Zimbabwe Army Says ‘This Is Not a Takeover’ and Mugabe Safe

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15 November 2017, 10:51

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addresses party supporters at a conference last December in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. Photo: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe — In an extraordinary statement after taking over the state broadcaster and amid a night of unrest, Zimbabwe’s army early Wednesday sought to reassure the country that “this is not a military takeover” and that although President Robert Mugabe was safe and sound, the military was targeting “criminals around him” who have sent the nation spinning into economic despair.

“As soon as we have accomplished our mission, we expect that the situation will return to normalcy,” the army spokesman said, calling on churches to pray for the country.

The army took control of the state Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation late Tuesday and an army spokesman made the statement on air early Wednesday.

Overnight, at least three explosions were heard in Zimbabwe’s capital and military vehicles were seen in the streets after the army commander had threatened to “step in” to calm political tensions over the 93-year-old Mugabe’s possible successor. The ruling party accused the commander of “treasonable conduct.”

The U.S. Embassy closed to the public and encouraged citizens to shelter in place, citing “the ongoing political uncertainty through the night.” The British embassy issued a similar warning, citing “reports of unusual military activity.”

For the first time, this southern African nation is seeing an open rift between the military and Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state who has ruled since independence from white minority rule in 1980. The military has been a key pillar of his power.

It was not clear where Mugabe and his wife were early Wednesday. “Their security is guaranteed,” the army statement said. The president reportedly attended a weekly Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

“We wish to make it abundantly clear that this is not a military takeover,” the army statement said. “We are only targeting criminals around (Mugabe) who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice.”

Overnight, The Associated Press saw armed soldiers assaulting passers-by in Harare, as well as soldiers loading ammunition near a group of four military vehicles. The explosions could be heard near the University of Zimbabwe campus. The developments came several hours after the AP saw three armored personnel carriers in a convoy heading toward an army barracks just outside the capital.

Mugabe last week fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and accused him of plotting to take power, including through witchcraft. Mnangagwa, who enjoyed the military’s backing and once was seen as a potential president, fled the country and said he had been threatened. Over 100 senior officials allegedly supporting him have been listed for disciplinary measures by a faction associated with Mugabe’s wife, Grace.

The first lady appeared to be positioned to replace Mnangagwa as one of the country’s two vice presidents at a special conference of the ruling party in December, leading many in Zimbabwe to suspect that she could succeed her husband. Grace Mugabe is unpopular with some Zimbabweans because of lavish spending as many struggle, and four people accused of booing her at a recent rally were arrested.

On Monday, army commander Constantino Chiwenga issued an unprecedented statement saying purges against senior ruling ZANU-PF party officials, many of whom like Mnangagwa fought for liberation, should end “forthwith.”

“We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,” the army commander said. The state-run broadcaster did not report on his statement.

Showing a generational divide, the ruling party’s youth league, aligned with the 52-year-old first lady, on Tuesday criticized the army commander’s comments, saying youth were “ready to die for Mugabe.”

On Tuesday night the ruling party issued a statement accusing the army commander of “treasonable conduct,” saying his comments were “clearly calculated to disturb national peace and stability” and were “meant to incite insurrection.”

Frustration has been growing in once-prosperous Zimbabwe as the economy collapses under Mugabe. The country was shaken last year by the biggest anti-government protests in a decade, and a once-loyal war veterans association turned on the president, calling him “dictatorial” and blaming him for the economic crisis.

“Mnangagwa was held out by many as the best hope within ZANU-PF for piloting an economic recovery,” analyst Piers Pigou with the International Crisis Group wrote Tuesday.

Now, “Mugabe will have to employ all his guile if he intends to ensure continued accommodation with the armed forces.”

Mugabe in the past has warned military commanders from interfering in succession politics. “Politics shall always lead the gun, and not the gun politics. Otherwise it will be a coup,” he told supporters in July.

Story: Farai Mutsaka

Myanmar Military Denies Atrocities Against Rohingya Muslims

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Associated Press

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15 November 2017, 10:42

Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) officers travel in a wooden boat operated by Rohingya Muslim men in July at Tin May village in which Myanmar government and military claim the existence of alleged Muslim terrorists in Buthidaung, Rakhine State, Myanmar. Photo: Esther Htusan / Associated Press

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — Myanmar’s military issued its most forceful denial yet that security forces committed atrocities during “clearance operations” in the west of the country, saying an internal investigation had absolved them of any wrongdoing in a crisis that has triggered the largest refugee exodus in Asia in decades.

The report contradicts consistent statements from ethnic Rohingya Muslim refugees now in Bangladesh – some with gunshot wounds and severe burns – who have described massacres, rape, looting and the burning of hundreds of villages by Myanmar’s army and civilian mobs.

