International
Paetongtarn Shinawatra swears in as Prime Minister of Thailand
Paetongtarn Shinawatra was sworn in as Prime Minister of Thailand on Sunday, two days after Parliament elected her after the dismissal this week of her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, by order of the Constitutional Court.
Paetongtarn, who turns 38 on Wednesday, became the youngest president in the country and the second woman to occupy the position, after her aunt Yingluck (2011-2014).
The leader is also the third member of the influential Shinawatra clan to take the reins of the Thai Executive, after her father Thaksin (2001-2006) and his younger sister, whose governments withdrew from office in two military uprisings.
Dressed in the official white uniform for the ceremony of her official appointment in Bangkok, Paetongtarn heard the approval of King Vajiralongkorn, a mere formalism and read by the secretary of the House of Representatives, Apat Sukhanand.
The young woman, who came accompanied by her father, paid tribute to a portrait of the monarch and, in a brief speech, promised to “fulfill her duty” and listen to the opinions of the legislators in order to give “stability” to Thailand.
Paetongtarn came to power after Srettha, with whom he shares a party (Pheu Thai), resed on Wednesday after less than a year in office in a controversial decision of the conservative Constitutional Court for a case curiously linked to Thaksin.
The court considered that Srettha violated a code of ethics by appointing a lawyer convicted of attempted bribery as Minister of Finance in April, in a case involving the patriarch of the Shinawatra.
On Friday, after 48 hours of frantic political cabals, Paetongtarn received the support of 319 of 493 members of Parliament to occupy the position of prime minister.
Interestingly, the appointment of Thaksin’s third daughter coincides with the first day of freedom of influential former president after it was confirmed on Saturday that he received a pardon from the king that allowed him to pay the one-year prison sentence for crimes of corruption that he had served since August 22, the day the patriarch returned to Thailand after 15 years of self-imposed exile.
Thaksin, who did not spend a night in prison and regained his parole after being in custody for six months in a capital hospital, now faces an accusation of lesa majesty, which is punishable by between 3 and 15 years in prison, with a judicial hearing scheduled for Monday and destined for the parties to present their list of witnesses and evidence.
According to the complaint, Thaksin accused the Privy Council of the Royal House of Thailand, the body that advises the king, of organizing the 2014 military coup d’état that overthrew the Yingluck Government, during an interview published in 2015 by a South Korean media.
Thaksin’s return, the same day that the already dismissed Srettha was elected, stages the apparent reconciliation between the former president and the pro-military and pro-military elite that overthrewal him by a military coup d’état in 2006.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction