International Women’s Day: Strikes, Protests and Holidays

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9 March 2019, 09:29

Spain International Women's Day — Female demonstrator, tp center, holds a banner reading ''Smoking kills. Male chauvinism also'' during the International Women's Day in Pamplona, northern Spain, Friday, March 8, 2019. Spanish women are marking International Women's Day with a full day strike and dozens of protests across the country against wage gap and gender violence. (Alvaro Barrientos)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Marches and protests were held Friday across the globe to mark International Women’s Day under the slogan #BalanceforBetter, with calls for a more gender-balanced world.

The day, sponsored by the United Nations since 1975, celebrates women’s achievements and aims to further their rights.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a commemoration at U.N. headquarters in New York that “remarkable progress on women’s rights and leadership” in recent decades has sparked a backlash from “an entrenched patriarchy.”

And he warned that “nationalist, populist and austerity agendas add to inequality with policies that curtail women’s rights and cut social services.”

“I do not accept a world that tells my granddaughters that economic equality can wait for their granddaughter’s granddaughters,” Guterres said. “I call for a new vision of equality and opportunity so that half the world’s population can contribute to all the world’s success.”

Millions of others around the world demanded equality amid a persistent salary gap, violence and widespread inequality.

Europe

Police in the Ukrainian capital Kiev detained three people as far-right demonstrators tried to provoke activists protesting domestic and sexual violence.

About 300 people gathered on Mykhailivska Square in central Kiev on Friday for the women’s rights demonstration. Several dozen far-right demonstrators stood nearby, holding placards reading “God! Homeland! Patriarchy!” and “Feminism is destroying Ukrainian families.”

In Spain, where women’s rights have become one of the hot topics in the run-up to a general election next month, many female employees didn’t show up to work Friday. Others also halted domestic work or left to men the care of children and ill or elderly people.

In the evening, cities across the country lit landmark buildings with purple lights as hundreds of thousands poured into the streets.

“We are getting killed and we are getting lower salaries for being women, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Sara Baladron, a 27-year-old pharmacist joining the protest in central Madrid.

In neighboring Portugal, the Cabinet observed a minute of silence Thursday as part of a day of national mourning it decreed for victims of domestic violence. Portuguese police say 12 women have died this year in domestic violence incidents — the highest number over the same period in 10 years.

Pope Francis hailed the “irreplaceable contribution of women” to fostering peace.

“Women make the world beautiful, they protect it and keep it alive,” the Argentine Jesuit said.

Francis has vowed to give more decision-making roles to women in the Catholic Church, where the priesthood —and therefore the highest ranks of authority— is reserved for men. Some feminists bristle at Francis’ frequent use of the term “feminine genius” and his focus on women as mothers.

In Germany, topless feminist protesters went to one of the country’s most famous red-light districts in Hamburg and pulled down a metal barrier wall intended to keep out women — other than prostitutes.

A half-dozen women belonging to the Femen activist group had the slogan “No brothels for women” written on their bare back in black lettering.

Legally, all women are allowed to enter the street, but in reality most women obey the signs saying, “Entry only for men 18+.”

In France, the first Simone Veil prize went Friday to a Cameroonian activist who has worked against forced marriages and other violence against girls and women. Aissa Doumara Ngatansou was married against her will at age 15 but insisted upon continuing her studies as a young wife. She has since turned her attention to victims of Boko Haram extremists.

The French award is named for the trailblazing French politician and Holocaust survivor Veil, who spearheaded the fight to legalize abortion.

Meanwhile in Russia, International Women’s Day is a public holiday but it mostly lauds gender roles that are now outdated. As is his custom every year, President Vladimir Putin gave a speech thanking women for their patience, good grace and support.

“You manage to do everything: both at work and at home and at the same time you remain beautiful, charismatic, charming, the center of gravity for the whole family, uniting it with your love,” Putin said.

Latin America

Women in Argentina were galvanized to take to the streets after a bill that would have legalized abortion was rejected by lawmakers last year. They prepared for a large march from Congress to the country’s historic Plaza de Mayo square later Friday, during which they were set to protest against violence.

Rallies against violence against women in Argentina, held under the slogan “Not One Less,” have drawn multitudes in the past.

“We have achieved a change of era. Sexist violence is no longer accepted, abuses are not accepted, neither is street harassment … there are many things that have changed,” said Marta Dillon, an activist and one of the founders of the “Not One Less” movement.

In Puerto Rico, hundreds clad in purple T-shirts protested to demand safer housing as the U.S. territory struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria, while others held up signs with the names of more than 20 women reportedly killed by their partners on the island last year.

