Bitcoin Soars to $19K Then Falls Back

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8 December 2017, 11:23

A bitcoin logo is displayed at a 2014 Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in New York. Photo: Mark Lennihan / AP

NEW YORK — The price of bitcoin swung wildly Thursday, rising to more than USD$19,000 (620,000 baht) only to fall sharply within minutes, as both the euphoria and anxiety surrounding the virtual currency escalated just days before trading in bitcoin futures begins on a major U.S. exchange.

The concerns about its volatility have led some Wall Street banks and trade groups to raise concerns about the potential implications of trading bitcoin. Banks also appear likely to limit customers’ access to the futures when they first start trading.

Bitcoin was valued at $17,167 as of 6pm EST, according to large bitcoin exchange Coinbase, after briefly surging above $19,000 Thursday morning. At the start of the year, one bitcoin was worth less than $1,000.

Read: Bitcoin’s Going Nucking Futs, Here’s How to Buy From Thailand

Bitcoin’s wild swings occurred as Wall Street prepares for bitcoin futures to start trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange on Sunday evening and on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange a week later. The futures are designed to reflect the price of bitcoin without an investor having to physically hold the currency, not unlike how oil, gold, copper or cocoa prices are determined by futures contracts.

Yet the dawn of futures trading has some parties on Wall Street concerned. A group of banks, brokerages and clearinghouses came out and complained that federal regulators approved the futures too quickly and without properly considering the risks inherent in bitcoin.

The Futures Industry Association, a trade association that represents Wall Street banks, brokerages and clearinghouses, sent a letter to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission this week, saying the institutions should have been consulted before trading in bitcoin futures was approved. The association’s members expressed concern that they could be on the hook for large sums of money if extreme volatility in bitcoin resulted in big losses for some customers.

Goldman Sachs, one of the nation biggest investment banks, said it will allow only a limited number of clients to trade the CBOE’s bitcoin futures when they launch next week. Bank of America will not allow clients access to the futures.

A person familiar with the matter said JPMorgan Chase will not allow clients access to the futures on the first trading day, and will make an evaluation after that based on what it sees in the futures market. This person requested anonymity because the decision hasn’t yet been announced publicly.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Citigroup will also not allow clients access to bitcoin futures, although a Citi spokesman declined to comment. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Thomas Peterffy, chairman of the broker-dealer Interactive Brokers Group, expressed deep concerns about the trading of bitcoin futures last month, saying “there is no fundamental basis for valuation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and they may assume any price from one day to the next.”

Peterffy noted that if bitcoin futures were trading at that time, under the CBOE’s rules those futures likely would experience repeated trading halts because of limits on how high or low the price can move during the trading day.

The futures signal more mainstream acceptance of the currency, but also open up bitcoin to additional market forces. Futures allow for the shorting of bitcoin — that is betting that the price of bitcoin will go down — which presently is very difficult to near impossible to do. With the currency’s tremendous run up in price in recent days, it could become a target for those who doubt that it deserves its current lofty value.

The frenzy of interest and the rapid rise in the price of bitcoin has put significant strain on the major bitcoin exchanges. Coinbase, the largest bitcoin exchange, at one point tweeted that record-high traffic had caused interruptions to its service. Bitfinex, which trades several digital currencies including Bitcoin, tweeted out that it had suffered an unusual surge in traffic the last few days.

Bitcoin is the world’s most popular virtual currency. Such currencies are not tied to a bank or government and allow users to spend money anonymously. They are basically lines of computer code that are digitally signed each time they are traded.

A debate is raging on the merits of such currencies. Some say they serve merely to facilitate money laundering and illicit, anonymous payments. Others say they can be helpful methods of payment, such as in crisis situations where national currencies have collapsed.

Miners of bitcoins and other virtual currencies help keep the systems honest by having their computers keep a global running tally of transactions. That prevents cheaters from spending the same digital coin twice.

