US Carrier in Hong Kong After Bombers Fly Over S. China Sea

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November 21, 2018 4:14 pm

An F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet lands Tuesday on the deck of the U.S. Navy USS Ronald Reagan in the South China Sea. Photo: Kin Cheung / Associated Press

HONG KONG — A U.S. aircraft carrier docked in Hong Kong on Wednesday, days after a pair of American B-52 bombers flew over the disputed South China Sea.

The arrival of the USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group in the Asian financial hub comes after China rejected a similar request by another U.S. Navy ship amid a spike in tensions between the countries’ militaries.

The Reagan’s visit is being seen as a friendly gesture ahead of a planned meeting later this month between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping that will mark the first time they’ve sat down together since the start of a bitter trade war.

China has demanded the U.S. cease military activity of all kind near its South China Sea island claims that it has been rapidly fortifying. The U.S. says it takes no stance on sovereignty claims, but will continue to sail and operate wherever international law permits.

In late September, a Chinese destroyer came close to the USS Decatur in the South China Sea in what the U.S. Navy called an “unsafe and unprofessional maneuver.”

The Navy said in a statement that during the Reagan’s visit, interactions will take place with Hong Kong citizens through sports, community relations projects and tours of the carrier. More than 4,400 men and women are usually aboard the ship.

“The abundant growth and prosperity that surrounds us in Hong Kong is what the United States Seventh Fleet seeks to preserve for all nations in this important region,” Rear Adm. Karl O. Thomas, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, said in the statement.

In comments Tuesday to Hong Kong television, Thomas said the U.S. and Chinese militaries are able to maintain a professional relationship, despite tensions.

“When we’re out at sea, we have a mission to do, and we come out and operate around each other and we do it professionally,” Thomas said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Pacific Air Forces said two B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea on Monday, calling it a “routine training mission.”

The B-52H Stratofortress bombers departed Andersen Air Force Base in Guam as part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s Continuous Bomber Presence operations that began in 2004, Pacific Air Forces said in a statement Wednesday.

“This recent mission is consistent with international law and United States’ long-standing commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the statement said.

Also this week, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, reported that China had installed a new platform on Bombay Reef, a remote undeveloped feature in the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. Vietnam and Taiwan also claim the reef.

The platform appears to be topped with a radome and solar panels, and its strategic location makes it likely it is intended to extend China’s radar or signals intelligence collection in the area, the report said. Bombay Reef already has a lighthouse to serve as an aid to navigation.

Unlike China’s large man-made islands created by piling sand on top of coral reefs, installing the modestly sized Bombay Reef platform did not require inflicting major environmental damage, CSIS said. However, that illustrates how easily China could expand its footprint to other features such as Scarborough Shoal, which it seized from the Philippines in 2012, it added.

Compared to dredging and reclamation, the installation of a modest platform would be “harder to prevent at the time and more difficult to rally international condemnation against after the fact,” the report said.

CP Foods to Supports the Philippines’ Government Sustainable Sorghum Project in Tribal Lands (Sponsored)

By

Khaosod English

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November 21, 2018 4:05 pm

The Philippines’ Department of Agriculture (DA) recently kicked off the National Sorghum Development Program to promote sustainable sorghum production in the tribal areas to fill growing domestic demand for animal feed under which CP Foods Philippines is fully supported to purchase all the production Indigenous People’s communities.

The National Sorghum Development Program aims at increasing sorghum production, focusing mainly in Indigenous People’s Ancestral Domain Areas. It targeted to plant sorghum in 1 million hectares (6.25 million Rai) areas within the next 3 years. The higher domestic capacity could lower the cost of farming operation and lead to cheaper price of meat products.

At the launching ceremony, CP Foods Philippines has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with tribal group committed to purchase sorghum production from the communities. .

As a part of the project, Mr. Emmanuel F. Pinol, the Secretary of Agriculture Department of the Philippines, together with CP Foods Philippines vice chairman Mr.Sakol Cheewakoset, and Mr. Sompong Rojanaadisorn, CP Foods senior vice president for Livestock Feed Business, recently visited sorghum plantation area in Makilala community, North Cotabato, Philippines, the area is one of the targeted areas under the program which CP Foods Philippines.

Mr.Sakol said the company strives to develop sustainable sorghum production with the Philippines’ farmers. The protein rich crop can be used as a substitute of corn and imported wheat in animal feed. Sorghum will be a strategic plant that serve the rapid growth of animal feed sector. The Philippines exported 2 million metric tons of feed wheat last year.

