A freighter traveling downstream on the Saigon river in 2007, in Vietnam. Photo: Tore Saetre / Wikimedia Commons
JAKARTA — A collision between a Vietnamese freighter and an Indonesian sailboat has left 15 people missing off Indonesia’s East Java province.
Head of the local Disaster Mitigation Agency Joko Loediyono says the collision involved the cargo ship MV Thaison 4 and KM Mulya Sejati, which was carrying 27 people. It happened early Saturday off Tuban district.
The freighter was reportedly heading to Tanjung Perak seaport in East Java’s capital of Surabaya.
Loediyono says a search has been underway involving disaster response agencies and the navy, which deployed two warships.
Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte attends a meeting between business leaders and heads of states of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC in 2016 during their annual forum in Lima, Peru. Photo: Martin Mejia / Associated Press
LIMA, Peru — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has lambasted the United States and other Western nations as bullies and hypocrites, while he praised Russia as a “great country” in his first meeting with his acknowledged idol, Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Talking on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Peru, Duterte also gave Putin a scathing review of America’s military endeavors in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Korean peninsula. He said the United States has given unequal treatment of the Philippines as a treaty ally and added that his country wants to engage more with Europe.
Duterte told Putin that he previously has been identified with the Western world. But, he added: “Of late, I see a lot of these Western nations bullying small nations. And not only that, they are into so much hypocrisy.”
An obviously elated Putin congratulated Duterte. He called the May 9 election that Duterte won “indeed a very bright day,” noting it came on the Russian holiday marking victory over Nazi Germany.
Putin said the Philippine leader has done much quickly in “developing the all-round partnership between our countries and with respect to promoting greater trust and confidence between us.”
A train passes by a road intersection in 2013 in Lucknow, India, where at least 45 people were killed Sunday morning following a derailment. Photo: BOMBMAN / Flickr
LUCKNOW, India — Fourteen coaches of a passenger train rolled off the track early Sunday, killing at least 45 people and injuring more than 120 in northern India, officials said.
Volunteers and railway police pulled out the bodies from the mangled coaches and were working to rescue passengers who were trapped in other cars that fell on the side, said Daljeet Chaudhary, a director general of police, at the site of the accident.
The derailment occurred around 3:10 a.m. near Purwa, a village near the industrial city of Kanpur, when the 14 coaches jumped the track. Some coaches crumpled as they crashed into others, trapping hundreds of people inside.
Medical teams were providing first aid near the site while the more seriously injured have been moved to hospitals in Kanpur, Chaudhary said.
It was not immediately clear was caused the coaches to derail.
The toll was likely to go up as two air-conditioned coaches were severely damaged and people were still trapped inside, said Rajesh Modak of the Railway Protection Force.
Kanpur is a major railway junction and hundreds of trains pass through it every day. Several trains using the line have been diverted to other routes, Anil Saxena, spokesman for Indian Railways, said in New Delhi.
Train accidents are common in India, with most accidents occurring due to human error or aging equipment. Trains are the popular mode of transport for millions of Indians and around 23 million passengers use India’s vast railway network every day.
Dhammachayo gives sermon to his disciples on Oct. 30, 2012. Image: DMC_USA / YouTube
BANGKOK — A court on Friday issued an arrest warrant on charge of land encroachment against the leader of an influential Buddhist sect, who’s also accused of embezzling millions of baht.
Abbot Dhammachayo violated forest laws by building one of his religious facilities without a proper permit in Korat’s Khao Yai National Park, said deputy police commissioner Srivara Ransibrahmanakul. The offense is punishable by up to five years in jail.
However, Gen. Srivara declined to say when police will mount another attempt to apprehend the monk, who’s thought to be residing at the headquarters of his Dhammakaya sect, protected by thousands of his acolytes. The police general told reporters on Friday that officers do not wish to ignite any confrontation.
“This is a sensitive matter, because the officers do not want to take any action that may cause more problem to the country,” Srivara said. “Furthermore, the charge is offense about land encroachment. It’s not an offense against life or one’s body that requires immediate arrest.”
The leadership of Dhammakaya has not made any public comment about the latest charge laid against Dhammachayo, 72.
Police and the abbot’s religious movement have been entangled in a standoff since June, when the Department of Special Investigation, or DSI, vowed to prosecute Dhammachayo for the checks he received as donations from Supachai Srisupa-suksorn, who is now jailed for embezzling 11 billion baht from the credit union he once headed.
For receiving the 1.2 billion baht checks, DSI charged Dhammachayo with being party to embezzlement and money laundering, but the abbot’s aides insist he was not aware the donations were tainted. The temple also said Dhammachayo could not surrender to police because he was ill.