Online security is a vital concern for such dealings.

In Japan, following the failure of a bitcoin exchange called Mt. Gox, new laws were enacted to regulate bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Mt. Gox shut down in February 2014, saying it lost about 850,000 bitcoins, possibly to hackers.

Earlier Thursday, NiceHash, a company that mines bitcoins on behalf of customers, said it is investigating a breach that may have resulted in the theft of about $70 million worth of bitcoin.

Story: Ken Sweet

Pantone Picks Deep Purple ‘Ultra Violet’ as Color of Year

By

Associated Press

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8 December 2017, 11:18

NEW YORK — What we have here in 2017 is a heap of chaos and disruption. What we need in 2018? The Pantone Color Institute thinks whatever that might be will come in the deep purple hue of “Ultra Violet,” its color of the year revealed Thursday.

The color wasn’t chosen because it’s regal, though it resembles a majestic shade. It was chosen to evoke a counterculture flair, a grab for originality, ingenuity and visionary thinking, Pantone Vice President Laurie Pressman told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement.

“We are living in complex times,” she said. “We’re seeing the fear of going forward and how people are reacting to that fear.”

Pressman wasn’t keen on talking politics. The color, she said, playing out in home design, industrial spaces and products, fashion, art and food, reflects the idea of living not inside the box or outside the box but with no box at all. Specifically, she called the color “that complexity, that marriage, between the passionate red violets and the strong indigo purples.”

Ultra Violet leans more to blue than red and that, Pressman said, “speaks to thoughtfulness, a mystical quality, a spiritual quality.” There’s still a passionate heat from enough red undertones, and a touch of periwinkle, but “it’s really the cool that prevails.”

The 2018 color of the year follows 2017’s “Greenery,” a grassy fresh, revitalizing shade that reflected new beginnings.

The purple choice, a la Prince and the glam rock of David Bowie — both of whom died in 2016 — speaks to rebellion, finding new ways to interpret our lives and surroundings, Pressman said. It also speaks to the pleasing calm of Provence and its purple flower fields.

“I see this as very much an optimistic color, an empowering color,” she said. “We want to find some peace and calm within ourselves. How do we quiet our minds?”

Well, there are meditation and yoga studios, some of which rely on violet light that some believe has a power to heal. A company in the United Kingdom has come up with a shower head fitted with the same hue of light that turns bathing into purple rain. There’s an embrace of purple cauliflower and sweet potato, joining eggplant and purple-colored cocktails.

The color has a history that has shifted over the decades.

It played a role in logos used by the women’s suffrage movement of the early 1900s in Britain, lent a flash to flappers in the 1920s and has popped in paintings through history, from the seated woman’s dress in “The Pained Heart” of Pre-Raphaelite Arthur Hughes and the work of Gustav Klimt to Bauhaus modernists such as Wassily Kandinsky and on to Keith Haring and Andy Warhol.

Fast forward to Jimi Hendrix and his “Purple Haze,” the penultimate song he played in concert on Sept. 6, 1970, days before his death. Grace Jones, Lady Gaga, Kylie Jenner, Beyonce, Katy Perry (remember her purple hair?) and Rihanna have embraced the color, Pressman said.

Richard Wagner surrounded himself with purple when he composed and Leonardo da Vinci wrote that meditation and prayer were “10 times more powerful if done while sitting in the violet light, shining through a stained glass window.”

Ultra Violet represented on fashion runways for fall 2016, continuing into this year’s collections, including those of Alberta Ferretti and Marni. For spring ’18, Kenzo put a model in a bright sleeveless purple dress paired with high black-and-white socks and a yellow handbag.

In beauty, versatile purple is prevalent for eyes, lips and nails. Ultra Violet brings the drama but it’s an easy drama, a non-threatening color, on the body and in the home.

“It’s a color that can be worn by so many different skin tones,” Pressman said.

