Garbage Bombs Injure 3 BKK City Workers

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15 April 2015, 11:09

Soldiers searched a house in Soi Sukhumvit 101/1, Bangkok, following the small blast in the alley, 14 April 2015

BANGKOK – Three cleaning works were injured yesterday by homemade bombs that were hidden inside a garbage bag in a suburb of Bangkok.

According to police, the three workers were collecting bags of trash on Soi Sukhumvit 101/1 in Bang Na district when they noticed a plastic bag filled with four round-shaped objects wrapped in black duct tape.

One of the workers reportedly unwrapped the bag and the objects immediately exploded in his hands.

The three wounded victims are employees of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's city cleaning department. Police identified them as Amphon Saebe, 47; Goon Chiangchai, 44; and Surat Sitthipanya, 21.

Police officers soon cordoned off the area and found two more homemade bombs in the bags. Police identified the explosives as "ping pong bombs," which are commonly used by teenage gangs in Thailand.

Phanit Ngamthaweewiwan, a resident who lives close to where the explosives were found, said there was a brawl between two gangs in her neighborhood on the evening of 13 April.

"I don't know if it's related to the bombs," Phanit said.

Pol.Maj.Gen. Nipon Charoenphol, deputy commander of Bangkok police, told reporters it is highly likely that members of a local gang dumped the bombs in the garbage bag following a gang fight to get rid of the evidence.

"We are checking CCTV footage in the area and collecting witnesses' testimonies to identify the perpetrators," Pol.Maj.Gen. Nipon said, adding that the bombs appeared to be made from rocks and gunpowder bounded together by a duct tape.

Pol.Col. Kamthorn Uicharoen, an officer of the police EOD team, said the bombs are not related to other recent bomb attacks in Bangkok, such as the twin bombing of Siam Paragon shopping mall on 1 February 2015, which police believe were politically motivated.

"These bombs are found among polytechnic students. It's not related to attempts to cause unrest, because in those cases the perpetrators used explosives that are more damaging," Po.Col. Kamthorn said.

Police say security officers searched a house in Soi Sukhumvit 101/1 that was identified by locals as a place where gang members often meet up. The search turned up one homemade handgun, seven swords, and one wooden stick, though there is no evidence that linked the home owner to the blasts, police said.

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Indonesia Investigates Allegations of Forced Labour at Sea

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14 April 2015, 13:05

Rohingya refugees from Myanmar gather on a boat as they are rescued by Thai Navy officers before going to Malaysia, at the Andaman coast, Phuket, southern Thailand, 29 January 2013. Indonesia's national rights commission said Tuesday it was investigating allegations that hundreds of people, mostly from Myanmar, are forced to work on fishing boats with little or no pay. EPA/YONGYOT PRUKSARAK<br /> — Rohingya refugees from Myanmar gather on a boat as they are rescued by Thai Navy officers before going to Malaysia, at the Andaman coast, Phuket, southern Thailand, 29 January 2013. Indonesia's national rights commission said Tuesday it was investigating allegations that hundreds of people, mostly from Myanmar, are forced to work on fishing boats with little or no pay. EPA/YONGYOT PRUKSARAK

JAKARTA (DPA) – Indonesia's national rights commission said Tuesday it was investigating allegations that hundreds of people, mostly from Myanmar, are forced to work on fishing boats with little or no pay.

Police said the labourers from Myanmar and Thailand were promised jobs in Thailand but were instead taken to Benjina on Indonesia's Aru Islets where they were forced to work for Thai fishing boat captains.

More than 300 of them were freed and returned to Thailand and Myanmar this month after the practice was exposed.

"Our team is currently interviewing all people involved in the business," said Siti Noor Laila, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights.

The head of the police's human trafficking division, Arie Darmanto, said officers from Mynamar were to arrive Wednesday to join the criminal investigation, the Kompas daily reported.

Arie said the workers were denied payment and mistreated.

"When they asked for their wages, they were locked up in cells," Arie was quoted as saying.

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Indonesia Investigates Allegations of Forced Labour at Sea

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14 April 2015, 13:05

JAKARTA (DPA) – Indonesia's national rights commission said Tuesday it was investigating allegations that hundreds of people, mostly from Myanmar, are forced to work on fishing boats with little or no pay.

Police said the labourers from Myanmar and Thailand were promised jobs in Thailand but were instead taken to Benjina on Indonesia's Aru Islets where they were forced to work for Thai fishing boat captains.

More than 300 of them were freed and returned to Thailand and Myanmar this month after the practice was exposed.

"Our team is currently interviewing all people involved in the business," said Siti Noor Laila, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights.

The head of the police's human trafficking division, Arie Darmanto, said officers from Mynamar were to arrive Wednesday to join the criminal investigation, the Kompas daily reported.

Arie said the workers were denied payment and mistreated.

"When they asked for their wages, they were locked up in cells," Arie was quoted as saying.

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Redshirt Arrested, Accused of Link to Samui Bombing

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13 April 2015, 15:51

Aftermath of the car bomb at Central Festival Samui shopping mall, 11 April 2015

BANGKOK – Military officers have detained a Redshirt activist on suspicion of plotting a car bomb and arson attack in the southern province of Surat Thani last Friday.

Col. Winthai Suwaree, spokesperson of the ruling military junta, told reporters yesterday that soldiers arrested Narin Ambuathong at his residence in Nonthaburi on 11 April.