The increasing domestic capacity will help the country to reduce its reliance on imported raw materials and, subsequently, lowering the cost of animal feed. Ultimately, the Philippines consumers will be able to buy quality meat at reasonable price.

“Shortage of raw material is a looming threat for animal feed business in the Philippines. The price of animal feed is rising due to the fact that feed mills have to import corn and wheat to compensate the lack of domestic raw material. This project could dramatically lower the cost of animal feed” Mr.Sakol explained.

The government also sets up pilot farms nationwide as learning centers where the farmers can learn sustainable agricultural techniques.

By following the techniques, the farmers will be able to produce quality products with small cost of operation. In addition, farmers can earn extra 120,000 peso from making Sorghum stalks for cattle feed.

Baby Dies in Bali After US Woman Allegedly Threw It From Car

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Associated Press

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November 21, 2018 3:46 pm

An Indonesian police car in 2016. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

DENPASAR, Indonesia — An American woman allegedly threw her 2-month-old daughter from a moving car on the tourist island of Bali and then tried to kill herself by jumping from the vehicle, Indonesian police said Wednesday.

South Denpasar police chief Nyoman Wiarajaya told a news conference that officers haven’t been able to question Nicole Stasio because she is hospitalized in a severe state of depression.

A driver and guide who were with 32-year-old Stasio told police she jumped out of the car without warning Tuesday evening at an intersection in Denpasar and they were initially unaware of what had happened to the baby.

Villagers found the infant with severe injuries about a kilometer (less than a mile) from where Stasio leapt out of the vehicle. The baby died about seven hours later at the same hospital, Bali Mandara, where Stasio is being treated.

Wiarajaya said the woman, who was born in California, traveled to Bali with her parents in July. The parents stayed in Bali for about 10 days and Stasio gave birth on the island in September after her parents had left the island.

“She refused to answer when they (the parents) asked about her baby’s father,” Wiarajaya said, quoting information from the driver and tour guide who accompanied the family since they arrived.

“But she gave the impression that she was unmarried and her family preferred that she give birth to a child abroad, like wanting to avoid something,” he said.

The driver, Wayan Siaja, and the guide, Made Arimbawa, told police they had taken Stasio and her daughter to Bali’s international airport on Tuesday evening but Stasio changed her mind about returning to the U.S. and told them to take her back to Ubud, a town popular with tourists for its traditional crafts and culture.

They said she sat silently in the car before the tragic events unfolded, according to Wiarajaya.

King to Rehearse Big Ride Friday at BKK Airport

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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November 21, 2018 3:13 pm

A palace aide shows a uniform for Un Ai Rak cycling event participants.

BANGKOK — His Majesty the King will bike around a track at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Friday ahead of a mass cycling event he will lead next month, according to the government.

King Vajiralongkorn’s planned visit to the international airport, which is located in Samut Prakan province, was announced Tuesday by junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha.

The monarch is set to return to the province Dec. 9 at the head of a massive peloton going from the Royal Plaza in front of the Dusit Palace to Lat Pho Park and back. The entire event, called Bike Un Ai Rak (The Warmth of Love), is expected to cover a total 50 kilometers.

Palace officials today also unveiled T-shirts for the event featuring a drawing made by His Majesty. It shows a family and a dog riding tandem.

The government has invited members of the public to register and accompany the king that day. They can sign up by going to the official website, entering their details and choosing which portion of the route they would like to join. English-language registration is available on the site.

Similar cycling events will be held in other provinces. Officials expect up to 100,000 participants for the main event in Bangkok alone.

River Activists Sue Over ‘Chao Phraya Promenade 2.0’

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JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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November 21, 2018 2:56 pm

A rendering shows a proposed pedestrian lane and bridge along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — Opponents of a plan to build boardwalks along the Chao Phraya River filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking an injunction against further action and demanding its impact be fully evaluated.

Four government bodies including the interim cabinet and City Hall are accused in the suit of rushing the massive riverside redevelopment project without proper study of its environmental impacts and failing to share information with affected stakeholders. It was filed at the Administrative Court, a representative for several environmental and urban design groups said.

“The government is likely to open bidding on the construction soon,” said Yossapon Boonsom, founder of Friends of the River. “If that happens before the project is studied appropriately, it could lead to serious damage, even for the private companies that may enter a bid. We want a special order halting the bidding for now.”