So who wears it best? Rihanna, Pressman said. Particularly, Rihanna in a 2017 Dior ad with gorgeous violet lips and purple-tinted sunglasses.

“When you think of this color she perfectly sums up the originality, the inventiveness, the forward thinking, the non-conformity,” Pressman said. “The exploration, the expression, the do your own thing. She thinks about things differently than anybody else. No boundaries.”

Story: Leanne Italie

Mideast Braces For Fallout From Trump’s Move on Jerusalem

By

Associated Press

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7 December 2017, 18:49

A Palestinian paints over a mural of the U.S. President Donald Trump during a protest in Bethlehem, West Bank on Thursday. Photo: Nasser Shiyoukhi / Associated Press

JERUSALEM — Palestinians shuttered schools and shops and called for protests in West Bank towns on Thursday, while the leader of the Hamas militant group called for a new armed uprising, in widespread show of anger over President Donald Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Trump’s dramatic break on Wednesday with decades of U.S. policy on Jerusalem counters long-standing international assurances to the Palestinians that the fate of the city will be determined in negotiations. The Palestinians seek Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as a future capital.

There have been no signs of serious violence so far. But Friday, the Muslim holy day, could provide an important test when Palestinians gather for weekly mass prayers.

In the Gaza Strip, Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh called on Palestinians to launch a new intifada, or uprising, against Israel on Friday.

“The American decision is an aggression on our people and a war on our sanctuaries,” Haniyeh said in a speech, urging supporters “to be ready for any orders.”

“We want the uprising to last and continue to let Trump and the occupation regret this decision,” he said.

Hamas, a group that seeks Israel’s destruction, killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks in the early 2000s. But the group’s capabilities are more limited now. Gaza, Hamas’ stronghold, is closed by an Israeli blockade, while in the West Bank, many of its members have been arrested. Nonetheless, it possesses a large arsenal of rockets capable of striking much of Israel.

Spontaneous protests sparked in Gaza overnight, with angry youths burning tires, American and Israeli flags and Trump posters.

The Israeli military said it would deploy several battalions to the West Bank ahead of Friday, while other troops have been put on alert to address “possible developments.”

The conflicting claims to Jerusalem, and especially its Old City, where sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites are located, lie at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While Trump’s decision had no impact on the city’s daily life, it carried deep symbolic meaning, and was seen as siding with Israel and an attempt to impose a solution on the Palestinians.

Israel, which claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, has welcomed Trump’s decision. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump “bound himself forever” to the history of Jerusalem with the move and claimed other states are considering following suit.

“We are already in contact with other states that will make a similar recognition,” he said at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

Anger at the U.S. has rippled across the Arab world.

Saudi Arabia’s royal court, led by King Salman and his powerful son, condemned the Trump administration’s decision in a rare public rebuke by the U.S. ally. The regional powerhouse, which could help the White House push through a Middle East settlement, said Thursday the kingdom had already warned against this step and “continues to express its deep regret at the U.S. administration’s decision,” describing it “unjustified and irresponsible.”

Trump’s move puts the Sunni nation in a bind. The kingdom, particularly its powerful crown prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, enjoys close relations with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who leads Trump’s efforts to restart Mideast peace talks.

U.S. Embassies across much of the Middle East and parts of Africa warned American citizens of possible protests following Trump’s move.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has suggested that with Trump’s move, the United States disqualified itself as mediator between Israelis and Palestinians, a role it has played exclusively in more than two decades of stop-and-go negotiations aimed at setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The talks, stalled in recent years, have failed to bring the Palestinians closer to the state the seek in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. In parallel, Israel has steadily expanded Jewish settlements on war-won lands, even as it said it wants to negotiate a deal.

Trump’s claim Wednesday that he still wants to pursue what he has called the “ultimate” Mideast deal was met by mounting skepticism.

