1 Dead, 1 Injured as U-2 Spy Plane Crashes in California

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21 September 2016, 10:47

Smoke rises from the wreckage of a U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane that crashed Tuesday in the Sutter Butte mountains, near Yuba City, California. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

SUTTER, California — One American pilot was killed and another injured when they ejected from a U-2 spy plane shortly before it crashed in Northern California on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Air Force said.

The plane crashed shortly after taking off from Beale Air Force Base on a training mission around 9 a.m., military officials said. They did not release the pilots’ names or any information about the condition of the surviving airman.

The aircraft, assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, crashed in the Sutter Buttes, a mountain range about 60 miles (97 kilometers) north of Sacramento.

Col. Larry Broadwell, the base commander, said the flight, including its flight path was routine before the crash. He pledged to support the family of the deceased pilot and said surveillance pilots will mourn the loss.

“These incidents, while extremely tragic and hard for us to overcome, they’re incidents that we do overcome,” Broadwell said. “I am confident that the U-2 squadrons here and the U-2 squadrons around the world are going to come off the mat stronger than they were before.”

The U-2 “Dragon Lady” is a surveillance and reconnaissance plane capable of flying above 70,000 feet (21,336 meters), an extremely high altitude that’s twice as high as a typical commercial airliner flies. The U-2 is known as one of the most difficult aircraft to fly at low altitudes due to the characteristics that allow it to travel near space, according to an Air Force fact sheet.

Beale Air Force Base is home to the Air Force’s fleet of single-seat U-2s and a double-seat variant used for training pilots to fly the specialized aircraft. It also is the base for the T-38 Talon, a training aircraft, and the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned surveillance drone. It houses 4,500 military personnel.

“We are saddened by our Airman’s death & offer condolences to the family & all who are mourning this tremendous loss,” Gen. Dave Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, said on Twitter.

Ejection seats allow military pilots to get out of a stricken plane and parachute safely to the ground. After the death in this instance, military investigators will look into whether the chute properly deployed and whether the pilot hit debris after ejecting, said Michael Barr, an aviation safety instructor at University of Southern California who flew fighter missions in Vietnam.

“If the chute didn’t properly deploy, that would be fatal,” Barr said.

The U-2 is slated for retirement in 2019 as the military relies increasingly on unmanned aircraft for intelligence gathering, though senior U.S. lawmakers from California are pressuring the Air Force to delay the retirement.

A U-2 based at Beale crashed in 1996 and slammed into the parking lot of a newspaper in Oroville, California. The pilot and a woman who had just renewed her newspaper subscription were killed.

Story: Jonathan Cooper

Soldiers to Monitor Abstract Play Recognizing 1976 Massacre

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Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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20 September 2016, 18:30

B-Floor’s ‘Fundamental’ performance. Photo: Wipat Lertpureewong / Courtesy

BANGKOK — A provocative theatre troupe is again under scrutiny from the junta, saying it was told Tuesday that soldiers will be dispatched to watch their play tomorrow evening.

Director Teerawat “Ka-ge” Mulvilai of B-Floor’s production “Fundamental” said he was notified by staff at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre this morning that when the play is staged Wednesday, representatives from the military would be there to watch.

Khaosod English wrote Sunday about B-Floor and the play, an abstract physical performance without narrative or dialogue.

“I don’t know what they’re worried about,” Ka-ge said Tuesday afternoon. “Our play talks about violence done by humans to one another and does not criticize society’s structure or any authority specifically.”

B-Floor member Ornanong “Golf” Thaisriwong said that soldiers arrived Tuesday to watch the show, unaware it was not performed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

This won’t be the first time B-Floor has been visited by the junta. Last year, Golf’s one-woman show “Bang La Merd” at Thong Lor Art Space was attended by two army officers who filmed all but the final two shows.

Teerawat ‘Ka-ge’ Mulvilai at a rehearsal for ‘Fundamental’ in July.

Army Names 2 ‘Royal Impostors’ Behind Fake Royal Guard

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Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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20 September 2016, 18:17

A photo taken on Sunday night shows the ID cards of a bogus royal bodyguard unit handed out to applicants by the two suspects.

