MADRID — Spain’s Civil Guard says that a former chairman of one of the country’s largest banks has been found dead with a gunshot to the chest in a private estate in southern Spain.
Agents have ruled out a homicide and are investigating whether Miguel Blesa’s dead is an accident or suicide, a spokeswoman with the Civil Guard said Wednesday, requesting anonymity in line with the police force’s protocol.
Blesa was chairman of Caja Madrid, one of the Spain’s top banks until it was merged with seven other domestic savings banks in 2011 to form Bankia SA, which later had to be nationalized and bailed out for 18 billion euros (USD $24 billion).
Blesa also appeared in the documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that was investigated for offshore accounts.
BANGKOK — Six Thai craft beers will compete and – Bangkok’s drinkers will be the judges.
The inauguration of Bangkok’s Craft Beer Shoot-out will feature competition among six brands of craft beer produced by Thai brewmasters, including Mahanakhon Brewery’s White Ale, Changwon Express’s Chao Phraya Stout and Lamzing beer’s Sticky Mango.
Recent Thai beer Liger Dark Lager, brewed in Cambodia, will be available along with Stone Head Thai Craft Beer’s Smiling Evil Pale Ale and Outlaw Brewing’s Mosaic IPA.
The six beers will be available at 100 baht per 100-milliliter sample, 200 baht for per bottle and 300 baht per pint. Drinkers will use a scorecard to rate them. Completed scorecards can be exchanged for a free pint or craft beer at a later date.
Votes will be tallied and winners announced afterwards. Jazz pianist Peter Gilligan and the venue’s resident DJ will perform live.
Admission is free. The event starts at 6pm on July 29 at Live Lounge. The music and performance venue is located above the Sportsman Bar and Restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 13. It can be reached by foot from BTS Nana.
NONG KHAI — An ex-convict with a history of violent crimes was still on the loose Wednesday after he broke into a hospital and sexually assaulted a nurse there earlier this week.
Police said Pumpui Kesanuch, 24, already had priors for homicide and rape when he assaulted the nurse at Nong Khai Hospital on Tuesday. Security footage at the hospital implicated him in the latest crime, according to police.
Nong Khai City Police Station chief Wuthichai Chanthopas would not comment on the ongoing investigation, but said Pumpui had been convicted of a fatal assault in 2014 and served a one-year jail term.
Col. Wuthichai said Pumpui was already on the run after sexually assaulting another victim in the province last month. Although Pumpui’s residence is registered in Nong Khai province, he’s thought to be a drifter.
“He’s sort of a homeless man,” Wuthichai said. “He doesn’t care about his family.”
Hospital director Supachai Tiyavorranun told reporters Pumpui entered the hospital’s restricted area at about 8pm armed with a knife.
A nurse reportedly spotted him and summoned a security guard, but he fled the scene to another area. Supachai said Pumpui ran into a nurse, punched her in the face and dragged her outside the building before assaulting her.
The nurse lost two teeth in the attack, police said.
A screencap of security camera footage said to show Pumpui Kesanuch at the hospital.
FILE - In this April 27 file photo, singers Luis Fonsi, left and Daddy Yankee perform during the Latin Billboard Awards in Coral Gables, Fla. Photo: Lynne Sladky/ AP.
SANTA MONICA, California — “Despacito” has become the most streamed track of all time with more than 4.6 billion plays across streaming platforms.
Universal Music Latin Entertainment announced Tuesday the song by Puerto Rican artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee and the accompanying remix featuring pop star Justin Bieber had surpassed the previous record holder – Bieber’s 2015 hit song “Sorry,” which has 4.38 billion plays. “Despacito, which was released in January, has been at the top of Billboard Hot 100 for weeks.
Fonsi said in a statement that streaming has helped his music reach every corner of the planet.
Daddy Yankee recently ousted Ed Sheeran this year to become the first Latino artist to lead in Spotify streams, thanks in part to “Despacito’s” success.
