People visit the 21st edition of Ice-Snow World in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Dec. 23, 2019. (Photo by Zhang Tao/Xinhua)
HARBIN (Xinhua) — Harbin Ice-snow World, China’s largest ice and snow theme park, opened for its 21st winter season Monday in Harbin, capital of northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
Covering an area of 600,000 square meters, the park features 21 sites of snow and ice carvings and sculptures this year. It is estimated that 220,000 cubic meters of ice and snow were used in its construction.
The park will also hold over 20 interactive entertainment programs and host two international ice carving competitions this year, the organizer said.
Harbin Ice-snow World was established in 1999. Various activities are held in the park each winter for around three months.
Ice and snow have become a magnet for tourism in Harbin, which is known as “the Oriental Moscow” for its Russian-style buildings such as St. Sophia Cathedral.
Harbin Ice-snow World received over 116,800 visitors and brought in 29.91 million yuan (4.28 million U.S. dollars) in revenue during the three-day New Year’s Day holiday in 2018.
TOKYO — The government said Monday it will bestow a decoration on Tetsu Nakamura, the Japanese aid worker who was killed in a shooting earlier this month in Afghanistan.
The 73-year-old physician will be awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in a news conference.
WAKAYAMA (Kyodo) — A poultry goods operation has launched a kooky social media campaign to leverage Japanese people’s seemingly unrelated love of “mikan” citrus fruit, “kotatsu” heated tables and cute felines to raise funds for a shelter cat cafe network.
Nakata Chicken in Wakayama Prefecture started selling boxes of mikan with accompanying cat-sized cardboard kotatsu tables for 4,236 yen ($39), donating a percentage of sales to Neco Republic cat shelters and cafes.
A Chinese doctor attends to a patient at a Juba-based orphanage for vulnerable children in Juba, capital of South Sudan, Dec 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Gale Julius)
JUBA (Xinhua) — The China medical team in South Sudan on Saturday donated food items and offered free medical assistance to a children’s home in the capital Juba.
The Chinese medics visited the Confident Children out of Conflict (CCC), a Juba-based orphanage for vulnerable children lacking parental care and donated milk, biscuits and provided medical consultations to minors at the center.
Tang Youbin, head of the seventh batch of the Chinese doctors in South Sudan said they visited the orphanage to express love and solidarity with the venerable children.
“We are delighted to see the confidence and smile on the face of kids. We want to share with them so that they can enjoy a meaningful Christmas,” Tang said.
“We are also parents working in a foreign country, we miss our own kids very much and when we see these kids here, we feel at home,” Tang added.
China medical team in South Sudan and staff of the Confident Children out of Conflict (CCC) pose for a group photo at the Juba-based centre for vulnerable children in Juba, capital of South Sudan, Dec 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Gale Julius)
Tang pledged the Chinese doctors’ continued support to the people of South Sudan.
“We will take the kids here as our own, share the heartfelt love to them and care for them. China Medical Team is willing to provide medical services if it needs in the future,” said Tang.
Hellen Murshal Boro, executive director of CCC thanked the Chinese medics for extending a helping hand to the orphanage, which is home to over 100 street children.
The doctors, composed of 13 specialists and two support staffs are currently stationed at Juba Teaching and Referral Hospital, with routine outreach programs across South Sudan.
Since 2013, the China medical team has offered free medical services in South Sudan and also helped with the capacity building of health workers and medical students in the world’s youngest republic.
In this Oct. 2, 2019 file photo, a Turkish police officer walks past a picture of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi prior to a ceremony, near the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, marking the one-year anniversary of his death. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death Monday for the killing of Washington Post columnist and royal family critic Jamal Khashoggi, whose grisly slaying in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul drew international condemnation and cast a cloud of suspicion over Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Three other people were found guilty by Riyadh’s criminal court of covering up the crime and were sentenced to a combined 24 years in prison, according to a statement read by the Saudi attorney general’s office on state TV.
