In Thailand, leading candidate Paetongtarn Shinawatra gives birth two weeks before the vote
Other news of the day: Marcos Jr. announces Beijing's readiness to negotiate fishing grounds in the South China Sea. Gas leak kills 11 people in the Indian state of Punjab. Turkey’s Erdogan claims that the head of the Islamic State in Syria was killed in a Turkish operation. Israeli Parliament votes in favour of the separation of Azeri-majority Iranian Azerbaijan.
THAILAND
Two weeks before Thais go to the polls, the leading candidate, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, gave birth to a baby boy today. Paetongtarn, 36, announced the birth on her official social media accounts with a photo of the newly born: “Hi, my name is Prutthasin Sooksawas, nickname Thasin," the post reads. In the 14 May elections, Paetongtarn will try to bring back to power the populist movement led by her father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck before coups ousted them.
PHILIPPINES – CHINA
Speaking to reporters before leaving for Washington, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said that China had agreed to discuss fishing rights in the South China Sea. He noted that he had asked the Philippine Coast Guard and the Department of Foreign Affairs to draw up a map of fishing zones to be presented to Beijing. The Philippines, he added, does not want to become a "staging post" for military action.
INDIA
Eleven people died and four were hospitalised yesterday morning as a result of a gas leak in Giaspura, Ludhiana (Punjab). Air quality sensors detected high levels of hydrogen sulphide. The densely populated area is home to several factories. Investigations into the causes are ongoing, but it is suspected that the poisonous gas likely came from a partially open manhole and spread to nearby shops and houses.
SOUTH KOREA
In South Korea, on 1 May, an official with a construction workers' union attempted self-immolation outside a courthouse in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, just hours before he was due to appear at a pre-trial detention hearing on charges of business obstruction. The 50-year-old man suffered severe burns. Local prosecutors had requested an arrest warrant for him and two other union officials on charges of forcing businesses to hire union members between May 2022 and February this year.
TURKEY – SYRIA
Turkish intelligence services reportedly killed Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, suspected leader of the Islamic State group in Syria, on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in an interview with state broadcaster TRT Turk. Local and Syrian security sources said the operation took place in Jandaris, a town in northern Syria, controlled by Turkish-backed rebel groups and among the hardest hit by the 6 February earthquake.
ISRAEL – AZERBAIJIAN – IRAN
Members of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, have passed a motion supporting the separation of southern Azerbaijan from Iran with Tabriz as its capital. Located in north-western part of the Mideast country, the area has a majority ethnic Azeri population, considered “part of our people” in independent Azerbaijan. For years, local protests have regularly targeted Iran’s top leaders.
RUSSIA
According to the Public Sociology Laboratory (PS Lab), the number of requests for assistance for depression is way up in Russia over the past year, mainly from the wives of soldiers who increasingly experience anxiety, apathy and multiple fears. This is accompanied by a constant increase in domestic and street violence.
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