BANGKOK — Khaosod English Senior Staff Writer Pravit Rojanaphruk will receive an International Press Freedom Award from a New York-based organization dedicated to the safety and independence of journalists.
The Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday night named Pravit and three other reporters who have been harassed, threatened, attacked or imprisoned in pursuit of the truth to receive this year’s awards, which aim to bring attention to places where press freedoms are under assault.
“I am humbled by this rare recognition. The award is a concrete reminder that Thailand, under the military junta, continues to face the repression of press freedoms and free expression as it has for three years since the May 2014 coup,” Pravit said.
Pravit, who was twice taken into custody and held incommunicado by the military for “attitude adjustment,” said free expression is under assault by both the ruling junta and a draconian lese majeste law under which civilians are tried in military courts and imprisoned for up to 15 years per infraction for actions deemed defamatory to the monarchy.
“By trying to silence Pravit, the powers that be only amplified his voice,” said Todd Ruiz, editor of Khaosod English. “While many in Thailand’s media have enabled those dismantling a century of progress, Pravit knows the only way to preserve one’s voice is to use it forcefully. I hope his example helps others to find theirs as well.”
Since November 2015, Pravit has been a senior staff writer. He also produces Retention, a weekly column recognized last year by the Society of Publishers in Asia for excellence in opinion writing.
Pravit thanked Khaosod English, Khaosod as well as his former colleagues at The Nation, where he worked 23 years before resigning under pressure following his second military detention in 2015.
Newspaper columnist Pravit Rojanaphruk protests his detention by the military junta in Bangkok in this May 2014 file photo.
“My thanks go to both the supporters and detractors, for that’s what freedom of expression is all about. No one should be above criticism,” he said. “Last but not least, this award would not have been made possible without the active repression meted upon myself by the military junta over the years. While I cannot thank the illegitimate military regime, to them, I say, the struggle for freedom continues.”
Also honored were Cameroonian correspondent Ahmed Abba, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on terrorism charges earlier this year for his coverage of violent Islamist group Boko Haram. In Mexico City, Patricia Mayorga received an award for her work covering human rights issues and alleged links between those in power and and organized crime. Yemeni journalist Afrah Nasser rounded out the list. Nasser fled Yemen after receiving death threats in response to her work critical of the government.
The International Press Freedom Awards were established in 1991. Four to seven individuals or publications are honored every November at an awards banquet and benefit hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York City. This year’s event will be held Nov. 15.
J.J. Irmiya from Nigeria poses on Tuesday with models dressed in central African-inspired fashion attire.
Top: J.J. Irmiya from Nigeria poses on Tuesday with models dressed in central African-inspired fashion attire.
BANGKOK — A festival with soul-moving music and hip-shaking dances from nine African nations wraps up its rumble Wednesday at a downtown mall.
Since Tuesday, “The Colours of Africa: Opportunity, Friendship and Cooperation” event at CentralWorld has featured dazzling performances, fashion shows, exhibitions and booths from Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan and South Africa.
“We want people to know that we have different music, food and worlds unlike the rest of the world. We want to show how we dress and eat,” said Demeke Yehualashet, 33 of Ethiopia, as he gestured toward the kolo roasted peanuts and barley and etan incense at his stand.
Nearby, one of Yehualashet’s associates performed buna, a ceremony for making Ethiopian coffee, that was just one of many performances on display.
Check them out today, including Kenyan acrobatic group Sarakasi, and all the booths in the Eden 1 Zone on the mall’s ground floor.
“Mozambique Written in Wood,” an exhibition of carved miniature scenes of Maputo life may surprise some with their similarities to Thai life. It will remain until Aug. 20. An exhibition on the second floor displays similarities between Kenya and Thailand.
Free food is offered at many of the booths, where visitors can try Moroccan couscous, Egyptian kushari, Libyan almond biscuits and Ethiopian injera with wat stew.
