Laos Sends 30 WWII-Era Soviet Tanks to Russia

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10 January 2019, 11:39

A World War II-era Soviet T-34 tank makes its way through the Red Square with the St. Basil's Cathedral in background, in May 2018 during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko / Associated Press

MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry says it has received 30 Soviet WW II-era T-34 battle tanks from Laos — a move reflecting the national veneration of the weapon.

The ministry said Wednesday the tanks are fully combat-ready and will be used in military parades and for making World War II movies.

The T-34 played a key role in defeating the Nazis and became a widely revered symbol of the nation’s heroism and suffering. A film describing feats of a T-34 crew has topped the national box office this month.

The ministry said more than 58,000 T-34s were built between 1940 and 1946, making it the world’s most widely produced tank, but only several of them have remained in working condition in Russia. The T-34 was widely exported and used in numerous conflicts.

Foreigner Dies in Possible Traffic Suicide Near Khaosan Road

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Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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10 January 2019, 11:36

BANGKOK — A foreigner was killed by a bus Thursday morning on Phra Sumen Road in Bangkok’s old quarter.

Police were alerted just after 9am that an air-conditioned bus No. 516 had run over a Caucasian man near the Bang Lamphu intersection. The man’s identity and nationality were not yet available.

A witness said the man had been walking back and forth across the road many times this morning before he laid down on the road just as the bus was coming, according to Capt. Rattakarn Thongthai of Chana Songkram police.

Police found both Thai baht and euros in his possession.

Investigating officers were questioning the driver and witnesses.

Cambodian Opposition Figure Applies for Lifting of Politics Ban

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Associated Press

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10 January 2019, 11:16

Konh Korm of Cambodia's Sam Rainsy Party in photo posted last month. Photo: Kong Korm / Facebook

PHNOM PENH — A veteran member of Cambodia’s dissolved opposition party broke ranks with his colleagues on Wednesday and became the first to apply for a government-offered lifting of a ban on engaging in political activity.

Kong Korm was one of 118 members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party who were banned from politics for five years when the group was dissolved by court order in November 2017 on a contrived charge of conspiring with the United States to overthrow the government. Cambodia’s courts are widely considered to be under the influence of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government.

All the opposition party’s lawmakers lost their elective positions, and the action eliminated any real challenge to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in last year’s general election, in which it captured all 125 National Assembly seats.

Kong Korm’s son, Kong Bora, later Wednesday also applied for a lifting of his ban. The applications need to be approved by the Interior Ministry and then be forwarded to King Norodom Sihamoni for his pro forma approval.

The applications come during a feud between two factions of the former opposition party loyal to its two former leaders, Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha. Sam Rainsy has been in self-imposed exile for more than three years over a defamation conviction seen as politically motivated, while Kem Sokha has been in prison awaiting trial since late 2017 on the same treason accusation that led to their party’s dissolution.

The two men in 2012 merged earlier parties they had headed but remain rivals, as well as targets of divide-and-conquer tactics that Hun Sen has successfully applied against other opponents.

Sam Rainsy and his supporters oppose applying for a lifting of the bans.

Kong Korm, 77, and his son are aligned with the Kem Sokha faction. Kong Korm served for a short period as foreign minister under a Hun Sen-led communist regime in the 1980s before joining Sam Rainsy’s first party, the Khmer Nation Party, when it was founded in 1995. In recent months, however, he has been sharply critical of his former colleague.

Amending Cambodian law to allow the reinstatement of politicians was part of a low-key charm offensive to improve relations with Western nations that accuse Hun Sen’s government of suppressing human and democratic rights. The U.S. and Germany have already instituted some diplomatic sanctions against Cambodia, and Washington and the European Union have threatened to extend economic ones as well. The main point of contention has been last July’s general election, which critics charge was neither free nor fair because of the lack of credible opposition.

The government set several conditions for restoring political rights that some opposition politicians have already rejected.

Hun Sen, at a meeting last month with garment workers, said the ban would be rescinded only for those politicians who had honored it, while those who violated it could face prison terms.

Many of the banned opposition politicians fled Cambodia in fear of arrest, and restoration of their political rights alone would appear to leave them in the political wilderness. There are no guarantees that new legal actions would not be taken against them in the courts.

