Firefighters and ambulances are seen in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, southern France on Friday. The French gendarmerie says a masked gunman has burst into a retirement home for monks in southern France and killed an elderly woman with a knife. The press service for the national military police couldn't immediately say whether the incident is linked to a terror act or not. Photo: Associated Press
PARIS — French police searched Friday for a masked gunman suspected of stabbing an elderly woman to death in a retirement home for Catholic missionaries in southern France, authorities said.
An unusually large police operation was launched to search for the suspected attacker, believed to be armed with a shotgun and a knife. The identity of the assailant and motive for the killing were unclear.
The press service for the gendarmes, or military police, couldn’t say whether the incident was linked to a terrorist act. Security at religious and other sites has been increased after a string of Islamic extremist attacks on France.
A gendarme service spokesman said early Friday that more than 100 members of the security forces were dispatched to the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, near the city of Montpellier in the southern tip of France. The spokesman was not authorized to be publicly named.
Prosecutor Christophe Barret told reporters that a woman who works at the retirement home called police Thursday night to say she had been attacked.
When the officers arrived, they found the body of another woman, gagged and tied up outside the building with three stab wounds, the gendarme spokesman said.
The worker who alerted police did not suffer serious injuries but was deeply rattled, and no one else at the residence was harmed, the prosecutor said in televised remarks carried on the website of Midi Libre newspaper.
Security forces searched the complex but did not find the assailant. The spokesman said the about 60 residents of the facility are out of danger, and the search is continuing in a larger perimeter with help from a helicopter and police dogs.
The residence, called “Green Oaks,” is operated by the African Missions Society, and takes in retired priests, nuns and others who have worked on missions in Africa.
Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, spokesman for the French Catholic bishops’ conference, tweeted condolences for the woman killed and added, “our prayers reach out also to the missionaries attacked in their retirement home in the Herault (region). God give them all peace.”
France has been under a state of emergency for a year since Islamic State group attacks on Paris killed 130 people. Another Islamic State attack in July targeted a Catholic church in Normandy, where two attackers slit a priest’s throat and held elderly parishioners hostage.
FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Steven Gerrard, of England, gestures to fans after a soccer match against Club Tijuana, in Carson, Calif. Gerrard is leaving the LA Galaxy after two seasons, and the former England midfielder is still considering what to do next. Photo: Mark J. Terrill, File
LONDON — Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has retired from professional soccer and is considering a “number of options” about his next career move.
The 36-year-old Gerrard, who has also been captain of England’s national team, announced recently that he was leaving the Los Angeles Galaxy after two seasons.
Gerrard says “I am currently taking my time to consider a number of options and will make an announcement with regards to the next stage of my career very soon.”
A 2014 screenshot of propaganda video published by the ISIS.
BANGKOK — Police played down Wednesday the implications of an Australian intelligence report suggesting some Thais were involved with the Islamic State.
A day after announcing that Australian Federal Police identified more than 100,000 Facebook users in Thailand engaged with groups affiliated with the terror group, deputy police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said Wednesday that police had no evidence of any ISIS-aligned movement in the kingdom.
“It was their information, not ours,” he said Wednesday of the Australian report. “Our information is that there is no movement here yet.”
Though Srivara urged the public not to worry, he said officers were ordered to investigate the information. He also said that not every person using Facebook in Thailand was necessarily a Thai national.
Srivara was addressing anxieties raised after Tuesday’s news conference, held after he met with the Australians. He said then there was information that some Thais were linked to ISIS, which he said fell into six categories. He did not elaborate.
“Some may travel to Syria. Some support them with money, according to the information from Australia,” he said Tuesday.
Although Srivara made no mention of the Deep South, where Muslim separatists have waged a protracted and bloody insurgency, a number of southern agencies were named to investigate the issue: the Provincial Police Region 9 in Songkhla, the Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Center and the Central Investigation Bureau.
Although southern separatists have historically shown no interest in the broader Islamist movement outside Thailand’s borders, ISIS has sought expand its sphere of influence and operations to Southeast Asia and has reportedly published Malay-language media.
