US Military Osprey Crash-Lands Off Okinawa, No Fatalities

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14 December 2016, 11:19

Officers of Okinawa Prefectural Police and U.S. military investigate the site where debris of a U.S. military MV-22 Osprey, background, was spotted in shallow waters off Nago, Okinawa, southern Japan, Dec. 14, 2016, after its crash-landing. Photo: Takumi Sato/ AP.

TOKYO — U.S. military Osprey aircraft has crash-landed off Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, but its five crewmembers were safely rescued.

The U.S. Marine Corps. said Wednesday that an MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft landed in shallow water off Okinawa’s east coast late Tuesday. They said in a statement that the crewmembers were airlifted to a Navy hospital at the Kadena Air Base for treatment. Japanese defense officials said two of them sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.

It also comes one week after a Marine Corps pilot died after his F/A-18 fighter jet crashed off western Japan.

The crash just off Nago City triggered protests on Okinawa, where anti-U.S. military sentiment is already strong. Many Okinawans were opposed to deploying the Osprey on the island due to safety concerns following a string of crashes outside Japan, including one in Hawaii last year.

“This is what we have feared might happen someday,” Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine, told Japan’s NHK public TV from near the crash scene. “We can never live safely here.”

TV footage on TV showed pieces of a mangled aircraft on the coast.

The Ospreys was based at the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. The base in a crowded residential area in central Okinawa is to be relocated to another site on the east coast of the island called Henoko, in Nago, where residents oppose the plan, and Wednesday’s crash added to their anger.

Japan’s Defense Minister Tomomi Inada has asked the U.S. military to suspend Osprey flights until the cause of the accident is known.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters the crash was extremely regrettable, and said that safety must be guaranteed.

More than half of the 50,000 American troops in Japan are stationed on Okinawa — less than 1 percent of Japanese land mass — under the Japan-U.S. security treaty. Many on the island complain about noise, pollution and crime linked to the U.S. military and has demanded their burden reduced.

Story: Mari Yamaguchi

Myanmar Reporter Killed While Investigating Illegal Logging

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Associated Press

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13 December 2016, 16:45

Myanmar is struggling to stop illegal logging, which has erased one-quarter of the country’s valuable forests in a generation. Photo: Gemunu Amarasinghe / Associated Press

YANGON — A Myanmar journalist was killed Tuesday while reporting on illegal logging in the northwest of the country, police said.

“The journalist who was killed was working for the local newspaper the Daily Eleven. We found bruises and injuries on his face and head. We are still investigating the incident and for the culprit,” said Thein Swe Myint, a local police officer.

The journalist, Soe Moe Tun, was a local-based journalist in Monywa in the Sagaing region where he was killed. He had worked for the Daily Eleven, part of Eleven Media Group, since early 2015.

The Myanmar Journalist Network that represents journalists across the country released a statement expressing condolences to Soe Moe Tun’s family. It urged the government to investigate the killing.

Journalists are often threatened in Myanmar because of their reporting, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said a statement last month that “ending impunity on all the harassment against journalists is the most important step toward guaranteeing the safety of journalists.”

In 2014, a freelance journalist Aung Kyaw Naing was shot dead by the military after being arrested while reporting on clashes between the military and an ethnic armed group on the Myanmar-Thai border. At least three other journalists have been killed recently in Myanmar, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

“This is the fifth case that a journalist has been killed since 1999,” said Zayar Hlaing, a member of the Myanmar Press Council. “The government must make sure there is no impunity for the culprits and the rule of law should be implemented.”

The council said there have been life threats against another journalist reporting on illegal logging, and that local police had failed to act.

Zayar Hlaing said the police must act quickly “because there had been examples of impunity in the past.”

Story: Esther Htusan

Malaysia Crowns New Youthful King

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Associated Press

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13 December 2016, 16:26

Sultan Muhammad V, center, salutes after his welcome ceremony as he walks with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, right, in 2016 at the Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Vincent Thian / Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR — A 47-year-old sultan, known as a devout Muslim who loves extreme sports and four-wheel drive vehicles, became Malaysia’s 15th king on Tuesday, one of the youngest constitutional monarchs in the Southeast Asian nation’s history.

