On Trump’s orders, thousands of JFK assassination documents newly public

MANILA: Family and supporters of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte rallied Friday to mark his 80th birthday and protest against his detention in The Hague on a charge of crimes against humanity.
Duterte could spend the remainder of his life in jail if convicted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the charge tied to his “war on drugs” in which thousands were killed.
Police told AFP they had blocked a convoy of at least 100 motorcycle riders near the Philippine presidential palace, brandishing posters that read “Bring Him Home.”
In the southern city of Davao, thousands of the ex-president’s supporters massed for a candle-lit rally, one of more than 200 birthday gatherings demanding his release.
“Almost all Filipinos love him and are very sad for him now,” 44-year-old supporter Darbie Bula said.
Presidential palace spokeswoman Claire Castro said that protesters had the right to assemble, but warned against acts that “sow fear (or) promote hatred toward the government, bordering the line of inciting to sedition.”
Castro told reporters that Philippine officials wished Duterte “good health, good fortune” — adding that “he needs that.”
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, his eldest daughter, who has been in the Dutch city since shortly after his arrest, said the support “makes the challenges he is facing today more bearable.”
Another of the ex-president’s daughters, 20-year-old Veronica Duterte, said her father had “always been a force to be reckoned with, even in his sunset days,” in a post on social media.
Outside the detention center in The Hague, hundreds gathered with a sound system blasting music, punctuated by calls for Duterte’s release.
“We hope that he will be back in the Philippines as soon as possible,” organizer Aldwin Villarta said.
“I don’t think that he has a case to answer. I think it’s very unfair for him to be here.”
Nicholas Kaufman, Duterte’s lead defense lawyer, said his client had been made aware of the events in Davao and The Hague.
“He was touched by the huge presence of supporters on this milestone birthday and we will work to ensure that he will celebrate future birthdays in their company,” he said via email.
The ICC chief prosecutor’s application for his arrest said Duterte’s alleged crimes were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population” in the Philippines.
“Potentially tens of thousands of killings were perpetrated,” the prosecutor alleged of the campaign that targeted mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.
But Sara Duterte has said that the once wildly popular president is convinced that what the ICC did “was wrong and there is no case to begin with.”
Duterte’s arrest on March 11 and rapid handover to the international tribunal came on the heels of his family’s bitter falling out with his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos.
Cracks began to appear in their alliance soon after Marcos teamed up with Sara Duterte to sweep the presidential and vice presidential elections in May 2022.
The vice president quit her cabinet post as education secretary after being denied the defense portfolio, while Duterte himself began calling Marcos a drug addict.
Last month, Sara Duterte was impeached by a pro-Marcos House of Representatives on charges that include an alleged assassination plot against the president.
The outcome of her Senate trial will likely depend on the number of seats her allies win in May 12 mid-term elections.
The ex-president will next appear in court on September 23.

MOSCOW: Russia said Friday it retook a border village from Ukraine in its Kursk region, where Moscow has this month reclaimed much of the territory that Kyiv held on to since last summer.

Ukraine launched a ground assault into the Russian border region in August, capturing large swathes of territory including the town of Sudzha, but over the past three weeks Moscow has taken much of it back.

Russia’s defense ministry said its troops had taken control of the village of Gogolevka, which lies close to the Ukrainian border and west of the town of Sudzha, which Moscow claimed back control of earlier in March.

Russia has moved several hundred civilians who were previously trapped in areas under Ukraine’s control eastwards, away from the fighting.

Ukraine still controls a strip of the Kursk region along the border.

Kyiv had hoped it could use land in the Kursk region as a bargaining chip in future peace talks with Russia, which has seized parts of eastern and southern Ukraine since its offensive began in 2022.

Visiting the Kursk region earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin called on troops to reclaim the entire Russian region.

He also called on Ukrainian troops to surrender and said Moscow would treat them as “terrorists.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday accused Ukraine of attacking Russian energy facilities in the past 24 hours despite a moratorium on striking each other’s energy infrastructure.

The ministry said Ukraine attacked a gas metering station in Kursk region and power facilities in Belgorod, and tried to hit an oil refinery in the Saratov region.