Category: 2. World

It was a Thai court decision last year that swept Paetongtarn Shinawatra into the prime minister’s office and now, once again, the fate of the 38-year-old novice politician lies in the hands of the judiciary.

The Constitutional Court suspended Paetongtarn – Thailand’s youngest prime minister – from office on Tuesday, pending a case that seeks her dismissal over a controversial phone call last month with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.

“I want to apologize to people who are upset by all of this,” Paetongtarn told reporters on the steps of Government House in Bangkok, where she only took office last August after the shock dismissal of her predecessor by a court order.

“I will continue to work for the country as a Thai citizen,” she said, “I don’t have any bad intentions.”

The suspension order capped two tumultuous weeks in Thai politics, triggered by the leak of the call between Hun Sen and Paetongtarn, in which she appears to pander to the Cambodian strongman and then denigrate a Thai military commander.

Criticism of the military, which holds an outsized influence over domestic affairs, including politics, crossed a red line for many in Thailand and instantly drew a backlash, particularly from the conservative-royalist camp.

The June 15 leak, and the subsequently release of the entire call by Hun Sen, came at a delicate time for Paetongtarn and her ruling Pheu Thai party, already struggling with a floundering economy and a shaky coalition as well as a festering border dispute with Cambodia.

Although Paetongtarn apologised for the call and described its contents as a negotiation tactic, a major coalition partner, the Bhumjaithai party, walked out of the government just hours after the leak, leaving her alliance’s parliamentary majority hanging by a thread.

Still, Paetongtarn – the daughter of Thailand’s influential but divisive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – dug in, and managed to hold together the remainder of her coalition.

“The country must move forward,” she said on June 22. “Thailand must unite and push policies to solve problems for the people.”

By then, a group of 36 senators had already submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court seeking the premier’s dismissal.

The judicial push coincided with growing public discontent against the prime minister, which culminated in a massive anti-government rally on Saturday.

Several thousand people gathered in the heart of the Thai capital, braving intensive monsoon rains, to rally for hours.

“Ung Ing, get out,” they chanted occasionally in unison, calling the prime minister by a nickname.

In an opinion poll released on Sunday, Paetongtarn’s approval stood at 9.2% in June, sharply down from 30.9% in March.

‘DADDY’S GIRL’

The youngest of Thaksin’s three children, Paetongtarn has spent much of her life in the shadow of the father’s political career, which began in 1994 and led to him becoming prime minister in 2001.

Thaksin was ousted in a coup five years later, but went on to push his younger sister, Yingluck into the premiership in 2011. But she was forced out of office by a court ruling.

The decades-long power struggle between Thailand’s conservative-royalist camp and the Shinawatra clan featured in Paetongtarn’s campaign to help her family win back power in the 2023 general election, where Pheu Thai only came second.

After the election-winning Move Forward party was blocked by military-appointed lawmakers from taking power, Pheu Thai engineered a parliamentary majority to form a government led initially by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.

It was Srettha’s dismissal last August that allowed Paetongtarn to take his place – although she had never held any government position before becoming prime minister.

Educated at Chulalongkorn University and Britain’s University of Surrey, she was primarily involved in the Shinawatra family businesses.

Much of her 10-month premiership has also been overshadowed by the looming presence of Thaksin, who returned to Thailand in 2023 after over a decade-and-a-half in self-exile to avoid a prison term – and now potentially again faces jail time.

For Paetongtarn, however, that appeared to be of little concern.

“I’m a daddy’s girl,” she told parliament in March, referring to Thaksin. “I am like that completely. I am a daddy’s girl, 100%.”

PARIS:

Nearly 2,000 schools were shut in France, monuments closed to tourists, and cities across Europe put on high alert as a record-breaking early summer heatwave spread across the continent Tuesday.

Withering conditions that have baked southern Europe for days crept northward where such extremes are much rarer, with Paris on “red alert” and warnings issued in Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.

Tens of thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a “silent killer”.

On Tuesday, police in Spain said a two-year-old died in the country’s northeast after being left in a car in the sun for several hours.

The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) warned that millions of Europeans were exposed to high heat stress, and that temperatures would remain “well above average” across most of the continent in coming days.

“This event is unusual because it’s extreme, because it’s very early on in the summer period, and climate change has almost certainly made it worse than it otherwise would have been,” climate scientist and C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess told AFP.

Records have already tumbled, with the Netherlands experiencing its hottest opening day of July, France and Portugal their highest-ever single-day temperatures in June, and Spain and England their warmest June months.

