The absolute monarchy on tropical Borneo island, ruled by a sultan who has been on the throne five decades, implemented tough new Islamic laws on Wednesday, including death by stoning for sex between men, and adultery.

The new sharia penal code has sparked a global outcry with governments around the world condemning the measures, and celebrities — led by actor George Clooney — calling for Brunei-owned hotels to be boycotted.

The country’s tiny lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, who already had to be discreet about their sexual identities in the highly conservative Muslim country, have been left terrified.

    “What Brunei is adopting is a violation of basic human rights,” a 33-year-old gay man in the country, who spoke anonymously, told AFP.

“All the condemnation and boycott calls internationally speak volumes — Brunei should just abandon these laws and continue to stick to moderate Islam.”

Zayce fled Brunei last year due to the increasingly conservative climate and is now seeking asylum in Canada.

Plans to implement sharia law were announced in 2013 and the first phase, with less stringent punishments, came into effect the following year, before the entire penal code was implemented this week.

Zayce said that gay people in Brunei, who were leading “secretive lives” even before death by stoning came into force, were now even more scared.

“Some worry a lot and would like to escape the country before they are found out not to be heterosexual,” the 19-year-old said.

Khairul, a gay man in Brunei who gave only one name, described the laws as “daunting”, adding: “When I’m ready, I’ll be on my way to a safer community.”

Before the sharia punishments came into effect, sex between men was already punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

It is now a capital offence, while lesbian sex is punishable by up to 40 strokes of the cane and a decade in prison.

    – No govt engagement, no NGOs –

Observers say it is hard to know the size of the LGBT community in the country of about 400,000 people.

That is because there is nowhere members feel safe to gather openly — such as gay clubs or bars — and there is not thought to be any accurate data available on them.

“The LGBT community tends to keep a low profile and LGBT (people) are generally much less open than in some of Brunei’s neighbours, such as Thailand,” Matthew Woolfe, founder of rights group The Brunei Project, told AFP.

“The government does not engage with the LGBT community and no NGOs are working with them.”

Woolfe organised Brunei’s first ever LGBT event — a 2016 gathering at a hotel in the sultanate to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia — and was subsequently barred from visiting the country.

However sharia law appears to enjoy substantial support in Brunei and some are doubtful the harshest penalties — such as death by stoning, and severing of limbs for theft — will be imposed.

Analysts say the new code may be largely symbolic as Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah seeks to burnish his Islamic credentials with conservatives, and note that although Brunei has long had the death penalty, the last known execution was in 1957.

In addition, the burden of proof for stoning to death to be imposed is high. An accused person must either confess, or there must be four witnesses who can testify the offence was committed.

Some members of the LGBT community believe the changes may in reality make little difference in a country where most gay people were already secretive about their sexualities.

A 23-year-old transgender woman in Brunei, who declined to be named, said the new laws had caused concern but added: “I think just as long as we remain discreet, it will be fine.”

    The initial report, unveiled by Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges, cast further doubt on the system controlling the Boeing 737 MAX 8 model, which has been grounded worldwide for almost a month.

“The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer, but was not able to control the aircraft,” said Dagmawit Moges, unveiling results of the preliminary probe into the crash.

The report recommends “the aircraft flight control system shall be reviewed by the manufacturer,” she said.

    “Aviation authorities shall verify that the review of the aircraft flight control system has been adequately addressed by the manufacturer before the release of the aircraft for operations,” she added.

The release of the report came after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a review of the certification of the automated flight control system on the 737 MAX. Boeing is reviewing the report.

The Ethiopian Airlines flight was headed to Nairobi on a clear morning on March 10 when it plummeted nose-first into a field outside Addis Ababa just minutes after take-off, having reportedly experienced erratic steep climbs and descents.

Citizens from over 30 countries were on board.

    – Anti-stall system –

Similarities quickly emerged between the crash and that of an Indonesian Lion Air 737 MAX 8 flight in October last year which killed 189 people.

Scrutiny has centred on an anti-stall system, developed specifically for the latest versions of the planes, that has given pilots problems.

Dagmawit did not make specific reference to the automatic anti-stalling system, but did mention a “repetitive nose-down” movement of the aircraft.

