Watch Millennia of Khmer Fashion in 4 Minutes

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22 June 2017, 11:46

PHNOM PENH — The creator of a video offering a rare look at Khmer fashion through the ages said she wants to call attention to the underappreciated beauty of her nation’s history.

In “The Evolution of Khmer Men’s Fashion,” Dou Pothmolita shows several thousand years of Khmer fashion in about four minutes of time-lapse video. The video of the single male model’s transformation, chiseled abs and all, from prehistory through the present day has struck a chord in Thailand and had been shared nearly 40,000 times by Thursday morning.

“This video is based on how much I’m amazed by and love my own history. I have learned how far Cambodia has come, and how beautiful it was in the old times,” Pothmolita, the 25-year-old makeup artist in Phnom Penh wrote in reply to inquiries.

“I hesitated when it came to the Khmer Rouge part because it’s something always painful to show to my fans and audience, but I later decided it’s still a part of our history, and it always should be remembered,” Pothmolita said. “On behalf of my own family and my nation, I still want to show how strong we stand up from that black era.”

The video offers an idea of how Khmer men looked in eras such as the 1st-century Funan empire and during the arrival of beatnik Western influences in the 1950s during the days of Norodom Sihanouk.

While attitudes toward Khmer culture in Thailand can often be condescending, netizens liked what they saw.

“Cambodia’s and Thailand’s clothing is quite similar, actually,” Facebook user Asawin Changngakaew wrote in a comment.

Dou made a similar video in 2016 about women’s fashion. She said she plans to move to Hollywood to study to become a professional makeup artist. She’d like to see neighboring countries create similar videos, too.

“We all have beautiful history and culture so I think this kind of video will always be beneficial to each own’s nations,” she said.

Shop Owner Puts Bounty on Thief Who Stole Her Antique Sign

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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22 June 2017, 11:28

Photo of the stolen sign. Photo: Courtesy

KALASIN — Police in the northeastern province of Kalasin are looking for whoever stole a shop’s century-old sign after its owner offered 10,000 baht reward.

The sign, which hung over a grocery store called Lao Sun Kee, was stolen in the early hours of Sunday. Store owner Jiraporn Laopongpitch, who offered the bounty on Tuesday, said she suspects the thief belonged to a gang that preys on antique shop signs, such as the one she inherited from her grandfather.

Update: Stolen Antique Shop Sign Returned to Owner

“I was very shocked,” Jiraporn said, adding that the sign, along with the shop, is over 100 years old. “I’d like to plead with the thief who stole the sign to return it to my family.”

She said the shop was opened by her grandparents, who emigrated from China along with millions of others at the time.

CCTV footage shows a man between 35 and 40 arriving on motorcycle in the morning and taking down the sign, police said.

Jiraporn offered police in Kamalasai district 10,000 baht as a reward if they manage to apprehend the perpetrator. Police then offered it as a bounty to anyone with information leading to an arrest.

Suthep Chanasithi, chief of Kamalasai Police Station, said Wednesday his force still has no leads. He also declined to speculate on whether the perpetrator belonged to any group.

But Jiraporn said she had reasons to suspect a larger criminal network at work because three months ago someone allegedly visited her grocery store and offered to buy the shop sign for a large sum – which she refused.

“I didn’t sell it because it was a spiritual reminder of my father,” she said.

There seem to be many reports of thefts of old shop signs in recent years, according to a search of news accounts, largely in Sino-Thai communities in Bangkok, Ratchaburi and Udon Thani provinces.

Shop Withdraws 100,000 Baht Offer For Rare 10 Baht Coins

ISIS Destroys Iconic Al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul (Video)

By

Associated Press

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22 June 2017, 11:21

This undated photo shows an individual carrying a flag of the so called Islamic State at an undisclosed location. Photo: VOA / Wikimedia Commons

IRBIL, Iraq — The Islamic State group destroyed Mosul’s al-Nuri mosque and its iconic leaning minaret known as al-Hadba when fighters detonated explosives inside the structures Wednesday night, Iraq’s Ministry of Defense said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi tweeted early Thursday that the destruction was an admission by the militants that they are losing the fight for Iraq’s second-largest city.

“Daesh’s bombing of the al-Hadba minaret and the al-Nuri Mosque is a formal declaration of their defeat,” al-Abadi said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

The mosque, which is also known as Mosul’s Great Mosque, is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a so-called Islamic caliphate in 2014 shortly after Mosul was overrun by the militants. The minaret that leaned like Italy’s Tower of Pisa had stood for more than 840 years.

