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Thai PM Anutin’s party takes early lead in general election race

Thai PM Anutin’s party takes early lead in general election race

With 30 percent of polling stations reporting results, Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party has a commanding lead. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info By News Agencies Published On 8 Feb 20268 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Thailand’s ruling Bhumjaithai Party has taken an early lead in general elections, according to a preliminary vote count. With around 30 percent of polling stations reporting results, the party, led by Prime Minister Anutin Charnviraku, took a commanding lead over the progressive People’s Party, showed partial results released by the country’s election commission. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The populist Pheu Thai Party, backed by the billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was jailed last year, was in third place, the results showed. People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut appeared to concede defeat as the results came in, telling reporters, “We acknowledge that we did not come first.” “We stand by our principle of respecting the party that finishes first and its right to form the government,” said Ruengpanyawut. Nevertheless, the three-way battle is unlikely to see any single party win a clear majority, meaning parties will likely have to resort to coalition-building to form the next government. Bhumjaithai, seen as the preferred choice of the royalist-military establishment, centred its campaign on economic stimulus and national security, tapping into nationalist fervour stoked by deadly border clashes with neighbouring Cambodia. Its leader, caretaker premier Anutin, stepped in as prime minister last September, after his predecessor, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was forced out of office for an ethics violation. Threatened with a no-confidence vote, Anutin dissolved the National Assembly or parliament in December to call a snap election. Advertisement The rival People’s Party, which many had expected to win a plurality of seats, had promised to curb the influence of the military and the courts, as well as break up economic monopolies. Pheu Thai campaigned on economic revival and populist pledges like cash handouts. Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok, said there was a sentiment of “political fatigue” in the run-up to elections, but voters turning out Sunday were still hopeful about the prospect for change. Constitutional referendum Thai voters were also ‌asked during the vote to decide if a new constitution should replace a 2017 charter, a military-backed document that critics say concentrates power in undemocratic institutions, including a powerful Senate that is chosen through an indirect selection process with limited public participation. The election commission’s early count showed voters backing constitutional change ‌by a margin of nearly two to one. Thailand has had 20 constitutions since the end of absolute monarchy in ⁠1932, with most of the changes following military coups. If voters back the drafting of a new national charter, the new government and lawmakers can start the amendment process in parliament with two more referendums required to adopt a new constitution. “I believe that the party that wins in the next election will have an outsized influence on the direction of constitutional reform, whether we move away from the junta-drafted constitution or not,” said Napon Jatusripitak of the Bangkok-based Thailand Future think tank. Adblock test (Why?)

Who is Leqaa Kordia, the Columbia protester still in ICE detention?

Who is Leqaa Kordia, the Columbia protester still in ICE detention?

Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman detained in the United States by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency since March, has been rushed to a hospital after a medical episode, according to media reports. Kordia is being held in Texas after being detained as part of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestine protests on college campuses across the country. Her legal team said she was targeted for her protest against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza near Columbia University in New York in 2024, but the federal government said she was arrested for allegedly overstaying her student visa. Since her hospitalisation on Friday, Kordia’s legal team and family said they have not been able to speak with her and do not know her whereabouts. Here is everything we know about Kordia and why she continues to remain in detention: Who is Kordia? Kordia grew up in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah before coming to the US in 2016. She arrived on a visitor’s visa, staying with her mother, a US citizen, in Paterson, New Jersey, home to one of the largest Arab communities in the country. She later transitioned from a tourist visa to a student visa, according to her habeas corpus petition. After her mother applied for Kordia to remain in the US as the relative of a citizen, her green card application was approved in 2021. However, she received incorrect advice from a teacher that led to her student visa expiring in 2022, according to her lawyers. Before her arrest, Kordia worked as a server at a Middle Eastern restaurant on Palestine Way in New Jersey and helped to care for her autistic half-brother. Advertisement Kordia was moved to protest against Israel’s war due to personal loss. Since the start of the war in October 2023, Kordia said, more than 200 of her relatives have been killed. Israel has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 170,000 in a war that human rights groups, a United Nations commission and a growing number of scholars said amounts to genocide. Since a “ceasefire” began in October, Israel has killed more than 500 Palestinians and continues to impose curbs on the entry of aid into Gaza. If deported, Kordia would be handed over to the Israeli government. Pro-Palestinian protesters take over Butler Library on the campus of Columbia University on May 7, 2025 [Ryan Murphy/Reuters] Why was Kordia arrested? She was first arrested in April 2024 during a protest outside the gates of Columbia University, but the case was soon dropped. On March 13, 2025, Kordia showed up at the ICE headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, for what she believed to be routine immigration questions. She was detained there, “thrown into an unmarked van and sent 1,500 miles [more than 2,400km] away”, Kordia wrote in the USA Today newspaper last month. Kordia was neither a student at Columbia University nor a part of political circles. “Though I was not a student, I felt compelled to participate. After all, Israel, with the backing of the United States, has laid waste to Gaza, forcibly displacing my family, killing nearly 200 of my relatives,” she wrote in USA Today. Today, Kordia is the only person who remains in detention from the Columbia campus demonstrations. She has been held at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. A leader of the protests, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student with Algerian citizenship and a US green card, and others have been released. Khalil, however, is still in a legal battle to remain in the US with his American wife and child. Last month, an appeals court panel dismissed a lawsuit Khalil filed challenging his detention and deportation order. The judges concluded that the federal court that ordered Khalil’s release last year lacked jurisdiction over the matter. Lawyers for Leqaa Kordia, second from right, say she’s been targeted by US immigration enforcement because she participated in pro-Palestinian protests [File: Craig Ruttle/AP Photo] What are the charges against Kordia? The US government has called Kordia’s money transfers to relatives in the Middle East evidence of possible ties to “terrorists”. Kordia’s lawyers have continuously argued for her release, saying she was targeted by federal officials for her participation in pro-Palestinian protests. Advertisement The federal government has maintained that the case against Kordia is of overstaying a student visa. “Her arrest had nothing to do with her radical activities,” the Department of Homeland Security said in April. “Kordia was arrested for immigration violations due to having overstayed her F-1 student visa, which had been terminated on January 26, 2022, for lack of attendance.” Writing in USA Today last month, Kordia said she does not consider herself either a leader or an activist. “I am a devout Muslim who is deeply committed to my faith and community. I’m a Palestinian woman who enjoys playing the oud, making pottery and hiking,” Kordia wrote. “Speaking out against what rights groups and experts have called a genocide is my moral duty and – I thought – a constitutionally protected right for all in this country. Except, it seems, when that speech defends Palestinian life.” An immigration judge has called for Kordia’s release twice. However, it has been repeatedly blocked through a series of procedural and administrative moves. “[The] Trump administration has exploited rarely used procedural loopholes to keep me confined, a practice now being challenged in federal district courts across the country, with many finding the practice unconstitutional,” Kordia wrote. Demonstrators march after the arrest of Palestinian student protester Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University on March 10, 2025 [Jeenah Moon/Reuters] How has Kordia lived in ICE detention? Since Kordia was moved to the ICE detention facility in Alvarado in March, she has been facing a range of issues, from sleeping on a bare mattress on the floor to being denied religious accommodations, including halal meals. “Inside the ICE facility where I’m being held, conditions are filthy, overcrowded and inhumane,” Kordia wrote in her piece for USA Today. “For months,

Iran FM says Tehran ready for deal with US with peaceful nuclear enrichment

Iran FM says Tehran ready for deal with US with peaceful nuclear enrichment

NewsFeed In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran is ready to reach a deal with the US that allows for peaceful nuclear enrichment, following talks in Oman. He rejects the notion that Washington should be able to dictate what range missiles Iran produces. Published On 8 Feb 20268 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)