Story: Sopheng Cheang

Aussies Go Topless to Support Saudi Runaway

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Associated Press

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10 January 2019, 11:02

A woman protester marches Thursday with a sign outside the building housing the Saudi consulate in Sydney. Image: Australia Broadcast Corporation via AP

SYDNEY — Four women held a topless protest in Sydney on Thursday to support runaway Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, as Australia began considering her bid to settle in the country as a refugee.

Alqunun was on Wednesday deemed a refugee by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, after being detained in Bangkok en route to Australia. The 18-year-old publicized her case via social media after barricading herself in her Bangkok hotel room, saying she feared for her safety if sent back to her family in Saudi Arabia.

In downtown Sydney on Thursday morning, four women, dressed only in jeans and calling themselves the Secret Sisterhood, protested outside the building housing the Saudi Consulate, calling on Australia to grant Alqunun residency.

Read: Australia Considers Taking in Rahaf as UN Grants Refugee Status

With “Secret Sisterhood” written on their backs, the women held placards with messages including “Let her in,” ”Rahaf Sisterhood Hero” and “All women free + safe.”

Secret Sisterhood founder Jacquie Love said the protest was held to urge the Australian government to recognize Alqunun’s plight, and that of oppressed women everywhere.

“We are here to encourage them to let her in,” Love said. “She’s been recognized by the U.N. as a refugee so we believe the Australian government needs to step up, recognize her plight and recognize what she’s gone through, and she could be an icon for the rest of the world that women shouldn’t be oppressed and they should be fleeing countries that they are oppressed in.”

“We decided to go topless because we believe all women should be able to express themselves freely and safely and we wanted to send a message to Rahaf that we can actually do that in Australia, that women can actually be free and safe,” Love said.

Secret Sisterhood has also set up a GoFundMe account, which had raised USD$2,290 (73,000 baht) for Alqunun by Thursday morning.

Alqunun’s case has highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many more similar cases will have gone unreported.

After mounting a campaign for assistance on Twitter from her Bangkok airport hotel, Alqunun was allowed to temporarily stay in Thailand under the care of the U.N. refugee agency, which ruled her claim for asylum valid and referred her case to Australia. Following that decision, Australia’s Home Affairs Department said it would “consider this referral in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals.”

Alqunun’s father arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday, but his daughter refused to meet with him.

Thailand’s Immigration Police chief Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn said the father — whose name has not been released — denied physically abusing Alqunun or trying to force her into an arranged marriage, which were among the reasons she gave for her flight.

Surachate said Alqunun’s father wanted his daughter back but respected her decision. Surachate described the father as being a governor in Saudi Arabia.

“He has 10 children. He said the daughter might feel neglected sometimes,” Surachate said. “But he didn’t go into detail.”

Before the U.N. agency’s decision to refer her case to Australia, the country’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said there would be no “special treatment” for her.

However, Health Minister Greg Hunt, also speaking before the U.N.’s decision, said: “If she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa.”

Story: Trevor Marshallsea

Chinese Travelers Could Soon Get Visas Via WeChat

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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9 January 2019, 16:54

Chinese tourists feed elephants in Lampang province.

BANGKOK — The Immigration Bureau said Wednesday that it’s considering a plan to let Chinese travelers apply for Thai tourist visas via the mainland’s most popular chat application.

Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, chief of bureau police, told reporters that the plan, if implemented, would help Chinese apply for visas without having to fill in the English-language TM6 arrival cards by using WeChat. The application could also allow Chinese travelers to pay visa fees via their e-wallet.

“We discovered that Chinese nationals had problems filling in the TM6 forms in English and Thai,” Surachate said after attending a meeting with representatives from Tencent, WeChat’s Chinese developer. “We will use the technology to do away with paper in order to improve speed.”

Read: Chinese Tourist Loses Arm in Sobering Reminder of Thai Road Safety

Another meeting will be convened next week, and if the Thai authorities approve the idea, Surachate said it could be implemented in four months.

The proposal is the latest effort to draw Chinese tourists back to Thailand after arrivals plummeted in the wake of a deadly ferry sinking in July. Yearly arrivals for 2018 exceeded a historic milestone of 10 million in December, though monthly arrivals are still lower than during the same period last year.