Amid the protests, Gov. Ricardo Rossello signed an executive order that would in part create a special agency to intervene in domestic violence cases and establish preventive police patrols around the homes and workplaces of women awarded protection orders.

Meanwhile, similar scenes played out in other South American countries.

Hundreds of women in Bolivia rallied in main cities, carrying giant undergarments bearing messages such as, “underwear of an irresponsible and abusive father” and “underwear of a child molester,” as Chilean women also demanded access to free and safe abortions.

And in nearby Ecuador, President Lenin Moreno took the day to announce the creation of a bonus of about $300 per month for the children of victims of femicides.

The bonus will help an estimated 88 orphans.

Asia

In India, hundreds of women marched on the streets of New Delhi demanding an end to domestic violence, sexual attacks and discrimination in jobs.

Boys are prized more than girls in India. Thousands of Indian women are killed — often doused in gasoline and burned to death — every year because the groom or his family feel the dowry of the bride is inadequate.

Political parties in India have for years been promising 33 percent of seats for women in the country’s Parliament, but they have yet to enact legislation to that effect.

In Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, several hundred men and women carried colorful placards calling for an end to discriminative practices such as the termination of employment for pregnancy and exploitative work contracts.

“Our action today is to urge (the government) for our right to a society that’s democratic, prosperous, equal and free from violence,” said Dian Trisnanti, a labor activist. Girls and women in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, have equal access to education but face higher unemployment, lower wages and poorer working conditions than men.

Both Koreas marked the day. In the South, women wearing black cloaks and pointed hats marched against what they describe as a “witch hunt” of feminists in a deeply conservative society.

College student Noh Seo-young said that South Korea struggles to accept that women are “also humans” and that women have to fight until they can “walk around safely.”

In the North, where Women’s Day is one of the few national holidays that is not explicitly political in nature, people dressed up for family photo shoots or bought roses for their mothers or wives at the many small, bright orange street stalls in central Pyongyang that sell flowers.

North America

U.S. President Donald Trump honored International Women’s Day with a presidential message, saying that the U.S. celebrates women’s “vision, leadership, and courage,” and reaffirms its “commitment to promoting equal opportunity for women everywhere.”

On the eve prior, U.S. first lady Melania Trump saluted women from 10 countries for their courage. The recipients of the International Women of Courage Award included human rights activists, police officers and an investigative journalist.

“Courage is what divides those who only talk about change from those who actually act to change,” Mrs. Trump said at a ceremony Thursday that was also attended by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo separately recognized women in Iran for protesting the requirement that they wear a head covering known as a hijab in public and a Ukrainian activist who died in 2018 after she was attacked with sulfuric acid.

Africa

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who named one of the world’s few “gender-balanced” Cabinets last year, told a gathering that “women are the pillars of the nation and the least recognized for their sacrifices.”

In Nigeria, the U.S. Embassy hosted talks on sexual harassment that included a founder of the recent #ArewaMeToo campaign among women in the country’s conservative, largely Muslim north. And in Niger, first lady Aissata Issoufou Mahamadou oversaw the awards in the Miss Intellect Niger contest.

Women protested against gender-based violence in Kenya’s capital.

“We haven’t gotten to a stage where women are comfortable to come out and say, ‘I was sexually abused,'” said protester Esther Passaris. “So what we need to do is slowly, slowly grow.”

Story: Almudena Calatrava, Debora Rey

Readers Fall in Love With Durian Heiress and Send Us Weird Mail

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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8 March 2019, 18:29

Arnon Rodthong and Karnsita Rodthong speak at a news conference Monday.

BANGKOK — When a southern durian tycoon called off a contest to marry off his daughter because he was overwhelmed by inquiries, he wasn’t kidding.

For merely writing about Arnon Rodthong’s proposal, Khaosod English got a small taste of that in the form of wonderful and odd inquiries from men – and women – who signed their letters from locations including the United States, Germany, Russia and Mauritius.

The strong work ethic sought by Arnon in his daughter’s future husband shone through in nearly every message (“I always give my best and work as hard as I can!), with almost as many insisting “I’m not in it for the money.”

Many confused us with the father, such as a German paramedic “looking for a new life” who solemnly vowed he “would [do] everything to make her happy for the rest of our life.”

A “shy” aspiring Nigerian doctor, who also mistook us for a matchmaking service, was prepared for skepticism.

“I don’t expect you to believe that am a diligent type and of good character but I can assure you that your daughter will be in safe hands,” he wrote.

Even after learning the tournament had been canceled, one 33-year-old Canadian wasn’t giving up. He wrote back to make it clear – this had become serious.

“I’m not in it for the contest or money, I’ve fallen for Karnista.”