The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) is designed to automatically lower the aircraft’s nose if it detects a stall or loss of airspeed.

Boeing issued a bulletin reminding operators of emergency guidelines to override the anti-stall system after the Lion Air crash.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that pilots had shut off the anti-stall system, but switched it back on because they could not regain control, citing people briefed on the preliminary findings.

Dagmawit did not give details of what happened in the cockpit during the fateful final minutes of the flight, but said takeoff “appeared very normal” and that all the crew had the requisite qualifications to operate the jet.

The head of the accident investigation bureau Amdiye Ayalew said the full probe would take six months to a year, but that there had been no sign of “foreign object damage” to the aircraft.

“Within this one year we’ll analyse whether other problems are existing on this aircraft,” he said.

– ‘Proud’ of pilots –

The head of Ethiopian Airlines Tewolde GebreMariam said he was proud of the efforts of the pilots in trying to stop their jet from crashing.

“We are very proud of our pilots’ compliances to follow the emergency procedures, and high level of professional performances in such extremely difficult situations,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile Boeing, seeking to win back public confidence in the planes, on Wednesday released photographs of its chief executive, who joined a test flight of a 737 MAX with the company’s updated anti-stall system.

Boeing last week gathered hundreds of pilots and reporters for a presentation on proposed MCAS changes — including the system no longer repeatedly making corrections when pilots try to regain control.

The company is anxious to win approval for a remedy that could get the planes back in the air.

But the FAA, which faced harsh questioning last week at a congressional hearing regarding its oversight of Boeing, said it expected the plane maker to submit the proposed fix “over the coming weeks” after it undertakes additional work.

The FAA said Monday that Boeing needed to undertake more work on the proposed fix before it could be submitted for review.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines is set to work with the private sector on the project as part of efforts to promote the use of EVs in Laos and support the government’s move to minimise the use of fossil fuels.

In his opening remarks at an event held on Tuesday to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the project, Minister of Energy and Mines Khammany Inthirath said Laos imports a large volume of fuel annually which has caused a huge trade deficit over the years.

“We are heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, which always causes a huge deficit annually. Therefore, this pilot project on the use of electric vehicles will be very helpful in decreasing the consumption of fuel,” he said.

Laos is promoting the use of clean energy in the transport sector as part of measures to translate the government’s policy into an action plan until 2025, a strategy for 2030, and a vision for 2050 for supplying energy to the sector.

“Laos has abundant potential for the use of natural resources such as water, solar power and wind, and waste. These could be used to generate 26,000MW. So far, about 20 per cent of this potential has been developed,” he said.

Khammany said Laos imported almost two billion litres of fuel in 2016, worth more than $1 billion.

“Today, this meeting and signing ceremony are part of the government’s practical action to launch the use of electric vehicles in cities under a pilot project,” he said.

He noted that prior to the official inauguration of the service, it is necessary to develop infrastructure, especially charging stations, spare parts outlets and repair centres.

Prior to a workshop on electric vehicles, Electricite du Laos (EDL) signed an MoU with EV Lao Co Ltd for a feasibility study on charging stations, which will be jointly implemented by the two sectors.

EDL managing director Boun-oum Syvanpheng said his firm has been actively studying charging systems for electric vehicles as part of preparations for changing over to clean energy.

“EV Lao and EDL will actively cooperate to study and work on the charging stations for EVs project,” he said.

EV Lao president Bounleuth Luangpraseuth said the company is keen to work with the government on the possibility of building charging stations.

“After our company signed the MoU on a study for charging stations for EVs, we will assign experts and technical teams to work with EDL on a feasibility study on charging systems before importing any electric vehicles,” he added.

He said charging stations could be installed at public and private locations and called for recommendations from the public and private sector for the development and operation of electric vehicles in Laos.

Senior Asean officials met on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the role of local currencies in the Chiang Mai Initiative, which is a mechanism for emergency loans in a crisis, as they prepared the agenda for the finance ministers’ meeting in Chiang Rai, Lavaron said.

Currently, Asean, China, Japan and South Korea have contributed funds in US dollars to the Chiang Mai Initiative, while Asean officials and their counterparts from East Asia are looking at allowing members to contribute in local currencies, he said.

This issue will be discussed during the Asean finance ministers’ meeting today and tomorrow, Lavaron added.