“With its decision, the U.S. has isolated itself and Israel, and has pushed the area into a dangerous situation and stopped the peace process,” said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a senior Abbas aid. “Without a doubt, this decision will not help at all in solving the problems in the area, but rather strengthen the extremists.”

Abbas has not said what steps he would take, if any. Later Thursday, he was to meet with his closest Arab ally, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, to coordinate positions.

Jordan plays a central role in the mounting controversy and, alongside other U.S. allies in the region, has slammed Trump’s decision on Jerusalem.

The king is seen as one of Washington’s most dependable partners in the battle against Islamic extremism in the region.

At the same time, the legitimacy of his Hashemite dynasty is closely linked to its special role in Jerusalem, as religious guardian of a key Muslim shrine in east Jerusalem. Jordan, which has a large population with Palestinian roots, cannot afford to be seen as soft on Muslim claims to the holy city.

The consultations between the monarch and Abbas will kick off a series of meetings in the Arab and Muslim world on how to respond to Trump.

The Arab League, a group representing most states in the Middle East and North Africa, will meet Saturday. Next week, Turkey will host a gathering of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which has 57 Arab and Muslim member states.

The region has been bracing for fallout from Trump’s seismic policy shift.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday accused Trump of throwing the Mideast into a “ring of fire” and said his motives were difficult to fathom. “It’s not possible to understand what you are trying to get out of it, Erdogan said, referring to Trump in a speech to a group of workers at Ankara’s airport.

“Political leaders exist not to stir things up, but to make peace,” Erdogan said. “If Trump says ‘I am strong therefore I am right,’ he is mistaken.”

Defying worldwide warnings, Trump insisted Wednesday that it was time for a new approach, starting with what he said was his decision merely based on reality to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government. He also said the U.S. would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, though he set no timetable.

“We cannot solve our problems by making the same failed assumptions and repeating the same failed strategies of the past,” Trump said, brushing aside the appeals for caution from around the world.

Story: Karin Laub, Ilan Ben Zion

Ring in the Holidays With 60-Story Ratchaprasong Light Show

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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7 December 2017, 18:23

BANGKOK — Ring in the new year with a 60-story light show in the shopaholic heart of Bangkok.

Starting Wednesday, a 3D-mapping installation will be projected several times nightly onto the Magnolias Ratchadamri Boulevard building in the Chit Lom area. For maximum seasonal cheer, view it from the holiday display outside CentralWorld at Ratchaprasong intersection.

The “Beautiful Bangkok” installation will premiere at 7:45pm. From Dec. 14 to Dec. 31, it will show at 7pm, 7:15pm, 7:30pm, 7:45pm and 8pm every night. On New Year’s Eve, there will be an extra show at 11:55pm for countdowners to have a dazzling start to 2018.

Projection mapping involves video projected onto 3D objects such as buildings. The mapping for this project is developed by Hungarian group Limelight, who produced the light show at this year’s iMapp Festival in Bucharest.

The Beautiful Bangkok project is backed by Magnolia Quality Development Corp., the Ratchaprasong Square Trade Association and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Woman Blames Bad Click For 150,000B Bangkok Hotel Bill. Then Her Story Got Weirder.

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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7 December 2017, 18:02

The location of what was supposed to be ‘Private Club in the Heart of Bangkok’ as listed on Agoda Homes. Image: Google

BANGKOK — A woman says an accidental swipe on her smartphone cost her 150,000 baht when she inadvertently booked a residence that turned out not to exist.

Sulawan Luckchonlatee on Thursday filed a criminal complaint against online booking agency Agoda after she was billed 150,000 baht and was unable to cancel the booking or contact the place – because she could not find it.

Min Buri cop Lt. Col. Noppakun Pratumpetch said Thursday afternoon that Sulawan filed a charge of fraud against the online booking giant. He said police are investigating and will summon a representative of the company to acknowledge the charge.

An Agoda representative said the company has no plan to make a statement or answer questions about the matter.

