BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian police say that five people have survived a plane crash near Medellin’s international airport and the rest of the passengers have been killed.
Gen. Jose Acevedo, head of police in the area surrounding Medellin, provided the information.
A chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including the Brazilian first division Chapecoense soccer team which was heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.
BANGKOK — A week or so ago, when Natdanai Asavaruks went to go see the latest movie set in the Harry Potter universe, he brought along a prized possession – his Elder Wand.
It was some time after the curtain had closed on “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” in the parking lot of Major Phahon Yothin, when the most powerful wand in the universe seemed to just magically disappear.
Instead of blaming it on a Niffler, the 19 year old on Monday went to police to report it stolen. As he would later tell the internet, an officer raised one important question about the Thestral tail hair-enchanted device: Why didn’t he destroy it before it could fall into the wrong hands?
“Please contact me if you find the wand, or return it to Phahon Yothin police station,” Natnadai wrote in an online plea shared more than 4,000 times of the wand once wielded by Albus Dumbledore. “We’re all Thais, please return it if you find it. I’m begging you!”
Using the hashtag #MissingWand, netizens have joined police in the hunt for the wand, which went missing Nov. 20 along with the case it came in when Natdanai bought it in the United States.
“The wand chooses its owner, you know,” wrote user Jeab Punnarat.
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‘Fantastic Beasts’ Inspires Thai Wizarding Fervor in Magical Memes
BANGKOK — In 1988, more than 100 Vietnamese refugees were stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 37 days. By the time they were rescued by Filipino fishermen, almost half had died.
Their stories and others will be told at the first Global Migration Film Festival next month at an indie cinema in Bangkok hosted by the U.N. Migration Agency.
To give voice to immigrant experiences, includes 2008 documentary “Bolinao 52,” about how 52 of the 110 Vietnamese boat people survived their ordeal, along with five other films about the struggles of immigrants and refugees around the world. Four days after it opens Dec. 14 in Bangkok, the festival will conclude on International Migrants Day. The festival takes place simultaneously from Dec. 5 until Dec. 18 around the world.
Take a closer look at Argentina’s capital city via “La Salada” (2014), which focuses on three groups of immigrants living in a sprawling informal flea market in Buenos Aires, while “Guido Models” (2015) centers on a middle-aged Bolivian immigrant who runs a modeling agency and academy in the city’s biggest slum.
Filipino flicks include “Donor,” in which a woman desperately searching for a better life sells her kidney to an Arab patient.
Too much drama? Then the movie best suited may be 2005 comedy-drama “La Visa Loca,” which follows the life of a taxi driver in Manila who dreams of going to the United States.
The last film added to the list is 2016 documentary “The Invisible City: Kakuma” which centers around Kakuma refugee camp, built in the middle of the Turkana desert in Kenya.
The film festival hosted by the International Organization for Migration runs Dec. 14 to Dec. 18 at a new indie cinema, the Bangkok Screening Room.
Admission is free. Booked tickets must be claimed 15 minutes before each screening.
The Bangkok Screening Room is located on the second floor above a 7-Eleven on Soi Saladaeng 1, which is walkable from MRT Lumphini’s exit No. 2 or BTS Sala Daeng’s exit No. 4.
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KUALA LUMPUR — The head of Malaysian electoral reform group Bersih, which led a mass anti-government rally this month, has been freed after being held for 10 days without trial under a security law meant for terrorists.
Maria Chin was detained Nov. 18 for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy,” just a day before thousands of protesters took to Kuala Lumpur’s streets to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak over a financial scandal. Police said 15,500 people protested, but Bersih estimated the crowd at 120,000.
Chin’s release Monday came a day before a court hearing to challenge her detention under the Security Offences Act.
Amnesty International hailed Chin’s release from what it called a “farcical detention” and said Tuesday that the government must drop any charges against her.
“They should also stop using national security or other repressive laws against government critics for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly,” it said in a statement.
Shortly after her release, Chin met with hundreds of supporters in Kuala Lumpur and thanked them for holding nightly candlelight vigils to demand her release. Wearing the trademark yellow Bersih T-shirt, she vowed to fight for the abolition of the security law and to press for political reforms. Bersih means clean in the Malay language.
“My detention is illegal and a violation of my rights,” she said.
Najib has kept an iron grip since graft allegations emerged two years ago involving the indebted 1MDB state fund. He founded the fund in 2009 to promote economic development, but it accumulated billions in debts.
The investigations into 1MDB in the U.S. and several other countries are centered on allegations of a global embezzlement and money-laundering scheme.