[Actually it’s Karnsita, but hey, close enough for true love.]

It wasn’t only messages from men that found our inbox. A mother from Alaska, the last American frontier, offered up her two large sons, both of whom she assured were over 6-feet tall and “healthy.”

As proof of the boys’ kindness, she shared this anecdote:

“For Valentine’s day the boys used their own money and made me Hawaiian pizza. I like Hawaiian pizza and they really do not.

One caveat: both of her “good boys” are only 17, and she insisted that one (not actually her son) “would really have to be 18 before he could do anything.” Thanks for the warning.

A 41-year-old Chinese-American went to impressive lengths with a full resume, cover letter and draft business plan to grow and expand the durian empire. But all that came with a condition of his own – no “Korean plastic surgery.”

“I’d rather she didn’t end up looking like one of those humorless, shrunken, v-shaped heads talking about what they had for afternoon tea on Youtube,” he wrote. Got issues?

But really, Arnon need look no further than one suitor whose brief pitch covered all the bases – and ALL the qualifications.

“I am a successful business owner. I’m a US citizen with all the qualifications. I don’t need any money!”

An Indonesian-American woman also chimed in, not to advocate for any would-be groom but to urgently warn both father and daughter of “user broke man.”

“I think you need to get in touch to that young lady and tell the truth about man so she is not going to be taking advantage of,” she wrote. “[H]er father is not thinking straight. Buying a man is not right… Men is a provider no lady can buy a gentleman. He is attracting user broke man.”

We’re sure Arnon Rodthong would sleep better tonight knowing that.

From Crew to Cockpit, Julie Charts Course for Thai Women

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Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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8 March 2019, 13:17

Each year, droves of Thai women over 160 centimeters in height wheel their suitcases toward a coveted dream job long considered a pinnacle of female achievement – becoming a flight attendant.

Few make it. Even rarer are those who succeed in aiming farther – a seat in the cockpit. One glance at national carrier Thai Airways’ job requirements suggests why. While flight attendants may be of any gender, the airline considers only men to be qualified.

Some passengers flying Bangkok Air are doubtless surprised then to be greeted over the intercom by 1st Officer Julie, a former air hostess who emerged from years of rigorous training to become a pilot, something she hopes is indicative of growing ranks of Thai women pilots.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is your 1st Officer, Srimanee Tang, speaking on behalf of the captain…” the 29-year-old repeats in English, Thai and Mandarin, on flights throughout ASEAN.

Those Thai commercial airlines which accept female pilots count only about one-in-10 on their workforces, many of whom stuck the landing from beverage cart to flight stick.

Precise and mechanical in her movements, 1st Officer Srimanee “Julie” Tang speaks through a clipped smile as she strides confidently up the stairs into the plane, unphased by the harsh sun and wind bearing down on the tarmac.

In a narrow Airbus A320, the cabin is under four meters wide. The cockpit is even narrower, and that’s where Julie has squeezed herself into on a recent afternoon at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.

It’s a space she’s at home in. With an economy of movement, she snaps a runway map into a waiting clip, unfolds a small table and flips open a preparation checklist, all in a matter of seconds.

“The FMGS [Flight Management and Guidance System] here is really the beating heart of this,” she says casually while entering coordinates into a calculator-looking device to her left.

All settings must be checked every half hour, she explains, before gushing enthusiastically about the traffic collision avoidance system’s many amazing features.

Julie’s fascination with the technical started early – she shined at math and chemistry and loved crushing her enemies in online games.

“They say there’s three types that become pilots: athletes, musicians and gamers,” Julie said. “I’m the last type.” In her down time, she still plays some Battlefield, Ragnarok, DOTA and PubG.

Earning Her Wings

Long before the 29-year-old would rack up more than 1,800 flight hours, Julie’s journey into the skies began not in the cockpit but the cabin. Her first step was leaving architecture in a bold career move. Her first barrier? Mom and dad.

“My parents thought I was wasting my architect education, and they were scared the plane would crash,” Julie recalled.

Julie quickly took to the the takeoff-and-landing life. Being a flight attendant holds a certain glamor and distinction not always reflected by reality but celebrated nonetheless, as in 2008’s roaringly popular soap opera “Battle of Angels” which pit air hostesses against each other as they fought over hunky male pilots. Indeed, becoming a flight attendant is the aspiration of many female university students. There’s a cottage industry of training courses, and many who get the job end up becoming minor net idols on social media.

But Julie, having trained as an architect, yearned to make better use of her math and technical skills. Maybe she could fly the plane? Society left fewer markers for that path.