An IS statement posted online shortly after the Ministry of Defense reported the mosque’s destruction blamed an airstrike by the United States for the loss of the mosque and minaret.

The U.S.-led coalition rejected the IS claim.

A coalition spokesman, U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, told The Associated Press that coalition aerial surveillance confirmed the mosque was destroyed, but he said a U.S. strike was not the cause.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kBchsDZVic

“We did not conduct strikes in that area at that time,” Dillon said.

IS fighters initially attempted to destroy the minaret in July 2014. The militants said the structure contradicted their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, but Mosul residents converged on the area and formed a human chain to protect it. IS has demolished dozens of historic and archaeological sites in and around Mosul, saying they promoted idolatry.

“This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organization must be annihilated,” U.S. Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, the commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq, said in a written statement.

“The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS,” he added.

The mosque sat on the southern edge of the Old City, the last IS stronghold inside Mosul. Iraqi forces launched a push into the Old City earlier this week, but have made slow progress as the last IS fighters there are holed up with an estimated 100,000 civilians according to the United Nations.

Earlier this month Mosul residents reported IS fighters began sealing off the area around the mosque. Residents said IS fighters ordered families living in the area to evacuate in preparation for a final stand.

The fight to retake Mosul was launched more than eight months ago and has displaced more than 850,000 people. While Iraqi forces have experienced periods of swift gains, combat inside the city has been grueling and deadly for both Iraqi forces and civilians.

Story: Balint Szlanko

World Population to Near 10 Billion by 2050, UN Says

By

Associated Press

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22 June 2017, 10:43

Worshipers seen in 2012 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

UNITED NATIONS — India’s population is expected to surpass China’s in about seven years and Nigeria is projected to overtake the United States and become the third most populous country in the world shortly before 2050, a U.N. report said Wednesday.

The report by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division forecasts that the current world population of nearly 7.6 billion will increase to 8.6 billion by 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.

It said roughly 83 million people are added to the world’s population every year and the upward trend is expected to continue even with a continuing decline in fertility rates, which have fallen steadily since the 1960s.

John Wilmoth, director of the Population Division, said at a news conference that the report includes information on the populations of 233 countries or areas of the world.

“The population in Africa is notable for its rapid rate of growth, and it is anticipated that over half of global population growth between now and 2050 will take place in that region,” he said. “At the other extreme, it is expected that the population of Europe will, in fact, decline somewhat in the coming decades.”

The U.N. agency forecasts that from now through 2050 half the world’s population growth will be concentrated in just nine countries – India, Nigeria, Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, United States, Uganda and Indonesia. Those nations are listed in the order of their “expected contribution to total growth,” the report said.

During the same period, it added, the populations of 26 African countries are expected to at least double.

Nigeria, currently the world’s seventh largest country, has the fastest growing population of the 10 most populous countries worldwide, and the report projects it will surpass the U.S. shortly before mid-century.

The new projections also forecast that China, which currently has 1.4 billion inhabitants, will be replaced as the world’s most populous country around 2024 by India, which now has 1.3 billion inhabitants.

The report, titled “The World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision,” said fertility has been declining in nearly all regions in recent years.

Between 2010 and 2015, Wilmoth said, “the world’s women had 2 1/2 births per woman over a lifetime – but this number varies widely around the world.”

“Europe has the lowest fertility level, estimated at 1.6 births per woman in the most recent period, while Africa has the highest fertility, with around 4.7 births per woman,” he said.

The report said birth rates in the 47 least developed countries remain relatively high, with population growth around 2.4 percent a year. While this rate is expected to slow significantly in the coming decades, the U.N. said the combined population of the 47 countries is projected to increase by 33 percent from roughly 1 billion now to 1.9 billion in 2050.

More and more countries now have fertility rates below the level of roughly 2.1 births per woman needed to replace the current generation, the report said. During the 2010-2015 period, fertility was below the replacement level in 83 countries comprising 46 percent of the world’s population, it said.

The 10 most populous countries with low fertility levels are China, United States, Brazil, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, Germany, Iran, Thailand and United Kingdom, the report said.

In addition to slowing population growth, low fertility levels lead to an older population, the report noted. It forecasts that the number of people aged 60 or above will more than double from the current 962 million to 2.1 billion in 2050 and more than triple to 3.1 billion in 2100.

A quarter of Europe’s population is already aged 60 or over, and that share is projected to reach 35 percent in 2050 then remain around that level for the rest of the century, the report said.

