World
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte impeached, faces senate trial as political battle rages
MANILA, Philippines — The lower house in the Philippines impeached Vice President Sara Duterte Wednesday, accusing her of a wide range of crimes that included plotting to assassinate the president, large-scale corruption and failing to strongly denounce China’s aggressive actions against Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea.
The move by legislators in the House of Representatives, many of them allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., deepens a bitter political rift that involved the two highest leaders of one of Asia’s most rambunctious democracies.
Marcos has boosted defense ties with his country’s treaty ally, the United States, while the vice president’s father, Rodrigo Duterte, nurtured cozy relations with China and Russia during his stormy term that ended in 2022.
At least 215 legislators in the lower house signed the impeachment complaint against the vice president, significantly more than the required number to allow the petition to be rapidly transmitted to the Senate, which would serve as a tribunal to try the vice president, House of Representatives Secretary-General Reginald Velasco told a plenary House meeting in the body’s last session before a four-month recess.
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Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte gestures as she attends a hearing at the House of Representative in Quezon City, Philippines, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Among the signatories of the impeachment complaint was the president’s son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez. The petition urged the Senate to shift itself into an impeachment court to try the vice president, “render a judgement of conviction,” remove her from office and ban her from holding public office.
“Duterte’s conduct throughout her tenure clearly displays gross faithlessness against public trust and a tyrannical abuse of power that, taken together, showcases her gross unfitness to hold public office and her infidelity to the laws and the 1987 Constitution,” the complaint said of Duterte.
The vice president didn’t immediately comment on the House decision to impeach her, but her brother, Rep. Paolo Duterte said that the move was “a clear act of political persecution.” Rival lawmakers maneuvered to quickly collect signatures and push a “baseless impeachment case” to the Senate, he said.
Duterte ran as Marcos’s vice-presidential running mate in 2022 on a campaign battle cry of unity in a deeply divided Southeast Asian country. Both were scions of strongmen long in the crosshairs of human rights groups, but their strong regional bases of support combined to give them landslide victories.
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An effigy of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte are displayed during a rally ahead of the third State of the Nation Address by the president in Quezon City, Philippines, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Cristino)
Marcos is the son and namesake of the late dictator, who was ousted in a 1986 pro-democracy uprising. The vice president’s father and Marcos’s predecessor, Duterte, launched a deadly anti-drug crackdown that is being investigated by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity.
The whirlwind political alliance rapidly frayed after their electoral victories.
The impeachment complaint against the vice president, regarded as a possible presidential contender after Marcos’s six-year term ends in 2028, focuses on a death threat that she made against the president, his wife and the House speaker last year, irregularities in the use of her office’s intelligence funds and her failure to stand up to Chinese aggression in the disputed South China Sea.
She said in an online news conference on Nov. 23 that she has contracted an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and Romualdez if she were killed, a threat she warned wasn’t a joke.
She later said that she wasn’t threatening him, but was expressing concern for her own safety. However, her statements set off an investigation and national security concerns.
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House Speaker Martin Romualdez, top right, presides over the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte at the House of Representatives in Quezon City in Manila, Philippines, Wednesday, Feb.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)
Allegations of graft and corruption against her also emanated from a monthslong and televised House investigation on the alleged misuse of 612.5 million pesos ($10.5 million) of confidential and intelligence funds received by Duterte’s offices as vice president and education secretary. She has since left the education post after her political differences with Marcos deepened.
She has also been accused of unexplained wealth and failure to declare her wealth as required by the law. She has refused to respond to questions in detail in tense televised hearings last year.
The impeachment complaint accused Duterte of undermining the Marcos government’s policies, including her description of the administration’s handling of territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea as a “fiasco.” The complaint also mentioned her silence over China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed waters.
“Her sheer evasiveness and silence on the West Philippine Sea issue, an issue that strikes at the core of Philippine sovereignty, is diametrically opposed to her being so loquacious as to other issues,” the impeachment petition said, using the Philippine name for the disputed waters.
Duterte has repeatedly accused Marcos, his wife and Romualdez of corruption, weak leadership and attempting to muzzle her because of speculation she may seek the presidency in 2028.
