MANILA – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has fired his interior minister for “loss of trust and confidence”, the most senior government executive to be removed in a campaign to root out corruption, two Cabinet officials said on Tuesday.

The firebrand Duterte came to power 10 months ago on a platform of fighting drugs, crime and corruption. He has removed dozens of bureaucrats, two senior immigration officials and a former campaign spokesman suspected of corruption.

“Duterte has dismissed Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary, Mr Ismael Sueno, citing loss of trust and confidence,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement, adding the sacking served as a warning to all other presidential appointees.

Duterte made the announcement at the end of a cabinet meeting on Monday night, he said.

“The secretary had, in fact, been instrumental in convincing the president to run for election, but this did not deter the president from pursuing his drive for a trustworthy government by addressing issues like corruption,” said the spokesman.

In a statement, Sueno said Duterte had been given “wrong information by those who were salivating” for his position as interior minister. “It is his call if he wants me in his Cabinet or not,” Sueno said.

“But, for the record, Mr President, I can say this with all honesty and sincerity, I am not corrupt.”

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre in a radio interview also confirmed the dismissal of Sueno from the Cabinet but did not give any reason for the president’s decision.

In February, Sueno helped organise a pro-Duterte rally, which more than 200,000 people attended, to counter a mass protest denouncing allegations of extra-judicial killings under Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign.

Nine more sea turtles at the Sea Turtle Conservation Centre on Munnai Island in Rayong have been examined to determine whether they had coins in their digestive system, with one turtle confirmed to have four coins in its stomach.

Dr Nantarika Chansue from Chulalongkorn University’s Veterinary Madical Aquatic animal Research Centre (VMARC) led a veterinarian team to perform a health check-up for the turtles, which came from the same pond as the green turtle “Ormsin”, or “piggy bank”.

Ormsin became famous after surgery was performed on the animal to remove coins from its digestive system. The turtle died soon after the procedure.

Nantarika said the VMARC and the Marine and Coastal Resources Department (DMCR) veterinarian team had conducted X-rays and blood tests on the nine turtles.

“The DMCR team leader will carry on with the treatment we discussed and we will continue monitoring them,” she said.

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The sun will be at zenith in Bangkok on April 27, although it may not be the hottest day due to various factors, a senior official at the Science and Technology Ministry’s National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) said.

During April-May, the sun will be at zenith in various provinces in Thailand starting from Yala’s Betong district at 12.19pm on April 5 before moving upwards gradually, said NARIT deputy director Saran Poshyachinda.

Phuket will see the sun at zenith on April 10 at 12.28pm, Pattaya on April 24 at 12.15pm.

Bangkokians would see the sun at it’s highest position – 90 degrees above their heads where shadows will be at the minimum level possible – at 12.16pm on April 27.

On May 19 at 12.17pm, the sun will be at zenith in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district.

Although the sun will be at zenith, when areas will fully receive solar power, Saran said it will not neccesary mean that the temperature would be at the highest. Other factors, such as rain, clouds, monsoon influence and heat accumulation in the atmosphere could affect the intensity.

Countries in the tropical zone of Southeast Asia, including Thailand, see the sun at near zenith two days each year at most. The sun won’t be at zenith in Bangkok again until August 16 at 12.24pm.

Screening at the border province of Nong Khai has been stepped up after a second alleged Laotian drug lord, Sisouk Daohueang, was arrested in Luang Prabang province last week.

Another alleged drugs kingpin, Xaysana Kaewpimphon, was detained at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in January and is now in Thai police custody.

Nong Khai customs chief Nimit Sangampai said his office had examined records of Sisouk’s movements in and out of Thailand through the border checkpoint.

“We have found that Sisouk had entered Thailand many times via the Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge that links Vientiane of Laos with Nong Khai. The latest visit was in January,” he said.

In addition, male and female friends of Sisouk had entered the province in around 29 luxurious cars, including makes such as Ferrari, MercedesBenz, Porsche, Lexus and Range Rover.

However after after Sisouk’s arrest Saturday, there was further no record of any of them coming to Thailand.

Nimit said that the officials had intensified screening of visitors, with particular attention being paid to topoftherange cars. “We will do our best to carry out inspections so that our work will not affect bilateral ties, as some high-ranking officials and business leaders from Laos also use luxury vehicles,” he said.

Thai police believe Sisouk’s alleged drug network is larger than that of Xaysana. Both shared a love of expensive cars and led flamboyant lives and were not afraid to flaunt their lifestyles on Facebook and Twitter, posing with vehicles and at fivestar restaurants and outside mansions.

There’s something fishy about this tale, but that’s probably coming from the luxury handbag in it.

A man in Taiwan recounted on Dcard, a Whisper-style confessions site, how his grandma used the luxury designer bag he bought her.

The bag, from Louis Vuitton’s Neverfull range, retails for about $1,260.00 (S$1,763).

The anonymous man who posted from the Taipei-based China University of Technology, said that he bought the bag for his grandmother because it’s been a while since she bought herself a new one:

“My grandmother doesn’t really understand all this luxury stuff, so usually uses those traditional Chinese flower-print cloth bags,” the man says. “I bought the LV bag for my grandmother last month – like the classic ones which are very big. I don’t know how to pick one myself, so I asked the store assistant to pick one out for me.”

“I went home today to visit my grandmother, and I couldn’t believe it – her bag was filled with milkfish!” he adds. “I was rather worked up, so I asked my grandma: ‘Why would you put fish in here, without a plastic bag? It’s an LV bag.'”

He says his grandma thanked him for the bag, saying: “It doesn’t leak! It’s just a little heavy.”

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