The U.N. humanitarian office said Tuesday that the number of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh since Aug. 25 has risen to 618,000.

In a statement issued late Monday, the military said it had interviewed thousands of people during a monthlong investigation into the conduct of troops in western Rakhine state after Rohingya insurgents launched a series of deadly attacks there on Aug. 25.

While the report acknowledged that battles against militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, or ARSA, had left 376 “terrorists” dead, it also claimed security forces had “never shot at the innocent Bengalis” and “there was no death of innocent people.”

Myanmar’s government and most of the Buddhist majority say the members of the Muslim minority are “Bengalis” who migrated illegally from Bangladesh and do not acknowledge the Rohingya as a local ethnic group even though they have lived in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for generations.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the military’s latest claims were “contrary to a large and growing body of evidence” documenting severe rights abuses in Myanmar.

“The Burmese military’s absurd effort to absolve itself of mass atrocities underscores why an independent international investigation is needed to establish the facts and identify those responsible,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Burmese authorities have once again shown that they can’t and won’t credibly investigate themselves.”

The military said the investigation – which was led by Lt. Gen. Aye Win, inspector-general of the defense forces – showed that security forces did not use excessive force and abided by the army’s rules of engagement.

Myanmar’s government does not allow independent journalists to travel freely to the parts of Rakhine state where most of the latest violence has taken place.

The report comes just ahead of an expected visit Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is to hold talks with senior officials on the crisis.

On Tuesday in Naypyitaw, the capital, Myanmar authorities began the first of five days of talks with Bangladesh border guard officials to discuss how to resolve the refugee crisis and other issues along their common frontier.

The U.N. migration agency reports that human trafficking and exploitation are rife among Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh, not only recently but in past years, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The International Organization for Migration reports that “desperate refugees are being recruited with false offers of paid work and … are willing to take whatever opportunities they are presented with, even risky, dangerous ones that involve their children,” Dujarric said.

The migration agency is also concerned about forced and early marriages among the Rohingya, he said.

Story: Esther Htusan

Firefighters on Front Line of City’s Snake Scourge

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Associated Press

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15 November 2017, 10:34

A python regurgitates Bobo, a house cat it swallowed after slithering into a home in September in northern metropolitan Bangkok.

BANGKOK — When the latest distress call came into Phinyo Pukphinyo’s fire station in Bangkok, it was not about a burning home or office building. Instead, the caller needed urgent help with a far more common problem facing the capital: snakes.

A 2-meter-long (10-foot-long) python was dangling from the caller’s garage roof, and after rushing to the scene, it took Phinyo less than a minute to remove the slithering reptile.

The number of snakes ending up in urban homes is on the rise in Bangkok, apparently in part because of development pains in the vast metropolis of about 10 million people.

Tara Buakamsri, country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said the city is seeing more snakes because it sits on a “flood plain with a wetland ecosystem which is a habitat for amphibians, including snakes,” and housing expansions in recent years have curtailed their land.

Bangkok’s low-lying landscape makes it prone to floods during the rainy season, which also invites snakes and other reptiles such as monitor lizards.

The huge python Phinyo’s team caught was not the first of the day, or the last. Hours later, the station was called to remove a green snake found in the bathroom of another Bangkok resident, who apologized to the firefighters for calling them for the third time this year.

“I’ve been living in this house for 20 years and we would very rarely see any snakes,” said the caller and homeowner, Chanun Chisa. “But this year, it seems like we see one every few months.”

Phinyo said his fire station gets more calls to catch snakes than to put out fires.

“In a day, we can get several calls to catch snakes,” he said. “I think people have just started to become aware that they can call officials up to deal with it. Beforehand, people used to handle the snakes themselves, using sticks to hit them and that kind of thing.”

He said he can now identify most types of snakes and has become an in-house instructor who teaches other firefighters how to safely capture the wriggly reptiles.

“We have no choice but to learn how to handle them,” Phinyo said.

Piya Saereerak, a veterinarian who works for the Thai government’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife, said Bangkok’s snake invasion is sustained by the city’s growing piles of trash, which subsequently leads to more rats and birds – favored prey for serpents.

The Thai capital is producing more trash every year, which it has struggled to rid of. The city has produced around 10,454 tons of trash per day this year, up from 8,943 tons daily in 2011, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

“In the wild, you’d have eagles and big birds that eat snakes, and their eggs are food for other reptiles,” Piya said. “But in a big city like Bangkok, there is nothing hunting them.”

