Thai parliament elects PM, best bet faces bar

BANGKOK—Thailand’s parliament opened Thursday to vote for a prime minister, with frontrunner Pita Limjaroenrat saying he was confident despite a barrage of last-minute hurdles that could undo his bid for the premiership.

The coalition bloc led by Pita’s Move Forward Party will face off against more established parties and juntaappointed senators, spooked by the progressives’ shock election victory in May and their determination to amend Thailand’s strict royal defamation laws.

On a day of high political drama Wednesday, Pita was hit with the threat of parliamentary suspension while the Constitutional Court accepted a case accusing him and his party of attempting to overthrow the monarchy.

“I am confident in myself that I will work with my full capacity to respond to people’s hopes and the support that they gave to me,” Pita told reporters ahead of the session opening.

“I will try my best in showing my vision and explaining all senators’ doubts.”

House speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha opened the parliamentary session, welcoming politicians ahead of the vote, which is not expected to begin until late afternoon.

Despite the MFP’s win at the polls, with Thais rejecting the government of Prayut Chan-o-cha, who seized power in a 2014 coup, the party’s chances of forming a government with Pita at its head look increasingly slim.

He faces resistance from a military-appointed, 250-member Senate because of his party’s push to reform section 112 of Thailand’s criminal code, which bans defaming or insulting the royal family.

His plans to shake up the country’s powerful business monopolies have also sparked concern.

Pita’s eight-party coalition, which includes runners-up Pheu Thai, has 312 seats but is short of the 376 needed across both houses of parliament to claim the prime ministership.

On Tuesday, now-caretaker Prime Minister Prayut -whose United Thai Nation party finished a dismal fifth in the May elections—announced his retirement from politics, although he will remain as premier until a new prime minister emerges. AFP

North Korean leader oversees latest test of solid-fuel ICBM Canberra has doubts on Kyiv’s jet request

SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the successful test of the country’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile, state media reported Thursday, days after Pyongyang threatened to down any US spy planes that enter its airspace.

A beaming Kim, wearing a white suit and flanked by his wife and key aides, was shown in state media images applauding enthusiastically after the launch of the solid-fuel Hwasong-18 on Wednesday.

pledging to send an additional fleet of 30 armoured Bushmaster infantry vehicles at a cost of US$67 million.

But Kyiv has also asked Australia about the condition of dozens of retired F-18 fighter jets, which could provide a major boost against the might of the Russian air force.

Defense Minister Richard Marles said conversations about providing aircraft were “ongoing”, but were much more difficult than other forms of military support.

“Aircraft become a much more complicated question,” he told national broadcaster ABC.

“The situation around aircraft is pretty complicated, but we will keep having the conversation with Ukraine around that.

“What we give, and what we do, needs to be practical and needs to make a difference.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said in June that Kyiv was interested in the aircraft.

“There has been a request for information,” Myroshnychenko said.AFP

‘Chinese hackers breach US govt email accounts’

WASHINGTON, DC—Chinese-based hackers seeking intelligence information breached the email accounts of a number of US government agencies, computer giant Microsoft said.

“The threat actor Microsoft links to this incident is an adversary based in China that Microsoft calls Storm-0558,” the company said in a blog post late Tuesday.

Microsoft said Storm-0558 gained access to email accounts at approximately 25 organizations including government agencies.

Microsoft did not identify the targets but a US State Department spokesperson said the department had “detected anomalous activity” and had taken “immediate steps to secure our systems.”

“As a matter of cybersecurity policy, we do not discuss details of our response and the incident remains under investigation,” the spokesperson said.

According to The Washington Post, the breached email accounts were unclassified and “Pentagon, intelligence community and military email accounts did not appear to be affected.”

But the paper reported Wednesday evening (Thursday in Manila), quoting US officials, that State Department email accounts and that of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were hacked. AFP

The ICBM, which North Korea has fired only once before, in April, flew 1,001 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 6,648 km before splashing into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The launch was a “grand explosion” that shook “the whole planet,” KCNA said. State media footage showed the missile blasting off into the sky.

Kim vowed that “a series of stronger military offensive” would be launched until the United States and South Korea change their policies towards North Korea, the agency added.

Citing the “unstable situation” on the Korean peninsula, Kim also called for “more intense efforts” to boost North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. AFP