Srivara has by default routinely dismissed links between an August bombing spree and any ISIS sympathizers or insurgent.
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan also sought to dismiss concerns, saying there was no link showing ISIS had expanded into Thailand. He said some people may have just innocently looked at their groups.
“I haven’t seen information about some Thais giving support,” Prawit said Tuesday. “They may have just been checking out their social media.”
Bikers compete in Asia Road Racing Championship 2016 Round 5 in Oct. Photo: Asia Road Racing Championship / Facebook
BURIRAM — Moto racers and their fans from various nations will flock to Isaan for the final round of the Asia Road Racing Championship 2016 on Dec. 3.
The upcoming two-day competition is the final round of the game after traveling to five different countries: Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, India and back to Thailand. The competition comes in five classes: SuperSports 600cc, Asia Production 250cc, Underbone 130cc, Asia Dream Cup and Suzuki Asian Challenge.
Considered the Asian Games for motorcycle racing, the Asia Road Racing Championship began in 1996 not only to bring motorcycle champions onto the same platform, but also to provide a stepping stone for national champions.
A one-day pass runs between 100 baht to 1,000 baht, while two-day passes are 150 baht to 1,500 baht. Some discounts are available.
The qualifying round starts at 8am on Saturday, Dec. 3, with the finals to follow the next day Dec. 4 at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, about a six-hour drive or ride east of Bangkok by car or a bus from the Mo Chit 2 Station.
A package of Viagra is pictured in 2008 IN Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Fabian Bimmer / Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — Little blue pills in South Korea’s presidential Blue House?
President Park Geun-hye’s office on Wednesday confirmed revelations by an opposition lawmaker that it purchased about 360 erectile dysfunction Viagra pills and the generic version of the drug in December.
While the report has created a frenzy on the internet, Park’s office said the pills were bought to potentially treat altitude sickness for presidential aides and employees on Park’s May trips to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, whose capitals are 1 to 2 kilometers (0.6 to 1.2 miles) above sea level.
The pills weren’t used, said Jung Youn-kuk, a Blue House spokesman. South Korean doctors sometimes prescribe Viagra-style drugs to climbers because they are believed to be effective in preventing altitude sickness.
The presidential office also purchased a variety of injection drugs used for fatigue and anti-aging treatment, according to the office of lawmaker Kim Sanghee. Park’s spokesman explained that the presidential office purchases drugs for the president’s entire staff including security officers.
The Viagra revelation is the latest twist in a massive political scandal building around Park.
Park is bracing for an impeachment push by opposition parties and some members of her own Saenuri Party amid allegations that she let a secretive confidante manipulate government affairs and amass an illicit fortune, a scandal critics say undermines the country’s democracy.
On Sunday, prosecutors said they believe Park was involved in the criminal activities of her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, and two presidential aides who allegedly bullied companies into giving tens of millions of dollars to foundations and businesses Choi controlled, and that she also enabled Choi to interfere in state affairs.
Prosecutors have indicted Choi and the two former presidential aides. Park’s office has denied the accusations and refused multiple attempts by prosecutors to interrogate her in person, although saying she will oblige to an independent probe by a special prosecutor.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said investigators were sent Wednesday to an office used by the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs to secure documents and other evidence. The search is apparently aimed at Woo Byung-woo, Park’s former civil affairs secretary, who has been accused of failing to prevent Choi from influencing state affairs and has been embroiled in separate corruption allegations surrounding his family.
Choi Jai-kyeong, Park’s current secretary for civil affairs, and Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong have offered to resign as the fallout from the scandal continues to grow. Park has yet to decide whether to accept their resignations, the Blue House said Wednesday.
Various images from the trending hashtag #IfThailandHadAWizardingSchool, which reimagines elements of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World in Thailand. Photo: @Bearxdaniel, @Kaojungrai, @Septem1409 / Twitter
BANGKOK — A Thai-style spirit tree is a Whomping Willow. Naga represent House Slytherin. Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha with a yellow python is Voldemort and his horcrux Nagini.
As ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’ apparates onto theater screens nationwide, Potterheads have responded by imagining what a wizarding school would be like in Thailand.
As of Thursday afternoon, the top trending hashtag on Twitter in Thailand was #IfThailandHadAWizardingSchool, with a barrage of ridiculous yet awesome comparisons.
Thailand, rich in superstition as it is, does not have its own wizarding school in J.K. Rowling’s canon – at least not yet – but these netizens have found the magical in everyday Thai life.
The four house animals of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are represented by Thai mythical counterparts in the Himmapan forest around Mount Meru in Hindu cosmology. (Buntu Rajasri – Gryffindor, Eagle – Ravenclaw, Khi Mee – Hufflepuff, Naga – Slytherin)
‘The Thai Post sends Howlers. When it reaches the hand of the receiver, it immediately dissolves,’ @Oat_kimhunt wrote, conflating the postal service’s infamous rough handling with the magical messages which explode if left unopened.
‘The Harry books would be renamed to: HP and the Cursed Termite’s Hole, HP and the School Discipline Office, HP and the Prisoner of Bang Khwang, HP and the Kuman Thong Magical Charm.’
ชื่อตอนแฮร์รี่อาจจะเป็น HP กับจอมปลวกอาถรรพ์ HP กับห้องปกครอง HP กับนักโทษแห่งบางขวาง HP กับเครื่องรางกุมารทอง #ถ้าโรงเรียนเวทมนตร์อยู่ไทย
@Mygod_s said that while the magical UK world has ‘dementors’ and the United States has ‘obscurials,’ Thailand’s dark magical beings are jao gum nai wen, or ‘enemies from a previous life,’ referring to the belief those wronged in a previous life return seeking vengeance.
Orapim Raksapol speaks at an event honoring King Bhumibol on Dec. 17, 2015 in Bangkok. Image: Mcinenews
BANGKOK — Standing before hundreds of university students in the northeastern province of Maha Sarakham, motivational speaker Orapim Raksapol choked on tears as she implored them to remember the works His Majesty the King Bhumibol had done for their region.
“Isaan people, the King visits you so often, he helps you so much. The king loves you,” Orapim said of the monarch, who would later die Oct. 13 at 88. “But isn’t it strange, that you forget the King? It is strange.”
Orapim, better known by her nickname Best, spoke those words 10 months ago, but earlier this month the speech came back to haunt her. By Thursday a social media firestorm had erupted along familiar lines and four people had filed libel charges against the 30 year old.
What might have been a passing controversy is fueled by the renewal of internecine strife between Redshirts and Yellowshirts on a scale unseen since the military junta seized power and supposedly “froze” politics in May 2014.
The Redshirts, who are often accused by their opponents of harboring anti-monarchy sentiments, condemned the speech as condescending and feeding allegations of disloyalty. The Yellowshirts defended Orapim, saying she was victimized for expressing an opinion that might even be true.
“We do not welcome Best Orapim. She stomps on the hearts of Isaan people!” read a banner hung over a highway in Korat by some anonymous individuals.
“Best Orapim – Stop creating conflict with your words,” another one read.
But she’s not without support. “This is an intention to destroy the Good People who love the monarchy,” user Sittisak Sukkham wrote on news post of Yellowshirt mouthpiece, Manager Online. “They distort only some facts, with an intention to do evil to her … the anti-monarchists are the ones who are creating conflict.”
“We do not welcome Best Orapim. She stomps on the hearts of Isaan people!”
There’s also more at work than the usual cross-color mudslinging, according to an academic who’s studied the polarized conflict for years. The outrage is notably more intense than the usual internet drama because of the tension hanging over Thailand since the death of His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol on Oct. 13.
“After Oct. 13, the atmosphere was, how do I call it, it was like so much pressure,” Chulalongkorn University professor Pitch Pongsawat said. “There was surveillance on how you dress, how you express your opinion. It’s like, it’s creating a ripe situation for easy outbursts. For example, the Nott incident. Things erupt so easily now. The internet has turned into an anger management tool.”
