American football players Amy Allman Griffin (R) and Lorrie Fair Allen, FIFA World Cup Champions in 1991 and 1999, as US State Department Sports Envoy speaking at the Public Lecture
American football players Amy Allman Griffin (R) and Lorrie Fair Allen. PHOTO: IZAH AZAHARI
People often begin their journey with high aspirations, envisioning a smooth and effortless road ahead. However, reality always paints a different picture.
“Many people only witness the triumphant moment when athletes stand on the podium, unaware of the arduous journey that led them there,” Griffin said.
The FIFA World Cup champions, as United States (US) State Department Sports Envoys, said this during a public lecture on ‘Finding Success as a Professional Athlete’ hosted by the US Embassy in Brunei Darussalam at a hotel in Kampong Anggerek Desa on Friday.
Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones from Queensland, Australia is escorted by a prosecutor upon arrival at the local immigration office in Meulaboh, Aceh, Indonesia. PHOTO: AP
JAKARTA, INDONESIA (AP) – Indonesia’s authorities were deported on Saturday an Australian surfer who apologised for attacking several people while drunk and naked in the deeply conservative Muslim province of Aceh.
Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, from Queensland, was detained in late April on Simeulue Island, a surf resort, after police accused him of going on a drunken rampage that left a fisherman with serious injuries.
Risby-Jones was released from prison on Tuesday after he went through a restorative justice process, apologised for the attack and agreed to pay compensation to the fisherman. That allowed him to avoid going to court and facing a possible charge of assault that could have landed him up to five years in prison.
Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones from Queensland, Australia is escorted by a prosecutor upon arrival at the local immigration office in Meulaboh, Aceh, Indonesia. PHOTO: AP
His lawyer, Idris Marbawi, said the two sides agreed that Risby-Jones would pay the fisherman’s family for hospital fees and a traditional peace ceremony. The total payment was IDR300 million (USD20,000). The fisherman underwent surgery in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, for broken bones and an infection in his legs.
“Risby-Jones is the first foreigner to successfully resolve a case through restorative justice in Aceh province,” Marbawi said. “He deeply regretted what happened and vowed to return to Indonesia for surfing.”
After his release, Risby-Jones stayed at an immigration detention centre. He departed for Melbourne on Saturday evening, Marbawi said.
Footage of his release on Tuesday showed Risby-Jones being escorted by officers to a bus after hugging and saying goodbye to several prison wardens.
“It’s been a long time coming and I’m feeling amazing and super happy and grateful,” he said. “Everyone has been very nice and accommodated me well. Thank you.”
Violent acts by foreigners are rare in Aceh, the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that practises Shariah. The sale and consumption of alcohol is forbidden in Aceh, and those found drunk have been caned in public.
UPI – It was a day of celebration in Baran, India, when 2,143 couples exchanged their vows in under six hours, breaking two world records.
A registered trust called Shri Mahaveer Goshala Kalyan Sansthan organised the mass wedding, which included both Hindu and Muslim marriages.
The event lasted less than six hours, breaking the Guinness World Records for the most couples married in 12 hours and the most couples married in 24 hours.
Each couple received a blessing from officials including Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot and Cabinet Minister Pramod Jain Bhaya.
The trust presented each couple with gifts including jewellery, a mattress with bedding, kitchen utensils, a television and a refrigerator.
Officials said the goal of the event was to help underprivileged couples get married and start their lives together.
Britain's then prime minister Boris Johnson looks up as he delivers a speech in front of 10 Downing Street in central London. PHOTO: AFP
LONDON (AFP) – Britain’s former prime minister Boris Johnson angrily quit as a member of parliament on Friday, claiming he had been forced out in a stitch-up by his political opponents.
The 58-year-old populist politician has been under investigation by a cross-party committee about whether he repeatedly lied to parliament over COVID lockdown-breaking parties when he was in office.
In evidence earlier this year, he angrily insisted he had not.
Britain’s then prime minister Boris Johnson delivers a speech in front of 10 Downing Street in central London. PHOTO: AFP
But as the committee prepares to make public its findings, he said they had contacted him “making it clear… they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of parliament”.
The Privileges Committee, which has a majority of MPs from his own Conservative party, has powers to impose sanctions for misleading parliament, including suspension.
Ordinarily, suspension of more than 10 working days leads to a by-election in the MP’s constituency.
Johnson, though, pre-empted any finding – or the consequences of a humiliating fight to remain an MP in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency in northwest London where he holds a slim majority of just over 7,000 – by quitting.