The government today also extended a visa fee exemption for Chinese visitors through April in a bid to stimulate travel during the upcoming Chinese New Year’s holidays.

The exemptions are expected to cost the state 2.1 billion baht in lost revenues, but prime minister advisor Nattaporn Jatusripitak said the losses would be offset by 6 billion baht in tourist spending.

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Facebook Denies Allowing Illegal Content in Vietnam

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Associated Press

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9 January 2019, 16:00

The logo for Facebook appears in March 2018 on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square. Photo: Richard Drew / Associated Press

HANOI — Facebook is defending itself against allegations it allows illegal content in violation of Vietnam’s cybersecurity law.

The social media giant said Wednesday that it had a clear process for reporting and handling content that violates the law. The company said it had restricted illegal content and was in discussions with the government.

The comments were in response to state media reports that the Ministry of Information and Communication has complained that Facebook was allowing users to upload slanderous content and anti-government comments, among other alleged violations of a cybersecurity law that took effect Jan. 1.

The law requires service providers such as Google and Facebook operating in Communist-ruled Vietnam to store user data, open offices in the country and remove offending contents within 24 hours if requested by the authorities.

Southern Teacher Murdered, Truck Stolen for Car Bomb: Police

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Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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9 January 2019, 15:44

A police outpost in Songkhla province after a car bomb exploded outside Tuesday.

SONGKHLA — Police said separatists killed a teacher in Songkhla province and stole his truck to use for a car bomb that wounded six Tuesday.

Amata Samotanthawi, 62, was found hanged in his home in the Saba Yoi district Tuesday morning. His Isuzu truck was missing. Hours later, the same truck allegedly exploded with a 50-kilogram car bomb in neighboring Thepa district, injuring six police officers at an outpost.

Investigators believe the teacher was slain some time on Monday night. Police blamed militants seeking independence for the southern border provinces for the murder and bombing.

Police also issued a warning that eight motorcycles had been stolen in recent days, raising fear they could be used as bombs.

The separatists regularly target public schools and their staff, which observers say is because they are seen as state instruments promoting Buddhism in the Muslim-majority region.

A group of soldiers patrolling near a Pattani province school also came under attack by a roadside bomb on Tuesday. The explosion injured a soldier and a 12-year-old girl on her way to school.

Australia Considers Taking in Rahaf as UN Grants Refugee Status

By

Associated Press

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9 January 2019, 15:06

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, at left, walks by Thai immigration police chief Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, at right, on her way out of Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday in Bangkok. Photo: Immigration Bureau Police / Courtesy — Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, at left, walks by Thai immigration police chief Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, at right, on her way out of Suvarnabhumi Airport on Jan. 9, 2019, in Bangkok. Photo: Immigration Bureau Police / Courtesy

Update Jan 10.: Immigration police chief Surachate Hakparn said Wednesday evening that Alqunun’s father and brother plan to remain in Thailand until they know what country she will be sent to. He also said they would try to appeal against her resettlement.

BANGKOK — Australia will assess runaway Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun for settlement after the United Nations on Wednesday deemed her a refugee.

The Department of Home Affairs confirmed in a statement that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees had referred 18-year-old Alqunun to Australia for consideration for refugee settlement.

Marise Payne, Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement today that she would visit Thailand on Thursday, during which time she would also advocate for the release of footballer Hakeem Alaraibi, who’s been detained in Thailand since late November.

Read: Immigration Chief Rejects Saudi Complaint as Rahaf’s Dad Leaves Empty-Handed

Similar to Alqunun, Alaraibi was detained at Suvarnabhumi Airport while leaving after honeymooning in Thailand. Though he had political asylum in Australia, Bahrain wanted him deported back home, where he said he faced torture or worse. He remains in custody at the Bangkok Remand Prison.

“I will also advocate for the safe return to Australia of Mr Hakeem Alaraibi, who is currently detained in Thailand. Mr Alaraibi was granted permanent residency by the Australian Government in recognition of his status as a refugee,” Payne said, adding that she would also “reiterate our support” for elections this year and a return to democracy.

Alqunun arrived in Bangkok on a flight from Kuwait on Saturday, and planned to continue to Australia, for which she held a tourist visa. But after being detained by Thai authorities, she refused to board a flight back to Kuwait, barricading herself in a hotel room.