British-educated Sultan Muhammad V took his oath of office in a nationally televised ceremony attended by hundreds of dignitaries at a cavernous hall in Malaysia’s federal palace.

Under a unique system maintained since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957, nine hereditary state rulers take turns as the country’s king for five-year terms.

The monarch’s role is largely ceremonial, since administrative power is vested in the prime minister and Parliament. But he is highly regarded, particularly among the ethnic Malay Muslim majority, as the supreme upholder of Malay tradition and symbolic head of Islam.

Garbed in cream regalia, Sultan Muhammad V was sworn in after inspecting a military honor guard and receiving a 21-gun salute at Parliament.

The king’s roles include appointing Cabinet ministers and senior judges on the advice of the prime minister. He also appoints top Islamic clerics and is considered the highest-ranking figure in the armed forces.

Public criticism of the king and state sultans is virtually illegal. Under Malaysian sedition laws, people who incite “hatred or contempt” toward royal rulers can be imprisoned for three years.

Sultan Muhammad V, who is known to bring his Islamic teacher with him when he travels abroad, is the constitutional ruler of Malaysia’s northeastern Kelantan state. Installed as a state ruler in 2010, he loves four-wheel drive expeditions and enjoys horse riding, golf, shooting and football.

He succeeds Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, 89, who was Malaysia’s oldest king.

Tax Deduction for Shoppers Starts Tomorrow

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Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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13 December 2016, 16:24

BANGKOK — The year 2016 is saying goodbye with shoppers’ smiles on their faces as tax rebates for goods and services purchased worth 15,000 baht was announced to run tomorrow until the end of the year.

According to the military government, the promotion will be effective Wednesday and will last until Dec. 31.

Like last year, shoppers need to buy from registered businesses and get a full receipt showing the value added tax (VAT) and a tax invoice. Alcohol and tobacco products, gas and vehicles, hotels and touring services are excluded from the deduction.

Tax Deduction For Shoppers to be Announced Friday

Women Migrant Numbers High in Thai Construction

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Associated Press

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13 December 2016, 14:25

In this Monday Dec. 12, 2016 photo, a Cambodian migrant construction worker waits for transport home outside a building site site in downtown Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Dake Kang / Associated Press

BANGKOK — A U.N. report says that women make up almost 40 percent of migrant construction workers in Thailand, more than almost anywhere else in the world. But the large numbers only serve to magnify their problems, including lower pay and the risk of being fired if they get pregnant.

The International Labor Organization says in a report Tuesday that in Thailand over 200,000 women from Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos work alongside men to smooth walls, lay bricks, and carry bags of cement on Bangkok construction sites.

It says that besides being paid and trained less, their shipping container homes provide little security from rowdy male workers. So, having a husband for protection is almost a prerequisite. But they also need to take birth control to avoid getting fired for being pregnant.

Dhammakaya Asks Court to Cancel Search Warrant as Tensions Mount

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Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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13 December 2016, 13:24

Boonyachayo, a monk and spokesman of Dhammakaya temple, thanks police Tuesday morning for their help protecting the temple.

PATHUM THANI — As police gathered around the Dhammakaya Temple headquarters in Pathum Thani on Tuesday to execute a search warrant, the temple filed a motion for judicial relief.

Temple lawyer Thatchanon Pornbaiyoke filed an emergency appeal with the Criminal Court asking that it overturn a search warrant authorizing law enforcement to enter the sprawling temple grounds north of Bangkok in a bid to arrest its fugitive long-time abbot. No officers from the Department of Special Investigation had attempted to enter the temple as of early Tuesday afternoon.

Read: Dhammachayo Removed As Abbot of Dhammakaya

Tensions have been mounting in the protracted stand-off which for six months has seen the influential sect defy the authorities and shield its leader Dhammachayo, who was formally demoted Thursday by the national religious authority. The 72-year-old faces embezzlement and land encroachment charges, but police have been unable to take him into custody because thousands of acolytes have gathered to defend the temple. Dhammachayo was last seen in public in May but is believed to remain holed up inside.