He denounced the committee, chaired by veteran opposition Labour MP Harriet Harman, as a “kangaroo court”.
“It is very sad to be leaving Parliament – at least for now – but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically… with such egregious bias,” he said.
The committee’s report, which has not been published, was “riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice”, he said, complaining he had “no formal ability to challenge anything they say”.
Their “purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts”, he added.
Responding to the resignation, the Privileges Committee said Johnson “impugned the integrity of the House by his statement”.
The committee said it would meet on Monday to conclude its inquiry and would publish its report “promptly”.
The announcement came just hours after Johnson controversially rewarded his closest Brexit allies – and officials implicated in the “Partygate” saga — in his prime ministerial resignation honours list.
At the same time, his former culture secretary Nadine Dorries announced that she was quitting as an MP with immediate effect.
Johnson led the Tories to a thumping 80-seat majority in the December 2019 general election on a promise to “get Brexit done”.
That allowed him to railroad through parliament his divorce deal with the European Union, unblocking years of political paralysis.
But he was undone by his handling of the COVID pandemic, “Partygate” and a succession of other scandals that led to a ministerial rebellion in July last year.
He quit as prime minister and left office in September last year, although rumours persisted that he wanted another shot at the top job.
Rishi Sunak, who was one of Johnson’s top team who quit, has been trying to steady the ship since becoming prime minister in October last year, after the turbulent tenure of his former boss and the short-lived premier Liz Truss.
Johnson’s resignation will likely be seen as his revenge on Sunak, whose Tories are well down in the polls to the main opposition Labour party after 13 years in power and with a general election looming next year.
“When I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened,” said Johnson in his letter lashing out at Sunak.
“Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk.
“Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do.”
Johnson’s supporters rallied behind him, lauding his achievements on Brexit, and galvanising support for Ukraine.
But Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the public – battling a cost-of-living crisis – have had enough of the “never-ending Tory soap opera”.
Her opposite number with the smaller Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper, said it was “good riddance” while the Scottish National Party’s deputy UK parliament leader Mhairi Black, said Johnson “jumped before he was pushed”.
Johnson, who was sacked from his first job at The Times newspaper for making up a quote, made his name as Brussels correspondent of the Daily Telegraph peddling euromyths.
He first became an MP in 2001 until 2008, then quit to serve two four-year terms as London’s mayor. He became an MP again in 2015, going on to be foreign secretary under Theresa May.
The Minister during his speech at the event. PHOTO: JAMES KON
Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Defence II Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof on Saturday launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) website, which promotes awareness of national efforts and updates progress in sustainable development, through knowledge sharing and data visualisation generated by the National SDG Tracker.
Held at the Banquet Hall, Prime Minister’s Office, present to witness the launching ceremony were Deputy Minister and permanent secretaries at the Prime Minister’s Office; members of Special National Coordination Committee for SDGs and the SDG Technical Working Group.
Dr Arman Bidarbakht Nia from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) also attended the event.
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam; and His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen upon arrival in the Kingdom of Bahrain. PHOTOS: INFOFOTO
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam; and His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen upon arrival in the Kingdom of Bahrain. PHOTOS: INFOFOTO
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, on Friday arrived in Manama to hold a state visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain from June 9 to 11.
Accompanying His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam was His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen.
Upon arrival in Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam was welcomed by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of the Kingdom of Bahrain; His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain; and His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Commander of the Royal Guard Kingdom of Bahrain.
His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam was introduced to dignitaries from the Kingdom of Bahrain, and His Majesty King of the Kingdom of Bahrain was introduced to the official delegation of Brunei Darussalam.
Also present to greet His Majesty on arrival were Minister of Foreign Affairs II Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Erywan bin Pehin Datu Pekerma Jaya Haji Mohd Yusof, Chargée d’Affairés of the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam to the Kingdom of Bahrain Nazirah binti Haji Zaini, and Minister of Justice and Endowments of the Kingdom of Bahrain Nawaf bin Mohammed Al Maawda as Minister-in-Attendance.
This year will mark the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Brunei Darussalam and the Kingdom of Bahrain since its establishment on September 24, 1988. Both countries have cooperation in various fields of common interest including investment and finance, as well as defence.
His Majesty’s State Visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain is upon the invitation of His Majesty King Hamad, and reflects the strong bilateral relations between the two countries.
His Majesty has previously visited the Kingdom of Bahrain for a State Visit in September 1988, and His Majesty’s last working visit was on April 21 to 23, 2000. Meanwhile, His Majesty King Hamad made a state visit to Brunei Darussalam on May 3 to 4, 2017.
