investigate any unaddressed links to the attack. For rights advocates, the outcome of Yunus’s trial will serve as a critical test of the TNI’s stated commitment to accountability more than 25 years after the fall of longtime dictator Suharto. Following Suharto’s ouster in 1998, the Indonesian military formally withdrew from domestic politics, and a series of reforms were implemented to strengthen civilian oversight of the armed forces. But activists say persistent cases of unaccountable violence against critics and human rights campaigners show those reforms have yet to deliver on their promises.

  • King Charles to stress UK-US cultural, trade ties in New York

    King Charles to stress UK-US cultural, trade ties in New York

    As the four-day state visit of Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the United States enters its third day, the British monarch will center his Wednesday itinerary in New York on reinforcing the deep cultural and economic bonds that have long defined the UK-US relationship, at a moment when the two allies’ so-called “special relationship” faces growing friction. The visit, which opened in Washington D.C. with a warm formal greeting from President Donald Trump for the royal couple, has been overshadowed from the start by escalating tensions over the ongoing conflict involving Iran. The New York leg of the tour will kick off with a solemn act of commemoration: the King and Queen will lay a wreath at the 9/11 Memorial, marking 25 years since the 2001 terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. In an address to the U.S. Congress delivered the previous day, Charles reflected on the global impact of that tragedy, noting “This atrocity was a defining moment for America and your pain and shock were felt around the whole world.” He added, “We stood with you then. And we stand with you now in solemn remembrance of a day that shall never be forgotten,” framing his speech as a call for unified action among Western powers. Following the wreath-laying, Charles is set to meet with 9/11 first responders and family members of those killed in the attacks. A lifelong advocate for environmental action and sustainable land management, the King will then tour an urban sustainable farming initiative that combines food access work with youth mentorship to address systemic food insecurity in New York City. While the King visits the agricultural project, Queen Camilla will carry out a separate engagement at the New York Public Library, where she will mark the 100th anniversary of A.A. Milne’s beloved fictional character Winnie-the-Pooh. She is expected to present the library with a custom-made plush toy of Roo, Pooh’s young friend from the Hundred Acre Wood. Later in the day, King Charles will gather with transatlantic business leaders — including investors, startup founders and industry executives — at an event dedicated to highlighting the deep interconnectedness of the British and American economies. This engagement comes at a sensitive moment: just weeks earlier, Trump threatened to walk back a bilateral trade agreement that currently mitigates the impact of U.S. tariffs on British goods, in a rebuke of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to back the U.S.-led war effort against Iran. The final public event of Charles’s New York schedule will be a reception celebrating the work of The King’s Trust, the monarch’s long-running youth charity, while also showcasing the output of British and American cultural industries. Tight security measures have been implemented across New York for the royal visit, coming just days after an alleged assassination attempt targeting Trump at a Washington D.C. press gala. Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s leftist mayor, will not hold a private meeting with the King but will join him for the 9/11 commemoration ceremony. So far, British officials have expressed satisfaction with the ceremonial welcome extended to Charles and Camilla during their time in the U.S., which has included a 21-gun salute, a military flyover by U.S. fighter jets, and a formal state banquet hosted at the White House. Trump has adopted a warm, jovial tone toward the royal couple, even joking that his Scottish-born mother had a teenage crush on Charles. This amicable tone stands in sharp contrast to Trump’s sharp public criticism of Starmer over the UK’s refusal to join the Iran conflict, a disagreement that created diplomatic friction in the lead-up to the state visit. In his landmark address to Congress — the first by a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II spoke to the body in 1991, delivered amid celebrations of the 250th anniversary of American independence from British rule — Charles sought to smooth over existing disagreements between the two nations. “Whatever our differences, whatever disagreements we may have, we stand united in our commitment to uphold democracy,” he told assembled lawmakers. He emphasized that the modern UK-US partnership “was born out of dispute, but no less strong for it,” framing the alliance as resilient enough to withstand temporary policy rifts.

  • King Charles III and Queen Camilla visiting 9/11 Memorial and other NYC landmarks as part of US trip

    King Charles III and Queen Camilla visiting 9/11 Memorial and other NYC landmarks as part of US trip

    LONDON, NEW YORK – Three days into their landmark first state visit to the United States as Britain’s reigning monarch and queen consort, King Charles III and Queen Camilla will arrive in New York City on Wednesday, a mid-trip stop that carries deep symbolic and diplomatic weight amid the 250th anniversary of American independence. This occasion marks the first time a sitting British monarch has visited New York since the late Queen Elizabeth II’s 2010 trip, drawing close international attention to the royal couple’s packed schedule of commemorative, charitable and diplomatic activities.

    The visit’s New York leg opens with a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, timed ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks. During the event, the royal couple will meet with first responders who survived the attacks and family members of those killed, with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other high-ranking local and national dignitaries also in attendance.

    Following the memorial service, the royal pair will split for separate, themed engagements tailored to their individual public priorities. Queen Camilla will travel to the New York Public Library, where she will officially donate a new stuffed Roo doll to the institution’s iconic collection of original Winnie-the-Pooh toys. The donation comes as the beloved children’s literary franchise celebrates its centennial this year. The five original plush toys already on display at the library – Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore and Kanga – once belonged to Christopher Robin Milne, son of Winnie-the-Pooh creator A.A. Milne, and directly inspired the characters that appear in Milne’s classic 1920s children’s books. Donated to the library in 1987, the collection has become one of the most popular centerpieces of its world-famous children’s literature holdings. Roo, the young son of Kanga in the original stories, was the only original character plush that has not survived to the present day.

    For his part, King Charles will first tour a community after-school urban farming program that supports young people impacted by food insecurity, aligning with his long-standing focus on sustainability and youth opportunity. He will then hold a meeting with top business and finance leaders in Manhattan, before the couple reunites for a reception hosted by The King’s Trust, the global youth charity Charles founded in 1976 to support vulnerable young people across the Commonwealth and beyond.

    This four-day U.S. visit is King Charles’ first state visit to the country since he acceded to the throne following his mother’s death in 2022. The late Queen Elizabeth II completed four full state visits to the United States during her 70-year reign. The trip was scheduled to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States’ declaration of independence from British rule, a milestone that diplomats have framed as an opportunity to celebrate the long-standing close alliance between the two nations.

    The royal couple has already completed multiple high-profile events in Washington D.C. earlier this week. On Monday, they joined President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a formal tea at the White House. A day later, King Charles held a closed-door bilateral meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office, before delivering a rare address to a joint session of U.S. Congress – an honor only granted to a handful of foreign heads of state, and the first time a British monarch has addressed Congress since Queen Elizabeth II’s 1991 speech. The day concluded with a formal state dinner hosted by the Trump administration at the White House.

    After wrapping up their New York engagements, the royal pair will travel to Virginia for additional stops before returning to the White House on Thursday for a formal farewell ceremony hosted by President Trump. Following the conclusion of his U.S. visit, King Charles will travel alone to Bermuda for his first visit to a British Overseas Territory as reigning monarch.