It’s been a long, contentious process since the controversial project was first approved in 2015.

With a budget of 14 billion baht, the military government said it wanted to turn the riverside into a world-class landmark. Opponents said pouring concrete walkways along the river was ugly, ill-conceived and failed to take into account impacts on communities and the environment. The plan immediately met stiff opposition.

In April, a government conservation committee – led by junta deputy Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan – said it would withdraw and rethink the plan as well as exempt banks along the Rattanakosin area in the old quarter, but no such order was subsequently issued.

The committee said then it would redevelop the river in a more piecemeal fashion, “spot by spot and not by laying a whole walkway.”<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>

In a reversal one month later, Bangkok’s public works department said promenades between the Rama VII Bridge to the Dusit district and Bang Phlat canal were green-lit. Yossapon, who’s also a landscape architect, said he believes there have been no changes to the original, maligned design.

Experts from the opposition groups last week hosted a debate over the project. They said that while it might have begun with good intentions, the government has never consulted with those who will be directly impacted by construction and called for a reevaluation of the whole plan.

On Tuesday, the transport and interior ministries approved 5 billion baht for two more river developments in Nonthaburi province: a 4.9-kilometer pedestrian/bicycle lane connecting the Maha Chesadabodindranusorn and Rama V bridges, and a 400-meter pedestrian bridge.

Officials said the Interior Ministry would oversee construction of the walkways while the Transport Ministry will be in charge of redeveloping piers and areas under the new bridge. They expect the plans to get a cabinet approval in two years.

The projects are part of a bigger plan initiated by City Hall’s transport and traffic planners to spend 35 billion baht on building 140 kilometers of pedestrian bridges and paths along the river throughout metro Bangkok in Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan provinces.

Chao Phraya Boardwalk Plan Dead in the Water: Architects

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River’s Friends Float Hope for Public Hearings on 14B-Baht ‘Promenade’

Chao Phraya Promenade Should be Sent Back to Drawing Board, Architects Say

OB/GYN May Have Sexually Abused Dozens: Lawyer

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Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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November 21, 2018 12:21 pm

Chakkaphong Leelaporn was back at work Tuesday at the Dr. Chakkrapong Clinic in Nakhon Sawan province.

NAKHON SAWAN — Upward of 50 women have accused a gynecologist of sexually abusing them in the central province of Nakhon Sawan, an attorney representing them said Wednesday.

Attorney Saranya Wangsookcharoen said scores of women have come forward with claims that Chakkaphong Leelaporn assaulted them at his clinic after a 29-year-old woman accused him of rape last week. The doctor maintains he did nothing wrong.

“The numbers are around 40, 50 and are stabilizing. Everyone is willing to come forward to talk to the police,” Saranya said by phone Wednesday.

The doctor was back to work this week at the Dr. Chakkrapong Clinic after he was questioned by police Friday and released without charge. Police say they are investigating.

Saranya, who dispenses legal advice online as Lawyer Nida, said she took six of the accusers to Royal Thai Police headquarters to give testimony to the police. Accompanying them was Panadda Wongpoodee, the head of the women’s advocacy group who brought the case to Saranya’s attention.

“Many are upset and depressed. They’re afraid of being unsafe,” Panadda said.

Panadda said the team has been gathering evidence and the victims hail from Nakhon Sawan and Bangkok. She said their statements implicate the doctor in inappropriate behavior stretching back to 2012 and include varying degrees of sexual assault.

Saranya said the team would bring any further claims of abuse to the police.

Read: OB/GYN Accused of Raping Patients in Nakhon Sawan

Press and advocates descended on the clinic Tuesday to interview Chakkrapong, who defended his actions as a misunderstood form of folk healing.

“It’s all a misunderstanding,” Chakkrapong said, when asked why many women had come forward with sexual abuse allegations against him. “During checkups, I have to insert my finger or fondle the breasts. It’s my own medical procedure. I’m not a skilled doctor so have to use this way to heal them.”

Chakkrapong admitted to paying 300,000 baht to the 29-year-old patient because he wanted her to drop the case.

“I love all my patients. Not in an adulterous way, but in a caring way,” he said. “I call all my patients ‘baby’ without bad intentions. By nature, women like gentleness too.”

Chakkrapong also said being a doctor “does not make him rich,” that he drives an old motorcycle and treats both Thai and foreign patients.

Atchariya Reungrattanapong, who runs the online Help Crime Victim Club, was also present at the clinic Tuesday to give his two cents on what went down. Atchariya said that there was a possibility the former patient consented to sexual acts and then later demanded money from the doctor.