In all, 11 people were put on trial in Saudi Arabia over the killing. The names of those found guilty were not disclosed by the government. Executions in the kingdom are carried out by beheading, sometimes in public. All the verdicts can be appealed.
A small number of diplomats, including from Turkey, as well as members of Khashoggi’s family were allowed to attend the nine court sessions, though independent media were barred.
The trial concluded the killing was not premeditated, according to Shaalan al-Shaalan, a spokesperson from the attorney general’s office. That finding is in line with the Saudi government’s official explanation, which has been called into question by evidence that a hit team of Saudi agents with tools was sent to dispatch Khashoggi.
While the case in Saudi Arabia has largely concluded, questions linger outside Riyadh about the crown prince’s culpability in the slaying.
In this Nov. 2, 2018 file photo, a video image of Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is played during an event to remember Khashoggi, who died inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Amnesty International pronounced the outcome a “whitewash.” Agnes Callamard, who investigated the killing for the United Nations, condemned the trial as a “mockery of justice,” saying, “The fact that that the chain of command and the state have not been investigated means that the system that made it possible for Jamal Khashoggi to be killed has not been touched.”
“The decision is too unlawful to be acceptable,” Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said in a text message to The Associated Press. “It is unacceptable.”
Khashoggi, who was a resident of the U.S., had walked into his country’s consulate on Oct. 2, 2018, for an appointment to pick up documents that would allow him to marry. He never walked out, and his body has not been found.
A team of 15 Saudi agents had flown to Turkey to meet Khashoggi inside the consulate. They included a forensic doctor, intelligence and security officers and individuals who worked for the crown prince’s office, according to Callamard’s independent investigation. Turkish officials allege Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw.
The slaying stunned Saudi Arabia’s Western allies and immediately raised questions about how the high-level operation could have been carried out without the knowledge of Prince Mohammed — even as the kingdom insists the crown prince had nothing to do with the killing.
In an interview in September with CBS’ “60 Minutes”, Prince Mohammed said: “I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia.” But he reiterated that he had no knowledge of the operation, saying he could not keep such close track of the country’s millions of employees.
Turkey, a rival of Saudi Arabia, has used the killing on its soil to pressure the kingdom. Turkey, which had demanded the suspects be tried there, apparently had the Saudi Consulate bugged and has shared audio of the killing with the C.I.A., among others.
Saudi Arabia initially offered shifting accounts about Khashoggi’s disappearance. As international pressure mounted because of the Turkish leaks, the kingdom eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed by rogue officials in a brawl.
The 101-page reportreleased this year by Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, included details from the audio Turkish authorities shared with her. She reported hearing Saudi agents waiting for Khashoggi to arrive and one of them asking how they would carry out the body.
Not to worry, the doctor said. “Joints will be separated. It is not a problem,” he said in the audio. “If we take plastic bags and cut it into pieces, it will be finished. We will wrap each of them.”
Khashoggi had spent the last year of his life in exile in the U.S. writing in the Post about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. At a time when Prince Mohammed’s social reforms were being widely hailed in the West, Khashoggi’s columns criticized the parallel crackdown on dissent the prince was overseeing. Numerous critics of the Saudi crown prince are in prison and face trial on national security charges.
In Washington, Congress has said it believes Prince Mohammed is “responsible for the murder.” President Donald Trump has condemned the killing but has stood by the 34-year-old crown prince and defended U.S.-Saudi ties. Washington has sanctioned 17 Saudis suspected of being involved.
Among those sanctioned is Saud al-Qahtani, a hawkish former adviser to the crown prince. The Saudi attorney general’s office said Monday that al-Qahtani was investigated and had no proven involvement in the killing.
Meanwhile, Ahmed al-Asiri, also a former adviser to the crown prince who was deputy head of intelligence, was tried and released because of insufficient evidence, the attorney general’s office said.