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT — Two men accused of scamming recruits into a fake royal guard were being held on an army base Tuesday in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, the army announced.

Soldiers arrested Kraisri Chantarapanya, 47, and Pitsanu Amwongsa, 65, in the southern province Sunday night. They are the latest suspects in a series of crackdowns on “royal impostors,” what the authorities have termed people exploiting or claiming false ties to the Royal Family for personal gain.

An army report released Monday said that Kraisri claimed to be of royal bloodline, while Pitsanu recruited men to serve as “royal bodyguards.” They were at a resort and in the process of taking 2,500 baht per applicant when soldiers arrived to arrest them, the report issued by the 41st Army Circle said.

Nineteen job applicants were with the pair when soldiers showed up, but they were released after questioning, the report said.

Someone answering the phone for base commander Teenanat Chinda-ngoen said the major general was not ready to give further details to the press.

A search for Kraisri’s name online turned up many news articles over a period of several years detailing his visits to mosques and local government offices in the south. In those stories, he was identified as a royal secretary for a distant relative of His Majesty the King, a woman holding the title mom chao named Praphaphan Kornkosiyakart.

It was not clear when Kraisri and Pitsanu would be transferred to police custody.

Actions or remarks deemed defamatory toward the Royal Family are punishable by up to 15 years in prison under Section 112 of the Penal Code, a law also known as lese majeste.

In recent years, the law has been more broadly interpreted and also applied to those who exploited royal ties, whether real or false, to enrich themselves.

Former Palace Employee Arrested in Connection With Alleged Royal Impostors

Kingsguard Named ‘Royal Impostor,’ Stripped of Decorations

Army Colonel Accused of Insulting Monarchy as ‘Royal Impostor’

Trump Skips Cities, Seeks Support in Rural Towns

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Associated Press

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20 September 2016, 17:12

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in July during a news conference at Trump National Doral in Doral, Florida. Photo: Evan Vucci

KENANSVILLE, North Carolina — Donald Trump is spending a good bit of time in this critical presidential swing state, but he’s spending Tuesday evening far from cities like Charlotte and Raleigh where many candidates have courted moderate voters in recent years.

Instead, he’s zeroing in on this tiny, rural town of about 850 people to make his pitch to the disaffected, working-class white voters who have propelled his campaign. The strategy appears to be less about swaying undecideds and more about making sure supporters don’t stay home on Election Day.

Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 2-1 in Duplin County, but voters here have chosen the GOP presidential candidate the past two elections by a wide margin. Among those lifelong Democrats is James Teachey, a 78-year-old retired farmer, who said this year was the first he donated to a presidential campaign: $40 to Trump.

“People are sick and tired of the way things are going in Washington and the way people are running it,” he said. “I was born coming out of the Depression. We know what a dollar means, what leaving your door unlocked means. And all those things are gone.”

Trump’s business background is a big draw for his supporters here in Kenansville, where beyond the small downtown area’s handful of restaurants, gas stations and a couple of grocery stores lie farms that are the area’s major economic driver. Pork and poultry growers and processing plants employ thousands in Duplin County and have drawn thousands of Latinos who now account for more than 20 percent of the county’s population.

Trump’s rally is scheduled for the Duplin County Events Center, a building that can hold 4,000 spectators on the outskirts of Kenansville. Earlier in the day, he’ll make a stop through High Point, a hub of the declining furniture industry that was hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs but brings billions to the state each year by hosting a world-renowned furniture market and trade show.

Not many political candidates have come through over the years. Asked if he could remember any other presidential campaign visits, Teachey laughed and said he thought Eleanor Roosevelt came decades ago.

While Kenansville may seem like an unusual campaign stop, Trump’s decision to veer farther away from population centers shows that North Carolina is a state he has to win, said Thomas Eamon, a political science professor at East Carolina University.

“Campaigns do generally go to bigger cities, and going to a rural area, there’s a certain psychology in going to a small town like Kenansville. I think that symbolically could be good,” Eamon said, adding that the site’s location near an interstate highway can funnel in conservative spectators from nearby counties.