“I used to think only guys could become pilots,” she said. “Then I saw that I was eligible, but not all airlines accept female pilots.”

Her search for airlines taking female cadets quickly narrowed her options. “Thai national, male, age below 28 years,” reads Thai Airways’ first line of trainee qualifications.

A professional pilot tutor says that those decisions are left up to the airlines.

In addition to Bangkok Air, recruitment posters for AirAsia show smiling male and female captains. Nok Air also accepts women applicants and said that 27 percent of its 2016 recruits were women. Those numbers could rise – Julie shows a photo of a recent batch of 17 graduating Bangkok Airways pilots, six of whom – 35 percent – were women.

Bangkok Airways became the first Thai airline to recruit women pilots in 1990. Of the airline’s 358 pilots, 34 today are women. Overall, only 3 percent of the 6,749 commercial pilots licensed in Thailand are women, according to civil aviation authorities.

But before she’d be let in the cockpit, Julie had to pass rigorous, competitive testing which only had a 2 percent pass rate. And she had to do it within five years.

“It was very competitive. Out of maybe 800 people taking a test, 16 would pass,” she said.

There were tests on math and physics. Aptitude tests requiring candidates draw lines with pencils in each hand as their table was knocked around while simultaneously solving math problems.

After two and a half years of drilling and testing, Julie passed.

“I believe in 99 percent diligence, one percent luck. Yes, luck is definitely in the equation, but diligence is much more important,” she said.

Ground Control

Julie says there is opportunity for female pilots, but they’ll need to be prepared for the martial culture of flight school that comes after the exams.

“The teacher would whack the limbs of guys if they made a mistake. It’s a traditional way of teaching for Thais, especially in the army,” she said. “The pilot is risking lives. There has to be a correction right away, and the fastest way is by a quick smack, so they know to stop it.”

For an entire year, Julie and 16 other student pilots bunking on campus woke at 5am to jog, then fly small aircraft as they worked their way up to larger Airbus airframes.

“It was a year of no makeup,” she said, laughing. “Everyone gets up to exercise around the golf course, and they only let you have a few minutes to shower.”

Discipline was not blind to gender, at least not with the male instructors.

“He would say, ‘If the student is flying badly, then it’s my fault,’ and he would hit himself instead of hitting the girl. We would laugh, but I would feel guilty, so it still works,” she said.

Graduating from the year-long course in 2016 with at least 200 flight hours meant earning their wings in a ceremony.

Like other professional training, it left her saddled with debt – a year of pilot school cost 2.5 million baht; today it’s closer to 3 million baht – roughly the annual salary of Thai pilots.

But she still hasn’t reached her flight ceiling. She has about 1,000 hours to go before she can earn her epaulettes and buckle up for the testing necessary to become a full captain. Follow her journey on Instagram.

Ex-Trump Campaign Boss Manafort Sentenced to 47 Months

By

Associated Press

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8 March 2019, 12:12

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort talks to reporters in 2016 on the floor of the Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland as Rick Gates listens at back left. Photo: Matt Rourke / Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced Thursday to nearly four years in prison for tax and bank fraud related to his work advising Ukrainian politicians, much less than what was called for under sentencing guidelines.

Manafort, sitting in a wheelchair as he deals with complications from gout, had no visible reaction as he heard the 47-month sentence. While that was the longest sentence to date to come from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, it could have been much worse for Manafort. Sentencing guidelines called for a 20-year-term, effectively a lifetime sentence for the 69-year-old.

Manafort has been jailed since June, so he will receive credit for the nine months he has already served. He still faces the possibility of additional time from his sentencing in a separate case in the District of Columbia, where he pleaded guilty to charges related to illegal lobbying.

Before Judge T.S. Ellis III imposed the sentence, Manafort told him that “saying I feel humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement.” But he offered no explicit apology, something Ellis noted before issuing his sentence.

Manafort steered Donald Trump’s election efforts during crucial months of the 2016 campaign as Russia sought to meddle in the election through hacking of Democratic email accounts. He was among the first Trump associates charged in the Mueller investigation and has been a high-profile defendant.

But the charges against Manafort were unrelated to his work on the campaign or the focus of Mueller’s investigation: whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russians.

A jury last year convicted Manafort on eight counts, concluding that he hid from the IRS millions of dollars he earned from his work in Ukraine.

Manafort’s lawyers argued that their client had engaged in what amounted to a routine tax evasion case, and cited numerous past sentences in which defendants had hidden millions from the IRS and served less than a year in prison.

Prosecutors said Manafort’s conduct was egregious, but Ellis ultimately agreed more with defense attorneys. “These guidelines are quite high,” Ellis said.

Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys had requested a particular sentence length in their sentencing memoranda, but prosecutors had urged a “significant” sentence.

Outside court, Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, said his client accepted responsibility for his conduct “and there was absolutely no evidence that Mr. Manafort was involved in any collusion with the government of Russia.”

Prosecutors left the courthouse without making any comment.

Though Manafort hasn’t faced charges related to collusion, he has been seen as one of the most pivotal figures in the Mueller investigation. Prosecutors, for instance, have scrutinized his relationship with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate U.S. authorities say is tied to Russian intelligence, and have described a furtive meeting the men had in August 2016 as cutting to the heart of the investigation.

After pleading guilty in the D.C. case, Manafort met with investigators for more than 50 hours as part of a requirement to cooperate with the probe. But prosecutors reiterated at Thursday’s hearing that they believe Manafort was evasive and untruthful in his testimony to a grand jury.

Manafort was wheeled into the courtroom about 3:45 p.m. in a green jumpsuit from the Alexandria jail, where he spent the last several months in solitary confinement. The jet black hair he bore in 2016 when serving as campaign chairman was gone, replaced by a shaggy gray. He spent much of the hearing hunched at the shoulders, bearing what appeared to be an air of resignation.

Defense lawyers had argued that Manafort would never have been charged if it were not for Mueller’s probe. At the outset of the trial, even Ellis agreed with that assessment, suggesting Manafort was being prosecuted only to pressure him to “sing” against Trump. Prosecutors said the Manafort investigation preceded Mueller’s appointment.

Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani echoed the defense argument Thursday night, saying: “I feel terrible about the way Manafort has been treated to this point. I think it’s not American to keep a man in solitary confinement to try to crack him.”

Giuliani said he hadn’t spoken to the president about Manafort’s sentence.

Manafort was convicted of eight felonies related to tax and bank fraud charges for hiding foreign income from his work in Ukraine from the IRS and later inflating his income on bank loan applications. Prosecutors have said the work in Ukraine was on behalf of politicians who were closely aligned with Russia, though Manafort insisted his work helped those politicians distance themselves from Russia and align with the West.

In arguing for a significant sentence, prosecutor Greg Andres said Manafort still hasn’t accepted responsibility for his misconduct.

“His sentencing positions are replete with blaming others,” Andres said. He also said Manafort still has not provided a full account of his finances for purposes of restitution, a particularly egregious omission given that his crime involved hiding more than USD$55 million in overseas bank accounts to evade paying more than $6 million in federal income taxes.

The lack of certainty about Manafort’s finances complicated the judge’s efforts to impose restitution, but Ellis ultimately ordered that Manafort could be required to pay back up to $24 million.

In the D.C. case, Manafort faces up to five years in prison on each of two counts to which he pleaded guilty. The judge will have the option to impose any sentence there concurrent or consecutive to the sentence imposed by Ellis.

Story: Matthew Barakat, Stephen Braun

Thais Overseas Kiss Their Thai Raksa Chart Votes Goodbye

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JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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8 March 2019, 12:03

Thais in Paris protest junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha in June 2018 on the occasion of his first state visit to the European Union. Photo: @JunyaYimprasert / Twitter

BANGKOK — Overseas voters who mailed off ballots for the Thai Raksa Chart Party automatically lost their votes the moment the party was dissolved.

When the party was dissolved just weeks before Election Day, ballots from those who vote for it will not be counted, Election Commissioner Jarungvith Phumma said Friday. He said the commission has instructed all Thai diplomatic missions to urgently inform voters of the development.

Asked if there would be any opportunity for affected voters to recast their votes, Jarungvith said no.

Ballots were to be sent in starting this past Monday, with March 16 being the last day to mail them. Nearly 82,000 people have registered to vote overseas, according to the commission.

Thai Raksa Chart Disbanded for Nominating Princess

Mahathir: China Should Define Claims in South China Sea

By

Associated Press

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8 March 2019, 11:10

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia and Myanmar Leader Aung San Suu Kyi, pose for a group photo during the opening ceremony for the 33rd ASEAN Summit and Related Summits Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, in Singapore. Photo: Bullit Marquez / Associated Press

MANILA — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday that China should define its “so-called ownership” in the disputed South China Sea so other claimant countries can start to gain benefits from the resource-rich waters.

Mahathir stressed the importance of freedom of navigation in the busy waterway, saying in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel in Manila that if there were no restrictions and sanctions, “the claims made by China will not affect us very much.”

Malaysia, the Philippines, China and three other governments have been locked in long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea. China has claimed virtually the entire sea but has refused to define the extent of its claims except for a vague line with nine dashes on its maps, complicating the disputes.