The court also ordered the release of Saudi Arabia’s consul-general in Istanbul at the time, Mohammed al-Otaibi. He is among those sanctioned by the U.S. over his “involvement in gross violations of human rights.” The U.S. State Department has also issued travel bans against his immediate family.
One of Kashoggi’s sons, Salah, who lives in Saudi Arabia, tweeted after the verdicts that the Saudi judicial system “was fair to us and achieved justice.”
In Turkey, Yasin Aktay, a member of Turkey’s ruling party and a friend of Khashoggi’s, criticized the verdict, saying the Saudi court had failed to bring the real perpetrators to justice.
“The prosecutor sentenced five hit men to death but did not touch those who were behind the five,” Aktay said.
Although Khashoggi’s killing tarnished Prince Mohammed’s reputation in the West, he is hugely popular at home, especially among young Saudis happy with the social changeshe has ushered in. Some American executives who had stayed away because of the backlash over the slaying have resumed doing business with the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia over the past months has opened the previously closed-off country to tourists and travelers from around the world as part of a push to boost the economy and change perceptions of the kingdom.
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Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.
In this Dec. 18, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Battle Creek, Mich. Using stark “Us versus Them” language, Trump and his campaign are trying to frame impeachment not as judgment on his conduct but as a culture war referendum on him and his supporters, aiming to motivate his base heading into an election year (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that he was not ruling out calling witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial — but indicated he was in no hurry to seek new testimony either — as lawmakers remain at an impasse over the form of the trial by the GOP-controlled Senate.
The House voted Wednesday to impeach Trump, who became only the third president in U.S. history to be formally charged with “high crimes and misdemeanors.” But the Senate trial may be held up until lawmakers can agree on how to proceed. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is demanding witnesses who refused to appear during House committee hearings, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and former national security adviser John Bolton.
McConnell, who has all-but-promised a swift acquittal of the president, has resisted making any guarantees, and has cautioned Trump against seeking the testimony of witnesses he desires for fear of elongating the trial. Instead, he appears to have secured Republican support for his plans to impose a framework drawn from the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
“We haven’t ruled out witnesses,” McConnell said Monday in an interview with “Fox and Friends.” “We’ve said let’s handle this case just like we did with President Clinton. Fair is fair.”
That trial featured a 100-0 vote on arrangements that established two weeks of presentations and argument before a partisan tally in which Republicans, who held the majority, called a limited number of witnesses. But Democrats now would need Republican votes to secure witness testimony — and Republicans believe they have the votes to eventually block those requests.
In a letter Monday to all Senators, Schumer argued that the circumstances in the Trump trial are different from that of Clinton, who was impeached after a lengthy independent counsel investigation in which witnesses had already testified numerous times under oath. Schumer rejected the Clinton model, saying waiting until after the presentations to decide on witnesses would “foreclose the possibility of obtaining such evidence because it will be too late.”
Schumer also demanded that the Senate, in addition to receiving testimony, also compel the Trump administration to turn over documents and emails relevant to the case, including on the decision to withhold military assistance from Ukraine.
Schumer told The Associated Press on Monday that he stands ready to negotiate with McConnell, and that he hopes questions about witnesses can be settled “right at the beginning.” Without witnesses, he said, any trial would be “Kafkaesque.”
“Let’s put it like this: If there are no documents and no witnesses, it will be very hard to come to an agreement,” Schumer said.
If McConnell won’t agree, “We can go to the floor and demand votes, and we will,” he added.
Schumer told AP the Democrats aren’t trying to delay the proceedings, saying the witnesses and the documents his party is asking for are directly relevant to the charges in the House impeachment articles.
Meanwhile, the White House is projecting confidence that it will prevail in a constitutional spat with Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has delayed sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate in hopes of giving Schumer more leverage in talks with McConnell. But the White House believes Pelosi won’t be able to hold out much longer.
