Carnal Choreography: ‘Party Animal’ to Debauch Silom Library

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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29 October 2018, 13:57

BANGKOK — Inspired by a wild night at Berlin’s most notorious techno club, a Thai choreographer will take over a Bangkok library to explore sexuality, gender and animal movement.

Space once again becomes a canvas for choreographer Jitti Chompee, whose latest dance piece “Party Animal” will be staged inside a historic Silom-area library.

The routine consists of five performers going through some erotically charged moves to unwind matters of gender and identity. It was inspired by Jitti’s experience at Berghain, Berlins’s libertine house of music and debauchery, where access is exclusiveness and the sights occasionally X-rated.

“I met people who truly freed themselves. They dressed up to their own styles, pretty unique, while some dressed in fantasy themes, so they were allowed to go inside more easily,” Jitti said. “I observed these people get drunk, mingle, use drugs, dance and lustfully hunt.”

“Time, space, site-specific, sexual content, gender, identity and animal movements; all of these elements were there,” Jitti said. “So it’s perfect to use them to create my own work with my own perspective in terms of scenography and choreography.”

“Party Animal” will field performers Benjamin Tardif, Dovydas Strimaitis, Sukadeva Joshua Horn, Sun Tawalwongsri and Pattarasuda Anuman Rajadhon – all dressed in kinky pink gimp tights. There is no structured storyline.

“Coming to my show is always like seeing a painting, photography exhibition or art installation. It’s just that the performers move all the time.”

“Party Animals” has 7:30pm showtimes Nov. 16 to Nov. 19 at the Neilson Hays Library. The British-built home of thousands of English-language books is located on Surawong Road. Tickets are 1,000 baht for adults and 400 baht for students.

After Neilson Hays, the show will move north to Chiang Mai’s Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum for a 7pm show on Nov. 23.

Jitti Chompee is best known blending animal movement in his works. In 2010 he founded the 18 Monkeys Dance Theatre where he works as choreographer and director. Some of his creations are surreal physical performances, such as when he portrayed ape-to-human transformation in “Red Peter” or Unfolding Kafka, a biennial festival paying tribute to postmodernist writer Franz Kafka.

Totally Kafka: Artists Interpret Writer at Traveling Fest

Kafka’s Chimp Apes as Human in ‘Red Peter’

Bangkok, You Can Now Send Mail From 7-Eleven

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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29 October 2018, 12:38

BANGKOK — Thailand’s most prolific retailer on Monday launched yet another offering – mail delivery – at thousands of its stores across metro Bangkok.

The 24/7 Speed-D express delivery service is now available at more than 3,000 7-Eleven stores in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan provinces. Packages and letters are guaranteed delivery by 6pm the next day if processed by 9pm.

The service is a joint venture between the megachain’s parent company CP All and delivery firm Dynamic Logistics. Customers can purchase boxes and envelopes at the stores, where they can also collect packages if they don’t opt for home delivery. All deliveries include a GPS tracking service available from Dynamic Logistics website.

Customers need to show ID to use the service. Rates range between 35 baht and 119 baht according to the size of the package.

On Wednesday, 7-Eleven stores nationwide will offer basic banking services for the Government Savings Bank, allowing customers to withdraw and deposit money with its Counter Service for a fee.

Last week, Kasikorn Bank began offering deposit service through the competing Cen Pay service at five Family Mart stores in Bangkok for a 20-baht charge. Customers can deposit up to 5,000 baht each day. Bank representatives said the service would be expanded to all Family Mart stores next year.

Earlier this month, 7-Eleven began piloting a limited delivery service via Line. It allows customers to order products including ready-made meals and coffee but is only being tested at two stores in metro Bangkok.

Anti-Junta Rap Video is ‘Abominable,’ Suthep Says

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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29 October 2018, 12:17

44979315_2214226685256468_3489031002326564864_n — Suthep Thaugsuban canvasses for the Action Coalition for Thailand Party Saturday in Chinatown, Bangkok. Photo: Suthep Thaugsuban / Facebook

BANGKOK — The politician who organized the street protests which ushered in military rule said Sunday that a YouTube rap video criticizing the junta was “abominable.”