While North Carolina is dotted with left-leaning urban areas such as Raleigh and Charlotte, it also has one of the country’s largest rural populations. A 2012 analysis by the Census found that North Carolina ranked second only to Texas with 3.2 million rural residents.

Duplin County’s Latino farmworkers are upset by Trump’s comments about Mexicans and his stance on immigration, but many can’t vote because they are either guest workers or immigrants not legally in the U.S., said Justin Flores, a vice president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee.

“The ironic thing is that Donald Trump is coming to talk to a county that owes its entire economy to the work of immigrant workers, some undocumented, almost entirely from Mexico and Central America – the countries that Trump has spoken about with so much disrespect,” said Flores, who is based in neighboring Wayne County.

State voter registration figures show that the county has about 1,200 registered Hispanic voters; About 18,000 are white, while 9,000 are black.

Arthur Best, a black voter from Kenansville and U.S. Army veteran, is frustrated like many others by the lack of job opportunities, particularly for minorities. But for him, Trump is not the answer.

“I lost my father in Vietnam. He didn’t die for the foolishness we’re looking at today,” said Best, a Democrat who has been offended by Trump’s insults toward U.S. Sen. John McCain and the parents of a Muslim soldier killed while serving in Iraq.

Still, more than a quarter of Duplin County’s roughly 60,000 residents live in poverty, and only a fraction have college degrees, according to 2014 Census estimate. For voters like Bill Link, a retired U.S. Marine officer from nearby Beulaville, Trump’s promises to improve the economy are what really matter.

“The majority of people right now are leaning for Trump,” said Link, who drives trucks and owns a carnival equipment rental business. “Because we’re all working people. We all work for a living. We’re blue-collar, and we believe that the country has gone the wrong way.”

Story: Jonathan Drew

Saving Face on The World Stage: Obama’s Last UN Speech

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Associated Press

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20 September 2016, 16:42

President Barack Obama speaks during a bilateral meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Monday at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York. Photo: Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — Standing before the United Nations for the last time as president, Barack Obama will reassure foreign leaders that the world is better equipped to tackle its challenges than at almost any point in history despite a cascade of harrowing crises that seem devoid of viable solutions.

Obama’s speech is always a focal point of the annual U.N. General Assembly, but his address Tuesday also marks Obama’s swan song on the international stage. He stepped into his role eight years ago with sky-high expectations and has struggled to deliver when it comes to solving global problems partially beyond America’s control.

Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said the president was cognizant of the fact that bright spots such as economic growth and climate change cooperation are offset by the “great deal of unease” in the world, including Syria’s civil war and concerns about Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine.

“The way the president will approach this is trying to apply what we have done that’s worked in the last eight years as a template for how we deal with other crises,” Rhodes said.

He cited diplomatic achievements on Iran and global warming and outreach to former U.S adversaries Cuba and Myanmar as illustrative of the approach Obama hoped would continue after he leaves office.

Yet it will be hard for world leaders to look beyond the pressing problems that are shadowing this year’s U.N. confab.

Just as Obama and fellow heads of state were gathering Monday, Syria’s military declared the week-old cease-fire over following numerous breaches and airstrikes hitting an aid convoy to a distressed part of Syria, which the U.S. blamed on Syria or Russia. The setbacks were fresh indicators that even the most hard-fought diplomatic gambles have failed to lessen the violence in Syria for any lasting stretch of time.

And hanging over the U.N. gathering was a weekend bombing a short subway ride away that New York’s mayor has declared an act of terror. Security in Manhattan, already high in light of the U.N. summit, was further tightened.

Despite these concerns, the White House has cast Obama’s address as one of his final opportunities to define how his leadership has made the planet safer and more prosperous. Obama’s aides have focused on how the U.S. has a fraction of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan than it had when Obama took office and how nations are finally poised to act in concert to reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Obama’s other major priority at the U.N. this year is to force more aggressive action to mitigate the worst refugee crisis since World War II, stemming in large part from the Syria war. In addition to his speech, Obama on Tuesday planned to host a summit on refugees. The idea is for nations to show up with concrete commitments to accept and support more refugees, and Obama’s U.N. ambassador, Samantha Power, said the U.S. told several nations that their initial offers were insufficient.