At the Dhammakaya temple in Pathum Thani province, Boonyachayo, a monk and spokesman, thanked police Tuesday morning for their help protecting the temple against unspecified third parties he said might wish to harm its acolytes.

Dhammachayo was charged earlier this year with receiving funds stemming from massive multi-billion baht embezzlement from a credit union by its own executive, who is now serving a 16-year prison term. In November he was charged again with land encroachment for building a religious facility without a permit in Khao Yai National Park.

Deadline For Dhammakaya Abbot To Surrender Expires, Again

Mass Charges Filed Against Dhammakaya Acolytes

After Show of Yielding, Powerful Dhammakaya Abbot Defies Authorities Again

Antonio Guterres Sworn as UN Secretary-General

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Associated Press

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13 December 2016, 12:58

The United Nations Secretary-General designate Antonio Guterres speaks during his swearing-in ceremony in 2016 at U.N. headquarters. Photo: Seth Wenig / Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — Former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres was sworn in Monday as Secretary-General of the United Nations, becoming the ninth U.N. chief in the body’s 71-year history.

The former U.N. refugee chief was elected to the top job by acclamation in the General Assembly in October. He takes over from Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1.

Guterres, 67, performed well in answering questions before assembly members and his executive experience as prime minister and as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005-2015 propelled him to first place among 13 candidates vying for the job in informal polls in the Security Council. After the sixth poll, the council nominated him by acclamation and his name was sent to the assembly for final approval.

After being sworn in by General Assembly President Peter Thomson, Guterres addressed the 193 member nations, saying the world body must work to simplify, decentralize and make more flexible its sprawling bureaucracy.

“It benefits no one if takes nine months to deploy a staff member to the field,” he said. “The United Nations needs to be nimble, efficient and effective. It must focus more on delivery and less on process, more on people and less on bureaucracy.”

Guterres also said he would send a clear signal that gender parity “from top to bottom” within the organization would be among his first priorities.

The swearing-in came after the 193 General Assembly members paid tribute to Ban, ending with a standing ovation for the native South Korean.

The swearing-in ceremony included the U.N.’s top leaders and was attended by dignitaries including Myanmar politician and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power lauded Ban’s accomplishments while in office and said she was confident Guterres is the right person to replace him. “He is the man for the job in such challenging times,” she said.

Louis Charbonneau, the U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, said rights abuses are abundant around the globe, not just in war zones like Syria. He said Guterres should use his position and authority to “call out rights abuses wherever they occur.”

The selection of a new secretary-general had traditionally been decided behind closed doors by a few powerful countries. But this year, the process involved public discussions with each candidate who was campaigning for the job.

U.N. chiefs are charged with promoting sustainable development, working for peace around the globe, protecting human rights and dealing with humanitarian catastrophes.

Ban served two five-year terms.

Story: Dave Bryan

MH370 Search Ship Leaves Australia for Perhaps Final Time

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Associated Press

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13 December 2016, 12:52

HMAS Success scans the southern Indian Ocean in 2013, near the coast of Western Australia, as a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion flies over, while searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Photo: Rob Griffith / Associated Press

PERTH, Australia — A lone survey vessel has left an Australian port for perhaps the final time to search for the Malaysian airliner that mysteriously crashed into the southern Indian Ocean two years ago, officials said Tuesday.

The Dutch survey ship Fugro Equator left Fremantle on Monday night to continue the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 alone, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester’s office said.

Whether the voyage is the ship’s final monthlong deployment from Fremantle before the search was completed after more than two years would depend on the weather, Chester’s office said.

Chester thanked China for the services of a Chinese ship that in February joined the search of a 120,000-square-kilometer (46,000-square-mile) area where authorities calculate that the Boeing 777 crashed with 239 people aboard on March 8, 2014. The Chinese ship started making its way back to Shanghai this month.