Actress Shu Qi (L) and actor Shen Teng introduce the opening film of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival in east China's Shanghai on Friday. PHOTO: XINHUA
SHANGHAI (Xinhua) – The 25th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) opened in eastern Chinese metropolis of Shanghai on Friday, with 53 works shortlisted for this year’s Golden Goblet Awards.
Nearly 450 films from home and abroad will be screened in 41 cinemas across Shanghai during the nine-day event, with 53 world premieres, 41 international premieres, 80 Asian premieres and 76 Chinese premieres, according to the organisers.
The 25th SIFF’s Golden Goblet Awards have five competition sections: feature-length films, new Asian talent, documentaries, animated films and short films.
A series of events, including a Belt and Road film week, will be held during the film festival.
Founded in 1993, SIFF is a competitive global event driven by Shanghai’s efforts to become an international cultural hub. It has been attracting increasing international attention thanks to China’s booming movie market.
China’s 2023 box office hit the CNY20 billion (about USD2.8 billion) milestone in early May, earlier than last year, according to film data platforms Maoyan and Beacon.
Actress Shu Qi (L) and actor Shen Teng introduce the opening film of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival in east China’s Shanghai on Friday. PHOTO: XINHUA
This aerial photo shows the airplanes of Thai Airways International, left, and Eva Airways, right, sit close on a runway, after the two passenger planes accidentally hit each other at Haneda airport in Tokyo on Saturday. PHOTO: AP
TOKYO (AP) – Two passenger airplanes accidentally touched each other on a runway at a major Tokyo airport Saturday, but no injuries were reported.
A Thai Airways International jet headed to Bangkok made contact with an Eva Airways plane headed to Taipei at Haneda airport, and the runway was subsequently closed, Japanese media reports said.
Footage broadcast by TBS TV News showed two commercial airline planes stopped on the same runway.
The airlines, the airport and Japan’s Transport Ministry were not immediately available for comment and did not answer repeated calls.
The cause of the accident was not clear.
Some flights were delayed. A winglet may have been damaged on one of the planes, reports said.
This aerial photo shows the airplanes of Thai Airways International, left, and Eva Airways, right, sit close on a runway, after the two passenger planes accidentally hit each other at Haneda airport in Tokyo on Saturday. PHOTO: AP
This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. PHOTO: AP
MIAMI (AP) – The federal indictment against Donald Trump accuses the former President of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate after leaving the White House in 2021, and then scheming and lying to thwart government efforts to recover them.
Justice Department prosecutors brought 37 felony counts against Trump in the indictment, relying upon photographs from Mar-a-Lago, surveillance video, text messages between staffers, Trump’s own words, those of his lawyers, and other evidence.
“It comes across as obviously a very strong case, if it can be proven,” said Mark Zaid, a Washington, DC-based lawyer who works on national security issues. “I’m surprised as to how personally involved it alleges Trump was with respect to the documents,” he added.
An aide to Trump, Walt Nauta, was charged as a co-conspirator with six felony counts.
Trump says he is innocent and has decried the criminal case — the second indictment against him in a matter of months — as an attempt by his political opponents to hinder his 2024 campaign. He is expected to make his first court appearance on Tuesday in Miami.
Here are key takeaways from the indictment unsealed Friday:
WHAT ARE THE CHARGES?
Trump faces 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act. Other charges include: conspiracy to obstruct justice; corruptly concealing a document or record; concealing a document in a federal investigation; and making false statements.
Each of the willful retention counts pertains to a specific classified document found at Mar-A-Lago marked “SECRET” or “TOP SECRET.” Topics addressed in the documents include details about US nuclear weapons, the nuclear capabilities of a foreign country and the military activities or capabilities of other countries.
The conspiracy charges deal with Trump’s alleged attempts to hide documents from his lawyer or federal investigators. The false statement charges stem from Trump causing his lawyer to tell the FBI that no more classified documents were at Mar-a-Lago — but then the FBI later found more than 100 documents during an August 2022 search.
The most serious charges carry potential prison sentences of up to 20 years each. But judges have discretion and, if convicted, first-time offenders rarely get anywhere near the maximum sentence. Being a former president would also likely be a major consideration in any sentencing.
This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. PHOTO: AP
WHAT IS THE ALLEGED CONSPIRACY TO OBSTRUCT JUSTICE?
The indictment accuses Trump and Nauta of conspiring to hide the secret documents from the grand jury, which in May 2022 issued a subpoena for him to turn them over.
