Briefly

THE PHILIPPINES

Marcos faces complaint of impeachment

The members of Philippine civil society groups filed an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos on Thursday, accusing him of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects. Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year. The filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc accuses Marcos of betraying public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies. Under the Philippines' Constitution, passage of articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would mean removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.

SPAIN

Train drivers walk out after fatal accidents

Spanish train drivers on Wednesday called a three-day strike for February, plunging the country's scrutinized railways into further turmoil, after two accidents just days apart killed 44 people. A train driver died and 37 people were injured — several seriously — in the latest incident on Tuesday, when a commuter service hit a retaining wall that fell onto the tracks in Gelida, near Barcelona. Spain was already observing three days of national mourning for Sunday's collision involving two high-speed trains in the southern region of Andalusia that killed 43 people — the country's deadliest rail accident in more than a decade. The back-to-back tragedies have raised doubts about the safety of train travel in Spain. The Feb 9-11 walkout will affect all train companies and is "the only legal route left for workers to demand the restoration of the rail system's safety" for staff members and users, the Semaf driver union said in a statement.

IRAN

Govt reports death toll of 3,117 in unrest

Iran's state television IRIB reported on Wednesday that 3,117 people were killed during recent unrest, the country's authorities said. The figure is the first official death toll released by Iranian authorities since demonstrations erupted in late December. Officials had previously acknowledged "several thousand" deaths without providing a precise number. According to the report, 2,427 of those killed were described as "innocent civilians and security forces". The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has estimated the death toll at 4,560, though this figure has not been independently verified. Separately, Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency said more than 460 government buildings were damaged or set ablaze during the protests.

Xinhua - Agencies