Sulawan’s allegations came to public attention Tuesday through Queen of Spades, a popular clearinghouse for social issues. The story has spawned many headlines in Thai about Sulawan’s “ghost hotel,” drawing attention nationwide.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Sulawan said she started using Agoda’s smartphone app in August. As a regular Agoda member with a registered credit card, she said accidentally pressing the “book and pay” button instead of the “back” button caused her to immediately be charged 144,393.99 baht for a three-night stay at “Private Club in the Heart of Bangkok,” a four-bedroom apartment located in Soi Sukhumvit 43.

The app did not ask for any confirmation, she said, of the booking from Nov. 21 to Nov. 24.

Sulawan said her bank agreed to freeze her card for 180 days, but apparently would not reverse the charge because she’s still on the hook for paying the mystery hotel, the whereabouts of which remain unknown.

According to Sulawan, she will file a complaint at the Consumer Protection Board on Friday.

“Agoda should physically go to the location of the hotels they deal with,” Sulawan said.

It may not be that simple though. An entry for the property can still be found in the database of Agoda Homes, which is the booking giant’s Airbnb-like service that allows any private party to list their property. It could not be booked on Thursday.

Agoda is based in Thailand but owned by a subsidiary of US-based Priceline.

Saying she immediately sought to get her money back, Sulawan tried to call a contact listed on the booking but it was a number in the United States which the operator referred back to Thailand’s Agoda office. When she called Agoda, she said staff told her the company has a no refund policy once bookings are made.

So Sulawan said she tramped into the soi to find the hotel, using GPS to find the location shown on the booking page. There she found a privately owned home.

There was a hotel around the corner that shared similarities with the “private club” listing, but Sulawan said staff there denied receiving her booking.

AGODA HED e1512644381417 — Private Club in the heart of Bangkok is seen on Agoda Homes

AGODA — Private Club in the heart of Bangkok is seen on Agoda Homes

Provincial Airport Closed as Southern Flood Toll Rises

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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7 December 2017, 16:45

A tour bus attempts to drive Thursday through the flooded entrance of Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport.

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT — A southern provincial airport remained closed a second day Thursday as two more bodies were recovered from deadly floodwaters, bringing the death toll from the regional flooding crisis to eight.

The severe flooding that has persisted for the past month in the region caused the Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport to be closed Wednesday, a day after a bus flipped 60 kilometers to the north, killing two women who were sisters.

“We will close on Thursday, extending the closure for another day because we will need to check the weather, water levels and electrical systems,” Darun Saengchai, airport director, said today.

Those planning to fly into the airport should check with their airlines for flight changes. Darun says the airport plans to reopen Friday unless weather conditions take a turn for the worse.

Read: Unchecked Development, Poor Planning Set Stage for Flood Crisis

On Tuesday night, floodwaters swept away a bus shuttling 50 people along the Surat Thani-Nakhon Si Thammarat Road in tambon Thung Sai. The bodies of Jan Kamkeaw, 68, and Manee Kamkeaw, 63, were found the next morning, 300 meters from the accident.

It took hours for rescue workers to retrieve the Kamkaew women’s bodies since water levels continued to run high.

The transport bus was on the way to the Tha Sala district for a funeral when it was pushed onto its side by a flash flood. The rest of the passengers were safe.

The southern flooding, a nearly annual occurrence, claimed the life of a nurse driving at night in Trang on Friday and five others in seaside areas of Songkhla province on Monday, bringing the number of fatalities to eight.

Local city planners, flood relief officers and environmentalists attribute the severity and persistence of the flooding to poor infrastructure, urban sprawl and wetlands destruction.

Footage of the flooding Tuesday night in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

บน5 — Motorists at the entrance to Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport on Thursday.

เอา2 — Survivors of a fatal bus accident at a shelter Wednesday morning in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Unchecked Development, Poor Planning Set Stage for Flood Crisis

New Traffic Tickets More Convenient – But Can’t Be Ignored

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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7 December 2017, 16:29

A cop hands out roses instead of tickets to traffic violators on Valentine's Day 2016 in Sakon Nakhon province.