After threats of prosecution drew wide interest in anti-junta song “My Country’s Got” (“Prathet Ku Mee”) – it’s been watched 18 million times on YouTube alone as of Monday – Bangkok Shutdown protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban joined conservative politicians to harshly condemn the song.

“[The rappers] were born Thai, but they express themselves in such a disgusting, abominable way where they aim to destroy their own homeland like this. It’s highly unwarranted and inappropriate,” Suthep wrote Sunday, following a campaign trip through Bangkok’s Yaowarat area.

Read: Rap Video Blasting Junta Reaches 6M Views After Police Threats

Suthep, who vowed to never re-enter politics after organizing the protests that brought down Yingluck Shinawatra’s elected government, is now one of the leaders of the Action Coalition for Thailand Party, which has been canvassing potential voters.

Deputy police chief Gen. Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said Friday that the authorities would bring the artists in for questioning, alleging the song may have violated an unspecified junta order. However, the deputy director of the Technology Crime Suppression Division seemed to walk back the threat.

“These days, all citizens are free to express their opinions in all aspects. So the authorities have to admit that we can’t limit the personal opinions of people, especially of the youth,” Maj. Gen. Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, who also heads the Immigration Bureau, wrote Sunday on Facebook. “This is their opinion, which the poo yai should listen to.”

Surachate said he’d not been asked to investigate the case.

In addition to its popularity on YouTube and Facebook, the song is No. 1 on local iTunes charts and has been played more than 42,000 times on Spotify.

The video, released this past Monday, features 10 artists taking turns laying out the country’s perceived ills. The backdrop evokes the laughing lynch mob that watched a hanged corpse be beat with a folding chair, an indelible image of the 1976 massacre at Thammasat University by far right ultra-royalists.

Police to Summon Rappers Who Criticized Military Govt

With ‘My Country’s Got,’ Thai Rap Voices Rare Dissent Against Junta

Malaysia to Sell Superyacht Linked to 1MDB Scandal

By

Associated Press

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29 October 2018, 11:20

The luxury yacht Equanimity is seen in February 2018 in the Benoa harbor in Bali, Indonesia. Photo: Ambros Boli Berani / Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s government launched a one-month auction Monday for a luxury yacht bought with money stolen from the multibillion-dollar looting of a state investment fund.

The sale came nearly three months after Indonesia returned the USD$250 million (8.3 billion baht) yacht, Equanimity, after it was seized off Bali in February in cooperation with the U.S. FBI. The U.S. Justice Department, one of several foreign agencies investigating a massive graft scandal at the 1MDB fund, had listed the yacht among assets it could seize and sell to recover stolen funds.

U.S. investigators said Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, who the Justice Department alleges was a key figure in the theft and international laundering of $4.5 billion from 1MDB, bought the yacht with proceeds diverted from 1MDB.

Ong Chee Kwan, a lawyer for 1MDB, says the government opened bids for the 91.5 meter yacht following a lengthy court process.

Low, who has so far evaded investigators, has through statements issued by his U.S. lawyers slammed the handover of the yacht to Malaysia as illegal but didn’t claim ownership of the vessel in the Malaysian court. The court awarded ownership of the yacht to 1MDB and the government as no one challenged their claim.

Ong said advertisements were placed in international and local media on the yacht sale that will be handled by London-based brokerage Burgess Yachts. He said interested parties must put in a USD$1 million deposit to bid for the vessel.

Once the auction ends Nov. 28, he said the government could make a decision on the sale within a week.

Burgess said on its website that the “judicial sale will provide the buyer with an internationally recognized ownership title free of mortgage, attachment and all encumbrances.”

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak set up 1MDB when he took power in 2009 but it accumulated billions in debts. The 1MDB fiasco led to Najib’s electoral defeat in May’s general elections and ushered in the country’s first change of power since independence from Britain in 1957.

Najib and his wife have been charged with multiple counts of corruption and money-laundering over the 1MDB case. Both have pleaded not guilty and their trials will start next year.

The new government has said corruption by Najib’s administration caused national debt to pile up. The yacht, currently docked at Port Klang outside Kuala Lumpur, is being sold to recover as much money as possible.

