Rare Turtles Babies Hatch on Phang Nga Beach

By

-

12 February 2019, 11:37

Newly hatched leatherback sea turtles on Monday in Phang Nga province.

PHANG NGA — The first clutch of rare turtle eggs laid on a Thai beach last year hatched last night, officials said Tuesday.

Forty-eight of the hatchlings, the first left there by a leatherback sea turtle since 2013, made it to the sea Monday night, with one dying in the nest. They were laid by a turtle that came ashore Dec. 17 on the beach in Phang Nga province, according to marine officials.

The marine department said the turtle laid 118 eggs, 89 of which were fertilized. The first baby turtle emerged from the nest just after 7pm on Monday.

After disappearing from Thai beaches for five years, three leatherback turtles laid eggs on Phang Nga beaches in less than a month. Marine experts said it’s an indication that the environment there is recovering.

Officials set up a livestream feed near the turtles’ nests for public monitoring and to prevent the eggs from being disturbed or stolen.

Leatherback turtles are considered the largest of all living turtles. Their population worldwide is rapidly decreasing, and many have died from eating plastic waste in the sea.

First Since 2013, Rare Turtle Lays Eggs on Thai Beach: Expert (Video)

Clooney Returns to High School Read ‘Catch 22’ for Hulu Show

By

Associated Press

-

12 February 2019, 11:34

PASADENA, California — George Clooney says he never expected his next project to be a miniseries based on a novel he read in high school.

But against his initial inclination, he’s directing and starring in Hulu’s series “Catch-22,” drawn from Joseph Heller’s classic work about the insanity of war. The streaming service Hulu will release it this spring.

Clooney said Monday that the longer format allowed them to develop the characters beyond what could be done in Mike Nichols’ 1970 classic movie. Adopted at the time by opponents of the Vietnam War, he said the story making fun of the red tape and bureaucracy of war is relevant today and not tied to a particular conflict.

Series makers say the mixture of horror and hilarity becomes more pronounced as the series goes on.

Gunman in 2017 Dealership Raid Sentenced to Die

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

-

12 February 2019, 11:25

Remains of a truck which exploded Aug. 17, 2017 outside the Mayo Police Station in Pattani province.

SONGKHLA — One of several gunmen accused of stealing pickup trucks at gunpoint and killing a hostage was sentenced to death Tuesday by a southern court.

Eighteen months after the brazen attack, Attanan Sa-i was sentenced to die by the Na Tawee Court in Songkhla province after being found guilty of several crimes including violating national security, engaging in extremism, robbery and murder.

Another three – Panumat Lheesen, Maroyee Radaeng and Hariya Garee – were given life sentences for the attack, which authorities at the time blamed on a new faction of insurgents in the violence which has persisted for nearly 15 years.

Abdulmanus Jae-loh, the fifth gunman was convicted of being a criminal conspirator and sentenced to two years and eight months in jail.

All five appealed the verdict Tuesday morning.

The incident occurred on Aug. 16, 2017, when the gunmen raided a car dealership and stole five vehicles. Four people were taken hostage – three employees and the owner – before one of them, Saharat Laeni, was shot dead.

The perpetrators drove over the border from Songkhla into Pattani’s Nong Chik district with police in pursuit. A shootout took place, and a suspect in one of the trucks was shot dead.

He was later identified as Nurhasan Arwear, a 23-year-old student in Pattani province. Police found 80 kilograms of explosives and seven fuel tanks inside the vehicle he was driving.

The next morning, one of the five vehicles stolen from the car dealership exploded at a police station in Pattani province. No one was killed or injured.

Car bombs are a common weapon of separatist militants in the Deep South.

Truck Bomb Ring is New Generation of Militants: Officials

Hostage Dies, Stolen Truck Explodes at Police Station

Hunt on After Trucks Stolen, Staff Killed at Deep South Dealership

Indonesian Executioner for IS Killed in Syria

By

Associated Press

-

12 February 2019, 10:55

This undated photo shows an individual carrying a flag of the so called Islamic State at an undisclosed location. Photo: VOA / Wikimedia Commons

JAKARTA — An Indonesian militant shown killing a foreigner in a 2016 Islamic State group video was killed last month in a battle with U.S.-backed forces in Syria, Indonesian police and a family member said Monday.

National police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said Muhammad Saifuddin, who used the aliases Abu Walid and Mohammed Karim Yusop Faiz, was killed on Jan. 29 in eastern Deir Ezzor province where an international coalition is trying to defeat remaining pockets of IS group extremists.

“He was killed by shrapnel from a Syrian forces tank in the battle,” Prasetyo told The Associated Press.

