Peruvian prime minister resigns ahead of censure vote in Congress
LIMA: Peruvian Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen resigned on Tuesday, a day before he was set to face a censure vote in Congress related to rising crime and the recent killing of a group of miners.
Adrianzen's exit is the latest test for Peru's massively unpopular President Dina Boluarte, who must now replace her entire cabinet. She can name previous ministers to the same roles, but only under a new prime minister.
Boluarte's approval ratings have dropped to historic lows, with a poll released this week showing support at just 2%.
Adrianzen's announcement at an event alongside Boluarte on Tuesday evening capped a day of shake-ups for the government.
Earlier on Tuesday, Boluarte replaced her economy and interior ministers.
Her administration has been under pressure to combat rising crime. The kidnapping and killing of 13 miners by illegal miners earlier this month stoked calls for Adrianzen's resignation.
The political changes come less than a year before Peruvians go to the polls to elect a president and members of Congress.
Presidential reelection in the Andean country is prohibited by the constitution.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Express
14 hours ago
- Daily Express
Musk has ‘lost his mind', says Trump
Published on: Sunday, June 08, 2025 Published on: Sun, Jun 08, 2025 By: AFP Text Size: Donald Trump (left) and Elon Musk. WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Friday that Elon Musk had 'lost his mind' but insisted he wanted to move on from the fiery split with his billionaire former ally. The blistering public break-up between the world's richest person and the world's most powerful is fraught with political and economic risks all round. Advertisement Trump had scrapped the idea of a call with Musk and was even thinking of ditching the red Tesla he bought at the height of their bromance, White House officials told AFP. 'Honestly I've been so busy working on China, working on Russia, working on Iran... I'm not thinking about Elon Musk, I just wish him well,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to his New Jersey golf club late Friday. Earlier, Trump told US broadcasters that he now wanted to focus instead on passing his 'big, beautiful' mega-bill before Congress — Musk's harsh criticism of which had sparked their break-up. But the 78-year-old Republican could not stop himself from taking aim at his South African-born friend-turned-enemy. Advertisement 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' Trump said in a call with ABC when asked about Musk, adding that he was 'not particularly' interested in talking to the tycoon. Trump later told Fox News that Musk had 'lost it.' Just a week ago Trump gave Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after four months working there. While there had been reports of tensions, the sheer speed at which their relationship imploded stunned Washington. After Musk called Trump's spending bill an 'abomination' on Tuesday, Trump hit back in an Oval Office diatribe on Thursday in which he said he was 'very disappointed' by the entrepreneur. Trump's spending bill faces a difficult path through Congress as it will raise the US deficit, while critics say it will cut health care for millions of the poorest Americans. The row then went nuclear, with Musk slinging insults at Trump and accusing him without evidence of being in government files on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump hit back with the power of the US government behind him, saying he could cancel the Space X boss's multi-billion-dollar rocket and satellite contracts. Trump struck a milder tone late Friday when asked how seriously he is considering cutting Musk's contracts. 'It's a lot of money, it's a lot of subsidy, so we'll take a look — only if it's fair. Only if it's to be fair for him and the country,' he said. Musk apparently also tried to de-escalate social media hostilities. The right-wing tech baron rowed back on a threat to scrap his company's Dragon spacecraft — vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. And on Friday the usually garrulous poster kept a low social media profile on his X social network. But the White House denied reports that they would talk. 'The president does not intend to speak to Musk today,' a senior White House official told AFP. A second official said Musk had requested a call. Tesla stocks tanked more than 14 percent on Thursday amid the row, losing some $100 billion of the company's market value, but recovering partly Friday. Trump is now considering either selling or giving away the cherry red Tesla S that he announced he had bought from Musk's firm in March. The electric vehicle was still parked on the White House grounds on Friday. 'He's thinking about it, yes,' a senior White House official told AFP when asked if Trump would sell or give it away. Trump and Musk had posed inside the car at a bizarre event in March, when the president turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom after viral protests against Musk's DOGE role. But while Trump appeared to hold many of the cards, Musk also has some to play. His wealth allowed him to be the biggest donor to Trump's 2024 campaign, to the tune of nearly $300 million. Any further support for the 2026 midterm election now appears in doubt — while Musk could also use his money to undermine Trump's support on the right. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
The Star
15 hours ago
- The Star
Mass actions pressing for Sara Duterte trial set for June 9 to June 11
MANILA: A Catholic priest who was among the first to file an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte (pic) in December last year has announced plans for mass actions against the Senate's postponements of her trial and a proposal to dismiss her case, saying delaying the process would deny justice to Filipinos. In an interview with Church-owned Radio Veritas earlier in the week, Father Flavie Villanueva called on the senators to fulfill their constitutional duty and proceed with Duterte's impeachment trial without further ado. 'Impeachment is imperative, impeachment is a moral obligation. Impeachment delayed, justice denied,' Villanueva said. On his Facebook page on Saturday, Villanueva said there would be a protest march, a vigil and another march on the Senate from June 9 to June 11, which is the last session day of Congress when a prosecutor from the House of Representatives presents the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The activities were organised by Kalipunan ng Kilusang Masa, Nagkaisa Labor Coalition and Tindig Pilipinas, which are composed of groups and individuals who filed the first and third impeachment complaints against Duterte. Villanueva is the president and founder of the Paghilom Empower and Advocacy program which assists families of victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. Educators, political prisoners and human rights lawyers have also joined other groups in warning senators against blocking the impeachment trial. In a statement on Friday night, the Ateneo Human Rights Center said that the postponement of the trial and Senator Ronald 'Bato' dela Rosa's proposed resolution seeking to dismiss the impeachment case reduced the constitutional mechanisms in holding public officials accountable to a 'political circus.' Not 'a single step' was taken to comply with the Senate's constitutional duty to proceed 'forthwith,' or without delay, after the impeachment complaint was filed by the House in February, it said. 