“That’s just his opinion. Everyone has their right to have an opinion, but not everyone has access to the facts,” Saranya said in response.

Thai Film Pulled Over ‘Sensitive’ Buddhist Scene

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Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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November 21, 2018 11:52 am

Update Nov. 22: After cutting out the brief scene in which the monk despairs at his ex-girlfriend’s funeral, “Thi Baan The Series 2.2” was approved Thursday by the National Film and Video Committee. It will premiere Saturday in cinemas nationwide rated for audiences over 15.

BANGKOK — Only two days before its scheduled release in cinemas, the censorship board indefinitely postponed a Thai film set in Isaan for alleged inappropriate content.

The makers of “Thi Baan the Series 2.2” on Tuesday afternoon announced the film had not been approved by the National Film and Video Committee because it contained “sensitive” content about Buddhism.

Update: Thai Film Minus Crying Monk Approved by Censors

Surasak Pongsorn, the film’s director, told media on Tuesday that poo yai were not comfortable with the scene that depicts a monk character bursting into tears in front of his ex-girlfriend’s coffin. As a result, the film’s premiere – scheduled for Thursday – will be indefinitely postponed.

The Thai Film Director Association will hold a press conference today afternoon at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. The presser will be led by the association’s director Thanit Jitnukul and many more filmmakers such as Prachya Pinkaew and Bhandit Thongdee.

“Thi Baan The Series 2” is set in a northeastern province and the third film in the “Thi Baan The Series,” following the second part released earlier this year. The third chapter follows story lines involving several characters such as Pong, who opens a vegetarian store, and Phra Siang, a tattoo-clad monk who is heartbroken after learning of his ex-girlfriend’s death.

The first film was released last year and became a sleeper hit.

This is not the first time Thai movies aren’t fully approved by censors due to “offensive” or “sensitive” content. In 2015, the censorship board banned horror film “Arbat” (“Sin of a Monk”) for scenes portraying a novice monk it said behaved inappropriately. The film studio had to re-edit the movie before re-submitting it to the board.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the new film as the second in the “Thi Baan the Series” franchise. It is in fact the third.

Horror Film May ‘Destroy’ Buddhism, Activists Warn

Prawit ‘Very Disappointed’ by General Joining Anti-Junta Party

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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November 21, 2018 11:27 am

File photos of Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, left, and Gen. Yosanant Raicharoen, right.

BANGKOK — Deputy junta chairman Prawit Wongsuwan expressed his disappointment Wednesday at an army general who signed up with a political party opposing his regime.

Gen. Yosanant Raicharoen, who slammed the 2014 putsch and called upon the armed forces to “stand with the people” in a speech yesterday, is doing a disservice to the military because of his open criticism, Prawit said.

“Very inappropriate. Very inappropriate,” Prawit told reporters today. “I’m very disappointed.”

Having served as Deputy Supreme Commander of the Thai Armed Forces until his retirement last month, Gen. Yosanant is the most senior military officer to have joined the Thai Raksa Chart Party, widely recognized as a political proxy for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The general said he joined the party because he believes in democratic principles, and went on to offer harsh criticism of the junta and its work.

“Today, I’d like to call on all soldiers to stand with the people. The era of ruling a country with dictatorial power is over,” Yosanant told reporters. “The lesson of the coup in the past four years shows that the country is not going anywhere. People suffer. The economy isn’t growing.”

In today’s news conference, Prawit questioned why Yosanant never spoke against the National Council for Peace and Order, or NCPO, until his political debut.

“He’s an adult now. He’s already retired. He has so much wisdom and has spent so much time with his subordinates. Yet he’s criticizing the NCPO now. Why is he speaking just now?” Prawit said.

A reporter then suggested that Yosanant was likely afraid of losing his job if he would have spoken his mind while serving under Prawit.

“He was always lobbying for a job anyway,” the junta No. 2 shot back.

Prawit, who raised eyebrows when he challenged a reporter to a fistfight last week, also chided Yosanant for publicly dissing the force he used to serve.

“Whatever party he wants to join, he can, but bringing out internal matters into conversation in a bad way is wrong,” Prawit said.