Demeke Yehualashet, 33, at right, and Emebet Berehanu, 29, at the Ethiopian booth Tuesday.Emebet Berehanu, 29, performs buna, an Ethiopian coffee ceremony at the Ethiopia booth Tuesday.The Bangkok-based Nigerian band Afro Beats plays Tuesday while dancers perform at the Colours of Africa festival at CentralWorld.Afro Beats and Nigerian dancers perform onstage Tuesday at CentralWorld.A model in central African-inspired clothing on the catwalk.Men cheer as a dancer from the Sudanese band Camirata dances holding a sword.Sudanese band Camirata plays folks songs about passages of life, such as marriage, with traditional Sudanese instruments.A singer from Sudanese band Camirata performs a folksong with a lyre.African audience members dance Tuesday at the Colours of Africa festival in CentralWorld.An audience member dances on stage Tuesday.Ethiopian injera with wat stew.Ethiopian kolo, or roasted peanuts and barley, and buna coffee beans.Moroccan couscous.South African biltong.Attendees dressed in Egyptian clothing on Tuesday serve kushari, an Egyptian dish of rice, macaroni and lentils from a food stall at The Colours of Africa event at CentralWorld.Bead bracelets at the Nigerian booth Tuesday at the Colors of Africa festival at CentralWorld.Schoolchildren pose at a photo station.A man views paintings and photographs by African artists Tuesday at CentralWorld.
Jenphop Viraporn upon his release on bail, July 19, 2017, in Ayutthaya.
AYUTTHAYA — A court Wednesday granted businessman Jenphop Viraporn bail for a car crash that killed two grad students after earlier sentencing him to two and a half years in prison.
For slamming his Mercedes-Benz into the back of another car at a speed of over 250kph, Jenphop was found guilty of fatal reckless driving and given a two year and six month jail term before being granted bail on a 200,000 baht bond. The sentence was initially of five years, but was halved after he confessed to the crime.
Army Gen. Manas Kongpaen, at center, was implicated by authorities in human trafficking in Thailand. Photo: DPA
BANGKOK — The Criminal Court on Wednesday convicted the ringleaders and dozens of other defendants linked to a mass human trafficking ring behind a Rohingya death camp raided in 2015.
For his role as the most senior official in the operation, Lt. Gen. Manas Koongpan was found guilty of exploiting his authority during his time as director of the Internal Security Operations Command, or ISOC Region 4, overseeing the southern region through which the trafficking route ran.
Also convicted were the other two kingpins of the case, former local administrator of Satun province Patchuban Angchotipan, or Ko Tong, and former mayor of Padang Besar subdistrict in Songkhla province, Banjong Pongphol.
Another two police officers, Lt. Col. Chan U-thong and Sub. Lt. Narathorn Samphan, were also found guilty as facilitators.
After nearly 13 hours of reading verdicts, the court sentenced Manas and the two police officers to 27 years in prison each. Patchuban and Banjong were handed jail terms of 75 and 78 years, respectively.
Of the 103 defendants, one died during the two-year trial. Forty were acquitted yesterday.
The 62 convicted were ordered to pay restitution amounting to 4.4 million baht. Among those, 28 were ordered held in custody while they appeal their convictions.
Those tried were among 103 suspects arrested out of a total 153 warrants issued – including bureaucrats, local administrators, businessmen and police officers – found guilty of human trafficking and participating in the transnational crime network behind a human slave camp raided in the southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
A makeshift stockade found in the jungle was said to have been used by traffickers to detain Rohingya refugees until their families could pay ransom money. Mass graves were found behind the camp.
The court on Wednesday evening was still reading the lengthy verdicts for all 103 defendants, but had already rendered dozens of guilty verdicts on a wide range of offenses.
They were part of an operation that involved many officials across three main provinces. It began when Manas ordered the extradition of a group of Rohingya refugees that arrived by boat in Ranong and Satun provinces, before the network took them to be detained at the mountain camp in Songkhla province.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha was the army chief at the time Manas was promoted to the position of director.
The general was informed of 14 charges under the 2008 Anti-Human Trafficking Act and other relevant laws. He denied all of them and was imprisoned for the past two years of the trial along with the rest of defendants whose bails were denied.