Piya heads a wildlife clinic that takes in around 300 to 400 snakes a month from rescuers such as firefighters in Bangkok. Every week, the staff from his clinic releases truckloads of snakes caught in the city into the jungle.

City authorities say the number of snakes caught in Bangkok homes has risen exponentially in recent years, from 16,000 reported cases in 2013 to about 29,000 in 2016. Figures for the first half of 2017 are over 30 percent higher than last year.

Penchom Saetang, director of the environmental foundation Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand, said Bangkok is producing more trash each year because the city is quickly expanding under an insufficient waste management system.

A July 2017 Greenpeace report said that in Thailand “there are 2,490 waste management centers around the country and only 466 of them manage waste accordingly …”

Piya’s advice to Bangkok’s residents is to keep the city clean in order to keep the snakes away. He said most snakes found in Bangkok homes and apartments are harmless, “but if you spot a venomous one, firemen will be there to help.”

Story: Tassanee Vejpongsa

Australians Endorse Gay Marriage, Ensuring Parliament Bill

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Associated Press

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15 November 2017, 10:24

People celebrate after the announcement of the same-sex marriage postal survey result in front of the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. Australians supported gay marriage in a postal survey that ensures Parliament will consider legalizing same-sex weddings this year. Photo: David Crosling / AAP Image via AP

CANBERRA, Australia — Australians supported gay marriage in a postal survey that ensures Parliament will consider legalizing same-sex weddings this year.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday 62 percent of registered voters who responded in the unprecedented survey favored reform.

The conservative government promised to allow a bill creating marriage equality to be considered in Parliament in the final two-week session that is due to end on Dec. 7.

A “no” vote in the survey would have put marriage equality off the political agenda, perhaps for years. Thousands of marriage equality supporters waving rainbow flags gathered anxiously in city parks around the country and cheered when the results was announced.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a vocal advocate of marriage equality, called on lawmakers to heed the “overwhelming” result and to commit to legislate for gay marriage by next month.

“They voted ‘yes’ for fairness, they voted ‘yes’ for commitment, they voted ‘yes’ for love,” Turnbull told reporters. “Now it is up to us here in the Parliament of Australia to get on with it, to get on with the job the Australian people have tasked us to do and get this done this year before Christmas — that must be our commitment.”

Some government lawmakers have vowed to vote down gay marriage regardless of the survey’s outcome. But the survey found a majority of voters in 133 of the 150 districts in the House of Representatives wanted reform.

Ireland is the only other country to put same-sex marriage to a popular vote, but that referendum was binding. Irish voters in 2015 changed their constitution to allow marriage equality.

In Australia, voting in elections and referenda is compulsory, but the Senate refused to fund a binding vote. Almost 80 percent of more than 16 million registered voters posted ballots in the voluntary survey, which gay marriage advocates opposed as an unnecessary obstacle and opponents derided as being about a boutique issue of little public interest.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee last week criticized Australia for putting gays and lesbians “through an unnecessary and divisive public opinion poll.” The committee called on Australia to legislate for marriage equality regardless of the survey’s outcome.

Lawmakers opposed to gay marriage are already moving to wind back anti-discrimination laws, with debate in Australia intensifying over the possibility of gay wedding boycotts and refusals to provide a celebrant, venue, flowers or a cake.

Several government lawmakers on Monday released a draft gay marriage bill, proposed by senator James Paterson, that critics argue would diminish current protections for gays against discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.

Government senator Dean Smith proposed a separate bill favored by Turnbull that ruled out any compromise that would cost gays and lesbians their existing protections against discrimination.

“If there are amendments, let’s see them, but let’s be clear about this: Australians did not participate in a survey to have one discrimination plank removed, to have other planks of discrimination piled upon them,” Smith told reporters.

Fiona McLeod, president of the Law Council Of Australia, the nation’s peak lawyers group, said Paterson’s bill “would encroach on Australia’s long-established anti-discrimination protections in a dangerous and unprecedented way.”

Lyle Shelton, spokesman for Coalition for Marriage which lobbied against the reform, said her group favored Paterson’s bill.

“I don’t think anyone who voted in this postal survey wants to see their fellow Australians put up on hate speech charges,” Shelton said. “We need to protect freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and also freedom of religion.”

Story: Rod McGuirk

Harry Potter Shops to Bring Christmas Magic to Bangkok

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Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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14 November 2017, 18:59

BANGKOK — This holiday season, take a stroll through Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade Village and wander into Ollivander’s Wand Shop and Honeydukes when a spell transforms a downtown shopping mall into iconic wizardry sites.

For the first time ever, Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, an exhibition and shops inspired by J.K. Rowling’s fantasy character, will be set up in Siam Paragon, organizers announced Tuesday.