The Equanimity’s lavish amenities include a helicopter landing pad, plunge pool, gymnasium and a cinema. It was built in 2014 by the Dutch yacht manufacturer Oceano, which received detailed instructions from Low about its outfitting, according to the Justice Department’s asset recovery case.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Triumphed in Football and Business, Dead at 60

By

Associated Press

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29 October 2018, 10:46

Leicester City's chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha on July 8, 2016, in London. Photo: Adam Davy / PA via AP

BANGKOK — Billionaire Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who died when his helicopter crashed in a parking lot next to the football club’s stadium, was known to fans as a smiling, benevolent man who gave away free beers and hot dogs on his birthday and brought the club its fairytale English Premier League title in 2016. He was 60.

The business world remembers Vichai as the retail entrepreneur who started with one shop and grew Thailand’s massive King Power duty-free chain.

The sight of his personal helicopter taking off from the middle of the field — to take Vichai to his English base near London in Berkshire — was a regular feature after Leicester’s home games. On Saturday evening, it turned into a horror scene when the chopper appeared to suddenly lose power, plummeting to the ground in a parking lot outside the empty stadium and bursting into flames.

Read: Leicester City Confirms Chopper Crash Killed Vichai

The crash sparked emotional scenes in Leicester, the East Midlands city whose devoted football fans will forever be grateful to Vichai for bankrolling not only the club’s first title in the world’s foremost football league, but one of the most incredible stories in world sports history.

A man takes a photo Sunday near a mural of Leicester City's owner, Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha near the Leicester City Football Club. Photo: Aaron Chown / PA — A man takes a photo Sunday near a mural of Leicester City’s owner, Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha near the Leicester City Football Club. Photo: Aaron Chown / PA

Leicester, only two years after being promoted from England’s second-tier league, was a 5,000-to-1 shot to win the Premier League at the start of the 2015-16 season. But after Vichai brought in veteran Italian manager Claudio Ranieri at the start of the campaign, the Foxes produced a stunning season. They lost only three of their 38 games, to win the title by a comfortable 10-point margin, ahead of far more illustrious rivals Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United.

Though his public comments were limited, Leicester’s ever-smiling chairman became a talisman of the campaign, watching on from his seat in the stadium at home games beside his son, Aiyawatt, the club’s vice chairman.

While many foreign owners have been viewed with suspicion by their English club’s fans — for reasons such as a lack of respect for supporters or their club’s traditions — Vichai was held in the highest regard by the Leicester faithful. They showed it during one match late in that 2015-16 season, when their title was secured, with the 32,000-strong King Power Stadium crowd rising to give their chairman an emotional and spontaneous standing ovation.

A man prays Sunday next to floral tributes outside Leicester City Football Club after a helicopter crashed in flames the day before, in Leicester, England. Aaron Chown: PA via AP

Vichai became known for his generosity around the club. When Leicester narrowly avoided the threat of relegation to the second tier at the end of 2014-15, he sent “bottle after bottle” of champagne to the dressing room, according to British media reports. He also treated fans in the stadium to a free Thai Singha beer at the end of successful campaigns.

Vichai bought Leicester for 39 million pounds (1.65 billion baht) in 2010. After the club’s turnaround, it is now valued at 371 million pounds (15.7 billion baht), according to Forbes.

Such a transformation was in keeping with Vichai’s success in the business world, after starting his duty-free interests from modest beginnings.

In 1989, he was granted a license to open Thailand’s first downtown duty-free store. Expansion into Thai airports followed, with King Power ultimately granted a monopoly for duty-free stores at all the country’s main airports.

Today the King Power empire is worth 3.8 billion pounds (161.3 billion baht), according to Forbes, with Vichai having been the fifth-richest person in Thailand.

His family’s empire also included Accor’s Pullman hotels in Thailand, and a 7.5 billion baht stake, bought in 2016, in Thai AirAsia. Last year, Vichai also enlarged his football interests, buying Belgian second-tier club Oud-Heverlee Leuven.

Vichai’s rise in business did not happen without some drama.

The granting of King Power’s monopoly status at Thailand’s airports — set in motion in 2004 by the government of since-ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra — caused some controversy.

