River Activists Sue Over ‘Chao Phraya Promenade 2.0’

By

-

21 November 2018, 14:56

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chao Phraya Boardwalk Plan Dead in the Water: Architects

Evictions Continue as Funds Set for Chao Phraya Promenade

Opponents, Proponents of Chao Phraya Boardwalk Open Fire

Locals Ready to be Evicted for Chao Phraya Boardwalk, Official Says

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

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

OB/GYN May Have Sexually Abused Dozens: Lawyer

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

-

21 November 2018, 12:21

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thai Film Pulled Over ‘Sensitive’ Buddhist Scene

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

-

21 November 2018, 11:52

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

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

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

Update: Thai Film Minus Crying Monk Approved by Censors

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

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

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

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

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

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

Horror Film May ‘Destroy’ Buddhism, Activists Warn

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

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

-

21 November 2018, 11:27

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

European Zoos to Send Critically Endangered Rhinos to Rwanda

By

Associated Press

-

21 November 2018, 09:41

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story: Karen Janicek

Boeing Delays Call to Discuss Issues With Its Newest Plane

By

Associated Press

-

21 November 2018, 09:32

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story: David Koenig

Xi: Talks on Pact to Avoid Sea Clashes Could End in 3 Years

By

Associated Press

-

21 November 2018, 09:21

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, at left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands in 2016 after a signing ceremony in Beijing. Photo: Ng Han Guan / Associated Press

MANILA — Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday negotiations between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations on a nonaggression pact to prevent clashes in the disputed South China Sea could be concluded in three years and promised that any differences will be dealt with peacefully.

Xi made the assurances after holding talks with President Rodrigo Duterte and other officials on a visit to the Philippines aimed at deepening relations with the American treaty ally.

Xi’s overnight visit to the Philippine capital, Manila, was his last stop on a three-nation swing through Asia, where he has offered infrastructure loans and aid and championed free trade amid a rivalry for regional influence with the United States.

“We will continue to manage contentious issues and promote maritime cooperation through friendly consultation,” Xi said. He said China aims to conclude the talks on the “code of conduct” in the disputed waters with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations within three years.

Four members of the 10-nation bloc – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – along with China and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the South China Sea. Many fear the long-simmering disputes could spark an armed conflict that could shatter Asia’s bustling economies.

Ahead of Xi’s visit, China and the Philippines tried to negotiate an agreement allowing joint oil and gas exploration in the disputed waters, but apparently did not reach a consensus. They signed a “memorandum of understanding on cooperation on oil and gas development” on Tuesday but officials provided few details.

“It’s a cooperation to find ways to find a solution,” Philippine Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said of the agreement.

China has sought a “maritime and air liaison mechanism,” an arrangement for forces of the two countries to coordinate their naval and aircraft movements to prevent incidents in the contested waters, but the proposal has been opposed by Philippine defense officials, two Philippine officials told The Associated Press.

There was no mention of the pact after Tuesday’s meetings.

Filipino nationalists have warned that any agreement that can undermine the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive rights to fish and exploit resources within 200 nautical miles of the country’s coast would violate the Philippine Constitution.

Beijing’s relations with Manila deteriorated over the territorial rifts until Duterte won the presidency in mid-2016 and sought to rebuild ties with China while criticizing U.S. security policies in a dramatic pivot. The administration of Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, had brought the territorial disputes with China to international arbitration and won, but China has ignored the outcome.

Duterte has refused to immediately demand Chinese compliance with the ruling, which invalidated China’s sweeping claims to the waters, where Beijing has transformed a string of disputed reefs into missile-protected island bases.

Duterte’s rapprochement has fostered a new era of warmer relations with the Asian economic powerhouse, from which he has sought trade and investment, infrastructure financing and weapons to fight insurgents. While Western governments have sharply criticized Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs, China has not. Both Xi and Duterte have often been in the crosshairs of human rights groups.

Xi said he and Duterte “agreed to elevate our relationship into one of comprehensive, strategic cooperation,” adding, “it sends a strong message to the world that our two countries are partners in seeking common development.”

Xi’s visit to the Philippines is the first by a Chinese president in 13 years.

More than 300 protesters with placards reading “Hands off our land and seas” rallied in front of the Chinese Consulate in Manila. Another group of protesters later burned mock Chinese flags near the presidential palace, where Xi and Duterte met.

Duterte said Philippine participation in Beijing’s “Belt and Road Initiative” was discussed and Xi invited the Philippine leader to attend the infrastructure loan program’s second international forum in China next year.

The ambitious program has been criticized by the United States as enticing poor nations into debt bondage and has warned it could compromise their independence. Xi has denied that Chinese loans could lead to a “debt trap.”

Aside from their trade disputes, China and the United States have wrestled over Beijing’s assertive claims to the South China Sea. Chinese officials have asked Washington to back off from what they say is a purely Asian dispute, but the U.S. has vowed to maintain a presence in the waters, where it has no claims but has pledged to promote freedom of navigation and overflight.

“We will continue to fly and sail wherever international law allows and our national interests demand; harassment will only strengthen our resolve. We will not change course,” U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said at a meeting last week in Papua New Guinea that was attended by leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, including Xi.

Story: Jim Gomez

The Jim Jefferies Show Coming to #Trigger Bangkok

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

-

21 November 2018, 09:06

BANGKOK — Expect to hear a lot of c-bombs at a stand-up show coming early next year.

Those who like their brutal honesty cut with blunt vulgarity will get earfuls of it when Australian star comedian Jim Jefferies strikes Bangkok for the first time with jokes riffing off hot-button topics.