Saifuddin’s older brother, Muinudinillah Basri, said the family learned about the death through an instant messaging app. “There was a photo of his body and I can recognize it,” he said.

Saifuddin was a recruitment tool for IS and appeared in several videos on radical websites. They included a 2016 video that showed him along with two other militants from Malaysia and the Philippines killing three foreigners, including Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, who were dressed in orange jumpsuits and forced to kneel before being slain.

The U.S. in August designated Saifuddin and the two other killers in the IS video, Malaysian Mohammad Rafi Udin and Filipino Mohammed Reza Lahaman Kiram, as global terrorists.

Basri said the family hadn’t heard from Saifuddin since he left Indonesia to join IS in Syria with his wife and children about four years ago.

They believed he was originally radicalized by a Christian-Muslim conflict in Indonesia’s Ambon region from 1999 to 2001 along with his twin brother, who died in the conflict.

One of Saifuddin’s Indonesian friends, convicted militant Sofyan Tsauri, said that in radical circles Saifuddin was perceived as trusted by IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a leader of Southeast Asian Islamic militants.

Tsauri, a former member of the al-Qaida-affiliated network responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings who now collaborates with Indonesia’s counterterrorism agency, said Saifuddin fled to the southern Philippines shortly after the Bali bombings with two other senior Indonesian militants.

He was arrested in the Philippines while attempting to return to Indonesia with weapons and explosives and sentenced to nine years in prison in 2007.

After marrying the widow of an Indonesian suicide bomber following his early release in 2013, Saifuddin sank below the radar of authorities but reappeared several years later in an IS propaganda video that urged Indonesian Muslims to oppose the government and join violent jihad in Syria or the southern Philippines.

“Since long ago he had aspired to go international,” Tsauri said. “He had a convincing track record that gained trust and an important position in IS.”

In a news conference on Monday, Prasetyo said police early last month arrested an Indonesian militant, Harry Kuncoro, at Jakarta’s international airport, thwarting his plan to travel to Syria via Iran with Saifuddin’s help.

Prasetyo said Kuncoro, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2012 for harboring Bali bomber Umar Patek and illegally possessing weapons, used the Telegram instant messaging app to communicate with Saifuddin after being paroled last year.

Saifuddin sent Kuncoro USD$2,100 for traveling to Syria, advised him to travel via Iran’s Khorasan province and gave him contact numbers for Indonesian militants living in Khorasan, Prasetyo said. He had obtained a passport using a fake national identity card.

Story: Niniek Karmini

Refugee Footballer Freed by Thailand Returns to Australia

By

Associated Press

-

12 February 2019, 10:49

Refugee football player Bahraini Hakeem al-Araibi leaves the criminal court Feb. 4 in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia — A refugee football player thanked Australians on his return home Tuesday hours after the threat of extradition to Bahrain was lifted and three months after he was detained in Thailand.

Hundreds of supporters carrying welcome signs and singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” were waiting at Melbourne Airport when Hakeem AlAraibi arrived on a commercial flight direct from Bangkok.

“I would like to say thanks to Australia,” AlAraibi told the cheering crowd. “It’s amazing to see all of the people here and all of the Australian people and all of the media who supported me.”

Thailand had come under great pressure from Australia’s government, sporting bodies and human rights groups to send Hakeem AlAraibi back to Australia, where he has refugee status and plays semi-professional football.

Former Australia national team captain Craig Foster, who has been leading the campaign for AlAraibi’s release, said he could not sleep until he received word from the Australian embassy in Bangkok that the 25-year-old’s flight had left.

Foster was by AlAraibi’s side with an arm around the footballer as they faced the crowd.

“So this is the man, probably the most famous young man in Australia right now,” Foster said. “Something of this magnitude doesn’t happen without an incredible team behind, and there’s been an amazing coalition of people, right from around the world.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who wrote twice to his Thai counterpart Prayuth Chan-ocha in a bid to secure AlAraibi’s freedom, thanked Australians as well as Thai authorities.

“I want to thank all Australians for their support in achieving this outcome,” Morrison tweeted on Tuesday.

“We are grateful to the Thai government and thank them for the way they have engaged with us to enable Hakeem to return to Australia,” he added.

Two Australian expert cave divers who had helped rescue 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded Thai cave in July also wrote to the Thai prime minister last week pleading for AlAraibi’s release.

Anesthetist Richard Harris and his dive buddy Craig Challen, a retired veterinarian, were last month named joint winners of Australian of the Year Award trophies, one of Australia’s most prestigious awards.