The ministers will also sign an agreement to liberalise financial services, while Thailand will liberalise the asset-management business.

This will allow Asean investors to hold majority stakes in asset-management firms, he said, adding that since Thailand’s asset-management business is already open, there is no need to amend any laws. Other countries will also propose to open their financial services once they are ready.

The minister will also discuss the issue of making electronic payments across the border, as many countries have been developing the infrastructure needed for a cashless society.

For instance, Thailand has developed the infrastructure to accommodate payments using QR codes, internet and mobile. Cooperation in this sector will make things more convenient for consumers and make financial transactions in Asean countries much easier.

The region will also implement the Asean Single Window for sharing information and facilitating trade and investment, Lavaron said, adding that this is already in place in nine countries with the exception of Laos.

Funding for ‘green’ businesses

The ministers will also work with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to promote the green bond market, which will support investors and businesses that want to raise funds for environmentally friendly projects in the region.

ADB has also urged Asean to deepen its customs cooperation in order to promote more trade and investment.

Representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met with Asean senior officials on Tuesday and suggested that the “Digital Revolution” will propel Asian economies, which have been driven by innovations over the past 20 years.

IMF has forecast that the global economy will expand 3.5 per cent this year, a deceleration from a growth rate of 3.7 per cent last year. Risk factors are trade tensions between the US and China and a slowdown of global economy. But a delay in interest hike by the US Federal Reserve can be favourable, IMF said.

In a Facebook post, Duterte lashed out at a certain “J.S.” whom he alleged as the one behind the video circulating in social media detailing his supposed connection in the drug syndicate.

“POLO DELTA- PAOLO DUTERTE? WOW ha kung makaimbento ka wagas. Galit ka kay Waldo (Carpio) kasi binabara niya lahat ng smuggling mo ng bigas at asukal diba J. S.,” Duterte wrote.

“Galit ka sa akin kasi di kita pinansin sa eroplano kasi hambog ka! Ngayon pansinin na kita kasama ng kamay ko na kasing laki ng mukha mo pag nangyari yan. Yan ang totoong balita!” he added.

In the six-minute video that was uploaded on YouTube, which has been shared on various social media platforms, a narrator showed a “tara” or the list of principals and their kickbacks that were deposited in the alleged drug lords’ bank accounts as well as their code names.

Included in the list of the code names was “POLODELTA-TSG01” and “ALPHA TIERRA-0029.”

The narrator claimed that Polo Delta referred to Paolo Duterte, as represented by his initials.

The video claimed that the bank accounts were owned by Waldo Carpio who will then transfer the money to an international bank named under President Rodrigo Duterte’s eldest child.

Waldo Carpio is the brother of lawyer Manases Carpio, Pulong’s brother-in-law and husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. He is currently an undersecretary at the Department of Agriculture.

A certain “Bikoy,” who claimed to be a member of the syndicate, also appeared in the video and said that Duterte had his alleged code name in the “tara” tattooed on his back.

The video, titled “Ang Totoong Narcolist – Episode 1,” was uploaded on Tuesday.

Paolo, former vice mayor of Davao City, is running as a congressman for Davao’s 1st District in the midterm poll.

Lori Lightfoot, a 56-year-old former federal prosecutor and practicing lawyer who has never before held elected office, won the Midwestern city’s mayoral race in a lopsided victory.

She beat out Toni Preckwinkle, a career politician who is also black, by a wide margin of 74 to 26 percent with most ballots counted.

“We were up against powerful interests,” Lightfoot said in a victory speech, with her wife and young daughter by her side.

“Today, you did more than make history, you created a movement for change,” she told a cheering crowd.

Lightfoot will become Chicago’s first openly gay mayor as well as the first African America woman to hold the post. Since 1837, Chicago voters have elected only one black mayor and one female mayor.

Her ascendancy to the top of Chicago government was a stunning development in a city where insider deals and entrenched party politics held sway for decades.

“It is a city-wide rejection of the Chicago political establishment at the mayoral level,” Evan McKenzie, political science professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, told AFP.

Preckwinkle, the chief executive of Cook County in which Chicago is located, has for decades held various local elected offices, which analysts said hurt her in an election in which voters were looking to shake up city hall.