The Obama administration has emphasized that a half-dozen other countries including Germany and Jordan are co-hosting the summit, but it’s largely been a U.S.-driven endeavor.

Story: Josh Lederman

2-Faced Calf Born in Kentucky

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Associated Press

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20 September 2016, 16:17

A 2-faced calf is born Friday at a farm in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Image: WDRB

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Kentucky — Visitors to a central Kentucky farm may do a double-take when they see the newest addition: a two-faced calf.

Stan McCubbin of Campbellsville told WDRB-TV that he thought he had twins when he first saw the calf on Friday, but quickly realized he had something far more unusual.

The female calf has two noses, two mouths and four eyes, though the middle two eyes don’t function. Although she can walk, the McCubbins say she ends up going in circles and falling over.

The family says most calves with such a genetic mutation are stillborn, but so far this one is eating and seems healthy.

McCubbin’s wife, Brandy, said their 5-year-old daughter, Kenley, named the calf Lucky because she’s lucky to be alive.

‘Sit Down!’ Video Captures Sinking of Chao Phraya Ferry (Video)

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Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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20 September 2016, 15:37

BANGKOK — A survivor of the fatal ferry accident that killed at least 27 passengers posted a video Tuesday afternoon of the moment the vessel foundered and started to sink.

“Sit down, sit down!” two passengers shout after double-decker boat, overloaded with more than 100 Muslim travelers, struck a concrete berm and began listing.

Screams of terror can be heard as some are seeing trying to escape the boat before the clip ends.

Hiaaaaa! Lizard Cowboys Kidnap Lumphini Park Residents (Photos)

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Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

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20 September 2016, 15:23

Dozens of water monitors, or hia, are captured in Bangkok’s Lumphini Park on Tuesday as part of a city effort to reduce the number of lizards there.

BANGKOK — Lured from the water by a delicious fish, the large scaly park resident instead finds a rope over his head. Wrangling him into a position he cannot offer resistance, a group of men approach and tie his jaws and legs before putting him into a sack.

Dozens of water monitors, animals called hia that are also a verbal exclamation point, were captured in Lumphini Park on Tuesday and shipped off to spend the rest of their lives in cages.

At least the ones which didn’t run fast enough.

Kicking off a campaign to reduce the population of the landmark park’s most distinctive denizens, City Hall officials said they hoped to catch 40 of the 400 water monitors today because people complained the reptiles scared them. They also said the big lizards have damaged the park grounds due to their weight.

“They don’t hurt people, but they destroy the nature, all the trees and flowers we have grown. Also the lake’s banks have been ruined,” said Suwanna Jungrungruang of Bangkok’s Environmental Department.

The lizards removed from the park will be taken to the Khaozon Wildlife Breeding Center in Ratchaburi province where Suwanna said they will be put in cages “with enough space to live.”

Not all of the large lizards, which are a distinctive feature popular with tourists, will be purged from the capital’s downtown park.

Admitting the presence of the lizards indicate a healthy ecosystem, Suwanna claimed the population has increased through the years, resulting in complaints to City Hall.

“They appear to walk in unsuitable places,” she said.

Thailand’s top wildlife official, Thanya Netithammakun, said Monday that he had informed city officials that water monitors are a protected species that never initiates harm against humans.

Suwanna indicated there was no specific plan and the city was playing it by ear.

After today’s removal effort, she said her department will coordinate with academics and related agencies to devise a plan to limit the lizard’s population.

Asked how many water monitors can be removed without affecting the park ecosystem, Suwanna said it was an excellent question “but we don’t yet have an answer.”

Instead she said the hia reduction was part of City Hall’s ambitious development plan to raise Lumphini Park to “world-class standards’ in time for its centennial in 2025.

The morning chase was disrupted by park enthusiasts who came to protest the policy.

“Hia never hurt people,” said Niphon Boonyapattharo of the We Love Lumphini Park Foundation, adding that he’s cycled in the park for a decade. “They are friends with everyone, from security guards to vendors. City Hall has a lot of other work to do, why are they wasting their time with the hia?”