The conspiracy allegation included a suggestion from Trump that his lawyer falsely tell investigators that the former president didn’t have any more classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. It also involved moving boxes to hide the secret documents from Trump’s lawyer, and suggesting that Trump’s lawyer hide or destroy documents that investigators were seeking.
The indictment says that, at Trump’s direction, Nauta moved about 64 boxes of documents from a Mar-a-Lago storage room to the former president’s residence in May 2022. He then returned ”approximately 30 boxes” to the storage room on June 2 — the same day Trump’s legal team came to examine the boxes and search for classified documents to return to the government, the indictment says.
Nauta had a brief phone call with Trump before returning those boxes, the indictment says. Neither Trump nor Nauta told the former president’s lawyers that Nauta had moved any of the storage room contents, the indictment says.
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to reporters Friday, June 9, 2023, in Washington. PHOTO: AP
IS TRUMP ACCUSED OF SHARING CLASSIFIED INFORMATION?
The indictment alleges Trump showed classified documents to people who didn’t have security clearances on two occasions.
The court papers detail a meeting Trump had in July 2021 with a writer and publisher about an upcoming book. Trump told the pair “look what I found” and showed them what he described as a senior military official’s “plan of attack,” according to an audio recording of that conversation obtained by investigators.
Trump acknowledged during that meeting that the document was “highly confidential” and “secret information,” the indictment says. He also says that he could have declassified the document if he was still president.
“Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret,” he said, according to the indictment.
A few months later, Trump showed a representative of his political action committee a classified map of a foreign country while discussing a military operation in the country that was not going well, the indictment says. Trump acknowledged that he shouldn’t be showing the map to the person and told him not to get too close, prosecutors allege.
Former President Donald Trump listens as he speaks with reporters while in flight on his plane after a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023, while en route to West Palm Beach, Florida. PHOTO: AP
WHAT EVIDENCE DO PROSECUTORS HAVE?
In addition to the audio recording, prosecutors also relied upon text messages between Trump employees, photos of boxes of documents stored in various rooms throughout Mar-a-Lago and details about conversations between Trump and his lawyers that were memorialized by one of them.
In one conversation with his lawyers, Trump said: “I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes.” Trump also asked one of his lawyers if it would be better “if we just told them we don’t have anything here,” the indictment says.
Photographs in the indictment show boxes stacked on a stage in a ballroom as well as in a bathroom. Another shows boxes that spilled over in a storage room, including a document marked “SECRET/REL TO USA, FVEY,” which means information releasable only to members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Image contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records on December 7, 2021, in a storage room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, that had fallen over with contents spilling onto the floor. PHOTO: AP
WHERE WILL THE CASE BE HEARD?
While Trump’s first court appearance on Tuesday is expected to be in front of a Magistrate Judge in Miami, the case was filed in West Palm Beach — about 70 miles to the north. The case was assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, who issued rulings favourable to him last year and expressed repeated skepticism of Justice Department positions.
Cannon was broadly criticized last year for granting the Trump legal team’s request for a special master to conduct an independent review of the hundreds of classified documents seized from his Florida property last year. The move, which temporarily halted core aspects of the Justice Department’s investigative work, was overturned months later by a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court.
Released by Colombia's Armed Forces Press Office, photo shows soldiers and Indigenous men tend to the four Indigenous brothers who were missing after a deadly plane crash, in the Solano jungle, Caqueta state, Colombia on Friday. PHOTO: AP
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Friday that authorities found alive four children who survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the Amazon jungle that held Colombians on edge.
The children were alone when searchers found them and are now receiving medical attention, Petro told reporters upon his return to Bogota from Cuba, where he signed a cease-fire agreement with representatives of the National Liberation Army rebel group.
The president said the youngsters are an “example of survival” and predicted their saga “will remain in history.”
Released by Colombia’s Armed Forces Press Office, photo shows soldiers and Indigenous men tend to the four Indigenous brothers who were missing after a deadly plane crash, in the Solano jungle, Caqueta state, Colombia on Friday. PHOTO: AP
The crash happened in the early hours of May 1, when the Cessna single-engine propeller plane with six passengers and a pilot declared an emergency due to an engine failure.
The small aircraft fell off radar a short time later and a frantic search for survivors began. The three adults were killed, and their bodies were found in the area.
In this photo released by Colombia’s Armed Forces Press Office, a soldier stands in front of the wreckage of a Cessna C206, May 18, 2023, that crashed in the jungle of Solano in the Caqueta state of Colombia. PHOTO: AP