'It must be stated plainly: By deliberately delaying the impeachment proceedings, the Senate is failing in its constitutional duty,' it said. The La Sallian family in the Philippines also condemned moves to block the impeachment proceedings against Duterte. 'Any attempt to suppress this process undermines the pursuit of truth, and the very foundation of democracy, the rule of law, and the principle that no one is above the law,' they said in a statement issued through De La Salle University. Political prisoners and its support group Kapatid also pressed the Senate to proceed with the impeachment trial. 'Why are political prisoners being made to rot in jail while Vice President Sara Duterte is shielded from scrutiny and accountability despite facing grave charges?' asked peace talks consultant Vicente Ladlad, speaking for the political prisoner held at Camp Bagong Diwa. 'Is (Duterte) above the law that her cohorts in the Senate are now moving to delay, derail, and ultimately dismiss her impeachment trial?' The human rights lawyers group, National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL), on Saturday also denounced the 'political influence' of the Dutertes over the senators. 'Issues of judicial independence loom over the Senate. There, the Dutertes are benefiting from a wide berth in their political influence, wrongly and unlawfully, to delay or even to kill the trial,' NUPL said. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Singapore and the US still in early stages of tariff negotiations, says Vivian Balakrishnan
SINGAPORE: It will be some time yet before countries can know for certain the final shape of the United States' tariff regime against virtually all its trading partners. This is as, aside from the revisions and legal challenges to the trade barriers that have been announced, it is clear that the US is looking to conduct multiple rounds of bilateral negotiations with its trading partners, which will take time, said Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Saturday (June 7). His meetings with US senators and members of Congress also showed there was bipartisan recognition between the Republicans and Democrats that trade, investment, intellectual property protection, reliability and supply chain security remain vital issues to the Americans, he added. In a Zoom call with the Singapore media to wrap up his five-day visit to Washington, Dr Balakrishnan said both sides reaffirmed the strong and stable bilateral relationship during his visit. 'The relationship with the United States is a vital, critical one for Singapore – it spans the entire gamut... the economy, defence, security, and we're also pursuing emerging opportunities in areas like cyber security and energy,' he said. 'So, it is a relationship which needs to be tended to, and attended to carefully.' In his meetings with senior US administration officials and members of Congress, Dr Balakrishnan conveyed Singapore's appreciation for the bipartisan support that enabled bilateral cooperation to flourish across a wide range of areas. Both sides also expressed commitment to continued constructive engagement and to advance cooperation in both traditional areas such as defence, as well as new and emerging areas such as critical technologies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Dr Balakrishnan told reporters he had fairly extensive discussions on tariffs during his visit, including their impact on open economies like Singapore, and that his US counterparts understood his perspective. At his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on June 4, Dr Balakrishnan said he raised the impact of the US tariffs, and came away assured that the measures were not directed at Singapore. 'Nevertheless, I expressed our concern with the secondary impact, because any impact on global trade, any friction in the system, will have an impact on an open economy like ours, where our trading volume is three times our GDP,' he said. 'So that point needed to be made.' Manufacturing activity in Singapore shrank for the second consecutive month in May on the back of global trade uncertainty, according to purchasing managers' index figures released on June 2. Dr Balakrishnan said he 'made the point repeatedly' to his US counterparts that America has a trade surplus against Singapore, and that the city-state should not be subjected even to the baseline 10 per cent tariff. That said, Singapore is more concerned with sectoral tariffs, and will be looking at them 'very carefully' so as to minimise these as much as possible, he said. The majority of US President Donald Trump's sweeping 'Liberation Day' tariffs announced on April 2 have been paused for 90 days, but on June 4, Trump signed an order to double tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. In May, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said there were early indications that Washington was open to discussing how the Republic could ensure a continued supply of semiconductors to the US, and that talks were on for preferential or even zero US tariffs on Singapore's pharmaceutical exports. Dr Balakrishnan said: 'We're still in the early stages of our discussions and negotiations, so let's watch this space.' Responding to a question from the media on whether he faced any challenges engaging US officials on his visit, he said there were no hurdles to interactions with the Americans. 'They were very welcoming, courteous. We got along in our own usual direct and constructive manner, so I have no anxiety on that front,' he said. The anxiety is that the world order that had prevailed for 80 years and which helped Singapore to succeed – premised on free trade and the free flow of investments – is clearly changing, and this period of transition is 'the time of greatest danger', he added. This is a time when the Republic needs to be alert and prompt in responding to change, said Dr Balakrishnan. 'And it is also important to interact frequently, candidly, openly and constructively with our interlocutors, and especially with a superpower which is of great strategic importance to us,' he added. 'So what's important is to recognise that situation has changed, to be able to have complete, comprehensive and candid conversations, and then for us to take the appropriate precautionary measures or to make the necessary adjustments domestically as well.' Prior to being in Washington, Dr Balakrishnan was in London, where he met the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Lammy, with whom he discussed economic ties, geostrategic issues and potential areas of cooperation. - The Straits Times/ANN
