CLARK: President Rodrigo Duterte and boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao threw open the doors to the SEA Games in the Philippines on Saturday as a powerful typhoon took aim at the nation’s north and the competition’s core venues.

In a spectacle filled with Philippine tradition and stardom, the nation welcomed thousands of competitors from around the region for 11 days of games that got off to a rough start due to transport snafus and a last-minute rush to wrap up construction.

As the Games opened Typhoon Kammuri was rumbling in off the Pacific, with forecasters expecting it to hit early next week packing heavy rain and strong winds. National weather agency PAGASA said Kammuri was forecast to carry gusts of 185 kph and maximum sustained winds of 150 kph.

Despite the threat, the SEA Games opening ceremony at the national arena was a festival of dance, music and sport – even Duterte was shaking his hips.

“I declare open the SEA Games for the 30th time, celebrating the games of Southeast Asia,” the president said in English, before welcoming visitors in Filipino.

Boxer-turned-politician Pacquiao – one of the greatest ever fighters – appeared right at the end of the 100-minute show to ignite the Games cauldron in Clark.

The ceremony at the indoor Philippine Arena, 25km north of the capital Manila, kicked off with a medley of vibrant routines set to traditional folk music, with dozens of performers dancing or wielding machetes, daggers and sticks.

Athletes and delegates from the 11 competing nations then paraded around the 55,000-seat venue in traditional Philippine pageant style, with many waving national flags and taking selfies.

The loudest cheer of the night came when Duterte – sat alongside Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah – was seen dancing and clapping along to the Philippine team’s parade music, “Manila” by Hotdog.

There were musical performances from apl.de.ap, the Filipino-American rapper best known for being in hip-hop group The Black Eyed Peas, local crooner Robert Sena and the Philippines national anthem was sung by Lani Misalucha, known as “Asia’s Nightingale”.

This year’s Games in Clark, Manila and Subic, which run through to Dec 11, are particularly complex with a record 56 sports across dozens of venues that are in some cases hours apart by car, even before Manila’s notorious gridlock traffic is factored in.

Thousands of athletes have flooded into the Philippines for the multi-sport event, and an embarrassing string of gaffes led to Duterte calling for a probe into the chaotic organisation which even sparked the hashtag #SeaGamesFail.

“I’m really apologising for the country… they (other nations) should know while they are still here that the government is not happy,” Duterte said in an interview that aired Friday.

“You cannot just cast away all those – the discomfort, the sufferings of the athletes, sleeping on the floors, getting hungry,” he added. “To the countries that sent them here, it’s a big deal.”

He also instructed organisers to release complimentary tickets to many of the 56 sports at the SEA Games to locals.

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi announced his resignation on Friday after the country’s top Shia Muslim cleric called for lawmakers to reconsider their support for a government rocked by weeks of deadly anti-establishment unrest.

“In response to this call, and in order to facilitate it as quickly as possible, I will present to parliament a demand (to accept) my resignation from the leadership of the current government,” a statement signed by Abdul Mahdi said.

The statement did not say when he would resign.

Parliament is to convene an emergency session on Sunday to discuss the crisis.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani earlier urged parliament to consider withdrawing its support for Abdul Mahdi’s government to stem spiralling violence.

Security forces meanwhile shot dead at least three people in the southern city of Nassiriya as clashes continued.

Iraqi forces have killed nearly 400 mostly young, unarmed demonstrators since mass anti-government protests broke out on Oct 1.

More than a dozen members of the security forces have also died in clashes.

The burning of Iran’s consulate in the holy city of Najaf on Wednesday escalated violence and drew a brutal response from security forces who shot dead more than 60 people nationwide on Thursday.

The unrest has been Iraq’s biggest crisis for years.

It pits protesters from Shia heartlands in Baghdad and the south against a corrupt Shia-dominated ruling elite seen as pawns of Iran.

Chaos and infighting

Iraq’s current political class is drawn mainly from powerful Shia politicians, clerics and paramilitary leaders including many who lived in exile before a US-led invasion overthrew Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Sistani, who only weighs in on politics in times of crisis and wields huge influence over public opinion, on Friday warned against an explosion of civil strife and tyranny.

He urged government forces to stop killing protesters. He also urged protesters to reject all violence.

The government “appears to have been unable to deal with the events of the past two months … parliament, from which the current government emerged, must reconsider its choices and do what’s in the interest of Iraq,” a representative of Sistani said in a televised sermon.