Igniting the controversy over Orapim’s speech was a wholly unrelated issue: a rejected visa application to the United States.
Thairath, the largest daily newspaper, reported Nov. 16 that the Chumphon-born speaker would not be able to travel to speak at events in the United States organized by Thais to commemorate His Majesty the Late King because her visa application was rejected. The piece quoted Orapim expressing her disappointment.
The story was seized upon by conservatives and royalists who framed the rejection American authorities snubbing the woman who makes a living giving speeches honoring the late king at various events, many sponsored by the state.
Despite Orapim’s later clarification that she was rejected because of a document error, some Redshirts and progressives in turn seized upon it to criticized her for profiting from the king’s death at a time of such strong ultra-royalist sentiments.
The simmering discontent quickly escalated after a Redshirt activist posted on Nov. 17 a video of the Jan. 6 speech in which she chastised Isaan people for “forgetting” the king and his works at what was an army-hosted event.
“There was no water – he gave it. There was no forest – he grew it. Millions of trees,” Orapim said. “Pardon me. Isaan people had no jobs, the land was arid. It was all due to the King. He gave you water. He gave you forests. He gave you jobs.”
In another part, she says tearfully, “My beloved brothers and sisters of Isaan. Please open up your hearts and listen to me. Cleanse your thoughts, and believe me: no matter how many times you reincarnate, you won’t see a great king like him again.”
The activist who posted it, Irawat Areekit, urged his supporters to spread the clip and denounce her.
“The speaker is prejudiced toward her audience. She’s narrow-minded. She has disgraceful perspectives. She drags politics into the monarchy by judging other people on behalf of the High Institution,” he said.
Orapim has subsequently apologized and insisted that she did not mean to insult Isaan people. But that didn’t stop Redshirts, who overwhelmingly hail from the northeast, from venting their outrage.
“What did you use to measure one’s loyalty!?” wrote admin of Baygon Thailand Returns, a pro-Redshirt Facebook page. “Isaan people may not be good at speaking like you, they may express themselves as well as you, but remember! They don’t love the king any less than you!”
While others confined their anger to social media, four Redshirt supporters have filed libel charges against her since Saturday, accusing her of “defaming” an entire region’s people. A shopping mall in Hua Hin also canceled one of her speaking engagements citing the need to “avoid conflict.”
Part of the fury against Orapim, Chulalongkorn’s Pitch said, stemmed from the perception that she and the populist media who twisted the visa story exploited the king to push their agendas.
“It was like implying, hey, I’m going there to speak for king, why couldn’t I go?” Pitch said. “It’s like the Somtow incident. It’s about using the monarchy to take advantage of others. And the actions of these ultra-royalists backfire.”
Under assault, Orapim has found support from the Yellowshirts. One of them is Therdsak Jiamkijwattana, a firebrand Yellowshirt with a large online following, who doubled-down by claiming that many Redshirts are anti-monarchist anyway, so Orapim was simply speaking the truth.
“These people are connected to a movement to overthrow the monarchy,” Therdsak said on his YouTube channel. “The people who violate lese majeste law, they are all Redshirts!”
Nida “Tangmo” Patcharaveerapong, a celebrity actress and familiar face at Yellowshirt protests, posted a message of support on Instagram for Orapim she said was passed along to her.
“Please send this to Khun Best,” the message read. “I’m an Isaan person. I admit that when I saw the clip, at first, I was really angry, and I posted many mean things about her. I have to apologize sincerely from my heart … I sympathize with Khun Best for becoming a victim of politics.”
By Thursday the drama was winding down. But Pitch warned the controversy might reflect a demographic and socio-economic shift that should not be ignored: the middle class which mostly comprise the Yellowshirt movement are not the only ones to find their voice online.
“To put it simply, Redshirts and Isaan people, they now outnumber their rival color on the internet,” Pitch said, referencing a research paper about online domestic politics. “The internet world has changed. Ten years ago, you might feel that one color outnumbered the other. Now it’s not that way.”