After publicizing her case via social media, saying she feared for her safety if made to return home to her family, she was placed in the care of UNHCR workers as her bid for refugee status was considered, leading to her referral to Australia on Wednesday afternoon.

“The UNHCR has referred Ms Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun to Australia for consideration for refugee resettlement,” Australia’s Home Affairs Department said, adding it would “consider this referral in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals.”

Indications from Canberra suggest Alqunun may receive a sympathetic hearing.

Before the UNHCR’s referral, Health Minister Greg Hunt said Australia would consider giving Alqunun a humanitarian visa if the UNHCR process found her to be a refugee.

“Pending the outcome of that, if she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Phil Robertson, the Human Rights Watch deputy regional director who helped advocate for Rahaf online, welcomed the news.

“Amazingly, Rahaf’s original hope may come true after all now Canberra confirmed the UN has determined her to be a refugee and referred her to Australia for resettlement,” he said in a written statement sent to reporters. “Just two days ago, she was barricaded in a hotel room fighting for her life – and now we see this wonderful and astonishing turn of events. What’s important is get her safe so Australia really needs to move quickly to get her out of Thailand.”

Alqunun’s case has again highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudi runaways fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many more similar cases will have gone unreported.

In Bangkok, Thailand’s immigration police chief Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn said that Alqunun’s father and brother arrived together in Bangkok on Tuesday but Alqunun refused to meet them.

Surachate discussed her case on Tuesday with Saudi Charge d’Affaires in Thailand Abdalelah Mohammed A. Alsheaiby. In a video clip of the meeting released by Thai immigration police, Alsheaiby is heard telling Thai officials: “From the moment she arrived, she opened a new account and her followers reached almost 45,000 in a day . And I would have preferred it better if her phone was taken instead of her passport.”

The comments sparked anger on social media . Surachate said that police could not confiscate her phone because she was not being detained and said that the Saudi diplomat’s remark was “just an opinion” and “nothing to be taken seriously”.

After Alqunun barricaded herself in her Bangkok hotel room, her pleas for help over Twitter garnered tens of thousands of followers, and the attention of the UNHCR. Public pressure prompted Thai officials to return her passport and let her temporarily stay in Thailand.

Alqunun alleged several times that Saudi officials were involved in seizing her passport. However, in repeated statements, including one issued Tuesday, the Saudi Embassy in Bangkok said it was only monitoring her situation.

Its latest statement, which described Alqunun’s case as a “family affair,” said Saudi Arabia did not demand her deportation back home. The embassy – and Thai officials – earlier also said that Alqunun was stopped by Thai authorities in Bangkok because she did not have a return ticket, a hotel reservation or itinerary to show she was a tourist, which appeared to have raised a red flag about the reasons for her trip.

Saudi Arabia’s wider human rights record has also come under intense scrutiny since the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi in October. Khashoggi, who wrote critically of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in columns for The Washington Post, had been living in self-imposed exile before he was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by Saudi agents.

The kingdom offered various shifting accounts of the circumstances of his death before eventually settling on the explanation that he died in a botched operation to forcibly bring him back to Saudi Arabia.

Story: Kaweewit Kaewjina, Trevor Marshallsea. Additional reporting Jintamas Saksornchai for Khaosod English.

Thai Man Escapes With Life in Harrowing, Violent Scam in Parisian Club

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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9 January 2019, 15:00

PARIS — A New Year’s trip to the City of Love took a scary turn for one Thai man whose harrowing night on the town turned into a police adventure.

He described being scammed and mugged in the red light district before turning the tables and joining a raid on the joint in a made-for-Pantip drama he recounted Tuesday night to the tune of nearly 1 million likes on the popular web board.

“I almost died in Paris,” wrote Pantipper Skeleton18PE, who had been traveling there solo during the holidays.

Though there was no immediate way to corroborate the details of his story, the man said it was Jan. 3 when he traveled to the Blanche Metro Station and began surveying the La Machine du Moulin Rouge club. That’s when an employee from another club called La Diva approached him and said that he could see a show there for 10 euros – discounted from 20 – while drinking a free Coke.

“I was naive. I thought it was a cabaret show,” he said.

Once inside, he asked for the Coke, but servers told him other drinks were also free, so he ordered champagne. To his professed shock, the waitress who brought his drink suddenly exposed her breasts.

