India clashes injure four in cricket win celebrations

HONG KONG/MANILA: Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said in Hong Kong that he was ready for possible arrest amid reports the International Criminal Court (ICC) was poised to issue a warrant over his years-long “war on drugs” that killed thousands.
The “war on drugs” was the signature campaign policy that swept Duterte to power in 2016 as a maverick, crime-busting mayor, who delivered on promises he made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of narcotics dealers.
The office of the current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Monday no official communication had been received from Interpol yet, but indicated Duterte could be handed over.
“Our law enforcers are ready to follow what law dictates, if the warrant of arrest needs to be served because of a request from Interpol,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro told reporters.
It was not immediately clear how long Duterte would stay in China-ruled Hong Kong — which is not a party to the ICC. Duterte was in the city to speak at a campaign rally attended by thousands of Filipino workers, hoping to boost support for his senatorial candidates in upcoming Philippine midterm elections.
“Assuming it’s (warrant) true, why did I do it? For myself? For my family? For you and your children, and for our nation,” Duterte told the rally, justifying his brutal anti-narcotics campaign.
“If this is truly my fate in life, it’s okay, I will accept it. They can arrest me, imprison me.
“What is my sin? I did everything in my time for peace and a peaceful life for the Filipino people,” he told the cheering crowds in Hong Kong’s downtown Southorn Stadium, appearing with his daughter, the Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte.
An elite Hong Kong police unit for protecting VIPs was stationed in the vicinity of the hotel where Duterte is staying, according to a Reuters witness.
The Hong Kong government’s security bureau and police gave no immediate response to a request for comment.
The Philippines presidential office dismissed speculation that Duterte might evade the law by visiting Hong Kong, while appealing to Duterte’s supporters to allow the legal process to take its course.
During a congressional hearing last year into his bloody crackdown on drugs, Duterte said he was not scared of the ICC and told it to “hurry up” on its investigation.
The firebrand Duterte unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC’s founding treaty in 2019 when it started looking into allegations of systematic extrajudicial killings.
More recently, the Philippines has signalled it is ready to cooperate with the investigation in certain areas.

SEOUL: South Korea and the United States on Monday began their annual joint military exercises, but they paused live-fire training while Seoul investigates how two of its fighter jets mistakenly bombed a civilian area during a warm-up drill last week.
The modified Freedom Shield exercise, which combines computer simulations and field training and runs through March 20, still drew the condemnation of nuclear-armed North Korea, which issued a government statement calling the drill a “dangerous provocative act” that increases the risks of military conflict.
About 30 people were injured, two of them seriously, when two South Korean KF-16 fighter jets mistakenly fired eight MK-82 bombs on a civilian area in Pocheon, a town near the North Korean border. The bombing occurred while South Korean and US forces were engaging in a live-fire drill ahead of the larger Freedom Shield exercise.
In a background briefing to domestic reporters on Monday, the South Korean air force repeated its initial assessment last week that one of the KF-16 pilots had entered the wrong coordinates for a bombing site.
The unidentified pilot didn’t recognize the error during a pre-takeoff check and, rushing to meet scheduled timing, failed to visually verify the target before proceeding with the bombing. The second pilot had the correct coordinates but focused only on maintaining formation with the other aircraft and dropped the bombs following the first pilot’s instructions, failing to recognize they deviated from the right target, according to the content of the briefing provided to The Associated Press.
Gen. Lee Youngsu, chief of staff of the South Korean air force, bowed and apologized Monday over the injuries and property damage caused by the incident, which he said “should have never happened and must never happen again.”
Both the South Korean and US militaries have halted all live-fire exercises in South Korea following the mishap. South Korean military officials say live-fire training will resume after they complete the ongoing investigation on the bombing and formulate preventative steps.
The Freedom Shield exercise marks the first large-scale joint exercise since US President Donald Trump began his second term. It comes amid growing tensions with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions and its alignment with Russia in President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
Trump, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his first term, has expressed his willingness to reach out to Kim again to revive diplomacy, which collapsed due to disagreements over exchanging US-led sanctions against the North and the North’s denuclearization steps. But Pyongyang has yet to respond to his overture and has continued its fiery rhetoric against Washington and Seoul over their joint military exercises, which Kim portrays as rehearsals for invasion.
In a statement issued through state media Monday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry called the Freedom Shield exercise an “aggressive and confrontational war rehearsal” that risks triggering “physical conflict” on the Korean Peninsula.
The ministry reiterated Kim’s state goals for a “radical growth” of his nuclear force to counter what he claims as growing threats posed by the US and its Asian allies.