Among the top issues were high levels of gun violence that claims more lives than in other major American cities, and years of political corruption in the Democratic stronghold.

The initial field in the mayoral race consisted of 14 contenders, but Lightfoot managed an upset — sidelining moderates and establishment figures by promising to clean up city government and reduce economic inequality.

She and Preckwinkle were the final two left competing in Tuesday’s run-off election.

– ‘New ideas’ –

Voters left little doubt they wanted the next mayor to tackle the major issues vexing the city of 2.7 million people — including economic disparities and gun violence.

“The message is that (voters) want new ideas and cleaner government,” McKenzie said.

Community groups have for years complained about disparities in living conditions among the sprawling city’s diverse communities.

Gun violence, fueled by gangs and the drug trade, plagues economically-depressed neighborhoods in the South and West, which are majority African American.

The downtown business district, and areas to the north and along the city’s famed lake shore, have enjoyed an economic boom even as more than 550 people were murdered last year alone.

Reforming the police department, which has a sordid history of abusive tactics, and city hall, which is mired in a federal corruption probe of one of its members, were priorities for voters, McKenzie said.

Lightfoot headed a panel investigating the city’s policing problems and held a number of appointed positions in city government.

She has promised to increase affordable housing, fight homelessness and crime, and boost oversight of the police department.

“We can and will finally put the interests of our people, all of our people, ahead of the interests of a powerful few,” Lightfoot said Tuesday night.

– Laquan McDonald –

Lightfoot will replace outgoing mayor Rahm Emanuel — once a rising star in the Democratic Party and former president Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff.

The powerful Emanuel sustained political damage for his handling of murder of black teenager Laquan McDonald and declined to run for a third term.

Lightfoot emphasized during her campaign that she was among the few early candidates to declare her candidacy before Emanuel decided not to run again.

McDonald was a 17-year-old boy shot dead by police in a 2014 encounter caught on police dash cam video.

The video — showing officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 bullets into the knife-wielding teen even after he fell to the ground — was not released for more than a year.

Emanuel faced accusations of an attempted cover-up. He fired the police chief and brought in a reformer who instituted changes, worked to rebuild public trust, and reduced gun violence.

But as Van Dyke was about to go on trial for murder in September, Emanuel announced he would not run for re-election.

Van Dyke was convicted and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.

Attorney General Tommy Thomas said the Admiralty Court in Kuala Lumpur has approved Genting’s offer to purchase the Equanimity on the Sheriff’s Terms and Condition.

“The USD$126mil purchase price will be paid by Genting and received by Court by the end of April 2019.

“This will rank as the highest recovery to date for the Government of Malaysia from its 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, within a mere eight months from the commencement of this action,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (April 3).

He added that as the Genting offer was negotiated directly with the government, no agency commission was payable and this resulted in a savings of USD$4.4mil (RM17.95).

“Although the Winterbothams’ market price evaluation of the Equanimity at USD$130mil (RM530.46mil) was not reached, the net returns to the government is as good, if not more than envisaged.

“This judicial sale at USD$126mil (RM514.14mil), is historic, by any measure.

“It records a high-water mark for our judicial system in ensuring that market value is secured for a vessel sold through the processes of Court, without any discount.

“It is even more commendable that this is achieved in a very sophisticated high-end superyacht sale where the pool of buyers is very small,” he said.

Thomas added that a further statement would be issued once the purchase price was received, with a breakdown of the expenses incurred and the net amount to be credited into the newly opened 1MDB asset recovery account.

Thomas added that the government was appreciative of the offer by Genting.

The Equanimity was once owned by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or better known as Jho Low.

Bidding for the superyacht which saw interest from the rich and famous in the yachting community closed in Nov last year.

The Equanimity is one of many luxury items seized by the government as part of its probe into money laundering in the 1MDB scandal.  The 91.5m-long Equanimity, is known to have a Turkish bath, swimming pool and a helicopter landing pad.

The superyacht is docked at the Royal Malaysian Navy’s Region 3 headquarters in Langkawi.

The Equanimity was seized off the coast of Bali by Indonesia in February at the request of US authorities as part of a probe into the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal.

The Indonesian government then handed over the vessel to Malaysia authority in August last year.