When officers attempted on June 16 to search the headquarters of the Dhammakaya sect in Pathum Thani province and look for Dhammachayo, his supporters blocked the way. Police eventually called off the effort, citing fear of bloodshed.
Myanmar police officers sit in a truck in October as they provide security in Maungdaw, Rakhine State, Myanmar, a border town with Bangladesh. Photo: Thein Zaw / Associated Press
GAUHATI, India — Rebels ambushed two Indian army vehicles early Saturday and killed at least three soldiers and critically wounded four others in the country’s remote northeast, police said.
The attack took place in a forest area near Pengeri, a town 600 kilometers (400 miles) east of Gauhati, the Assam state capital, said police officer Mukesh Aggarwal.
The rebels used homemade bombs to stop an army jeep and a truck and attacked the soldiers with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, he said. A helicopter evacuated the four wounded soldiers to a nearby army hospital.
The area is home to a big army deployment and troops began hunting for the attackers with the help of local police and paramilitary forces.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but police suspect the rebels of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent) .
They have been fighting for decades for independence from India. The group, led by Paresh Baruah, operates from hideouts along India’s border with Myanmar and China.
This was the second attack by insurgents this week in the region. On Wednesday, they looted a cash delivery van belonging to a tea company after killing one person and wounding two others in the vehicle.
Dozens of rebel groups have been fighting the government and sometimes each other for years in seven states in northeast India. They demand greater regional autonomy or independent homelands for the indigenous groups they represent.
BANGKOK — A spokesman of the ruling junta said Friday that a drill sergeant seen caning his recruit in a now-viral video will face severe punishment.
In response to the outrage on social media against yet another instance of brutality in the armed forces, Col. Winthai Suvaree said the punishment was not sanctioned by the army, and promised a swift investigation.
“It was a clear violation of regulations and orders from commanding officers,” the spokesman said at Friday’s news conference. “Once the investigation is concluded, the said member of the armed force will definitely be handed a severe punishment.”
In the video, which surfaced on social media on Thursday, a soldier repeatedly cans a recruit while he cows on the ground. No context was given as to why the soldier was punished in such manner. Winthai said the incident took place during the training of new soldiers at a cavalry base in Saraburi province.
Many comments on social media in response to the video say the beating highlights a lack of respect for low-ranking soldiers in the army, especially those who are forced into uniforms by the annual mandatory draft.
“He shouldn’t be called soldier,” user Prae Naratip wrote in a thread, referring to the drill sergeant. “What a waste that his salary comes from taxpayers. It does not benefit the country at all. Well, this is what it’s like to be a draftee, a life that no one wants to be.”
In the aftermath of the video, the commander of the Royal Thai Army had subsequently instructed all of its units not to repeat the action seen in the video, Winthai said.
Protesters occupy a street during a rally Saturday in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Vincent Thian / Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR — Thousands of yellow-shirt protesters rallied Saturday in downtown Kuala Lumpur seeking Prime Minister Najib Razak’s resignation over a financial scandal, undeterred by a police ban and the arrest of 15 activists.
Police barricaded key roads in downtown Kuala Lumpur and put water-cannon trucks on standby, but it did not stop protesters. Some were chanting “Save Democracy” and “Bersih, Bersih”— the name of the electoral reform group that organized the rally. The name means “clean” in the Malay language.
The protesters gathered around the Independent Square, the main venue that was locked down by police. A smaller group of red-shirt pro-government supporters held a counter-rally.
Najib, who is attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Lima, Peru, has kept an iron grip since graft allegations emerged two years ago involving the indebted 1MDB state fund that he founded. 1MDB is at the center of investigations in the U.S. and several other countries.
Najib, who has denied any wrongdoing, has said he won’t be cowed by the rallies.
In a statement on his blog, Najib called Bersih “deceitful” and said the group has become a tool for opposition parties to unseat a democratically elected government.
“We want to see Malaysia more developed and not robbed of billions of ringgit,” said Wan Aisyah Wan Ariffin, an opposition supporter.
Police said in a statement they raided the Bersih office on Friday and detained its chairwoman Maria Chin for investigation into “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.”
Another Bersih official, Mandeep Singh, and 12 others including several politicians were also detained, mostly in connection with the rally and to prevent rioting, the police said.
Those detained include ruling party politician Jamal Mohamad Yunos, whose supporters trooped to downtown Kuala Lumpur to counter the Bersih rally. Police have banned both events by Bersih’s yellow-shirt supporters and Jamal’s red-shirt group.
Bersih said on Twitter that another of its official, Hishamuddin Rais, was nabbed Saturday after giving a speech to supporters at a commuter station.
A rally that Bersih organized in August 2015 also demanding Najib’s resignation brought together 50,000 people, according to police estimates. Bersih said the number was much higher.