BANGKOK — A new type of traffic ticket, which includes a barcode and English translation, will come into universal use early next year, police said Thursday.

In addition to impeding corruption, the new tickets allow traffic violators to pay fines at an ATM and are translated into English for the ever increasing number of foreign motorists in Thailand, said Jirapat Phumjit, deputy commander of Bangkok metro police. They also cannot be simply ignored as the old tickets often were.

“There are still some left in the circulation,” Maj. Gen. Jirapat said in an interview. “They can still be used, but they will run out soon, because the new forms will replace them … I think they will be all gone within the next two months.”

Jirapat also said the new tickets are already being used by traffic police nationwide.

Motorists previously caught breaking traffic laws were handed written tickets and had their driver’s licenses confiscated. Violators had to travel to the police station in order to pay any fines and retrieve their licenses. Or they could elect not to, and just drive without their licenses.

In March, after police pointed out only 11 percent or about 75,000 of 680,000 parking tickets were paid in a six-month period, junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha tried to rein in the scourge of unpaid tickets by using his absolute power to deny them renewed licenses.

People who don’t respond to police reminders to pay the fines within two weeks after they are sent out are also liable for prosecution in court, according to the order.

Traveling to the police station is no longer necessary under the new system, Jirapat said. Motorists can simply pay their fines via any Krungthai Bank ATM or Counter Service at many supermarkets and convenience stores. Police stations will mail the confiscated driver’s licenses to violators once the fines are paid, he said.

Apart from convenience, the new tickets are also bilingual.

“We are now more inter,” Jirapat said, laughing. “Many foreigners drive these days. Many come from our neighboring countries via the land borders, so we have English translation.”

2 Cops Accused of Embezzling Traffic Fines

Court Delays Decision on ‘Elephant Duel’ Charges

By

Associated Press

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7 December 2017, 15:31

Sulak Sivaraksa, accused of lese majeste over comments about a 16th century elephant battle, meets Oct. 9 with military prosecutors.

BANGKOK — A military court on Thursday delayed a decision on whether to prosecute a prominent historian and social critic who suggested that a famed duel on elephant-back won by a Thai king against a Burmese prince 500 years ago may not actually have happened.

The 84-year-old Sulak Sivaraksa was charged by police last October under the country’s draconian lese majeste law that protects the monarchy from libel and defamation.

The military court on Thursday agreed with Sulak’s request to hear views from experts and historians and set a new hearing for Jan. 17.

Read: Court Delays Decision on ‘Elephant Duel’ Charges

Sulak told reporters outside the court that “to live in this country you must have a sense of humor because my case is nonsensical.” He said it would be impossible for Thais to learn history if commenting on King Naraesuan, who led the famous 1593 battle that is celebrated as a national holiday, is considered illegal.

The case stems from remarks Sulak made in 2014 when he urged a university seminar to think critically about Thai history.

Thailand’s lese majeste law is the harshest in the world, punishable by three to 15 years in prison. The law, in writing, only protects the king, queen, and heir apparent, and doesn’t appear to mention dead monarchs, but in practice the rules are more widely interpreted.

The ruling military government has pursued over 250 lese majeste cases since it seized power in a 2014 coup, more than any previous governments in the past decade, according to Thai newspaper Prachatai. The law has been widely criticized including by rights groups and the U.N., which has called for it to be revoked.

“The junta’s abusive use of the lese majeste law has reached a new height of absurdity when a prominent scholar is charged with a criminal offense for questioning the occurrence of a 16th-century battle,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “Academic freedom and free speech in Thailand will suffer devastating blows if the trial against Sulak proceeds.”

Sulak is a well-known academic and proclaimed royalist but an outspoken critic of the lese majeste law. He has previously faced at least five lese majeste charges.