“She will yield. There’s no way she can hold this position,” Marc Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, told “Fox News Sunday.” “We think her case is going nowhere.’’
And in another move, the White House announced an expanded role for Rob Blair, a senior adviser to Mulvaney and one of the four current and former officials Schumer has called to testify.
The White House announced Blair will serve as special representative for international telecommunications policy, in addition to his role advising Mulvaney, helping to implement next-generation telecommunications infrastructure, including 5G wireless technology.
The impasse between the Senate leaders leaves open the possibility of a protracted delay until the articles are delivered.
Trump has called the holdup “unfair” and claimed that Democrats were violating the Constitution, as the delay threatened to prolong the pain of impeachment and cast uncertainty on the timing of the vote Trump is set to claim as vindication.
“Pelosi gives us the most unfair trial in the history of the U.S. Congress, and now she is crying for fairness in the Senate, and breaking all rules while doing so,” Trump tweeted Monday from his private club in Palm Beach, Fla., where he is on a more than two-week holiday vacation. “She lost Congress once, she will do it again!”
Short called Pelosi’s delay unacceptable, saying she’s “trampling” Trump’s rights to “rush this through, and now we’re going to hold it up to demand a longer process in the Senate with more witnesses.”
“If her case is so air-tight … why does she need more witnesses to make her case?’’ Short said.
White House officials have also taken to highlighting Democrats’ arguments that removing Trump was an “urgent” matter before the House impeachment vote, as they seek to put pressure on Pelosi to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
At one point, Trump had demanded the testimony of witnesses of his own, like Democrats Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and the intelligence community whistleblower whose summer complaint sparked the impeachment probe. But he has since relented after concerted lobbying by McConnell and other Senate Republicans who pushed him to accept the swift acquittal from the Senate and not to risk injecting uncertainty into the process by calling witnesses.
The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict in an impeachment trial — and Republicans have expressed confidence that they have more than enough votes to keep Trump in office.
A separate but related fight flared Monday in the courts, where the House Judiciary Committee held open the possibility of adding to the articles of impeachment against Trump depending on whatever testimony it can obtain from former White House counsel Don McGahn. The committee also said that testimony from McGahn could be useful in any impeachment trial in the Senate.
A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments on Jan. 3 on whether to force McGahn to comply with the subpoena.
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Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Hudson Falls, New York, AP Radio Correspondent Julie Walker in New York and AP writers Hope Yen and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
In this image released Tuesday Dec. 24, 2019, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II poses for a photo, while recording her annual Christmas Day message to the nation, at Windsor Castle, England. (Steve Parsons/pool via AP)
LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II plans to acknowledge that both Britain and her family have endured a difficult year by saying during her Christmas message that it has been a “bumpy” time.
The pre-recorded message will be broadcast in Britain and the Commonwealth nations on Christmas Day. It was recorded before the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, was hospitalized in London as a precautionary measure.
Excerpts released by Buckingham Palace before the speech show the queen admits difficulties during the course of the year.
Talking about the need for reconciliation and forgiveness, Elizabeth says: “The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference.”
She is thought to be referring both to Britain’s tortuous path out of the European Union, which led to a lengthy political stalemate broken only earlier this month when voters gave the pro-Brexit Conservative Party a comfortable majority in Parliament, and to the royal family’s setbacks.
The problems facing the queen’s family this year included Prince Andrew’s retreat from public duties because of a disastrous TV interview in which he defended his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The family has also endured a public rift between Prince William and Prince Harry, who has traveled with his wife Meghan and young son Archie to Canada rather than spend the Christmas holidays at Sandringham Estate — the queen’s rural retreat, as has long been customary for senior royals.
Both Harry and Meghan have complained about constant scrutiny by the media as they settle into family life with 7-month-old Archie.
The health of 98-year-old Philip has been a constant concern. He has been hospitalized in London for several days, but may still be able to return to Sandringham in time for Christmas. Details about his condition haven’t been made public.