Fugro Equator is using a highly maneuverable drone known as an autonomous underwater vehicle to get sonar images of difficult terrain that could not be reliably searched with towed sonar equipment.

The deep sea search has failed to find any trace of the airliner that flew far off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. But debris confirmed or suspected to be from Flight 370 has washed ashore on the western Indian Ocean at Reunion Island, Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mauritius.

Australia is overseeing the search on Malaysia’s behalf. The two governments agreed with China in July that if the aircraft was not located in the current search zone, the search would be suspended in the absence of credible new evidence leading to the identification of a specific location.

Passengers’ relatives hope that drift analysis of the washed-up debris will provide the new evidence to continue the search.

Governor of Indonesia Capital Sobs as Blasphemy Trial Begins

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Associated Press

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13 December 2016, 12:48

Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as "Ahok", center, enters the courtroom Tuesday prior to the start of his trial hearing at North Jakarta District Court in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Tatan Syuflana / Associated Press

JAKARTA — The minority Christian governor of Indonesia’s capital sobbed in court Tuesday on the first day of his blasphemy trial as he recalled the role of Muslim godparents in his childhood and said he would never intentionally insult Islam.

The national upheaval over the governor’s alleged blasphemy has challenged Indonesia’s reputation for practicing a moderate form of Islam, shaken the government and exposed religious and racial fault lines in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

Protests against Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, led by hard-liners and which drew hundreds of thousands of people, have kept Jakarta, the capital, on edge in the past six weeks. A Nov. 4 protest there turned violent, with one death and dozens of police and protesters injured.

Ahok, an ally of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, faces up to five years in prison if found guilty. He is the first ethnic Chinese governor of Jakarta and the first Christian in more than half a century.

“As a person who grew up among Muslims, it is not possible for me to intentionally insult Islam because that is the same as disrespecting the people I appreciate and love,” Ahok said.

He broke down in tears twice while making his statement, in which he talked about the affection of his godparents and remembered how he helped poor Indonesians perform the Hajj pilgrimage when he was a district chief a decade ago.

The blasphemy controversy erupted in September when a video circulated online in which Ahok lightheartedly said that people were being deceived if they believed his detractors who asserted that the Quran prohibits Muslims from having a non-Muslim leader. He is seeking a second term as governor in elections due in February.

State Prosecutor Ali Mukartono told the court that Ahok insulted Islam and desecrated the Quran by using one of its verses to fool people and boost his chances of winning the Jakarta election.

In his statement, Ahok said that his comments were not an interpretation of the Quran and that he was only referring to certain politicians “who exploited the verses incorrectly because they do not want to compete fairly in the election competition.”

Several hundred members of anti- and pro-Ahok groups gathered outside the court, but were kept apart by police. The trial, which is being broadcast live, could take two to three months.

Ahok’s lawyers asked the five-judge panel to throw the case out and the trial was then adjourned until Dec. 20.

Police investigators and religious experts were divided about whether Ahok should be prosecuted, but the case proceeded as political pressure on the government mounted.

Story: Tatan Syuflana, Stephen Wright

Trinity Fest, Book III, Preaches EDM, Tech House, Hip-Hop

By

Kaewta Ketbungkan, Staff Reporter

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13 December 2016, 12:43

A DJ spins at the Tempology Festival on Aug. 13 at Live RCA.

BANGKOK — Get a triple dose of dance at an EDM, tech-house and hip-hop festival Saturday where three sounds will be going off at the same time.

True to form, a third chapter of the Trinity music fest returns with the same vibes as previous editions, serving three genres of music to partygoers. Can’t stand hip-hop? Head to the tech-house room. Refuse to dance to less than 150bpm? Go full speed with other EDM-addicts.

More than 20 local DJs will ignite the party with future and EDM in the main room, tech-house up in the studio, while the terrace resounds with the sounds of hip-hop and trap.

Tickets are 350 baht or 2,999 baht for four and a bottle of booze. Before 10pm, tickets are 250 baht and 2,499 baht.

The festival kicks off at 9pm on Saturday at Live RCA, which is located near Tops Supermarket on Royal City Avenue.

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