British writer and historian Chris Baker said there are at least 10 different accounts of the elephant battle told in Thai, Burmese and French.

“There is no definitive account. There are various different accounts and historians accept that perhaps we don’t actually know what happened,” Baker said. “There are just many different stories told about an event that seems to have been very exciting.”

Australian Parliament Allows Same-Sex Marriages

By

Associated Press

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7 December 2017, 14:55

Same-sex marriage campaigners and volunteers cheer as they call on politicians to pass marriage equality legislation during rally outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017. Gay marriage was endorsed by 62 percent of Australian voters who responded to a government-commissioned postal ballot by last month. Photo: Lukas Coch / AAP Image via AP

CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian Parliament voted on Thursday to allow same-sex marriage across the nation, following a bitter and divisive debate settled by the government polling voters in a much-criticized ballot survey that strongly endorsed change.

The public gallery of the House of Representatives erupted with applause when the bill passed to change the definition of marriage from solely between a man and a woman to “a union of two people” excluding all others. The legislation passed with a majority that wasn’t challenged, although five lawmakers registered their opposition to the bill.

The Senate passed the same legislation last week 43 votes to 12. After royal assent and other formalities, the law will likely take effect in about a month, with the first weddings expected about a month later.

Amendments meant to safeguard freedoms of speech and religion for gay-marriage opponents were all rejected, though those issues may be considered later. The government has appointed a panel to examine how to safeguard religious freedoms once gay marriage is a reality in Australia.

Lawmakers advocating marriage equality had argued that the national postal survey in November mandated a change of the marriage definition alone, so changing the law should not be delayed by other considerations.

“It is now our job as members of Parliament to pass a fair bill that does not extend or create any new discriminations,” an emotional government lawmaker Warren Entsch, who helped draft the bill, told Parliament. “It is a strong bill that already strikes the right balance between equality and freedom of religion.”

“It’s an historic day for Australia today and I think the celebrations around the country when we finally … achieve marriage equality are going to be immense,” Janet Rice said before the vote. Rice is a minor Greens party senator who was only able to remain married to her transgender wife of 31 years, Penny, because Penny remained listed as male on her birth certificate.

Penny Wong, an opposition Labor Party senator who has two children with her lesbian partner, said: “I am feeling happy.”

Gay marriage was endorsed by 62 percent of Australian voters who responded to the government-commissioned postal ballot.

Most gay rights advocates believed the government should have allowed marriages years ago and saw various ideas for a public survey as a delaying tactic. The U.N. Human Rights Committee had called the ballot survey “an unnecessary and divisive public opinion poll.”

The current bill allows churches and religious organizations to boycott gay weddings without violating Australian anti-discrimination laws.

Existing civil celebrants can also refuse to officiate at gay weddings, but celebrants registered after gay marriage becomes law would not be exempt from the anti-discrimination laws.

One of the rejected amendments would have ensured Australians could speak freely about their traditional views of marriage without fear of legal action. It was proposed by Attorney-General George Brandis and supported by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, both gay marriage supporters.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was a high-profile advocate for traditional marriage, told Parliament that Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten had failed to deliver detailed protections for freedoms of speech, conscience and religion in the bill.

“A promise was made by the leaders of this Parliament and the promise has not adequately been delivered on,” Abbott said.

Abbott pointed to an Australian teenager who lost her job for advocating against gay marriage on social media and an Australian Catholic bishop who was taken before a state anti-discrimination tribunal over a pamphlet he published extolling traditional marriage. The complaint against the bishop was dropped.

“The last thing we should want to do is to subject Australians to new forms of discrimination in place of old ones that are rightly gone,” he said.

Government lawmaker Trevor Evans ruled out an Australian equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court case in which a baker who refused to provide a wedding cake for a gay couple argued he was exercising artistic freedom and was exempt from Colorado anti-discrimination laws.