Prayuth’s Brother Defends Lucrative Army Contracts Awarded to Son

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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20 September 2016, 14:36

An Aug. 2015 file photo of Preecha Chan-ocha and his wife Pongpan Chan-ocha. Image: Matichon

BANGKOK — A nephew of junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha received nearly 27 million baht in contracts from the army region his father once commanded, an investigative news agency reported Monday.

The revelations by Isra News that the contracts awarded to a firm owned by Pathompol Chan-ocha prompted fresh allegations of nepotism from critics of the junta, while Pathompol’s father, Gen. Preecha Chan-ocha, said there’s nothing wrong with the arrangement.

“I didn’t get involved at all, and I didn’t use any influence. It’s about what my son did. I didn’t get involved,” Preecha told reporters Monday.

Preecha formerly commanded the Third Region Army, which awarded the contracts to his son Pathompol this year and last. At the time they were awarded, he had moved up in the ranks to deputy army chief and later permanent secretary of defense.

He said he wasn’t worried about the disclosure.

“As for Isra News’ publishing the information, I’m not paying attention to it. If they want to reveal any information, they can do it. I’m not concerned,” he said.

Preecha is a younger brother of Prime Minister and junta chairman Prayuth.

According to documents published by Isra News on Monday, Pathompol’s company, called Contemporary Construction, won contracts from the Third Region Army in March 2015 and April 2016 worth a total 26.8 million baht.

For the first, the company took 13.6 million baht to build a meeting hall on an army base in Phetchabun province. The second was to construct family residences for 10 commissioned officers at an army hospital in Tak province, at a budget of 13.2 million baht.

After learning of the news, some critics of the junta faulted it for not taking its own anti-corruption pledge seriously when it came to its own kind.

“I remember that Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha once clearly pledged in his show ‘Returning Happiness to the People’ that he would deal with corrupt people,” former Yellowshirt activist Veera Somkwamkid wrote Monday. “He wouldn’t spare anyone. I urge him to do it. Please deal with your brother.”

Gen. Preecha – who in addition to his Defense Ministry post is also a junta member and lawmaker in its appointed legislature – said his son adhered to the law in securing the army contracts.

“Everything my son did followed every procedure. I didn’t interfere or use my power to force them, like, ‘This is my son, he has to have the project,’” Preecha said.

It was the second controversy to hit Preecha and his family this week, and not the first time he’s been accused of nepotism. Preecha drew ire in April for making another son, Patipat Chan-ocha, an army officer despite his lack of a military background.

In recent days, opponents of the junta on social media have taken jabs at Preecha’s wife Pongpan Chan-ocha being treated like royalty by the army.

Czech Out Animated Fairy Tales And More This Weekend

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Kaewta Ketbungkan, Staff Reporter

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20 September 2016, 14:05

BANGKOK — A centuries-old fairy tale adapted into puppet animation by a legendary Czech filmmaker to oppose Soviet rule will show for free this weekend as part of a Czech animation festival.

Despite praise as the “Walt Disney of Eastern Europe,” Jiri Trnka was more experimental in style and technique, which helped him clinch several international awards during his 20-year film career.

In “The Emperor’s Nightingale,” adapted from Hans Christian Andersen’s story of a Chinese emperor’s taste for mechanical birdsong, Trnka portrays the post-war years of what was then Czechoslovakia under communist rule in an animated masterpiece that would go on to win awards internationally.

It’s among three of Trnka’s works to screen during Czech Animation Weekend, along with the 1962’s “Cybernetic Grandma” and the “Hand” from 1986, a year before Trnka’s death.

The fest will include works by Jan Svankmajer, Bretislav Pojar, Jiri Barta and Karel Zeman.

For more insights into Czech animation history, feel free to join a discussion led by Japanese film scholar Keiko Sei at 1pm on Sept. 24. The discussion will be in English.

The full schedule is online and admission is free.

Enjoy the weekend of Czech animation from 1pm to 7pm on Sept. 24 and 25 at the Reading Room on Soi Silom 19. It can be reached by a 10-minute walk or brief ride from BTS Surasak.

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