Protesters “must not allow peaceful demonstrations to be turned into attacks on property or people,” he said.

Wednesday’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Najaf set off a sharp escalation of violence.

On Thursday, security forces shot dead 46 people in another southern city, Nassiriya, 18 in Najaf and four in Baghdad bringing the death toll from weeks of unrest to at least 417, most of them unarmed protesters, according to a Reuters tally from medical and police sources.

Clashes between protesters and security forces broke out early on Friday in Nassiriya killing three people and wounding several others, hospital sources said.

Iraq’s “enemies and their apparatuses are trying to sow chaos and infighting to return the country to the age of dictatorship … everyone must work together to thwart that opportunity,” Sistani said, without elaborating.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bekas perdana menteri Najib Razak menuntut pemimpin DAP, Lim Kit Siang dan 2 lagi pihak mengemukakan surat tunjuk sebab mengapa mereka tidak boleh dianggap menghina mahkamah susulan penerbitan satu artikel berkaitan dana RM42 bilion SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Tuntutan selepas notis usul dan afidavit sokongan Najib, yang difailkan pada 11 November lepas di pejabat Pendaftar Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur semasa permohonan ex-parte, muncul untuk pengurusan kes hari ini di kamar Hakim Mahkamah Tinggi, Hakim Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

Najib, 66, menuntut Lim, laman berita Malay Mail, dan seorang pemberitanya, menunjukkan sebab mengapa mereka tidak boleh dianggap menghina mahkamah berhubung penerbitan artikel “Kit Siang: High Court decision on Najib and Tanjung Piai by election outcome will indicate where Malaysia headed towards” yang dimuat naik pada 9 Nov.

Nazlan pada 11 November lepas mengarahkan Najib membela diri terhadap 7 pertuduhan dalam perbicaraan SRC, selepas memutuskan pihak pendakwaan berjaya membuktikan kes prima facie.

Najib, 66, berhadapan 3 pertuduhan pecah amanah jenayah (CBT), 3 pertuduhan pengubahan wang haram dan 1 pertuduhan salah guna kuasa berkaitan dengan dana SRC berjumlah RM42 bilion.

Najib dalam afidavit itu mendakwa artikel itu dibuat bagi mengenakan tekanan ke atas Mahkamah Tinggi berhubung keputusan mahkamah berkenaan dan kes SRC itu.

Beliau juga mendakwa siaran akhbar Lim dan artikel berkenaan ditampilkan bagi mengancam dan mempunyai kecenderungan bagi melemahkan dan mengenepikan kuasa mahkamah, di samping campur tangan dan menghalang pelaksanaan proses keadilan.

Kelihatan di Mahkamah hari ini ialah peguam Najib, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah; peguam Lim, Ramkarpal Singh; dan peguam Malay Mail serta pemberitanya S Ambiga.

IPOH, Nov 29 — The police today have recorded statements from several individuals to assist in an investigation over their alleged involvements in bringing back the ashes of former Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng to Malaysia.

They were seen entering the compound of the Ipoh District Police Headquarters (IPD) at 2.50pm and one of them, only known as Thong Yee, 82, was seen leaving at 4.30pm.

According to Thong, he was present to have his statement recorded after receiving a call from the police this morning.

“I came with four more friends and the police questioned us on our presence at a memorial ceremony which was held on September 16,” he said when met by reporters here today.

Thong, who resides in Ipoh, said the police took about 90 minutes to record his statement.

A check by Bernama found another individual known as 81-year-old Chai Kan Fook, who was also believed to be involved in bringing back Chin Peng’s ashes, who was also present to have his statements recorded.

It is learnt, Chai had turned up to give his statement yesterday and was called up again today for further recording of his statement at 10am.

Meanwhile, Ipoh district police chief, ACP A. Asmadi Abdul Aziz said the case is being investigated by a team from the Bukit Aman CID.

Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said two individuals involved in the case had been called up to give their statements to the police.

Prior to this, the media reported that the ashes of Chin Peng or his real Ong Boon Hua were brought into the country on Sept 16 and scattered into the sea near Lumut, near here and in the jungles of the Titiwangsa Range without any monument or tombstone.

Chin Peng who was born in Sitiawan, Perak died in a hospital in Bangkok in 2013 at the age of 89.

Prior to this, Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government had never allowed Chin Peng’s ashes to be brought back to Malaysia. — Bernama