Efforts by the Philippines, for example, to explore for undersea deposits of oil and natural gas in Reed Bank west of its Palawan island province have been stymied for years by Chinese protests and claims to the offshore region. The Philippines has declared a moratorium on exploration in the area in the past because of Chinese threats.

“We have to talk to China on the definition of their claims and what is meant by their ownership or so-called ownership they claim to have so that we can find ways of deriving some benefits from them,” Mahathir said.

“I think that whatever may be the claim of China, the most important thing is that the South China Sea in particular must be open to navigation,” Mahathir said. “There should be no restriction, no sanction, and if that happens, then I think the claims made by China will not affect us very much.”

During talks in Manila between the visiting Malaysian leader and President Rodrigo Duterte, the territorial conflicts were high in the agenda.

“We emphasized the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight over the South China Sea,” Duterte said after the meeting, adding that force or the threat of it should not be resorted to.

Duterte thanked Malaysia for brokering peace talks between the Philippine government and Muslim guerrillas in the south, homeland of minority Muslims in the largely Roman Catholic nation. The rebels have become leaders of a new Muslim autonomous region in the country’s south under a peace deal.

The Malaysian leader, who at 93 is the world’s oldest prime minister, visited the Philippines as his country’s leader in 1987 and 1994.

“I’m glad to see that, at last, peace has come to the southern Philippines. Development cannot take place in war. In war, we destroy but in peace we build,” Mahathir told a business forum in Manila before meeting Duterte.

With enormous economic opportunities opening up in the former battlefields, Mahathir said Malaysia is looking forward to investing in the region and pledged that his country will continue to back Philippine peace efforts. Philippine Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the two countries plan to resume the ancient practice of barter trading between Malaysia and the southern Philippine towns of Jolo, Siasi and Bongao to ease poverty that breeds criminality and terrorism.

A Malaysia-led team of 28 international peace monitors will remain in the south until all Muslim guerrillas have demobilized under the peace deal, Malaysian officials said. The European Union, Japan and Brunei also have contributed personnel to the peacekeeping contingent.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Murad Ebrahim, the former Muslim rebel leader who now heads the five-province autonomous region called Bangsamoro, attended a state banquet hosted by Duterte for Mahathir. Officials were trying to arrange a meeting between Mahathir and Murad.

The Philippines and Malaysia, along with Western governments and the guerrillas, see effective Muslim autonomy as an antidote to nearly half a century of Muslim secessionist violence which the Islamic State group could exploit to gain a foothold in the region.

Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia agreed in 2017 to carry out sea and aerial patrols to confront a wave of abductions along their sea border by Abu Sayyaf militants and allied gunmen from the southern Philippines. The sea abductions have eased but ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf militants are still holding a Malaysian and two Indonesians captive in their jungle hideouts.

“Malaysia is committed to take the necessary steps to address the serious issue of terrorism and violent extremism” through the accord, Mahathir said.

Story: Jim Gomez

Trump Disappointed by Activity at North Korea Missile Sites

By

Associated Press

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8 March 2019, 10:19

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at the conclusion of their meetings in June at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island in Singapore. Photo: Susan Walsh / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he’s a “little disappointed” by reports of new activity at a North Korean missile research center and long-range rocket site and that time will tell if U.S. diplomacy with the reclusive country will be successful.

South Korea’s military said it is carefully monitoring North Korean nuclear and missile facilities after the country’s spy agency told lawmakers that new activity was detected at a research center where the North is believed to build long-range missiles targeting the U.S. mainland.

Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said the U.S. and South Korean militaries are sharing intelligence over the developments at the North’s missile research center in Sanumdong on the outskirts of the capital, Pyongyang, and at a separate long-range rocket site. She did not elaborate on what the developments were.

Asked if he was disappointed in the new activity, Trump told reporters at the White House that he was “a little disappointed.” Then he said time will determine the future of U.S. efforts to get North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give up his pursuit of nuclear weapons in exchange for relief from sanctions stalling economic growth.

“We’ll let you know in about a year,” Trump told the reporters.

Briefing reporters at the State Department later, a senior U.S. official said that despite the new activity and the failure of last month’s Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi to reach a denuclearization deal, the administration still believes it can reach and implement an agreement by the end of the president’s first term. The official said it is important that progress be made quickly but that the goal is “achievable” by January 2021.

The official said that the U.S. is still trying to determine exactly what North Korea is doing with recent activity but that the administration will seek clarification from the North as well as intelligence analysts. The official said the Trump administration did not necessarily agree with nongovernmental analysts who believe the activity is a sign of North Korean anger following the summit. The official was not authorized to speak publicly to the state of negotiations with the North Koreans and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump said on Wednesday that his relationship with Kim remained “good” even though Trump walked away from negotiations at their high-profile meeting in Vietnam, saying the North’s concessions on its nuclear program weren’t enough to warrant sanctions relief.