And this year, King Power has defended itself against a lawsuit lodged by a former anti-graft official alleging it had not paid the government its due share of revenue from its airport franchise. King Power has denied the allegation. While Thailand’s main corruption court threw the case out last month, an appeal is reportedly likely.

Aside from business and football, Vichai quickly became a noted polo devotee in England, playing on occasion with Princes Charles and William. He spent millions establishing his polo team, the King Power Foxes, which began in 2014 and has enjoyed success at the top levels of competition in the U.K.

A devout Buddhist who had monks bless the King Power Stadium regularly for good luck, Vichai and his wife, Aimon Srivaddhanaprabha, had four children.

He was born Vichai Raksriaksorn, but in 2012, the king of Thailand recognized his achievements by bestowing on his family their new surname, which means “light of progressive glory.”

Lion Air Jet Crashes Into Sea After Jakarta Takeoff, 188 on Board

By

Associated Press

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29 October 2018, 10:26

A Lion Air passenger jet takes off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia, in a 2012 file photo. Photo: Trisnadi

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s disaster agency says a Lion Air passenger jet crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta and was carrying 188 passengers and crew.

Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho posted photos on Twitter of debris including a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the aircraft fuselage that had been collected by search and rescue vessels that have converged on the area.

He said the flight was carrying 181 passengers, including one child and two babies, and seven crew members.

The Boeing 737-800 plane departed Jakarta, about 6:20 a.m. for Pangkal Pinang on an island chain off Sumatra. Data for Flight 610 on aircraft tracking website FlightAware ends just a few minutes following takeoff.

“We can confirm that one of our flights has lost contact,” said Lion Air spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro. “Its position cannot be ascertained yet.”

A telegram from the National Search and Rescue Agency to the air force has requested assistance with the search of a location at sea off Java.

A report to the Jakarta Search and Rescue Office cites the crew of a tug boat reporting a Lion Air flight falling from the sky. It said several vessels have headed to the location.

Indonesian TV showed dozens of people waiting anxiously outside the Pangkal Pinang airport and officials bringing out plastic chairs.

There was no immediate confirmation of how many people were on board, but the maximum capacity would be about 190.

Lion Air is one of Indonesia’s youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.

In 2013, one of its Boeing 737-800 jets missed the runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 people on board.

Leicester City Confirms Chopper Crash Killed Vichai

By

Associated Press

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29 October 2018, 06:47

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha / Leicester City FC

LEICESTER, England — The Thai billionaire owner of English Premier League team Leicester City was among five people who died after his helicopter crashed and burst into flames shortly after taking off from the soccer field, the club said Sunday.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a 60-year-old entrepreneur who owns duty-free retail giant King Power, bankrolled Leicester’s improbable league title triumph in 2016.

“The world has lost a great man,” Leicester said in a statement. “A man of kindness, of generosity and a man whose life was defined by the love he devoted to his family and those he so successfully led.”

Two members of Vichai’s staff, Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, also died along with pilot Eric Swaffer and passenger Izabela Roza Lechowicz.

Vichai bought Leicester for 39 million pounds (USD$50 million) in 2010 when it was in the second-tier Championship and funded the revival that peaked with the 5,000-1 outsiders producing one of the greatest upsets in sports by winning the title.

“I always believed in the power of our spirit,” Vichai said in 2016. “It drove us to reach the Premier League, it gave us the strength to stay in the Premier League, and now it has inspired us to win the Premier League.

“It is a spirit that has spread beyond Leicester, taking our story to the hearts of the world. Our spirit exists because of the love we share for each other and the energy it helps to create, both on and off the pitch, and in the years to come, it will continue to be our greatest asset.”

Vichai was ridiculed for hiring the manager who masterminded the title success. Claudio Ranieri had been out of work since being fired by the weak Greece national team and his only job in the Premier League at Chelsea ended 11 years earlier. But it proved to be an inspired recruitment, helping to turn a humdrum group of journeymen and modestly purchased signings into a side that overpowered the mega-rich giants of the Premier League.

Leicester’s players were rewarded handsomely for winning the Premier League. New bumper contracts were handed out and Vichai bought each player a BMW i8 worth about $135,000, including for goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

“You changed football. Forever,” Schmeichel wrote on Twitter. “You gave hope to everyone that the impossible was possible. You literally made my dreams come true.”