Witness said Manas ordered the extradition of the Rohingyas without sending them through due legal process and benefited from the operation. He reportedly received more than 14 million baht from agents during that time.
The human trafficking case – the biggest in the country to date – was linked to the refugee crisis that emerged in 2015, when thousands of Rohingya boarded boats to flee persecution and poverty in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Many were allegedly left to die at sea by traffickers.
Rights groups have long accused Thai officials of turning a blind eye to such operations – and even being complicit.
But since seizing power in 2014, the military government pledged to tackle human trade networks. Pressure to do so was ramped up when the United States downgraded Thailand to the worst possible ranking in a annual report on human trafficking. While Thailand has been returned to Tier 2 status in the US State Department’s latest Trafficking in Persons report, it said not enough was being done to bring officials to justice.
Thai rescue workers collect the human remains of a suspected Rohingya migrant after discovering an abandoned migrant trafficking camp at a jungle in Phang Nga province, southern Thailand, 05 May 2015. Photo: EPA/STR
Those found in May 2015 in the Songkhla province camp were ethnic Rohingya, a minority group persecuted in Myanmar, where they are labeled illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Those found had hoped to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia but were kidnapped by traffickers along the way.
Media reports later featured first-person accounts about of captives allegedly forced to contact their families to demand ransom money while they faced routine mistreatment in the form of beatings, gang-rapes and more.
The mass graves found behind the jungle camp were thought to have contained the bodies of those who did not survive the inhuman conditions or died from the abuse.
The head of the investigation team, police Maj. Gen. Paween Pongsirin, was moved to the southern border province – home to a decades-long insurgency – after he requested an arrest warrant for Manas. Paween fled the country and later appeared in television in Australia where he said he was seeking asylum, citing threats to his life from influential Thai authorities for his role in the investigation.
Right groups such as Fortify Rights issued a statement this week calling Thai authorities to hold perpetrators accountable.
After being downgraded to Tier 3 – the lowest ranking in the US trafficking report in 2014 and 2015 – Thailand was returned to Tier 2 status in 2016, where it has remained. The government said the 2017 report did not take into account progress made in the past years.
Update: This story has been updated to reflect the final outcome of Wednesday’s session.
BANGKOK — An acclaimed British drama on the Khmer Rouge genocide will be among five films shot in Thailand to screen for free at a five-day festival starting Friday.
Included in the festival will be the biographical drama of journalists witnessing life under Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime in 1984’s “The Killing Fields.” Also screening will be “The Deer Hunter,” a 1978 American drama on the Vietnam War which won five Academy Awards in 1979, action comedy “Air America” (1990), the ninth entry in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series “The Man with the Golden Gun” and rom-com “Bridget Jones : The Edge of Reason” (2004).
Tickets are free and can be picked up an hour before the showtime. They’re limited to two tickets per person and can be reserved from Thursday at the cinema or by calling 065-883-5496.
One film will be screened daily at 6pm from Friday to Jul. 25 at Cinema 14 of Paragon Cineplex at Siam Paragon. It can be reached from exit No. 3 and 5 of BTS Siam station.
Jenphop Viraporn walks out of the Ayutthaya Provincial Court during a recess in May.
AYUTTHAYA — A court on Wednesday convicted businessman Jenphop Viraporn for a car crash that killed two grad students a year ago.
For slamming his Mercedes-Benz into the back of another car at a speed of over 250 kph, Jenphop was found guilty of fatal reckless driving and given a five-year jail term. The sentence was halved to two years and six months because he confessed.
The crash took place March 13 of last year in Ayutthaya province.
The court also dismissed a charge of DUI against Jenphop, citing insufficient evidence and a flawed police investigation. Jenphop’s driver’s license was also revoked for life.
After the verdict was read, Jenphop was immediately handcuffed and led to a cell room at the court. His lawyer said he would file an appeal and apply for a bail release.
