APD | Weekly top 10 hot news (Mar.18 - March.22)
Every Saturday, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.
This week, the following hot news you should know:
Top1 | Tokayev sworn in as Kazakhstan's president
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took office as Kazakhstan's interim president on Wednesday following the sudden resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev who had served as the country's president for nearly three decades.
"I solemnly swear to faithfully serve the people of Kazakhstan, to strictly observe the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens, to fulfill in good faith great duties of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan entrusted on me," Tokayev said at a parliament meeting.
Nazarbayev, who served as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, announced his resignation on Tuesday.
Top 2 | New Zealand brings in sweeping gun-law changes
Assault rifles and military-style semi-automatics have been banned in New Zealand after Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, announced sweeping and immediate changes to gun laws following the Christchurch mosque shootings.
“I absolutely believe there will be a common view amongst New Zealanders, those who use guns for legitimate purposes, and those who have never touched one, that the time for the mass and easy availability of these weapons must end. And today they will,” said Ardern.
Parts that are used to convert guns into military-style semi-automatics (MSSAs) have also being banned, along with high-capacity magazines and parts that cause a firearm to generate semi-automatic, automatic or close-to-automatic gunfire.
Top 3 | Trump forges bond with Brazil's Bolsonaro in White House visit
U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazil’s new far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro forged a bond over their shared brand of conservative and populist politics on Tuesday, with Trump pledging to give more U.S. support to Brazil’s global ambitions.
In a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said he told Bolsonaro he would designate Brazil a major non-NATO ally and possibly go further by supporting a campaign to make Brazil “maybe a NATO ally.”
Bolsonaro, a former army captain who rode to the presidency with a brash, anti-establishment campaign modeled on Trump’s 2016 run, has declared himself an unabashed admirer of the U.S. president and the American way of life.
Top 4 | U.S. imposes sanctions on Venezuela's gold mining company, chief
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday slapped sanctions on a Venezuelan gold mining company and its leader, accusing them of supporting President Nicolas Maduro.
The sanctions target CVG Compania General de Mineria de Venezuela CA, or Minerven, the Venezuelan state-run ferrous metals mining company, and its president Adrian Antonio Perdomo Mata, the Treasury said in a statement.
The Treasury accused them of participating in "the illicit gold operations that have continued to prop up" the Maduro government. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement that Washington will "aggressively pursue those involved with Maduro's reckless illicit gold trade."
Top 5 | Brazil's ex-president Temer arrested, accused of heading 'criminal organization'
Brazil's former president Michel Temer was arrested on Thursday in "Operation Radioactivity," a probe of alleged graft in the construction of a nuclear power plant, threatening to delay debate over the government's ambitious fiscal reforms.
Temer was president from 2016 to 2018, taking office after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, who he served under as vice president for six years. His lawyer confirmed he was arrested in Sao Paulo, and his legal team has lodged an appeal for Temer to be freed.
Prosecutors alleged that Temer was the leader of a "criminal organization" that took in 1.8 billion reais (475 million U.S. dollars) in bribes or pending future kickbacks as part of numerous schemes, including one related to the Angra nuclear power plant complex on the Rio de Janeiro coast and other state firms.
Top 6 | Chief of staff to Venezuela's Guaido arrested
Venezuelan intelligence officers Thursday arrested the chief of staff of Juan Guaido, the opposition leader recognized by the US and other countries as interim leader, Guaido and the opposition-ruled congress said on Twitter.
Roberto Marrero was grabbed by SEBIN officers when they staged a pre-dawn raid on his Caracas home, according to Guaido and a recorded voice message by Marrero published on social media.
The United States has repeatedly warned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government against arresting Guaido or his aides, and Washington's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quickly called for Marrero's release.
Top 7 | Thailand elections 2019: Military will keep a hold on power despite poll
Thailand will head to the polls Sunday for the first elections since a military coup in 2014, with the ballot widely considered to be a vote between a return to democracy and legitimized military rule.
Throughout their time in power, military leaders have repeatedly promised -- and failed -- to hold democratic elections, prompting anger and frustration among many Thais.
A series of small but significant protests have taken place in recent months -- a poignant show of opposition during a period in which free speech advocates have been prosecuted and face years in prison.
Top 8 | Syria says Trump position on Golan ignores international law
The Syrian government on Friday condemned US President Donald Trump's pledge to recognise Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, saying it flies in the face of international law.
Trump on Thursday called the Golan -- a strategic area seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed in a move never recognised by the international community -- "of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!"
The Syrian government denounced his comments, saying they flagrantly disregarded international law.
Top 9 | EU fines Google $1.7 billion for abusing online ads market
European Union regulators have fined Google 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for abusing its dominant role in online advertising, the third big antitrust penalty they’ve given the internet giant since 2017.
The latest punishment means the commission has now issued Google with almost $10 billion in fines from probes into various parts of the Silicon Valley tech company’s business.
In the latest ruling, Google and parent company Alphabet were found to have breached EU rules by imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with websites that used its AdSense advertising business. That prevented Google rivals from placing their ads on these sites, the EU’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said Wednesday.
Top 10 | Ethiopia and Indonesia crash parallels heap pressure on Boeing
Investigators probing the Boeing 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia have found similarities in vital flight angle data with an aeroplane that came down off Indonesia, a source said, hiking pressure on the world’s biggest planemaker.
The Ethiopian Airlines disaster eight days ago killed 157 people, led to the grounding of Boeing’s marquee MAX fleet globally and sparked a high-stakes inquiry for the aviation industry.
Analysis of the cockpit recorder showed its so-called “angle of attack” data was “very, very similar” to the Lion Air jet that came down off Jakarta in October, killing 189 people, a person familiar with the investigation said.
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(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