Vichai, who started with one shop and grew Thailand’s massive King Power duty-free chain, was known for arriving and leaving the stadium in central England in his helicopter.

After Saturday’s game against West Ham, the helicopter took off from the center circle on the field and cleared the stadium roof before plummeting to the ground in an adjacent carpark in a ball of flames.

“It is likely to take several days to fully complete the necessary work and to safely deal with the scene of this tragic accident,” Leicestershire Police Superintendent Steve Potter said.

Leicester’s next game, which was scheduled for Tuesday against Southampton in the League Cup, has been postponed.

“Everyone at the club has been truly touched by the remarkable response of the football family, whose thoughtful messages of support and solidarity have been deeply appreciated at this difficult time,” Leicester said.

With fans already fearing the worst, a makeshift shrine formed from early Sunday outside the stadium named after Vichai’s King Power company. Among the hundreds of visitors was a group of young footballers from Thailand on a trip to England who knelt on the ground and bowed their heads in front of the carpet of tributes.

“Without you the dream wouldn’t have become reality,” read one message on a club flag on the spot where fans gathered two years ago to celebrate the team’s first English title in its 134-year existence.

Life-long supporter Ian Hubber wrote a message on a hat commemorating the title win to place among the flowers.

“That was a dream,” the 59-year-old Hubber said. “This is a nightmare.”

The outpouring of emotion at the stadium on Sunday reflected how highly the ownership is regarded in the city, which has only one professional soccer team. Vichai has formed a close bond with the fans, sometimes mingling with them at games, in contrast to some Premier League owners who maintain a distance.

Vichai has been praised for his charity work, donating 2 million pounds ($2.5 million) toward a new local children’s hospital, and he often provided free beer and food for fans outside stadiums.

“They’ve brought so much to the club, and given the fans so much to like them for,” said Ian Bason, chairman of the Foxes Trust supporters’ group. “And not just that, because they’ve also invested in the local hospitals too. So they’ve done things well outside what most football club owners would do.”

Through the ownership, Leicester gained new fans in Thailand where they mourned Vichai’s sudden death.

“It’s Thailand’s team,” soccer fan Chatworachet Sae-Kow said in Bangkok. “It brought fame to Thailand when they won (the title). He carried the Thai flag with him and made people know more about Thailand, so I felt sad.”

Story: Rob Harris

Maverick Vinales Wins Australian MotoGP

By

Associated Press

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28 October 2018, 15:52

Spain's rider Marc Marquez of the Repsol Honda Team rides Oct. 6 during Thailand's inaugural MotoGP qualifying at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram. Photo: Gemunu Amarasinghe / Associated Press

PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia — Maverick Vinales ended his and Yamaha’s lengthy droughts when he won the Australian MotoGP Sunday as newly-crowned world champion Marc Marquez failed to finish after starting from pole for the fifth straight year.

Vinales started in second place on the grid after finishing 0.3 second behind Marquez in qualifying and was able to control the race after Marquez came into contact with Johann Zarco on the 22nd lap.

He overcame a poor start to lead by more than four seconds before easing down to win by 1.54 seconds from Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso, who helped Ducati narrow Honda’s lead in the constructor’s championship.

Yamaha had gone without a win in 25 races since Valentino Rossi won the Dutch GP last June, the longest winless streak in its history. Vinales, who has now reached the podium in Australia in three-straight years, had not won in 29 races since Le Mans last year.

Marquez retains an unassailable 86 point lead over Dovizioso on world championship standings while Valentino Rossi is 15 points back in third place and Vinales a further 15 points behind in fourth.

The Spanish world champ was involved in a frightening incident with Zarco on lap 22 when the Frenchman clipped his rear wheel and crashed heavily. Marquez kept control but his Honda suffered heavy damage to its rear suspension and he couldn’t continue.

Vinales had been in 10th place when the incident occurred and managed to stay out of trouble, seizing the lead in the second half of the race.

“It feels amazing,” Vinales said. “Honestly, it’s been so difficult here for me.