Human rights group Amnesty International slammed the crackdown and called for the immediate release of the Bersih activists, describing them as prisoners of conscience.
“These arrests are the latest in a series of crude and heavy-handed attempts to intimidate Malaysian civil society activists and other human rights defenders,” Amnesty said in a statement.
The investigations into 1MDB fund are centered on allegations of a global embezzlement and money-laundering scheme. Najib started the fund shortly after taking office in 2009 to promote economic development projects, but the fund accumulated billions in debt over the years.
The U.S. Justice Department said that at least $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 $700 million had landed in the accounts of “Malaysian Official 1.” They did not name the official, but appear to be referring to Najib.
The main entrance of a Commonwealth Bank of Australia branch in 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Neal Jennings / Flickr
CANBERRA, Australia — A 21-year-old man accused of injuring himself and 26 other people by setting himself on fire with gasoline in a bank branch in Australia’s second-largest city was identified on Saturday as a Myanmar asylum seeker who had been waiting three years to be accepted as a refugee.
The suspect, known by his friends as Noor, and five bystanders were taken to hospital with serious burns following the fire at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia branch in the Melbourne suburb of Springvale Friday morning, officials said.
Another 21 people ranging from children to elderly in their 80s were taken to hospitals with breathing problems.
Noor, who remained under police guard on Saturday, came to Australia by boat in 2013 with no family members and had been waiting to be granted a refugee visa ever since, said Pamela Curr, who recently retired from the non-government Asylum Seeker Resource Center outside Melbourne.
Curr did not know why Noor had allegedly decided to set himself alight. But she said the Immigration Department was threatening to make thousands of asylum seekers financially desperate by cutting their benefits if their refugee claims were rejected.
“The department is going to starve thousands of people out of the country, or so they think,” Curr said.
A member of Myanmar’s minority-Muslim Rohingya community in Melbourne, Habib Habib, said Noor speaks Rohingya, although he might not himself identify as Rohingya.
Noor had been struggling financially to help support his family in Myanmar with the government benefits he is paid every two weeks, Habib said. Asylum seekers are not legally allowed to work.
Habib had been told that Noor’s latest benefit had not been deposited into his bank account when it was due on Wednesday and that Noor had returned to the bank each day in the hope of making a withdrawal.
Noor’s friends had become concerned by the state of his mental health as years passed without his refugee claim being resolved.
“This system makes all of them crazy. They’re in legal limbo,” Habib said.
Police have yet to announce a motive for the fire, which was quickly extinguished.
Closed-circuit television footage showed Noor walking toward the bank carrying a plastic bottle of gasoline that he had bought from a nearby gas station moments before the blaze.
Noor arrived in Australia shortly before July 19, 2013, when the government introduced a hard-line policy banning refugees who arrive by boat from that date from ever making Australia home. Since then, asylum seekers have been sent to Australia-run camps on the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Noor was initially detained in an immigration camp on the Australian territory of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean before he was relocated to Melbourne on a bridging visa while awaiting the outcome of his refugee application, Curr said.
Saran Chuichai, aka Aum Neko, speaks to a reporter on Dec. 8, 2013, in Bangkok. Image: Fah SK / YouTube
BANGKOK — Police said Friday a court has issued an arrest warrant for a firebrand anti-royalist detractor living in French exile on a charge of insulting the monarchy, a count that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail.
The warrant for Saran Chuichai, aka Aum Neko, was approved by the court on Oct. 14, but technology crime police only told reporters about it on Friday, when a hardline royalist went to the cybercrime headquarters to demand a speedy extradition and prosecution of the former student activist.
“Our commanders have instructed us to proceed with this case swiftly,” said Lt. Col. Uthai Laosil, an officer at Technology Crime Suppression Division.
Uthai said the warrant was approved after Saran, who’s better known by her nom de guerre Aum Neko, posted a video mocking the death of His Majesty the King, who died on Oct. 13 at 88. The video drew widespread outrage from supporters of the monarchy.
Saran, who rose to fame as a transgender student activist, is charged with royal defamation, a law also known as lese majeste. After the military staged a coup in May 2014, Saran fled to France, where she has since been residing as an asylum seeker.
Ponnipa Supatnukul, a television talk show host who filed an earlier lese majeste charge against Saran in 2013, complained in a meeting with Uthai on Friday that police should have acted faster to apprehend Saran before she managed to escape the country.
“If [police] had prosecuted the case quickly and if they had not dawdled back then, Mr. Saran [sic] would not have had an opportunity to flee overseas and commit actions that hurt the hearts of Thai people to this day,” Ponnipa said.
She also threatened to take legal action against police if they failed to bring Saran back to Thailand.