Story: Edith M. Lederer

Britain’s Prince Philip Admitted to Hospital

By

Associated Press

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21 June 2017, 16:58

Britain's Prince Philip, in his capacity of Colonel, Grenadier Guards, chats to Sergeants from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in their Mess at Lille Barracks last month in Aldershot, England. Photo: Matt Dunham / Associated Press

LONDON — Buckingham Palace says Prince Philip has been admitted to a hospital for treatment of an infection and will not be attending the queen’s speech.

The palace says Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, was admitted as a precautionary measure and is in good spirits.

Philip is 96 and recently said he was stepping down from public events.

He has suffered heart ailments in the past.

The queen is due to outline the government’s legislative agenda in her speech Wednesday.

Hidden Trove of Nazi Artifacts Found in Argentina

By

Associated Press

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21 June 2017, 13:44

Members of the federal police carry a Nazi statue at the Interpol headquarters Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — In a hidden room in a house near Argentina’s capital, police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in the country’s history, including a bust relief of Adolf Hitler and magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas.

Some 75 objects were found in a collector’s home in Beccar, a suburb north of Buenos Aires, and authorities say they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during World War II.

“Our first investigations indicate that these are original pieces,” Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told The Associated Press on Monday, saying that some pieces were accompanied by old photographs. “This is a way to commercialize them, showing that they were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer. There are photos of him with the objects.”

Among the disturbing items were toys that Bullrich said would have been used to indoctrinate children, a large statue of the Nazi Eagle above a swastika, a Nazi hourglass and a box of harmonicas.

Argentina Nazi Artifa Cham 1 — Members of the federal police show a bust relief portrait of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler at the Interpol headquarters Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press

Police say one of the most-compelling pieces of evidence of the historical importance of the find is a photo negative of Hitler holding a magnifying glass similar to those found in the boxes.

“We have turned to historians and they’ve told us it is the original magnifying glass” that Hitler was using, said Nestor Roncaglia, head of Argentina’s federal police. “We are reaching out to international experts to deepen” the investigation.

The photograph was not released to the public, but was shown to The Associated Press on the condition that it not be published.

The investigation that culminated in the discovery of the collection began when authorities found artworks of illicit origin in a gallery in north Buenos Aires.

Agents with the international police force Interpol began following the collector and with a judicial order raided the house on June 8. A large bookshelf caught their attention and behind it agents found a hidden passageway to a room filled with Nazi imagery.

Argentina Nazi Artifa Cham 3 — A member of the federal police holds an hourglass with Nazi markings at the Interpol headquarters Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press

Authorities did not identify the collector who remains free but under investigation by a federal judge.

“There are no precedents for a find like this. Pieces are stolen or are imitations. But this is original and we have to get to the bottom of it,” said Roncaglia.

Police are trying to determine how the artifacts entered Argentina.

The main hypothesis among investigators and member of Argentina’s Jewish community is that they were brought to Argentina by a high-ranking Nazi or Nazis after World War II, when the South American country became a refuge for fleeing war criminals, including some of the best known.

As leading members of Hitler’s Third Reich were put on trial for war crimes, Josef Mengele fled to Argentina and lived in Buenos Aires for a decade. He moved to Paraguay after Israeli Mossad agents captured Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann, who was also living in Buenos Aires. Mengele later died in Brazil in 1979 while swimming in a beach in the town of Bertioga.

Police in Argentina did not name any high-ranking Nazis to whom the objects might have originally belonged.

Ariel Cohen Sabban, president of the DAIA, a political umbrella for Argentina’s Jewish institutes, called the find “unheard of” in Argentina.

“Finding 75 original pieces is historic and could offer irrefutable proof of the presence of top leaders who escaped from Nazi Germany,” Cohen told the AP.

Argentina Nazi Artifa Cham 2 — A knife with Nazi markings is seen at the Interpol headquarters Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press

Story: Debora Rey

Review: In ‘The Last Knight,’ Round 5 for the Transformers

By

Associated Press

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21 June 2017, 13:39

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, foreground, in a scene from, "Transformers: The Last Knight." Photo: Paramount Pictures / Bay Films via AP

A concussed serenity sets in somewhere in the middle of the ceaseless ballet of metal and machismo in Michael Bay’s “Transformers: The Last Knight.” Freed of concerns like plausibility or story, you can simply gape in wonder at the ruthlessly thunderous images in front of you.

Maybe that’s the feeling of brain cells dying a painful, anguished death. It’s a sensation I imagine cornered boxers sometimes experience while blow after blow rains down upon them. Dazed by the unrelenting digital demolition on screen, thoughts go through your head such as: “Can this movie literally crush me?” “Is death by Dolby possible?” and “You know, it’s really time to get the car washed.”

