News in Brief
MOGADISHU (Reuters) -- Mogadishu’s police chief announced he had suspended parliament on Monday, saying he was acting unilaterally to prevent lawmakers from extending the president’s term, only to be fired moments later by the police commissioner. "We have stopped the parliament session today. We have a responsibility bigger than a personal one. We have to solve anything that can bring violence and war in Mogadishu,” Saadaq Omar Hassan told local television station Universal in a live speech. "The four-year term has ended.” Moments later, Somalia’s police commissioner Hassan Mohamed Hijar, announced on Facebook that Hassan had been fired and replaced. The chaos underscores the widening divisions within the Horn of Africa’s security services over extending the four-year term of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who faces growing pressure to quit after his term as national leader ended in February.
***
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A conservative businessman seemed headed to Ecuador’s presidency, with voters rejecting the leftist movement started by former President Rafael Correa more than a decade ago. And in neighboring Peru, a crowded field of 18 presidential candidates was virtually certain to result in a second round of voting in June. The South American nations held elections Sunday under strict public health measures amid a recent spike in COVID-19 cases and the return of lockdowns. Peruvians also elected a new Congress. The Electoral Council in Ecuador did not declare a winner in the contest to replace President Lenín Moreno next month, but results released by the agency showed former banker Guillermo Lasso with about 53% of votes and leftist Andrés Arauz with 47%, with over 93% of votes counted. Arauz had led the first round of voting with more than 30% on Feb. 7, while Lasso edged into the final by finishing about a half percentage point ahead of environmentalist and Indigenous candidate Yaku Pérez. Arauz conceded the election and so did his main backer, Correa, who remains a force in Ecuador while living in self-exile in Belgium. Moreno was also an ally of Correa but turned against him while in office. "Sincerely, we believed we would win, but our projections were wrong,” Correa tweeted. "Good luck to Guillermo Lasso, his success will be that of Ecuador. I only ask you to stop the lawfare, which destroys lives and families.”
***
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The woman arrested on suspicion of killing her three young children at her Los Angeles apartment had been involved in a custody dispute with their father, according to a newspaper report Sunday. Liliana Carrillo, 30, was arrested Saturday in Tulare County after fleeing the gruesome scene and leading law enforcement officers on a long-distance chase, authorities said. The Los Angeles Times cites family court documents that show Eric Denton sought custody of the children — ages 3, 2 and 6 months — on March 1. Denton requested a temporary emergency visitation order from the court on March 4 and petitioned for a mental health evaluation of Carrillo, according to the newspaper. Orders were drawn up at a March 26 hearing. Another hearing in the case was scheduled for April 14. In response, Carrillo sought a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Denton on March 12 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, documents show.
***
TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo adopted tougher measures against the coronavirus Monday as it struggles to curb the rapid spread of a more contagious variant ahead of the Olympics in a country where less than 1% of people have been vaccinated. Japan started its vaccination drive with medical workers and expanded Monday to older residents, with the first shots being given in about 120 selected places around the country. The tougher COVID-19 rules, just three weeks after a state of emergency ended in the capital, allow Tokyo’s governor to mandate shorter opening hours for bars and restaurants, punish violators and compensate those who comply. The measures remain through May 11. The status was also raised for Kyoto in western Japan and the southern island prefecture of Okinawa, where cases have surged in recent weeks. The near-emergency status there is to continue through May 5, the end of Japan’s "Golden Week” holidays, to discourage traveling.
***
NATPYITAW (Dispatches) -- Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday was handed fresh criminal charges as a heavy-handed crackdown against her supporters continues across the country. Suu Kyi "has been charged again under section 25 of the natural disaster management law,” Suu Kyi’s lawyer Min Min Soe said after she took part via a video link in an online court hearing in the capital Naypyittaw. "She has been charged in six cases altogether -- five charges in Naypyidaw and one in Yangon,” the lawyer pointed out. In one of the bloodiest days of the unrest so far, more than 80 protesters were killed by security forces in the southern city of Bago on Friday. More than 700 civilians have been killed in the space of just 70 days since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.
***
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A conservative businessman seemed headed to Ecuador’s presidency, with voters rejecting the leftist movement started by former President Rafael Correa more than a decade ago. And in neighboring Peru, a crowded field of 18 presidential candidates was virtually certain to result in a second round of voting in June. The South American nations held elections Sunday under strict public health measures amid a recent spike in COVID-19 cases and the return of lockdowns. Peruvians also elected a new Congress. The Electoral Council in Ecuador did not declare a winner in the contest to replace President Lenín Moreno next month, but results released by the agency showed former banker Guillermo Lasso with about 53% of votes and leftist Andrés Arauz with 47%, with over 93% of votes counted. Arauz had led the first round of voting with more than 30% on Feb. 7, while Lasso edged into the final by finishing about a half percentage point ahead of environmentalist and Indigenous candidate Yaku Pérez. Arauz conceded the election and so did his main backer, Correa, who remains a force in Ecuador while living in self-exile in Belgium. Moreno was also an ally of Correa but turned against him while in office. "Sincerely, we believed we would win, but our projections were wrong,” Correa tweeted. "Good luck to Guillermo Lasso, his success will be that of Ecuador. I only ask you to stop the lawfare, which destroys lives and families.”
***
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The woman arrested on suspicion of killing her three young children at her Los Angeles apartment had been involved in a custody dispute with their father, according to a newspaper report Sunday. Liliana Carrillo, 30, was arrested Saturday in Tulare County after fleeing the gruesome scene and leading law enforcement officers on a long-distance chase, authorities said. The Los Angeles Times cites family court documents that show Eric Denton sought custody of the children — ages 3, 2 and 6 months — on March 1. Denton requested a temporary emergency visitation order from the court on March 4 and petitioned for a mental health evaluation of Carrillo, according to the newspaper. Orders were drawn up at a March 26 hearing. Another hearing in the case was scheduled for April 14. In response, Carrillo sought a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Denton on March 12 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, documents show.
***
TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo adopted tougher measures against the coronavirus Monday as it struggles to curb the rapid spread of a more contagious variant ahead of the Olympics in a country where less than 1% of people have been vaccinated. Japan started its vaccination drive with medical workers and expanded Monday to older residents, with the first shots being given in about 120 selected places around the country. The tougher COVID-19 rules, just three weeks after a state of emergency ended in the capital, allow Tokyo’s governor to mandate shorter opening hours for bars and restaurants, punish violators and compensate those who comply. The measures remain through May 11. The status was also raised for Kyoto in western Japan and the southern island prefecture of Okinawa, where cases have surged in recent weeks. The near-emergency status there is to continue through May 5, the end of Japan’s "Golden Week” holidays, to discourage traveling.
***
NATPYITAW (Dispatches) -- Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday was handed fresh criminal charges as a heavy-handed crackdown against her supporters continues across the country. Suu Kyi "has been charged again under section 25 of the natural disaster management law,” Suu Kyi’s lawyer Min Min Soe said after she took part via a video link in an online court hearing in the capital Naypyittaw. "She has been charged in six cases altogether -- five charges in Naypyidaw and one in Yangon,” the lawyer pointed out. In one of the bloodiest days of the unrest so far, more than 80 protesters were killed by security forces in the southern city of Bago on Friday. More than 700 civilians have been killed in the space of just 70 days since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.