Iranians mourning the country’s supreme leader condemned U.S. strikes that Washington called retaliation for Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. At a tightly controlled state funeral in Mashhad — one of Iran’s most conservative cities, where opponents of the government were unlikely to be found in the crowd — mourners voiced defiance and called for revenge.
World
Beloved musicians among victims in deadly Bahamas plane crash; aviation authority grounds flights
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A devastating double-aviation crisis in the Bahamas, including a deadly North Andros plane crash and a separate aircraft fire on Friday, prompted the government to suspend flight operations for a local airline and launch a federal safety probe.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time Friday, a Cessna 402 aircraft with Bahamian registration departed Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau bound for San Andros Airport.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) said the plane “encountered difficulties” and crashed into bushes prior to landing.
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Authorities said 10 people were killed in a Bahamas plane crash on Friday. (Our News Bahamas via AP)
First responders, including the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Airport Authority and emergency medical personnel, rushed to the dense brush where the aircraft went down.
The Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Union confirmed in a statement Saturday that 10 people died in the crash, including prominent members of the “The Pond Band” and a local DJ, whose artistry the union said “touched so many lives and helped to enrich the cultural fabric of The Bahamas.”
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said a sole survivor was pulled from the wreckage.
“Ann and I are praying for the families who are now facing unbearable grief,” Davis wrote in a statement on X. “We are also praying for the survivor, whose recovery and care will remain in our thoughts.”
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The identities of those killed in the crash have not yet been released.
While the AAIA’s preliminary reports initially indicated seven people were on board, officials are still establishing the facts of the flight manifest.
Just hours before the fatal crash in North Andros, a Flamingo Air flight en route to Mayaguana was forced to turn back to Nassau after the pilot reported a concern, according to the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation (MoET).
After the aircraft landed and passengers safely deplaned, the plane caught fire on the runway.
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FILE – The Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate following two aircraft incidents Friday. (iStock)
Following the two back-to-back safety incidents, the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas (CAAB) temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate, according to MoET officials.
“The suspension is a precautionary safety measure and should not be treated as an adverse compliance action against Flamingo Air,” the agency wrote in a statement.
FILE – The plane crashed in North Andros on Friday after taking off from Lynden Pindling International Airport. (Melissa Alcena/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Investigators from the AAIA and inspectors from the CAAB remain at the scene in North Andros as they work to determine what caused the Cessna 402 tragedy.
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Flamingo Air did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu nominated businessman Vasile Tofan on Saturday as the country’s next prime minister to replace Alexandru Munteanu, who resigned earlier this month over differences with the ruling majority.
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In a video posted to social media, Sandu said Tofan’s primary responsibility, after his candidacy is approved by the country’s parliament, would be to move the country further towards its path of “integration” into the European Union.
He should also “strengthen the resilience of state institutions and society”, and “revive the economy”, added Sandu.
The Moldovan businessman now has two weeks to secure parliamentary backing, a prospect he hopes to achieve after submitting his government programme and his ministerial cabinet nominations.
Tofan had been mentioned as a possible prime minister last year even before the appointment of Munteanu.
Igor Grosu, who heads Sandu’s Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) which won the last parliamentary elections in September, announced on Friday that he had selected him as his candidate to replace the outgoing premier.
He said Tofan shared “the same objectives” as him and PAS, specifying that “EU accession in the years to come, institutional reform and economic growth”, were among the biggest points of agreement.
The nominee for prime minister, who graduated Harvard Business School and turns 44 on Sunday, has a degree in public management from the Netherlands and is a managing partner at Horizon Capital, a private equity firm with assets primarily in Ukraine and Moldova.
He has also chaired the board of directors of Moldova’s Purcari winery, considered the crown jewel of the country’s winemaking sector.
Munteanu, another businessman who like Sandu previously worked at the World Bank, had been chosen to boost the economy and bring it closer to the EU, but turbulence with PAS saw him vacate his post less than a year into holding office.
He resigned on 3 July after less than eight months, stating that he could no longer carry out his mandate “according to (his) principles and (his) convictions”.
The EU last month officially launched a first round of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Both countries became official EU candidate countries on 23 June 2022.
Additional sources • AFP
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