The U.S. Justice Department said that at least USD $3.5 billion had been stolen from 1MDB by people close to Najib and initiated action in July to seize $1.3 billion it said was taken from the fund to buy assets in the U.S.
The U.S. government complaints also said that more than USD $700 million had landed in the accounts of “Malaysian Official 1.” They did not name the official, but appear to be referring to Najib.
BANGKOK — A 43-year-old man who savagely stomped his son’s young friend was sentenced Monday and will serve no jail time.
Amnat Salubthong told the court he would pay 10,000 baht compensation for the 7-year-old boy he assaulted last month, which he said happened because he thought the child had made his son cry.
In light of his confession, the court reduced his punishment to 18 months in jail then suspended his sentence for three years, meaning Amnat will not have to serve any time.
He was also fined 3,000 baht.
The child’s father, Nattha Suwan, refused to take the money and said he would appeal the decision.
Amnat turned himself in on Oct. 4 after he was caught on video running down the stairs from his residence to brutally attack the young child who was playing with his 6-year-old son.
He told police he ran down from his fifth-floor room on Panya-Ramintra Road in Bangkok’s Khlong Sam Wa district as he heard his son crying. He said he was not in control of his rage while kicking the child.
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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday that she will resign her office once parliament develops a plan for a safe transfer of power, amid prosecution claims that she colluded with a friend who wielded government power from the shadows.
Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in Seoul each Saturday for the last five weeks to demand that Park step down amid prosecutors’ claims that she colluded with a confidante who allegedly manipulated power from the shadows and extorted companies to amass an illicit fortune.
Park would be the first South Korean leader to resign since the country’s first president, Syngman Rhee, quit and then fled to Hawaii amid a popular uprising in 1960. The succeeding government was overthrown by a coup by Park’s late father, the military dictator Park Chung-hee, whose rule also abruptly ended after he was assassinated by his spy chief in 1979.
“I will leave the matters about my fate, including the shortening of my presidential term, to be decided by the National Assembly,” Park said Tuesday in a live address to the nation, referring to parliament. “If the ruling and opposition parties discuss and come up with a plan to reduce the confusion in state affairs and ensure a safe transfer of governments, I will resign from the presidential position under that schedule and by processes stated in law.”
Opposition parties had been closing in on an impeachment motion against Park, and even her allies in the conservative ruling party have called for her to “honorably” step down rather than face impeachment.
An impeachment motion vote had been planned for Friday. The country’s two largest opposition parties were also planning on Tuesday to nominate a special prosecutor to independently investigate the scandal.
At the heart of the scandal is Choi Soon-sil, Park’s longtime friend and the daughter of a late cult leader who allegedly meddled in state affairs and pressured companies to donate millions of dollars to foundations controlled by her at the request of Park.
Prosecutors have so far indicted Choi, two ex-presidential officials and a music video director known as a Choi associate for extortion, leakage of confidential documents and other charges.
Park, who has immunity from prosecution while in office, has refused to meet with prosecutors. Her lawyer, Yoo Yeong-ha, has described prosecutors’ accusations against Park as groundless.
Story: Foster Klung, Kim Tong-Hyung
CHIANG MAI — Another Chiang Mai establishment was ordered closed Monday afternoon following an earlier conflict over the use of a washroom at a bar between a group of television actors and the son of a regional army commander.
Chiang Mai city’s The Core Hotel, linked to one of the celebrities, was abruptly ordered to close for lacking an operating license, according to Col. Piyapan Pattarapongsin, deputy chief of city police, who led a raid there at about 2pm on Monday.
The five-floor hotel sitting opposite Chiang Mai University was reportedly owned by Kritsana “Ball” Amitsoon, the boyfriend of Channel 3 actress Lakana “Aum” Wattanawongsiri. Kritsana went to talk to police at about 1pm on Tuesday with his lawyers.
Read: Chiang Mai Bar Closed After Brawl Over Bathroom, Soap Stars
Lakana was at the hotel on Sunday where she and fellow actress Benjasiri “Bow” Wattana held a press conference at which they denied involvement in the Friday night brawl at the Malin Sky Bar.
Malin Sky Bar was closed by police after 23-year-old student Issarajnuwat Wankawisan was brutally beaten. The student, who is also son of the regional army commander, claimed one of four celebrities at the bar had ordered guards to assault him.
Col. Piyapan said Kritsana was not the properly listed owner of The Core. Kritsana is the only person who hasn’t spoken publicly about the incident.