“The issue had just gained more and more prominence and Richard and I both realized that we’re in a position to hopefully give the issue a little bit of a nudge and contribute in our own little way,” Challen told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“We basically appealed to the prime minister to recognize that both the Thai and Australian peoples hold very dear certain principles of justice and that the charges of which Hakeem had been convicted in Bahrain didn’t really appear to adhere to those principles,” Challen added.

Thai prosecutors on Monday submitted a request to a court to withdraw the case to extradite AlAraibi to Bahrain, where he faces a 10-year prison sentence for an arson attack that damaged a police station. He has denied those charges and says the case is politically motivated.

Prosecutors made the decision after Thailand’s foreign ministry sent their department a letter Monday indicating that Bahrain had withdrawn its request for AlAraibi, a Thai official said.

Officials in Bahrain, an island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia that’s home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, said the country “reaffirms its right to pursue all necessary legal actions against” AlAraibi.

AlAraibi, a former Bahraini national team player, says he fled Bahrain due to political repression and that he fears torture if he returns.

He was detained at the request of Bahrain relayed through Interpol upon his arrival in Bangkok in November while on a honeymoon with his wife.

Thailand’s foreign ministry said last week that AlAraibi was detained because Australian authorities had forwarded them an Interpol Red Notice that Bahrain was seeking his arrest. Australian police acknowledged doing so, but there have been questions raised about why the Red Notice appeared to have been issued just before AlAraibi departed on his trip, and whether Bahraini authorities had been tipped off about his travel plans.

With AlAraibi now free, attention has quickly shifted to who is to blame for his predicament in Thailand.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said senators will quiz Australian bureaucrats at committee hearings next week about why the system had failed AlAraibi.

“I’d encourage the government to be upfront about this,” Wong said. “I think the Australian community does want to know how this occurred and we do need to consider whether the system is fit-for-purpose.”

Story: Rod McGuirk

Princess Formally Disqualified From PM Nomination

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

-

11 February 2019, 16:35

A file photo of Princess Ubolratana Mahidol

BANGKOK — The Election Commission on Monday afternoon declared that the eldest daughter of the late King Bhumibol cannot compete in the upcoming election as a candidate for prime minister.

The commissioners voted to shoot down the nomination just three days after His Majesty the King barred Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, 68, from the race for the top government job on the grounds that royal family members cannot get involved in politics. The commission cited the same rationale for its decision today.

Election Commission Meets to Discuss Disbanding Pro-Thaksin Party

“All members of the royal family must abide by the king’s principle of staying above politics, maintaining political impartiality and they cannot take up political office,” part of the statement released to the media said.

Thai Raksa Chart, the party that nominated the princess on Friday, initially said its executives would speak at a news conference at 5:30pm today but later canceled the event.

Just four days after the stunning announcement that threatened to upend the entire election, Thai Raksa Chart now faces disbandment by the Election Commission for “drawing” the monarchy into political affairs.

Future Forward Leader Says He’s Ready to Oppose a Military Coup

By

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

-

11 February 2019, 15:36

Future Forward leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit speaks in October at the party headquarters in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit said Monday he is ready to oppose a military coup after rumors spread that another was in the making.

Though the military regime dispelled the rumors today, Thanathorn – a prime ministerial candidate – said at about 1pm that he had assigned his party’s intelligence team to closely monitor the political situation, as some fear elections scheduled for March 24 may not take place.

“The party’s intelligence team is following and assessing the news and information closely,” Thanathorn said, adding that it’s still to early to tell how resistance would be mounted in the event of a coup. “We believe it’s possible because prior to the May 22, 2014 coup, [then-Army Chief] Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha always insisted he wouldn’t stage one, but later told Time Magazine it had been prepared six months in advance.”

He said that the way out for Thailand is to hold elections and return the country to a democratic system.

Thanathorn is not alone in fearing of a possible coup. A group of students and activists were scheduled to hold a vigil at 6pm today at Thammasat University to insist that country needs to hold elections.

Russian Man Dies After Falling at Suvarnabhumi

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

-

11 February 2019, 15:27

Suvarnabhumi Airport in a file photo. Photo: Jithesh / Flickr

BANGKOK — A Russian tourist died Monday morning after falling from the fourth floor of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, police said.

The 44-year-old tourist who arrived on a flight from Vietnam fell from the departures level to the second floor at about 1am and died later at a hospital at about 4am, a police spokesman said. Investigators believe he committed suicide.

Col. Kritsana Pattanacharoen said security footage shows the man passing through immigration and walking to the terminal’s fourth floor. He is then seen climbing a telephone box to overcome the security wall before jumping.