Trump has favored direct talks with Kim, but the next stage of negotiations is likely to be conducted at lower levels. Trump’s envoy to North Korea, Steve Biegun, had lunch Wednesday at the State Department with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea. The South Koreans have proposed semiofficial three-way talks with the United States and North Korea as it works to put nuclear diplomacy back on track.

Suh Hoon, the director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, told his nation’s lawmakers in Seoul that North Korea was restoring facilities at a rocket launch site it had dismantled last year in a goodwill measure.

Meanwhile, 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies, said commercial satellite imagery indicates the rebuilding started between Feb. 16 and March 2. And the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, issued another report saying satellite imagery taken Saturday – just two days after the summit ended – showed North Korea “pursuing a rapid rebuilding” of the Sohae Satellite Launch Site.

Some analysts think the work is a signal that Kim is getting ready to conduct more tests, but others suggest he’s just registering his disappointment that no agreement was reached at the summit. Trump himself added to the confusion, saying his administration had a hand in the report on Sohae being made public.

“It’s a very early report. We’re the ones that put it out,” Trump said without elaborating.

Joel Wit, a North Korea proliferation expert who helped negotiate with North Korea in the mid-1990s, said the new work at Sohae is Kim’s way of showing that he’s “getting impatient with lack of progress in negotiations.”

“We have to watch to see what else happens,” Wit said. “It’s a space launch facility and has been used to send satellites into space. … Problem is, some of the technologies are the same.”

He said there is no evidence that North Korea’s work at the site signals Kim is preparing to test another intercontinental missile. He said North Korea has never tested an ICBM at Sohae. “Preparations for any launch would require a wide range of activities not observed at the site,” Wit said.

Trump and Kim, who also met in Singapore last year, have not said if there will be a third summit. For now, discussions with North Korea will be conducted by their subordinates. Biegun, the U.S. envoy to North Korea, gave members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a classified update Tuesday afternoon on Capitol Hill.

Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said that Biegun has a vision of where the U.S. wants to take the talks and that progress was made in Vietnam.

There’s no framework agreement “to put the details on it yet,” he said. But he added: “The differences have been narrowed.”

Less upbeat, Committee member Edward Markey, D-Mass., said he’s worried that future satellite launches at Sohae could help Kim further his work on ballistic missiles to threaten the U.S. and its allies with a nuclear attack.

“President Trump never codified in writing North Korea’s missile and nuclear testing freeze,” Markey said. “Without that formal commitment, North Korea might claim it is doing nothing wrong and derail the fragile diplomatic process underway.”

Story: Deb Riechmann, Matthew Lee

Thai Cave Rescue to Get Netflix Series: Officials

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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7 March 2019, 18:41

An undated image of the boys in Luang Khun Nam Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai.

BANGKOK — Last year’s dramatic cave rescue operation in northern Thailand is going to be made into a Netflix Original series, Thai officials said Thursday.

The series will be produced by SK Global Entertainment, which has been granted lifetime exclusive rights to direct contact with the 13 members of the Wild Boars football team, according to government spokesman Werachon Sukondhapatipak. The 12 boys and coach were trapped nearly two weeks in the Chiang Rai province cave before their miraculous rescue.

Lt. Gen. Werachon said the 13 Wild Boars would earn about 3 million baht each from the production, with some money going to organizations and foundations who were involved in the rescue operation.

Sirisak Kotpatcharin, spokesman for the company set up to manage media rights for the Wild Boars story, said the boys and the coach will no longer be allowed to give interviews about their experience without the company’s permission.

SK Global Entertainment was created in 2017 with the merger of Hollywood financier Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Ivanhoe Pictures, backed with Chinese money.

Gov’t Weighs Songkran Booze Ban

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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7 March 2019, 18:18

Superstar actress Ranee "Bella" Campen plays water fight with a crowd in Bangkok on April 14, 2018.

BANGKOK — Each year calls to ban alcohol during Thai New Year’s festive and watery days grow louder, and this year health officials say they want to make it a reality.

The Department of Disease Control said it will ask the government to suspend booze sales on April 13, the first of the three-day New Year’s festival known as Songkran. Officials said the measure would help reduce deaths caused by drunk driving during the holidays.

Department deputy director Kajornsak Kaeojaras told reporters the agency will formally submit the proposal to the cabinet next week.