A number of Thai activists and academics have fled Thailand since the May 2014 coup to avoid punishment on lese majeste charges. Thai authorities have repeatedly pledged to bring these critics of the monarchy to stand trial in Thailand, but no country has agreed to an extradition so far.
Electronic music in Thailand is, like everywhere, a male-dominated industry. When it comes to mixing or making beats it’s usually us guys at the helm.
Anyhoo, I grew up in a family where most of the women were artists and it was this upbringing that inspired to me to do what I do. Not to sound too SJW, but the experience opened my eyes to the discrimination that women face every day, especially in the music and entertainment industry.
Unfortunately with the commercialization of DJ and rave culture have come image DJs: brawny, fist-pumping dudebros and scantily clad women in the booth. I don’t care what they do, but it doesn’t help anyone trying to be taken seriously.
There are a few Thai women DJs who have represented us at the international level such as Nakadia and Mendy Indigo. At the opposite end of the spectrum, in our Drum ‘n Bass scene, DJ Pichy reigns supreme.
“There aren’t that many of us, but what I really think is cool is that for the ones that are here, they all have their own unique style of playing music,” said Pichy, a DJ and event organizer who helped nurture the scene from its start.
Here are a few of the best and most badass women to take it to crowds in Bangkok and beyond.
“I started out seven years ago, and I was fortunate enough to be given the chance to play for a crowd,” explains Pazinee Sri-Aram, aka DJ Rabbit Disco. “Now more women are interested in this art. It’s best to be yourself and get into this business because you love it.”
Originally a graduate of culinary studies from Suan Dusit University, in 2009 the DJ who always had a passion for music decided to take a different path. Choosing a life of rocking crowds from behind the decks, her career so far has taken her to cities all over the kingdom and landed her residences at Bangkok’s ultra chic Distill Skybar and Mellow in Thonglor. The DJ’s warm attitude has given her a positive outlook toward the scene.
She says with all the competition, DJs must be serious.
“If you really want to walk on this career path, you must be passionate about your craft. Respect yourself and be considerate,” she said.“It’s important to be punctual, patient and flexible. Be yourself and don’t let ego get in the way.”
Red Bull’s Thre3style competition is where the world’s best DJs get 15 minutes to showcase their mixing, scratching and beat-juggling skills. The level of artistry required to perform is in no way trivial to pull off, and Pakawan Ngamlamiad, or DJ Paka, was the only one of two female competitors this year.
“The experience was very exciting and stressful at the same time, because the competitors are required to use their equipment to the fullest and be able to combine tone and word play when transitioning from track to track,” she said.
She recommends newbie DJs learn how to scratch.
“I think it’s important for all DJs to learn the basics first,” she said. “Even if you’re not into scratching, it will add an extra dimension to your style.”
Paka’s unique style of progressive house, electro and chill trap has garnered her the attention of many promoters throughout the city and residencies at DNA Club and Zion Night Club in Thonglor.
Rissara Ongkositporn or NT66, has risen through the ranks since the EDM craze ignited her passion and got her on the decks over a year ago, starting off by honing her mixing skills on a controller. Eventually her mixing skills and song selection caught the attention of scene veterans Pichy and Bunny Man from Zoo Studio, who invited her to play at their monthly event Code Naa at Light room. The next session takes place Dec. 17 at Dark Bar, where the 26-year-old NT66 is set to get back on the decks.
Though many DJs take years of practice, apprenticeship and networking to get a slot in a club night, NT66 credits part of her fast track to success in recording mixes. This, she highly recommends to any DJ starting out in the business.
“I think it’s important to know what kind of music you are passionate about, then it’s really up to you to practice and record your mixes, the last stage is to promote your own mixes on social media,” Rissara said.
Nongnud Praphai aka DJ Bplar is the resident DJ at W Hotel’s ultra trendy Woobar. Specialising in deep house and afro house, the 29-year-old can be seen there every Wednesday. Although she is making her mark in the club circuit she is most notably known as the co-founder of Goja Gallery, an art gallery she established in 2014 with business partner DJ Toru from Japan. Their venue is famed for hosting exhibitions from some of Asia’s most renowned artists.
“I’ve always loved street art and wanted to have a place where artists and people could meet and hang out,” she said. “We originally wanted to showcase street art, but since we’ve opened, the venue has showcased works from too many other styles of artists,” the DJ explained.
Working as an in-demand DJ and as creative director for Goja is no easy feat, but she has a passion for it and gives advice to women who wish to follow in her footsteps.
“If you really love this scene and want to get into this business try not to rush things or take any shortcuts,” Nongnud said. “You need to be able to enjoy the hurdles as well as the successes.”