“I couldn’t realize that I won but the bike was perfect today and I just pushed my best. The team provided me a bike to win. That’s the target and for sure when I crossed the line there were only tears on my face.”

KTM rider Brad Binder of South Africa held on to win the MotoGP race by 0.036s from Spain’s Joan Mir, posting his third win of the season. Xavi Vierge was third.

Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia had a chance to clinch the world championship after his win in Japan last week but could only manage 12th, keeping the title race alive ahead of next weekend’s round in Malaysia. His closest rival, Miguel Oliveira, finished 10th, cutting Bagnaia’s title lead to 36 points.

“It was an insane race … I felt like I was back in Moto3,” Binder said. “I got quite a good start … then I decided to sit in the group and try to save something for the end.

“I was just trying to stay out of trouble really. There were a few hairy moments there.”

Spain’s Albert Arenas won the Moto3 race in a blanket finish in which only one second separated the first 14 riders.

Arenas took the lead at the start of a frantic final lap and held on for the second win of his career from Fario Di Giannantonio and 17-year-old Celestino Vietti, riding in only his second race.

The eventful 23-lap race saw seven of 27 riders crash, notably championship contender Marco Bezzecchi.

Bezzecchi started the race from 15th place on the grid but in second place on championship standings, a point behind Spanish star Jorge Martin. He worked his way into the lead and into virtual first place in the championship before being taken out with 12 laps to go in a collision with Gabriel Rodrigo.

Martin survived the chaos to finish fifth, increasing his championship lead to 12 points with two rounds remaining.

King Power CEO Vichai Feared Dead in Helicopter Crash

By

Khaosod English

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28 October 2018, 11:56

By Todd Ruiz and Jintamas Saksornchai

BANGKOK — The billionaire founder of Thailand’s King Power is believed to have died when his helicopter crashed Saturday night local time in England.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a powerful and politically savvy 60 year old, was believed to be leaving the King Power Stadium in Leicester, England, following a match in his personal helicopter when it went down for unknown reasons. No one is believed to have survived.

King Power has yet to release a statement on the fate of its chief executive, who founded the company back in 1989. The BBC reports it has confirmed with someone close to the family that he was aboard.

“We are assisting Leicestershire Police and the emergency services in dealing with a major incident at King Power Stadium,” Leicester City FC tweeted early this morning, Bangkok time. “The Club will issue a more detailed statement once further information has been established.” It is unclear who else was on the flight.

A Leicester City spokesman said: “We are assisting Leicestershire Police and the emergency services in dealing with a major incident at King Power Stadium. The Club will issue a more detailed statement once further information has been established.”

— Leicester City (@LCFC) October 27, 2018

Vichai bought then second-tier English football team Leicester City in 2010 and became its chairman the following year. The plucky team became a rags-to-riches story in one of football’s greatest upsets when it grabbed the Premier League title in the 2015-16 season. It has remained in the major league ever since.

Vichai celebrated the win by buying a fleet of 19 BMW i8s – each worth around USD$135,000 (4.74 million baht) — for the team’s players.

Forbes in 2017 ranked Vichai the fourth richest man of Thailand, with overall assets worth 155 billion baht.

King Power became the country’s largest duty-free retailer after it was granted the concession to Suvarnabhumi International Airport by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2004 after already obtaining the rights to Don Mueang Airport in 1995.

Last month, a court kicked out a 14 billion baht graft case against King Power and the national airport operator brought by a former official for allegedly failing to pay the government for the Suvarnabhumi franchise.

English Premier League club Leicester dealing with “major incident” after helicopter crashes outside stadium following matchhttps://t.co/QZy8NJ2YdP pic.twitter.com/zafWEHxuH7

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) October 27, 2018

Correction: A previous version of this story linked a video which reportedly showed the moment Vichai entered the helicopter prior to the crash. In fact, no such video has surfaced.

Trump Calls Pittsburgh Synagogue Attack ‘Evil’ Anti-Semitism

By

Associated Press

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28 October 2018, 11:04

US President Donald Trump answers a reporters question about Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh during a meeting with Colombian President Ivan Duque in September at the UN General Assembly. Photo: Evan Vucci / Associated Press

MURPHYSBORO, Illinois — President Donald Trump mourned the dead and forcefully condemned anti-Semitism Saturday after a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 dead. But faced with another national tragedy, he did not long turn his focus away from the midterm elections or himself.