Kritsana said police are still investigating his motive. Khaosod English is withholding his name until there is time for his family to be notified.

Refugee Footballer Walks Free After Months in Detention

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

-

11 February 2019, 15:05

Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali AlAraibi, shackled at his feet, arrives at a court in Bangkok on Feb. 4, 2018.

BANGKOK — A Bahraini refugee was freed Monday afternoon after a court ordered that an extradition request to his country be withdrawn.

Footballer Hakeem AlAraibi was released from custody hours after the Criminal Court approved the withdrawal of an extradition request, for which prosecutors filed an appeal this afternoon. Media reports say the footballer left on a van immediately upon his release.

A source familiar with the case said the Thai government had bought AlAraibi a Thai Airways plane ticket for a flight back to Melbourne tonight.

Attorney Chatchom Akapin of the International Affairs Department said the Bahraini government withdrew its request to repatriate the refugee for a crime related to vandalizing a police station.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Monday evening that it was grateful to the Thai government for the decision it had taken.

“We greatly respect the process that they’ve had to work through and we greatly appreciate their listening to the issues that have been raised by our Government and many others who have raised this case,” Morrison said.

He also thanked junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, adding that the relationship between the Thai and Australian government was very strong.

“As Prime Minister I’m pleased Hakeem is coming home and I’ll be pleased to see him at home when that occurs,” Morrison added.

Allan McKinnon, the Australian Ambassador to Thailand, welcomed the development in an email to Khaosod English.

“It’s very good news and I am so grateful to the Government of Thailand,” he said.

AlAraibi had been detained in Thailand since Nov. 27, where he was on a honeymoon. Thai authorities have said he was detained despite his refugee status in Australia due to an Interpol red notice followed by an arrest warrant from Bahrain.

The case triggered international condemnation from rights groups and football governing bodies, who have appealed for the footballer to be released, saying he faces torture if deported to his home country.

This is a developing story and may be updated without notice.

Freshmen Stripped to Undies on SOTUS Beach Trip

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

-

11 February 2019, 14:55

PHETCHABURI — Freshmen were stripped to their underwear and forced to stand shoulder to shoulder as early-morning waves crashed around them. Some were made to bend over in front of their friends while others had to lick ketchup off their friends’ chests and nipples.

According to Monday reports by the Anti Sotus anti-hazing Facebook page, these were some of the degrading activities held Feb. 1 to Feb. 3 at an unknown beach during a freshmen hazing initiation for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering students from King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok.

“All your upperclassmen are participating to make this activity for you. You won’t regret it if you go, the activity is super fun. Let’s all show up,” reads a screenshot posted by the Facebook page that upperclassmen wrote to freshmen.

Activists against SOTUS hazing – which stands for the creed of Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity and Spirit – say that catching the events depend on tips, since upperclassmen hosts try to keep them secret.

“Sotus activities this year have been more secretive. They’re more stringent with photos. It’s harder to get evidence,” Kollawach Doklumjiak, an activist with the Anti Sotus page said.

Read: Abusive ‘Buddhist Camp’ One of Top 10 Worst SOTUS Incidents of 2018

Kollawach confirmed that the leaked photos were from a participant in the camp who alerted the page. The activities – some of obscene nature – also alternated between singing chants, rolling in the sand and sea, and lying on the ground while pointing their feet towards the sky. Scrawled in red across upperclassmen’s chests were the initials “ME”: short for mechanical engineering, the name of their program.

“King Mongkut students should have more brains than this. You can hold garbage-picking activities on the beach, or even just hang out and have fun there and bond, instead of doing brain cell-destroying activities such as these,” Facebook user Sirasak Fitty Srichan wrote.

An Anti Sotus activist who asked for anonymity while the investigation of the recent event is ongoing, said he believes the camp was set up by upperclassmen rather than the university, and that this wasn’t an isolated incident – just one of which they had proof.

“People from this school are taught to keep stuff such as this from leaking out of the school, and to do what their roon p said. But there’s lots more of it happening,” the activist said.

Extreme SOTUS activities can prove to be unwelcoming for freshmen. For the upcoming March 24 election, millions of young voters will cast their ballots for the first time. Some parties have weighed in on whether SOTUS should be abolished, controlled, or left alone if they’re elected.

Abusive ‘Buddhist Camp’ One of Top 10 Worst SOTUS Incidents of 2018

Parties Stake Out Positions on ‘SOTUS’ Hazing

Meet the Unlikely Band Taking on University Tradition

Parties Eye Millions of Young Thais Who’ve Never Voted

Hot News

LATEST NEWS