When Prince Charles was asked about Philip’s health during a visit to a flooded visit in South Yorkshire, Charles said Monday his father was, “Alright. When you get to that age things don’t work so well.”
BANGKOK — A minister in charge of an “anti-fake news center” was accused by an activist on Monday of spreading fake news himself.
Nearly a week after Digital Economy and Society Minister Puttipong Punnakanta said one person was apprehended in connection with a viral photo deemed to be derogatory toward the monarchy, no further information emerged about the alleged arrest. Suspecting a hoax, a pro-democracy activist filed a complaint of disseminating false information against Puttipong today.
“My investigation found that no one was taken into custody,” Ekachai said. “I believe that the digital economy minister, who is the head of the anti-fake news center, is committing the crime himself.”
Puttitpong did not name anyone when he announced the arrest last week. He said the arrest was made in connection with a photo that appears to show a sign “Fuck you dictatorship” next to a huge portrait of the late King Rama IX.
Police have yet to confirm that any arrest took place at all. Multiple calls to police spokesman Krissana Pattanacharoen went unanswered.
The woman who took the controversial photo, Pimchanok Puksuk, took to Facebook to say she was not under detention. Pimchanok, who was reportedly forced to resign from her job at a TV station after a wave of criticism online, also said she had no intention to insult the monarchy.
“I’d like to insist that the message on that paper was aimed directly at the government only,” Pimchanok wrote. “I took that shot because I felt that it was the protesters’ message to the government.”
Yaowalak Anuphan, head of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, said the group did not receive any reports of an arrest related to the photo.
Future Forward Party spokeswoman Pannika Wanich also slammed Puttipong’s characterization of the photo as an insult to the monarchy. She accused Puttipong of spreading “hatred messages” with his interpretation of the photo.
BANGKOK — Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Monday had only one response to a list of nicknames lampooning his administration compiled by a media group: a death glare.
Gen. Prayuth appeared to be so stung by the list that he declined the daily interview and walked past the crowd of waiting reporters. The nicknames – part of a longstanding annual tradition revived this year – are full of wordplays in reference to the many scandals that stalk Prayuth’s Cabinet throughout 2019, from broken promises to a failed push to ban pesticides.
The list of nicknames was compiled by the close-knit community of reporters who cover politics at Government House. The tradition was suspended for six years from 2013, when anti-government street protests were flooding Bangkok, and during the five years of military rule.
The Cabinet: Siangkong State
A reference to the Siangkong (also written as Xian Gong) neighborhood in Chinatown where second hand auto parts are sold, the nickname mocks the government for stacking its ranks with Old Guard bureaucrats and politicians; they don’t have the best reputation for being efficient and reliable.
Prayuth Chan-ocha: An Angry Pot Calling the Kettle Black
Gen. Prayuth has knack of lashing out at the deeds of the elected government he overthrew in the May 2014 coup – from rice subsidies to wage rise and nepotism – only to repeat those acts himself. The general also often responded with anger when called out about the promises he broke, most famously his pledge never to enter politics.
Prawit Wongsuwan: The Big ‘En’ Brother
Similar to attractive models hired to “entertain” (or “En” in Thai slang) high profile guests at parties, Prawit has been working hard to keep the fragile government coalition together in one piece.
The nickname is also a jab to Prawit’s diminished role; since he lost the seat of defense minister, Prawit is often seen presiding over opening ceremonies and events unrelated to the national security.
Somkid Jatusripitak: Chai Noi of Pracharath
Once the brainmaster of the government’s Pracharath initiative, Somkid has since been stripped of responsibility in many projects. The economics guru once complained he felt like walking on one leg, as he no longer has the authority to push many programs toward their goals. Chai Noi is a character who has disabilities in popular TV soap Ban Sai Thong.