The department first approved the idea in February. Drunk driving was cited as the second leading cause of Songkran traffic accidents last year, after speeding.

Kajornsak said most DUI cases took place April 13, the first day of the festival. He dismissed concerns the measure could damage the economy, which depends heavily on tourists and revelers.

“The economy doesn’t rely on a single day,” Kajornsak said.

Reactions on social media were mixed. Many criticized the policy as impractical, while others agreed it would lessen alcohol-fueled accidents on Songkran.

“At least it’s better than doing nothing,” Chana Pratarnporn wrote. “Some people may say vendors can still sell to them in secret, but at least it will make it difficult to drink … the best way is to adjust drinkers’ habits.”

“The most important thing is their sense of responsibility. When they drink, they shouldn’t drive at all. This is the best way, but I also agree that this policy will reduce some risks,” Chalatorn Sirisapya wrote.

Thitipong Pungyam said it would “destroy the economy and tourism.”

“Maybe [the government] should see it this way: People have been exhausting themselves with work all year round. They need to relax with their friends and families, too.” Thitipong wrote in reply to an online news thread fielding opinions on the proposal.

The authorities have already implemented anti-booze measures during Songkran, such as banning sales of alcohol where revelers gather for water fights. Such prohibitions are widely ignored and little enforced each year.

It is also unclear whether the government will approve. In 2014, junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha rejected a proposal by the same department to ban booze sales during all of the New Year holidays.

Thai Net Reacts to Party Dissolution With Pungent Memes

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

-

7 March 2019, 17:29

BANGKOK — The internet was overwhelmed with sarcasm and dismay Thursday after a five-month-old political party was disbanded three weeks before Election Day.

Meme-makers had obviously been toiling in advance of the Constitutional Court’s completely unsurprising verdict to dissolve Thai Raksa Chart. Within moments of the court officially dissolving the party for nominating a member of the royal family, Thai netizens unleashed a torrent of angry and disappointed reactions.

Read: Thai Raksa Chart Disbanded for Nominating Princess

While more than a few were certainly delighted by the outcome, our best search effort concluded they aren’t adept meme-smiths. Ubolratana Mahidol, whose candidacy was pulled within days of being announced last month, soon signalled her own disappointment on her platform of choice – Instagram.

“It’s very sad and depressing,” she wrote in two replies to a comment. “Thank you very much. I’ll try my best to help.”

On Twitter, #ThaiRaksaChart and #Disband leaped to become the top two trending Thai hashtags. Many comments implied a double-standard at work in how the pro-establishment and opposition parties have been treated.

“Here’s the country where the coup-makers never get prosecuted for overthrowing the government,” @Newuno wrote.

“You should dissolve Paiboon’s party too. The Lord Buddha used to be a prince as well, right?” wrote another user @mayestpx, referring to the controversial use of religion by the People’s Reform Party.

Memes burst across other social media platforms as well. On Basement Karaoke, a popular Facebook page, it was Avengers’ super villain Thanos – who has the power to end life by snapping his fingers – with a dissolving logo of the Thai Raksa Chart party. “It ends here, with no more force left to resist,” read the caption.

โพสต์โดย คาราโอเกะชั้นใต้ดิน เมื่อ วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 7 มีนาคม 2019

Satirical comic Kai Maew also chimed in with his character The General – a stand-in for junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha – using a “court” cream to clear a pimple from his face.

โพสต์โดย ไข่แมวx เมื่อ วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 7 มีนาคม 2019

Twitter user @Gameromteen went with the reliable “Press F to pay respects” meme from Call of Duty in an image showing soldiers lined up before a coffin with the party’s logo memorialized.

Press F to pay respects#ไทยรักษาชาติ pic.twitter.com/giUgC8be9y

— GamerOmteen (@gameromteen) March 7, 2019

User @BadSuperRobot marshalled the tragic Middle Earth bromance of Boromir and Aragorn to invoke the relationship between Thai Raksa Chart and Pheu Thai. ‘To Fight the DARKNESS, You Must Be BRAVE,’ reads the accompanying tweet.

To Fight the DARKNESS, You Must Be BRAVE. #ไทยรักษาชาติ #ยุบพรรค #เลือกตั้ง2562 pic.twitter.com/C2XFmtfv3Y

— BadSuperRobot (@BadSuperRobot) March 7, 2019

Not sparing any subtlety, someone made a Thai Raksa Chart death certificate.

ดีดีดีดี่ดี๊ดีดี่ ดีดีดีดีดี่ดีดี #ไทยรักษาชาติ #ยุบพรรค 😛 pic.twitter.com/QI0Kjamp0V

— Tia Woo (@TiaInw) March 7, 2019

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