This undated photo shows former Japanese Red Army member Tsutomu Shirosaki. Photo: Associated Press
TOKYO — A member of a disbanded Japanese left-wing militant group was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for an unsuccessful 1986 mortar attack on the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia, the Tokyo District Court said.
Former Japanese Red Army member Tsutomu Shirosaki had been accused of conspiring with another person to fire two rounds at the embassy from a hotel room in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, according to Japan’s Kyodo News service. Neither exploded.
The 68-year-old Shirosaki was imprisoned in the United States for more than a decade for a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta the same year. He was released in 2015, and Japanese authorities re-arrested him upon his return home.
The Japanese Red Army carried out a series of violent hijackings and attacks globally in the 1970s and 1980s.
Megyn Kelly poses for a portrait in May in New York. Photo: Victoria Will / Associated Press
SEATTLE — Amazon has suppressed a number of negative reviews of Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s new memoir.
The Los Angeles Times reports more than 100 negative reviews of Kelly’s “Settle For More” appeared on the online retail giant’s site within hours of its release Nov. 15. The newspaper reports many of the comments came from a link from a pro-Trump Reddit forum.
Seattle-based Amazon removed some reviews from users it couldn’t verify had purchased the book.
Company spokeswoman Angie Newman says in a statement that “Amazon Customer Reviews must be product reviews and are designed to help customers make purchase decisions.”
Kelly and Republican President-elect Donald Trump had a contentious relationship during the campaign.
Publisher HarperCollins tells the Times it alerted Amazon to the reviews.
A vehicle waits to enter Wat Phra Dhammakaya on Wednesday in Pathum Thani province. Access is limited and media not allowed inside.
BANGKOK — Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said Thursday he believes the fugitive abbot of Dhammakaya was still in the country a day after prosecutors indicted him on six-month old charges of money laundering.
Dhammachayo, the leader of influential Buddhist sect, was ordered brought to court to face a count of money laundering and other charges relating 1.4 billion baht he received from the former head of the credit union now serving a 16-year prison term for massive embezzlement.
Prosecutors said Wednesday they had instructed the Department of Special Investigation, or DSI, to capture Dhammachayo before the statute of limitations for the 2009 crime expire in 2024. Attempts to bring the abbot to justice in June were abandoned when he ensconced himself inside his order’s massive campus in northern metro Bangkok, defended by followers who said they would die to protect him.
Dhammachayo and and his acolyte Sasithorn Chokeprasit are accused of receiving 27 checks from Sapachai and other two others involved in the Klong Chan Credit Union embezzlement scandal. His aides have insisted the monk was not aware the money was tainted.
His followers had previously said the sect’s founder failed to respond to an arrest warrant due to health problems. They also turned down government offers of hospital treatment.
Four other people charged along with Dhammachayo were required to report themselves to prosecutors by Nov. 30.
Dismissing rumors the fugitive abbott has already fled the country, Prawit, who is also deputy junta leader, gave responsibility for tracking the abbot down to Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya.
“I support the justice minister,” Prawit said. “We don’t have to be concerned, we will proceed according to the law.”
DSI officers walk past crowds of meditating worshipers during the raid on Dhammakaya Temple in northern Bangkok on June 16.
The DSI quickly announced Wednesday it was ready to make the arrest once proper documents were received from prosecutors.
Whether law enforcement will risk confrontation remains to be seen.
The high-profile agency laid partial siege to the order’s massive, UFO-like headquarters in June but failed to capture the abbot. Though armed with court warrants, they finally scrapped the effort and withdrew from Wat Phra Dhammakaya after thousands of his faithful followers gathered to block the way.
On Friday, Dhammachayo was named in a fresh arrest warrant in an unrelated case of land encroachment. Deputy police commissioner Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said Wednesday police had yet to apply for a search warrant because they weren’t sure he was still inside the temple.
Police said they were standing ready to help DSI capture the fugitive abbot in the money laundering case.
The temple has steadfastly insisted Dhammachayo is innocent and the charges are politically motivated. Its publicity department planned a press conference at the Pathum Thani temple at 3pm on Thursday.