Police also filed charges against Hotel Manager Supitchaya Praditpatcharakul for violating the Hotel Act. The closure was effective Tuesday.
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BOGOTA, Colombia — An airplane with 72 people on board, including players from a Brazilian soccer team heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, has crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.
Medellin’s Mayor Federico Gutierrez said that it is possible there are survivors.
“It’s a tragedy of huge proportions,” Gutierrez told Blu Radio on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where the chartered aircraft is believed to have crashed shortly before midnight local time.
He said ambulances and rescuers were on their way. It is not clear what caused the crash.
Medellin’s airport confirmed that the aircraft, which departed from Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil, which was scheduled to play the Copa Sudamerica finals against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in Medellin.
Story: Joshua Goodman
NONG KHAI — Police said Tuesday they had fined and released a German man accused of running a loansharking operation who claims he was wrongly implicated by his ex-wife.
Police searched Wolfdieter “Max” Werner Mueller’s house Thursday after residents went to police complaining he charged exorbitant interest rates for illegal loans. Mueller had flown to Phuket earlier in the day, but said the trip had been scheduled long ago.
“I did not do wrong. Ask anyone in the village,” he said, adding that he has contacted the police.
He blamed a personal dispute with his ex-wife, who he said sent the police after him for not having a work permit. He said he had made some private loans but denied charging exorbitant interest as accused.
Police on Tuesday said Mueller was guilty of breaking the law and was fined and handed a suspended sentence.
“We won’t get involved with his family or personal affairs, which are unrelated. The issue is that he broke the law in loaning out money in his name, and working without a work permit,” police Maj. Theerapong Prajukjit said Tuesday. “Foreigners can’t loan out money in their name.”
Hatairat Silasit, Mueller’s girlfriend, already paid the fine of 20,000 baht Saturday, Inspector Theerapong said.
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BANGKOK — Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn was proclaimed the new monarch of Thailand on Tuesday, the step before he fully succeeds his father King Bhumibol, who died seven weeks ago at 88.
Ending nearly two months of royal interregnum, an interim parliament completed a key part in naming him the 10th King of his dynasty, six days before a public holiday commemorating the birth of his late father, who was widely revered as a national father figure. His Majesty King Vajiralongkorn, 64, has been the designated heir since 1972.
The announcement was made, per the constitution, at about 11:20am by the National Legislative Assembly, an interim parliament serving as a rubber-stamp legislature under the military junta. Assembly chairman Pornpetch Wichitcholchai told the lawmakers the Crown Prince will take the throne.
“My dear fellow members,” Pornpetch said in a speech to the lawmakers. “Upon this most auspicious occasion, I would like to ask all members to stand up and offer praise to the new king.”
The presenting members then stood up and shouted in unison, “Long live the king!”
Read: Who is King Vajiralongkorn?
Thais will generally call him Rama X, or the 10th king of Chakri dynasty.
One more formality is left to complete the royal succession: assembly chairman Pornpetch will meet the new king in person and formally “invite” him to take throne. The Crown Prince is expected to accept the ceremonial invitation. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said earlier Tuesday that the meeting may take place “in the next couple days.”
But he is already praised as the de facto new King of Thailand. All major Thai-language news agencies broke the news with the headline “Long Live the King” and referred to him as King Rama X. Hashtag “Long Live the King” is also trending on Twitter.
King Vajiralongkorn’s ascension to his kingship had been a subject of intense anticipation by many. The then-Crown Prince surprised the nation when he declined to take the throne immediately upon King Rama IX’s death on Oct. 13, breaking with a royal tradition of Le roi est mort, vive le roi.
The prince said at the time that he needed time to grieve for his late father, according to junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha, who met with His Royal Highness on the night of Oct. 13. In the subsequent weeks, Thailand went through a historic period of prolonged interregnum, and a Regent was appointed by constitution as a caretaker over the empty throne.
As a king, His Majesty the King Vajiralongkorn will exercise his royal power as a constitutional monarch to sign legislation, hear oaths from newly appointed civil servants and represent Thailand as head of state. He will be the sovereign of Thailand’s government, justice system, bureaucracy and armed forces.
But King Vajiralongkorn will refrain from assuming the totality of royal functions as a monarch of the Chakri Dynasty until his official coronation, an elaborate religious ceremony that will take place after the cremation of his late father, likely some time late next year.
His first official duty as the new King will be presiding over state ceremonies on Dec. 5, which had been celebrated as both National Day, Father’s Day and the birthday of His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol.
Note: The content of this article has been been changed under instruction of Khaosod English’s management.