On Sunday, in a case of two extremes, the Mediterranean Sea hit a new June temperature record while Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe, went above freezing, a rarity for this time of year.

The summit of the Eiffel Tower was shut for a second straight day while in Brussels the city’s Atomium monument — famed for its giant stainless steel balls — was exceptionally shut as temperatures reached 37 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit).

Under scorching skies, Paris imposed its first “red alert” in five years, empowering officials to limit or ban sporting events, festivals and school outings for children.

The heat is expected to peak on Tuesday, with Paris facing highs of 38C, but authorities have extended the alert into Wednesday.

“We’re living a bit like moles,” Nicole, 85, told AFP in the stifling air of her apartment in a tower block in Paris.

Some parks will remain open all night, pools have extended visiting hours, and cooling centres in churches and museums are offering respite from the lack of greenery and concrete surfaces that amplify the heat.

Nearly 2,000 schools were closed at midday on Tuesday across France, according to the Ministry of Education, with teachers complaining that overheated and unventilated classrooms were making students unwell.

Authorities are fanning out to check on the elderly, chronically ill and the homeless.

“When it’s cold, I add blankets and hats. But when it’s hot like this, what can I do?” said Jo, a 55-year-old homeless man in Bordeaux, in southwestern France.

As far north as the Netherlands, some regions were on the second-highest alert Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to reach 38C.

“I also live in a rooftop apartment, which means it gets insanely hot during the day, and it’s unbearable,” student Liva Freimane told AFP in The Hague.

Schools in Rotterdam and across West Brabant province adopted “tropical schedules” to ensure students started and finished earlier to avoid the worst of the day’s heat.

In Germany, temperatures could peak at 40C on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that the government efficiency department, previously led by billionaire Elon Musk, should be tasked to review the subsidies paid to the Tesla CEO’s companies to save money, reigniting a war of words between the world’s most powerful person and its richest.

In their latest spat, Trump even threatened to deport Musk to his native South Africa.

The remarks came after Musk, a Republican mega donor, renewed his criticism of the sweeping tax-cut and spending bill and vowed to unseat lawmakers who supported it despite campaigning on limiting government spending.

Tesla shares fell more than six per cent before the market opened as the feud could add fresh hurdles for the business empire of Musk, whose main source of wealth, the electric automaker, is betting on the success of robo-taxis being tested in Texas.

Richest man threatens to go after lawmakers who backed the measure; president threatens to deport Tesla CEO to South Africa

The US Transportation Department regulates vehicle design and will play a key role in deciding if Tesla can mass-produce robotaxis without pedals and steering wheels, while Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX has about $22 billion in federal contracts.

“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“No more rocket launches, satellites, or electric car production, and our country would save a fortune. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? Big money to be saved!!!”

In response, Musk said on his own social media platform X: “I am literally saying cut it all. Now.”

Trump said Musk was upset because he lost the EV mandate in the recent tax and spending bill and warned the Tesla CEO “could lose a lot more than that”.

Trump had last month threatened to cut Musk’s government contracts when their relationship erupted into an all-out social media brawl over the tax-cut bill, which non-partisan analysts estimate would add about $3 trillion to US debt.

After weeks of relative silence, Musk rejoined the debate on Saturday as the Senate took up the package, calling it “utterly insane and destructive” in a post on X.

On Monday, Musk said lawmakers who campaigned on cutting spending but backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame!” “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” Musk said.

He also called again for a new political party, saying the bill’s massive spending indicated “that we live in a one-party country the Porky Pig Party!!”

The criticism marked a dramatic shift after the billionaire spent nearly $300 million on Trump’s re-election campaign and led the administration’s controversial DOGE initiative.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2025

Early afternoon was a busy time in the al-Baqa cafe, on the waterfront in Gaza City. Under the wooden slatted roof, seated at plastic chairs and tables, were dozens of Palestinians seeking respite from the relentless 20-month war that has devastated much of the bustling, vibrant town.

On one side was the Mediterranean, blue and calm to the horizon. On the other, battered apartment blocks, wrecked hotels and the close-packed tents of displaced families.

Founded almost 40 years ago, the family-run al-Baqa was for many in Gaza City a reminder of better, more peaceful times. It had long been a place to escape the claustrophobic strictures of life in the crowded territory, to talk freely, laugh and dream.

Among those sipping coffee, tea and soft drinks in the cafe was a young artist – Amna al-Salmi – and her friend Ismail Abu Hatab, a 32-year-old photographer and film-maker. Others included another journalist and at least one family with young children, including a four-year-old child, and a mother and her two daughters.