By the time you’ve scraped yourself off the floor after all 149 minutes of the 3-D “The Last Knight,” you feel the need to compensate for the sheer gluttony of destruction, of unrelenting bigness. Maybe fast for a little while, you think, or just sit quietly in a corner. Bay might be spinning another tale of Autobot v. Decepticon in which the fate of the planet hangs in the balance, but his real battle is conquering you, the moviegoer. And make no mistake about it. He’s gonna win.

“Transformers: The Last Knight, is, if nothing else, a pummeling. The fifth in the franchise and second in the “Wahlberg Years” (Mark Wahlberg replaced Shia LaBeouf as lead in the last installment), “The Last Knight” continues the Hasbro toy adaptations and expands further into the alien machines’ mythology.

The script by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Ken Nolan ropes in a backstory involving Arthurian legend, suggesting the magic of Merlin was nothing but Transformer technology. Centuries later, the continual arrival of Transformers on Earth connects to these ancient events. There are crucial objects — Merlin’s staff, a talisman that attaches itself to Wahlberg’s Autobot-defending Cade Yeager — that bring constantly arriving Transformers, plummeting in space ships from the sky, and eventually, the vengeful leader of their home planet, Cybertron.

With Optimus Prime away on holiday (or searching for something or other back on Cyberton), the human population has turned against the Transformers. One can see why. They’re swaggering, bickering bags of bolts who eschew their best parlor trick (transforming into cars and trucks) for avalanches of ammo. There is, for a moment, a touch of metaphor for immigrant empathy in their unfortunate status, but it quickly gets buried in the mounting debris.

That is, at any rate, what I could make out. Stonehenge has something to do with the plot, too, as does Anthony Hopkins, who plays the latest in a long line of guardians to these mysteries. There’s also an Oxford scholar (Laura Haddock) skeptical of Round Table legend, and, briefly, an elite scientist (Tony Hale) whose insistence on solving intergalactic problems with silly things like physics is, here, a joke. “Transformers” is like the anti-“Martian”: brawn over brains.

“This here’s a big boy zone,” announces the Autobot commando Hound (John Goodman) in a junkyard. But he might as well be providing the movie’s ethos.

Later there’s a submarine chase and a planetary battle in the air as “The Last Knight” — an exercise in enormity — insatiably hurtles toward feats of greater and greater grandiosity. It’s an empty pursuit; there’s no explosion big enough to give Bay the fix he needs.

But what makes the “Transformers” movies different from other blockbuster colossuses is Bay. Whatever his deficiencies in other areas (coherence, emotions, women), he remains the most proficient master of big-screen rock ’em sock ’em mayhem. His manipulation of scale is unsurpassed, as is his ability to synthesize obscene amounts of visual effects into an astonishingly fluid choreography of color and chaos.

After two and half hours of pulverizing action, there’s nothing to do but raise the white flag, admit defeat, and shudder as you pass the theater for the latest “Cars” movie. No more, please.

“Transformers: The Last Knight,” a Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor and language.” Running time: 149 minutes. Two stars out of four.

Story: Jake Coyle

Did Thailand Get Railroaded by the Chinese? No Way, Govt Says

By

Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

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21 June 2017, 13:15

Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in Beijing, 11 Nov 2014.<br /> — Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in Beijing, 11 Nov 2014.

BANGKOK — The military government on Tuesday sought to reassure the public that its deal to construct a high-speed railway did not give China the upper hand.

Following public discontent after the junta chief used his self-granted absolute power to exempt China from a number of laws for the 179 billion baht project, Prayuth affirmed its construction will use domestic materials and see expertise transferred to Thai workers.

Prayuth said the government has yet to settle on borrowing from China as the public believes. He insisted the decision was well-considered after 18 meetings between the two countries and said Thailand was not being taken advantage of.

“They have been talking in detail. But it got stuck at these four or five issues,” he said Tuesday. “We fixed it, so negotiations can continue.”

The order issued last week removed all legal hurdles to the project by exempting Chinese architects and engineers from obtaining Thai professional licenses and skipping the obligatory bidding and procurement process.

Read: Junta to Sidestep 5 Laws to Move Stalled Railway Project

The 252.5-kilometer railway will link Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima province, the gateway to the northeastern region. It will eventually extend up to the border town of Nong Khai and connect to Laos. Work is expected to begin on its first, 3.5-kilometer stretch as soon as August.

Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said Tuesday the project will go to the interim cabinet for approval next month.

Arkhom insisted China will not be granted concessions to the land along the tracks as the public has worried.