The installation, a collaboration between Warner Bros. Consumer Products and global full-service provider for live events GES, will run from Dec. 17 through March 2 at the Fashion Mall on the first floor of Siam Paragon. More details will be announced on Siam Paragon’s official page at a later date.

The highlights of the event will include a photo station, a Quidditch mini field and wizardry items from the fantasy franchise – ranging from chocolate frogs, hoodies and scarves to stuffed monsters, wands and many more.

UN Chief Raises Alarm Over Rohingya in Speech Before Suu Kyi

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Associated Press

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14 November 2017, 15:44

Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi delivers an opening speech during the Forum on Myanmar Democratic Transition in 2017 in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Photo: Aung Shine Oo / Associated Press

MANILA — The United Nations chief has expressed alarm over the tragic plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar in remarks before that country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said late Monday the ongoing humanitarian crisis can cause regional instability and radicalization.

He spoke in front of national leaders at a meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations annual summit in Manila, Philippines.

Guterres says “the dramatic movement of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh,” ”is a worrying escalation in a protracted tragedy and a potential source of instability in the region, and radicalization.”

The conservative ASEAN bloc has refused to discuss the crisis in a strong, critical manner but a Philippine official has said at least two leaders raised the issue Monday.

Trump’s Handshake Challenge: He Grimaces, Grins, Grips

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Associated Press

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14 November 2017, 12:32

U.S. President Donald Trump, center, reacts as he does the "ASEAN-way handshake" with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, left, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on stage during the opening ceremony Nov. 13 at the ASEAN Summit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Photo: Andrew Harnik / Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines — He grimaced. He grinned. He gripped.

President Donald Trump is known for his long, at times aggressive, handshakes with world leaders. But at an international summit in the Philippines on Monday, he struggled briefly with a different kind of handshake.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference in Manila kicked off with a group photo of world leaders. And then the announcer intoned that it was time for the leaders to take part in a “traditional” ASEAN handshake. It’s a cross-body exercise in which leaders extend their right arms over their left and shake the opposite hands of those on either side.

The announcer’s instructions appeared for a moment to baffle Trump, who at first simply crossed his hands in front of him.

Then, looking around, Trump turned to the leaders who flanked him — Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to his right, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to his left — and simply extended his arms outward.

That wasn’t quite right, either.

Trump laughed, crossed his arms and reached to the correct sides. He grimaced at first, particularly when bending down to reach the hands of the shorter leaders on either side.

And then, with an exaggerated smile, he vigorously gripped their hands.

Story: Johnathan Lemire

Arrivederci Italy: Azzurri Lose World Cup Playoff to Sweden

By

Associated Press

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14 November 2017, 12:28

MILAN — Players from both teams slumped to the ground, the Swedes in exhausted ecstasy, the Italians in losers’ agony.

On a starry night in Milan, four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in six decades. Sweden advanced for the first time since 2006.

Despite three quarters of possession, Italy was stymied by a goalless draw in the second leg of their playoff on Monday and Sweden prevailed 1-0 on aggregate.

“It’s a black moment for our game,” Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi said. “Unfortunately there will be a lot of time to analyze it. The only thing I can say is that we showed few ideas and not much in the way of tactics.”

The Sweden players ran over to celebrate with the traveling fans, a sea of joyful yellow at San Siro. The Italians looked on in shock and disbelief or put their head in their hands as though it were too painful to watch.

Many of them were in tears, especially captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who played what he said was his last international after 20 years between the posts for the Azzurri.

“We all need to look within and find a way to bounce back,” defender Giorgio Chiellini said. “We need to get back to the level we deserve to be at.”

Italy had failed to qualify for the World Cup just once before, reaching 14 straight since falling short in 1958. The Azzurri did not enter the first World Cup in 1930.

The last major competitions Italy failed to qualify for were the 1984 and 1992 European Championships.

It could have been worse for Italy, as Sweden was denied what looked like two clear-cut penalties for handballs, first by Matteo Darmian and then Andrea Barzagli.

Italy had a penalty appeal of its own waved off by Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz when Marco Parolo was tripped from behind by Ludwig Augsustinsson.

But the Azzurri struggled to carve out clear chances, and only one of their six shots on target really tested goalkeeper Robin Olsen.

It would be easy to lay the blame squarely on Gian Piero Ventura. The Italy coach will naturally take the lion’s share, but the Azzurri’s problems run much deeper.

“I want to apologize to the Italian people for the result,” Ventura said. “Not for the commitment, and the desire and everything else but for the result.”

The rot started long before Ventura took charge.