Wissanu Krea-ngam: Sri Thanonchai
The nickname compared Deputy PM Wissanu to the folklore tales of Sri Thanonchai, a jester who exploited loopholes and reinterpreted the laws for his own benefit. His claim that a politician convicted of drug trafficking can serve as a minister because the offenses took place outside Thailand comes to mind.
Jurin Laksanawisit: Independent State
The Deputy PM and Democrat chairman often gets the flak from other coalition politicians for prioritizing his party’s agendas with little or no regard to the government’s strategy.
Anutin Charnvirakul: Rat Poison
With over 50 seats under his command as the head of Bhumjaithai Party, Anutin has a bargaining chip large enough to blackmail the government into submission if a disagreement breaks out, causing much unease and suspicions among other coalition members. Fun fact: Anutin’s nickname, Nuu, means “rat” and “mouse” in Thai.
Thammanat Prompow: Thammanat the Grey
This year’s most embarrassing government scandal perhaps belongs to Thammanat, who is exposed to have served four years in an Australian prison for drug trafficking. He is also accused of bribing opposition politicians for their defection to the government camp.
Mananya Thaises: Madam Ban-Not-a-Ban
The deputy agriculture minister spent much of the year touting her promise to ban three pesticides deemed harmful to farmers, only to meekly relent when the government delayed the ban for another six months.
Saksiam Chidchob: Revival Man
Ever since taking control of the transport minister, Saksiam invited non-stop criticism for many outlandish ideas, like that time he wanted every car to be installed with GPS tracker. The minister also revived several controversial projects that have been put to rest, such as the Pak Bara port proposal, which sparked serious concerns for the ecology.
Warawut Silpa-archa: Top-Tier Undertaker
Warawut’s tenure as the environment minister coincided with the losses of many high profile wildlife animals, like Mariam the dugong, Chuang Chuang the giant panda, and six elephants who fell down a cliff.
Quote of the year, picked by the reporters:
“Don’t get bored of me yet. I’d be here for a long time,” – PM Prayuth Chan-ocha
Tawee Kraikupt showed a headline of his news during a presser on Dec. 22, 2019.
RATCHABURI — Police on Monday said the father of a pro-government lawmaker was fined 500 baht after crashing his car into a motorcycle in Ratchaburi province over the weekend, injuring a 17-year-old boy.
Tawee Kraikupt, a former transport minister and father of scandal-beset Phalang Phracharath MP Parina Kraikupt, also agreed to pay a compensation of about 14,000 baht to the teenager following the accident, police said.
Eyewitnesses accused Tawee of trying to drive away from the accident. In a video posted by Sawang Ratchaburi volunteer rescue team, Tawee’s Mercedes Benz can be seen honking the horn and attempting to make a U-turn after his car was blocked by a rescuer’s vehicle.
One rescuer said Tawee’s car struck the fence of a house and almost hit the rescuers who were applying first aid to the victim, who was injured in his right foot.
Speaking in a Sunday presser, Tawee said he had no intention to flee the scene.
“I was trying to cross an intersection but a motorcycle suddenly cut through,” he said. “I decided not to get out of the car because I feared that stopping at the intersection would be a risk to another accident and I saw that the victim was apparently not seriously injured.”
He also threatened to file a legal complaint against the person who posted the video of the accident, which he said it was doctored to make him look bad.
“This is a society of fakery,” Tawee said.
Police said Tawee later visited the police station to settle the case. He reportedly agreed to pay about 14,000 baht in medical and repair costs to the victim, whose family decided not to press charges.
Tawee’s daughter Parina is also facing legal action from multiple state agencies who accused her of intruding on public lands in their home province of Ratchaburi.
Environment minister Varawut Silpa-archa on Thursday said the ministry has filed legal complaints against Parina for encroaching on protected forest land. If found guilty, she faces up to 15 years in prison.
Although Parina had returned parts of the land back to the relevant authorities, Varawut said the government may also file a separate lawsuit against her for intruding on plots of land reserved for impoverished farmers.