Jefferies, who once described himself as the “Rosa Parks of Cunt,” is sure to walk a blurred line between funny and offensive on trigger issues such as gun control, religion, prostitution and rape.

Jefferies’ show, part of his The Night Talker Tour, starts at 8pm on Jan. 18 at Scala Cinema. Tickets start at 1,800 baht and are available online. The standalone theater is located in Soi Siam Square 1 and can be reached from BTS Siam.

Jim Jefferies, 41, is the stage name of Geoff James Nugent. The Sydney-born comedian has his own comedy series “Legit” and hosts Comedy Central’s weekly late-night news satire program “The Jim Jefferies Show.” His stand-up special “Freedumb” and “This is Me Now” are available in Thailand on Netflix.

Offshoot Parties Best Way to Win More Seats: Former Elections Chief

By

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

-

20 November 2018, 18:10

Pheu Thai Old Guards including Chaturon Chaisaeng and Nattawut Saikua pose after registering Monday with the Thai Raksa Chart Party. Photo: Thai Raksa Chart

BANGKOK — Splintering into multiple, smaller parties is a sensible strategy under the new rules to gain more seats in the next election, former Election Commission Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said Tuesday.

Somchai remarked that smaller parties are favored by the rewritten rules after 12 people, including well-known former Pheu Thai Party MPs such as Chaturon Chaisang, Weng Tojirakarn and Pichai Nariptaphan and Nattawut Saikua joined the newly formed Thai Raksa Chart Party on Monday.

The former election commissioner said the new election rules put in place under the junta-sponsored charter disadvantage large parties trying to win an outright majority as all votes nationwide will be aggregated and calculated differently than they were in the past.

Read: Pheu Thai Kids, Shinawatra Kin Launch New ‘Backup Party’

“It was designed in a way that the number of MP seats is designed to be spread out to medium- and small-sized parties,” Somchai said.

Indeed, the rules seemed designed to hobble the strength of large parties in part by diluting voters’ say in choosing local representation. National vote tallies will factor into local results.

In the past, voters received two ballots – one for their constituency and another for a party’s list candidates, meaning they could even split their loyalties by voting for a politician from one party while supporting another’s list.

Now, they will receive only one ballot with a single box to fill in, Somchai said, adding that votes for constituency-based candidates will automatically be a vote for their party-list candidates. Instead of those with the most votes in a constituency winning no matter how votes obtained, the new rules require an aggregate of all votes from all constituencies nationwide to be added up before the number of winning MPs is computed.

Somchai said the bar is set high at roughly 70,000 votes per MP.

Under the old system, two MPs from the same party running in the same constituency who won fewer than 70,000 votes – say 40,000 and 30,000 – could both become MPs if they placed first and second.

Not anymore. The new rules means their votes would be combined, with only one seat being allotted per 70,000 votes. That means some candidates without huge followings could fare better running as list candidates for an offshoot party to capture as much of the national vote as possible.

“If Pheu Thai wins 14 million votes, they will only get 200 MPs under the new system. If they win in 180 constituencies, there will be slots for only 20 party-list MPs,” Somchai said.

For two decades, Pheu Thai and its predecessors, all founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, have been an unstoppable force.

The other major political force, the Democrat Party, has not embarked on a similar strategy as it contends with its own schism between pro-democratic and authoritarian factions. A number of high-profile Democrats have left to support the Action Coalition for Thailand Party, which is unofficially led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a former party secretary general.

Some still hope for rapprochement between Pheu Thai and the pro-democracy Democrats despite their history of bitter conflict and competition.

The former election commissioner, who was forced out earlier this year by the leader of the ruling junta, warned that determining the best way to divide up parties to be more competitive is not an easy task.

Weng, one of the former Pheu Thai parliamentarians who is also a leader of the Redshirt movement, said Tuesday that it’s not easy explaining to their supporters which one they should vote for now.

He said more important than choosing party A or B is voting for those in the pro-democracy or anti-junta camps.

“It’s a fight between democracy and dictatorship,” said Weng, who called the new election rules a “booby trap.”

He said voters should support their preferred party’s candidate if he or she is sure to clear the 70,000-vote threshold. In places where their rivals are stronger, they should vote for an offshoot party or one with similar values for a better chance at securing party-list seats.

Therefore, he said Pheu Thai voters should back Pheu Thai candidates in the party’s stronghold areas, and one of its three-and-counting proxy parties outside them.

Weng said he left Pheu Thai to join Thai Raksa Chart because he decided it is the best chance for “pro-democracy” parties to stop pro-junta parties from gaining control and extending military rule post-election.

“To concentrate all the votes on Pheu Thai Party is self-destructive and unwise, so I resorted to this strategy,” said Weng, who expects to run as a party-list candidate for Thai Raksa Chart.

Pheu Thai, Allies Could Be Disbanded, Election Official Warns

Coronation Date Up to King, Prayuth Says

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

-

20 November 2018, 17:43

Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha speaks to reporters Tuesday.

BANGKOK — Junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha said Tuesday the date of His Majesty’s coronation ceremony is entirely up to him.

Prayuth appeared to walk back a June statement that the coronation, which will formally elevate King Vajiralongkorn to the throne as the new monarch, would take place before the election slated for February.

“You have to wait and hear from His Majesty,” Gen. Prayuth said in reply to a reporter’s inquiry at Government House. “You have to wait for a royal decree.”

King Vajiralongkorn inherited the throne following his father’s death in October 2016, but he has yet to be crowned, an elaborate ceremony that will officially mark the beginning of his reign.

Hot News

LATEST NEWS