All materials for railway construction will be produced domestically, and Arkhom said China had already inspected and approved that the sources meet their standards.

“Materials for construction will come from Thailand, 100 percent,” he said. “The rails, signaling system and trains will be imported from China.”

The Engineering Institute of Thailand raised the issue of Thailand’s ability to maintain the railroad, as China will oversee all construction steps including laying the tracks, installing the electrical and mechanical systems and training staff. It noted the construction plans are in Chinese.

Arkhom said he had arranged an urgent meeting with China’s representatives Monday to make sure regulations about expertise and technical knowledge transfer will be included in all three contracts to be written.

Get Ready to Hyperdance With ‘Spazzkid’ This Week in Bangkok

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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21 June 2017, 12:48

BANGKOK — Head to BTS Sanam Pao this Wednesday when a Bangkok art space nearby transforms into a tropical electronic dancefloor.

Manila-born and Los-Angeles-based DJ-producer Mark Redito, formerly known as Spazzkid, will perform on a live set for one night, bringing his J-pop-inspired hyper dance and electronic music to the venue.

Tickets are 600 baht. The event starts at 8pm on June 28 at Future Factory. The art space can be reached by a five-minute walk from BTS Sanam Pao’s Exit 3.

Redito gained his fame under the name Spazzkid when he released his 2013 debut album Desire and following EP called Promise. He expects to release a new album this year.

Soldiers Raid Community Group as Prayuth Tours Khon Kaen

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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21 June 2017, 12:44

Police and soldiers searching Dao Din headquarters in Khon Kaen on Wednesday. Image: Dao Din Commoners / Facebook

KHON KAEN — Members of a civil rights group in Khon Kaen province woke up Wednesday morning to find security forces searching their headquarters without a court warrant.

A group of uniformed soldiers and policemen showed up at the building – also used as a residence – at about 6am. While a junta spokesman said the regime did not order the raid on the Dao Din group, it coincided with junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha’s trip to the northeastern province, which has long been a hotbed for anti-coup activities.

Dao Din activist Arkom Sributta said he and others were woken by the sound of “about 30” security officers entering their communal home. Arkom said he did not give consent to the search and repeatedly asked for a court warrant, but the officers declined.

“They kept evading our questions,” Arkom said by phone.

In a live video of the incident, security officers were seen inspecting several pamphlets seized from the group and refusing to answer questions. After about an hour of confrontation, they left the residence without identifying themselves.

Junta spokesman Winthai Suvaree said the military government did not order the raid.

“It was not ordered by the central authorities,” Col. Winthai said. “As far as I’ve seen from the news, it was an issue managed by regional security forces.”

Arkom said Lt. Col. Phitakphon “Seh Pete” Chusri, an army officer responsible for sending one Dao Din member to jail on suspicion of royal defamation, was at the scene instructing the soldiers and policemen. Some were armed with handguns, he added.

The incident came the same day Prayuth visited Khon Kaen province – long known as base of Redshirt and anti-coup movements – to give public speeches and inspect several state agencies.

Two women seeking to petition Prayuth about their debt problems were also detained by police as they tried to enter the venue where he was giving a speech. Police took the two women, who remain unidentified, to a government complaint center and instructed them to file their petitions there.

According to Arkom, the raid followed an uptick in surveillance by the authorities. He said officials from the Internal Security Operation Command, a counter-insurgency force answering to Prayuth, phoned him and fellow activists yesterday to ask if they were planning to stage any protest during Prayuth’s visit. He said no.

Police patrol cars also cruised past the Dao Din headquarters several times on Tuesday, and one police vehicle was parked at the entrance to their soi today, Arkom said.

“I expected that the authorities will keep their eyes on us, but I didn’t think they would go as far as invading our home like this,” the activist said.

Originally a land rights group that later took up pro-democracy activism in the wake of the 2014 military coup, Dao Din has made headlines for its defiance of the junta’s ban on protests.

They are perhaps most famous for crashing Prayuth’s speech in Khon Kaen in November 2014 and flashing the forbidden “three-finger salute,” an anti-coup gesture Thai activists adopted from the Hunger Games film franchise.

received 1344077322375133 — Junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha poses for a selfie with a student in Khon Kaen on Wednesday.

323250 — A petitioner who tried to approach PM Prayuth Chan-ocha is escorted away by police Wednesday morning in Khon Kaen province.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated when the group crashed a speech Prayuth was giving in Khon Kaen. It was November 2014, not 2015.

Activist ‘Pai Dao Din’ Arrested For Lese Majeste

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