Nine days from elections that will determine the control of Congress, Trump stuck to his plans to appear at an agricultural convention and a political rally. Throughout the day, he expressed sorrow, called for justice and bemoaned hate, getting regular updates on the shooting. But he also campaigned for candidates, took shots at favorite Democratic targets House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Elizabeth Warren and made jokes about his hair.

At a massive rally in southern Illinois for U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, Trump condemned the shooting as an “evil anti-Semitic attack.” But he said cancelling his appearance would make “sick, demented people important.” He pledged to change his tone for the evening and did cool some of his most fiery rhetoric.

The slaughter at Sabbath services followed a tense week dominated by a mail bomb plot with apparent political motivations and served as another toxic reminder of a divided nation. It also again underscored Trump’s reluctance to step into the role of national unifier at tense moments as well as his singular focus heading into elections that could dramatically change his presidency.

Trump acknowledged the weight these moments carry, telling reporters that experiencing such events as president, “it’s a level of terribleness and horror that you can’t even believe. It’s hard to believe.”

The White House said Trump was getting regular briefings on the attack. He spoke with the governor of Pennsylvania and the mayor of Pittsburgh. He also spoke with his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who are Jewish.

Shortly after returning to Washington late Saturday, Trump ordered flags at federal buildings throughout the country to be flown at half-staff until Oct. 31 in “solemn respect” for the victims.

Trump sought to energize turnout for Bost, who is fighting to hold on to a seat that was once a Democratic stronghold, but turned out for Trump in 2016. To bolster his argument for sticking with the rally, Trump argued that the New York Stock Exchange was opened the day after 9/11, though in fact it was re-opened on September 17.

Speaking to a massive, cheering crowd at an airport hangar in southern Illinois, Trump said “the hearts of all Americans are filled with grief, following the monstrous killing.” He told reporters before the rally that he would travel to Pittsburgh, though he did not offer details. He also sought to distance himself from the man arrested in the shooting, calling him “sick” and saying “he was no supporter of mine.”

Although his tone was softer, he still targeted Pelosi and Democrats and the crowd gleefully shouted “lock her up,” in reference to Hillary Clinton, one of the targets of the bomb plot. And he continued to emphasize his hardline immigration rhetoric. “Republicans want strong borders, no crime, and no caravans,” Trump said.

Trump’s speech to a convention of the Future Farmers of America had all the hallmarks of a Trump rally, as the president riffed on trade, jobs and some of his political enemies. At one point he also joked about his hair. He said it was ruffled by the rain as he left Washington, adding “I said, ‘maybe I should cancel this arrangement because I have a bad hair day.”

Trump offered an unsparing denunciation of anti-Semitism, which he said was the motive behind the attack, in contrast to remarks after clashes between white supremacists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville last year. Then, he only inflamed tensions by blaming both sides for the violence.

Speaking to young farmers in Indianapolis, Trump called on the country to come together, before inviting a pastor and rabbi on stage to pray.

Earlier in the day, Trump speculated that the death toll in Pittsburgh would have been curbed if an armed guard had been in the building. With both the number of deaths and details of the synagogue’s security still to be disclosed, Trump said gun control “has little to do with it” but “if they had protection inside, the results would have been far better.”

But the attack did not persuade him that tighter gun controls are needed.

“This is a case where, if they had an armed guard inside, they might have been able to stop him immediately,” Trump said. “Maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him, frankly. So it’s a very, very – a very difficult situation.”

In previous mass shootings, Trump has at times said he would consider tightening gun laws but in the main has called for more armed guards in places such as schools.

“The world is a violent world,” he said before his speech. “And you think when you’re over it, it just sort of goes away, but then it comes back in the form of a madman, a wacko. … They had a maniac walk in and they didn’t have any protection and that is just so sad to see, so sad to see.”

Trump said lawmakers “should very much bring the death penalty into vogue” and people who kill in places such as synagogues and churches “really should suffer the ultimate price.”

Story: Catherine Lucey

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