After winning the World Cup in 2006 for a fourth time, Italy went out at the group stage of the next two editions. It fared somewhat better at the European Championship, reaching the final in 2012 and quarterfinal elimination in 2008 and 2016.

However, Antonio Conte’s Italy side overachieved in France last year, when it surprisingly beat Spain in the round of 16 before losing on penalties to world champion Germany.

For a long time, Italy has lacked a creative force, successors to Andrea Pirlo and Francesco Totti of the 2006 side who could change a match with one moment of magic.

Mario Balotelli was the star of Euro 2012 but fell out of favor after Italy’s woeful showing at the last World Cup.

The lack of stars in the Italy team is reflected in the Italian league.

Juventus has been a force to be reckoned with in recent years in Europe, where it has reached two out of the past three Champions League finals. But while its defense forms the backbone of the Italy team, its midfield and attack are made up mainly of foreign players.

The Brazilian-born Jorginho was finally handed his competitive debut by Ventura, and the midfielder impressed with some deft passing. Jorginho created Italy’s best opportunities with two through balls for Ciro Immobile, who hit the netting from a tight angle from one. Immbobile beat Olsen with another but Andreas Granqvist got back for a decisive goal-line clearance.

Alessandro Florenzi was also back following a year out after twice tearing a knee ligament, and the midfielder forced Olsen into his only real save, while a cross of his was also deflected onto the crossbar in the second half.

Meanwhile, the highly rated Lorenzo Insigne surprisingly played only 15 minutes of the playoff, and out of position.

Those three players are 26 or under and, along with forwards Immobile and Andrea Belotti, could form the spine of a rejuvenated Italy side for several years to come.

Italy will have to go forward without several of its most experienced players. De Rossi also announced he was retiring after the playoff, as did defender Andrea Barzagli.

Remarkably, the 0-0 result was the sixth straight in the playoffs, since Sweden’s ultimately decisive goal at home against Italy on Friday.

Story: Daniella Matar

See the AR-t of Happiness at Bangkok’s ‘La Joie’ Exhibit

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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14 November 2017, 12:05

BANGKOK — Forget classic art exhibitions. Pick up your phone and see the world in a new way.

Twelve artists from different backgrounds joined forces with Parisienne digital group MNSTR to create La Joie, an augmented reality, or AR, exhibition in which tech and tradition combine to offer the viewer a new sensory experience.

To see the exclusive artwork, visitors must download a mobile application and point their cameras toward the canvases to see them come alive on their smartphone screens.

The artists, all French, include photographers, illustrators and typographers. They include Nicholas Barrome, Romain Laurent, Jon Burgerman, Valentine Reinhardt, Swindler & Swindler and more.

La Joie, which means happiness in French, is a part of Beyond Reality Fest which features three days of workshops, talks and film screenings related to AR and virtual reality.

Admission is free. The exhibition will open at 6pm on Thursday and run until Dec. 14 at the Alliance Francaise Bangkok. The venue is located on Witthayu Road and near MRT Lumphini.

Pattaya Hotel Maids Accused of Stealing From Russians (Video)

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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14 November 2017, 11:56

Alexander Mamichev, 54, points at Suthirak Toloy and Sudarat Pandjanteuk, who allegedly stole about 35,000 baht worth in different currencies from his hotel room in Pattaya.

PATTAYA — Police were looking for a third hotel maid after two others were arrested for allegedly stealing currency worth about 35,000 baht from a Russian family’s room.

Suthirak Toloy, 41, and Sudarat Padjanteuk, 25, were arrested Monday for allegedly pilfering baht, rubles and dollars from the room at the Wongamat Privacy Resort. Police said they confiscated 12,000 baht, RUB25,000 and USD200 dollars from the two women and were looking for a third suspect, 31-year-old Nattamon Yingkumhaeng.

“From our investigation we found stolen money of various currencies amounting to around 35,000 baht,” police Maj. Gen. Nanthachart Suphonmongkol said Wednesday of the Sunday robbery.

The victim, Russian Alexander Mamichev, 54, had kept the money under lock and key in the room. He reported the theft to police, who investigated CCTV tapes and found that while Mamichev took his family out to the beach, three maids used their keys to unlock and enter the room.

At the Pattaya City Police Station on Monday, Suthirak and Sudarat cried and said that they stole the cash out of necessity for their families. The Mamichevs handed Thai police a bouquet of flowers in thanks. “Thank you very much. We love Pattaya,” said Mamichev’s wife as she waied to police.

“We all want to take care of the security of foreign tourists. Please report to police if you see anything, 24 hours a day. I’m competing with 7-Eleven,” Nanthachart said.

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