European Zoos to Send Critically Endangered Rhinos to Rwanda

By

Associated Press

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November 21, 2018 9:41 am

Rhinos walk in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game reserve in 2015 in South Africa. Photo: Schalk van Zuydam / Associated Press

DVUR KRALOVE, Czech Republic — Wildlife parks in three European countries on Tuesday announced they are joining forces to send critically endangered eastern black rhinos back to their natural habitat in Rwanda, where the entire rhino population was wiped out during the genocide in the 1990s.

Three female and two male rhinos from the Dvur Kralove zoo in the Czech Republic, Flamingo Land in Britain and Ree Park Safari in Denmark will first meet in the Czech park to get used to each other and get ready for their transport to the Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda in May or June.

It will be the biggest single transport of rhinos from Europe to Africa, officials said.

There are only about 900 of the subspecies remaining in the world, 90 of them in 22 European zoos.

“Rwanda is a country that suffered a lot in the past but it’s a safe place now,” Dvur Kralove director Premysl Rabas said on Tuesday.

His zoo has 16 eastern black rhinos, the largest group in Europe.

“Horrible things took place (in Rwanda) in the 1990s,” Rabas said. “And (they) had an impact on the animals.”

More than 500,000 people were killed in the genocide by Hutu extremists against the Tutsi minority and Hutu moderates in 1994.

The conflict also devastated the entire population of lions in Rwanda. A separate effort is underway to restore their presence in the country.

The five rhinos that will inhabit a peninsula of some 3,000 hectares will initially be kept separate from 18 eastern black rhinos that were transported to a different part of the park several months ago from South Africa.

Once both groups settle there, they will be allowed to interbreed.

“Their genetic variability will widen by that,” Rabas said.

His zoo has successfully returned four rhinos to neighboring Tanzania in recent years, and five have since been born there.

African rhinos remain under intense pressure from poachers who kill them to meet demand for their horns in illegal markets, primarily in Vietnam and China.

Story: Karen Janicek

Boeing Delays Call to Discuss Issues With Its Newest Plane

By

Associated Press

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November 21, 2018 9:32 am

A Boeing 737-MAX 8 is parked Nov. 14 outside Boeing Co.'s 737 assembly facility in Renton, Washington. Photo: Ted S. Warren / Associated Press

Boeing Co. scrapped a conference call that it scheduled for Tuesday with airlines to discuss issues swirling around its newest plane, which has come under close scrutiny after a deadly crash in Indonesia.

The company didn’t immediately give an explanation for canceling the call but later said it would instead hold a series of regional calls with airlines to allow more time for questions.

The audience for the call was to include technical experts at airlines that fly the MAX, including American, Southwest and United. The first item on the agenda was to review differences in flight control systems between the MAX and its predecessor 737 model, called the NG or next generation, according to people briefed on plans for the call.

Pilots for U.S. airlines have complained that they were not told about a new feature in the MAX that could pitch the nose down sharply if sensors indicate that the plane is about to stall.

“Boeing has been and continues to engage with our customers. We continue to schedule meetings to share information,” said Boeing spokesman Chaz Bickers. He declined to say why Tuesday’s call was canceled but said new meetings would be held early next week.

Indonesian investigators are examining whether a new anti-stall system in the MAX played a role in the Oct. 29 crash of a Lion Air jet shortly after takeoff from Jakarta. The plane flew erratically before plunging into the Java Sea, killing all 189 people on board.

CFRA Research analyst Jim Corridore said canceling the call was “a bad look for the company at a time when it is facing increasing criticism for potential problems with sensors on the plane that could cause the aircraft to erroneously correct itself into a steep dive.” He said Boeing “needs to communicate more and better, not less.”

A spokeswoman for Southwest said Boeing did not give a reason for canceling and did not initially reschedule the call. She said the airline would follow any future guidance from Boeing or the Federal Aviation Administration as they continue their investigation.

A spokesman for American said the airline would continue to work with Boeing and the FAA. United declined to comment.

Through October, Boeing had delivered 241 MAX planes to airlines and taken orders for nearly 4,800.

The new system can point the nose of the plane down sharply if sensors detect that the plane may be about to enter an aerodynamic stall. Investigators in the Lion Air crash say the plane received faulty readings from so-called angle-of-attack sensors, which track whether the nose is pointed up, down or level, and they are probing whether the bad data caused the nose of the plane to pitch down automatically.

Boeing shares plunged 7.6 percent in morning trading but regained most of the loss over the next couple hours. The stock closed down $3.24, or 1 percent, at $317.70. They have lost 14 percent since Nov. 9 as regulators have focused on the role of the plane’s control systems in the crash.

Story: David Koenig

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