Then, at about 3pm, the peaceful scene at the al-Baqa cafe was transformed. Witnesses described a huge roaring explosion, flames, a plume of ash-grey smoke rising fast into the air. No one needed to ask what had happened.

In recent days, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has escalated its offensive across all of Gaza but focused much of its firepower on the territory’s north, where Hamas remain relatively entrenched despite multiple military assaults.

Tanks have advanced into neighbourhoods to the east of Gaza City, so-called “evacuation orders” have forced thousands from makeshift shelters and airstrikes have killed dozens.

When the dust and smoke cleared at the al-Baqa cafe, scenes of carnage were revealed.

“I stepped outside briefly to get something to eat, and when I returned – just as I was close – a missile struck,” said Abu al-Nour, 60.

“Shrapnel flew everywhere, and the place filled with smoke and the smell of cordite. I couldn’t see anything. I ran toward the cafe and found it destroyed. I went inside and saw bodies lying on the ground. All the cafe workers were killed.”

Adam, 21, was working nearby, renting out chairs and tables on the small promenade.

“When I reached the site, the scenes were beyond anything imaginable. I knew all the workers at the place. It was full of customers of all ages,” he told the Guardian.

Other witnesses described seeing a dead child, an elderly man with both legs severed and many others with serious injuries.

All said they had been surprised by the extent of the damage, which wrecked the entire cafe, warping concrete columns and scattering debris. A deck of cards and a giant stuffed toy animal could be seen amid the wreckage.

Even hours later, the air “smelled of blood”, one witness said.

Many expressed surprise that the cafe could be targeted at all. A 55-year-old sports teacher who lives nearby described the cafe as the “nicest in Gaza” and a place that “should have been the safest of anywhere” in the Palestinian territory.

An IDF spokesperson said the attack was under review, adding that the Israeli military had “struck several Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip” and that “prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians using aerial surveillance”.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, the IDF said Israel’s air force had attacked more than 140 “terror targets” in Gaza over the previous day, including “terrorists, anti-tank missile launch posts, weapons storage facilities and other terrorist infrastructure”.

Medical and other officials said that between 24 and 36 Palestinians were killed in the attack on the cafe, with dozens more injured.

Among the dead was 35-year-old Nour al-Huda al-Husari, who had gone with her two daughters “to get some fresh air and try to lift their spirits”.

“When I heard there had been a strike, I tried to call … I kept calling, but there was no answer,” said Mohammed al-Husari, her husband.

“Then about an hour and a half after the strike I heard she had been killed. My first thought was: what happened to my daughters? I felt like I was dreaming … I couldn’t believe it.”

The couple’s eight-year-old had been hurled many metres by the blast but was found standing stunned and alone, completely unharmed. But her older sister, aged 12, was badly hurt, suffering a skull fracture and internal bleeding, and could die.

“The hospital was completely full of the wounded and the dead – because the cafe was crowded with women, children and the young. It was not a suspicious or military place,” Husari said.

“If it had been, my wife would never have gone … she was always careful not to go anywhere risky or questionable, out of fear that something might happen nearby. The truth is there is no safe place in Gaza.”

Fatalities included Salmi, the artist, who was involved in initiatives to bring art by Palestinians in Gaza to a wider international audience and to support the most needy among the displaced in the territory.

Abu Hateb was also killed. The film-maker was badly injured early in the war and in an interview last year described how his work “haunted” him, bringing insomnia and depression.

“I have seen many martyrs, their meals still in front of them, unable to finish eating because they were killed. I think about that moment they must have felt just before death,” he said.

In addition to casualties from airstrikes, hundreds have died in recent weeks while seeking aid.

Those with savings or salaries can buy enough to survive on in local markets and even pay for drinks or a snack at venues where they can also use reliable wifi. The vast majority of the 2.3 million population suffer acutely, with growing malnutrition and a continuing threat of famine.

The war in Gaza was triggered by a surprise attack launched by Hamas militants into Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250, of whom 50 are still held by the militant Islamist organisation.

The ensuing Israeli offensive has so far killed 56,500, mostly civilians, and reduced much of the Palestinian territory to ruins.

Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, US President Donald Trump has said.

During the proposed 60-day ceasefire, “we will work with all parties to end the War”, Trump said in a post on Truth Social, without detailing what the conditions are.

“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope… that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump wrote.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed. At least 56,647 have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.