“Let’s be honest here, for a case like that to arise in Australia, it would require a gay couple who care more about activism than about the success of their own wedding, to find a business operator who cares more about religious doctrine than the commercial success of their own small business, and for both of them to commit to having a fight,” Evans told Parliament.

“Typical Australians would genuinely question the bona fides of the players in a case like that and the slim prospects of that occurring doesn’t warrant the pages and pages of commentary and debate that have been dedicated to it,” he added.

Several gay marriage opponents in Turnbull’s conservative coalition have regarded marriage equality as inevitable and have welcomed an end to an issue that has long divided the government ranks.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, a same-sex marriage opponent who oversaw the postal ballot, said he felt “great satisfaction” that the issue was resolved.

“It was a polarizing issue on which good Australians had strongly and sincerely held views on both sides of the argument,” Cormann said.

“I and my colleagues on the coalition side always took the view that the best way to resolve a disagreement in the community like this is by giving the Australian people which we did, we kept faith with it, the Australian people embraced the process and the result was emphatic,” he said.

The result is a political win for Turnbull, who became prime minister after deposing Abbott in 2015 in an internal government leadership ballot.

Abbott was head-butted by a gay rights advocate during the postal survey campaign in September. Kevin Rudd, a center-left Labor Party prime minister whom Abbott defeated in elections in 2013, blamed the postal ballot for an assault on his godson Sean Foster, 19, as he campaigned for marriage equality a week earlier.

Veteran gay rights campaigner Rodney Croome said he expected the first same-sex weddings in Australia would not take place until February.

The law will likely take effect after a month. State laws then require couples to give 28 days’ notice of their intention to marry, Croome said.

Story: Rod McGuirk

Criticism of Prayuth Over Toon Bodyslam Draws Junta Wrath

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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7 December 2017, 13:27

Toon Bodyslam meets junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha Monday at Government House in Bangkok

BANGKOK — A junta rep on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against an opposition party spokeswoman for her scathing post about junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha.

The junta’s latest retaliation for online criticism was directed at Sunisa Lertphakwat for rhetorically questioning why Gen. Prayuth welcomed a rocker-turned-philanthropist with much fanfare Monday yet turned his back on environmental protesters arrested on the way to hand him a petition.

“Why did Gen. Prayuth refuse to receive a complaint petition from the locals personally? Instead, he ended up putting them in jail and prosecute them?” Sunisa, a Pheu Thai Party spokeswoman, wrote Monday.

She added, “Is it because Gen. Prayuth saw the southern locals as less human than Toon, who’s a famous singer?”

For the post, Col. Burin Thongprapai, who represents the junta in legal cases, filed a complaint with the police cybercrime unit Wednesday, according to a source in the junta who requested not to be identified. Burin reportedly asked the police to prosecute Sunisa for violating the Computer Crime Act and sedition.

Technology Crime Suppression Division commander Worawat Watnakornbancha declined to comment.

“This is confidential information,” Col. Worawat said. “I cannot say anything.”

Junta spokesman Piyapong Klinpan said Thursday he had not heard about Burin’s complaint because he was attending a religious ceremony outside Bangkok yesterday.

Sunisa said police had not contacted her as of Thursday afternoon, and she only heard about the charge through media reports. She added that she’s sent a lawyer to the cybercrime unit to find out more information.

Since coming to power in the 2014 coup, the junta has banned any form of public dissent and routinely silenced its critics – even in the virtual realm – drawing condemnation from domestic and international rights watchdogs.

The junta’s popularity appears to be sinking, and a number of missteps have provoked public consternation. In recent months, politicians and online personalities who have spoken out against the regime have been slapped with cybercrime and sedition laws. The latter offense carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. Those charged include a Khaosod English staff writer.

On Saturday, soldiers detained a popular Facebooker known for his fiery commentary on social issues after he mentioned the junta’s popularity was tanking. He was later released without charge.

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