“I was flabbergasted; I never go to places like this! She started rubbing all over me. I swear, I wasn’t okay with it, and in less than two minutes I tried to leave,” he wrote.

The woman then gave him a whopping bill for 750 euros (over 27,500 baht). After that, he said a “two-meter tall, very thick white farang guard” told him he couldn’t leave without paying up.

The guard then pushed down the 172-centimeter man and roughly searched him, taking his bag containing his money and phone.

“He choked me. With extreme fear and adrenaline, I pushed him away and ran out of the place,” he wrote.

But Skeleton18PE wasn’t taking it lying down. He had escaped without his backpack.

The next day, after filing several reports to police, he accompanied armed officers from the 122 Rue Marcadet station on a morning raid of the club. He explained to officers that he could use a function to emit a siren from his phone, which worked. He found his bag by the door with everything intact, save for 20 euros missing.

He shared on Pantip a photo of La Diva’s exterior, a pinned map location and a photo of his police complaint.

Online reviews for La Diva club suggest the alleged incident wasn’t a one-time thing. Many one-star reviews include similar stories of tourists being mugged and ripped off.

Google guide reviewer Shreyansh Piit wrote that he and his friend had to pay 700 euros (25,720 baht) for one beer, with a bouncer threatening him and accompanying him to the ATM.

“I had to sleep empty stomach [sic] for 2 days as they took all my money,” Piit wrote.

Skeleton18PE’s police report. Photo: Skeleton18PE / Pantip

Immigration Chief Rejects Saudi Complaint as Rahaf’s Dad Leaves Empty-Handed

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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9 January 2019, 13:52

Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, Thailand's immigration police chief, at a press briefing Wednesday in Bangkok.

Update Jan 10.: Immigration police chief Surachate Hakparn said Wednesday evening that Alqunun’s father and brother plan to remain in Thailand until they know what country she will be sent to. He also said they would try to appeal against her resettlement.

BANGKOK — Thailand’s immigration chief said Wednesday that confiscating a runaway Saudi woman’s phone would have violated her rights in an apparent rebuke of a Saudi diplomat’s complaint.

After saying the Saudis were pleased with how Thailand handled the case of a young woman fleeing her family, Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn addressed a complaint caught on tape in which Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Bangkok said he wished her phone had been confiscated instead of her passport.

“As soon as [Rahaf] arrived, she opened an account and got about 45,000 followers? In a single day,” Abdullah al-Shuaibi said to a counterpart in Arabic during a meeting with Thai officials, according to the video’s subtitles. “I wish they would’ve confiscated her phone instead of her passport.”

Update: Australia Considers Taking in Rahaf as UN Grants Refugee Status

The video was shared online and went viral yesterday. Thai officials have denied taking Alqunun’s passport; she said it was taken by a Saudi man.

Surachate today responded that his officers were following the law.

“I’d like to emphasize that police didn’t have the authority to confiscate her phone,” he said. “She didn’t commit a crime, and it was within her rights [to tweet].”

He added that what al-Shuaibi said was “just a comment” and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

The lieutenant-general also said Alqunun’s case could be resolved within a couple more days as several countries have already made offers of residency. He declined to say whether she has been granted refugee status by the UN Refugee Agency.

In a break from normal policy, she was allowed to request asylum directly from the UNHCR in Thailand, which is not party to international agreements on refugees.

Alqunun’s father arrived in Thailand this morning to meet the with UNHCR reps but was turned away by his daughter, Surachate said. He said the father would return to Saudi Arabia today.

This past weekend, Alqunun grabbed the attention around the globe after she sent out pleas for help via Twitter, saying her passport was confiscated while transiting through Bangkok on her way to Australia. She barricaded herself in an airport hotel room before being allowed into the country under care of the UN on Monday.

The two kingdoms have not enjoyed full diplomatic relations for three decades, ever since a scandal involving stolen gems and two Saudi diplomats murdered in Bangkok.

Saudi Arabia's charge d'affaires in Bangkok Abdullah al-Shuaibi, at left, in a meeting Tuesday with Thai officials. — Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Bangkok Abdullah al-Shuaibi, at left, in a meeting Tuesday with Thai officials.

Clarification: The quote from immigration police chief Surachate Hakparn has been updated with a better translation of his comments.

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