Col. Winthai said Narin will be held at an unspecified location for interrogation for seven days in accordance with provisions issued under Article 44 of the interim institution, which allows the military to search properties and detain individuals without court warrants, among other powers.

According to the spokesperson, Narin posted on his Facebook account on 10 April that he was planning to stage attacks in Surat Thani province to express his opposition to the junta.

"Tonight, bring it on in Surat," Narin allegedly wrote in the Facebook post, which has been widely shared on social media. "Who's with me? Let's destroy them. #opposethecoup #opposeArticle44."

On the night of 10 April a car bomb exploded in the basement parking lot of a shopping mall on Surat Thani's Samui island, a popular tourist destination. The blast injured seven people, including a 12-year-old Italian girl, according to rescue workers.

Almost simultaneously, a fire broke out at Surat Thani Cooperative Store on the mainland, though no one was injured. Police say the store belongs to Suthep Thaugsuban, former deputy chairman of the Democrat Party and leader of the street protests that sought to topple the Redshirt-backed government prior to the May 2014 coup.

The incidents came amid preperations to celebrate the Thai traditional New Year, known as Songkran, which takes place between 13 and 15 April.

In yesterday's press conference, Col. Winthai said Narin has not been formally charged with any crime. He insisted that the Redshirt activist will be treated fairly.

"I cannot reveal to you where he is being held, because this details belong to our operatives," Col. Winthai said at a press conference yesterday. "But if the suspect or any individual has doubt that Narin is not being given fairness, after the operation is completed officials will permit [the public] to investigate it."

The Redshirts are loyal to the elected government overthrown former army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha on 22 May 2014. Gen. Prayuth later appointed himself as junta chairman and was chosen to be Prime Minister by a rubber stamp parliament in August 2014.

Speaking to Khaosod yesterday, core Redshirt leader Cherdchai Tantisirin dismissed the alleged connection between Redshirts and the twin attacks in Surat Thani.

Cherdchai said it is "impossible" that Redshirt groups would manage to stage bomb attacks in Surat Thani because the province is considered the heartland of the Democrat Party.

"And there is no benefit to do it, either," Cherdchai said. "It may have been groups that are not pleased with the government or Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, or it may have been people who used to cheer him, and are now disappointed. Why would Redshirts do that?"

Link to southern insurgency dismissed

The military junta has also says the incidents are not related to the ongoing insurgency in the southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, where shadowy Islamic militant groups have been battling security forces to create a independent state for the last decade.

More than 6,200 people have been killed in the region, known as the Deep South, since the secessionist violence broke out in early 2004.

"I am confident that the motive behind the attacks is not to expand the violence from the three southern border provinces," said current chief of the Royal Thai Army, Gen. Udomdet Sitabutr.

Although he confirmed that the vehicle used in the car bomb was stolen from Yala, and that security officers have not discounted any possible motive in their investigation, Gen. Udomdet said southern insurgency is not considered the most likely cause.

"It may have been an issue of political discontent," he suggested.

In a press conference yesterday, Col. Winthai, the junta spokesman, similarly denied that separatists were behind the attacks in Surat Thani.

"I can confirm to you that it is not an expansion of the staging area by insurgent groups in the three southern border provinces," Col. Winthai said, adding that security officers will step up security measures to prevent any other incidents in the future.

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Chinese Foreign Trade Volume Dips 6 Percent in First Quarter

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13 April 2015, 12:54

Shipping containers in Shanghai, China, 11 November 2014. China's foreign trade volume dipped by 6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter to 5.54 trillion yuan (902 billion dollars), state-run Xinhua news agency reported Monday. Photo: Ole Spata/dpa<br /> — Shipping containers in Shanghai, China, 11 November 2014. China's foreign trade volume dipped by 6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter to 5.54 trillion yuan (902 billion dollars), state-run Xinhua news agency reported Monday. Photo: Ole Spata/dpa

BEIJING (DPA) – China's foreign trade volume dipped by 6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter to 5.54 trillion yuan (902 billion dollars), state-run Xinhua news agency reported Monday.

The value of China's exports rose 4.9 per cent in March compared to the same period in 2014 to 3.15 trillion yuan, while imports shrank by 17.3 per cent to 2.39 trillion yuan, according to customs data.

Foreign trade in March decreased by 13.5 per cent compared to the previous year, with exports and imports dropping by 14.6 per cent and 12.3 per cent respectively.

China aims to increase its imports and exports by around 6 per cent this year, according to a government report released last month.

The government wants to encourage domestic consumption to rebalance the economy against a reliance on exports, but the latest figures indicate that exports continue to be a key driver of China's economic growth.

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McDonald's at 60 in Fierce Battle Against Healthful Rivals

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12 April 2015, 12:49

NEW YORK (DPA) – McDonald's started out 75 years ago as a simple hamburger stand in California.

As it celebrates its 60th birthday as a global corporation, it is a fast food empire with more than 36,000 restaurants in 119 countries, with annual sales of more than 27 billion dollars.

But the restaurant chain is immersed in the worst crisis in its history. Global sales fell in 2014, for the first time in more than a decade, and the market leader is under heavy fire at home in the United States.

By 2015, the McDonalds's slogan "I'm lovin' it" sounds like a marketing ploy far-removed from reality.

Customers are turning their backs on the fast food giant in droves. Within the US, classic competitors like Burger King, Taco Bell and Wendy's are challenging McDonald's dominance of the low price end of the "fast food" market. At the upper end, smaller chains like Five Guys, Shake Shack and In-N-Out are booming.

Overall, the trend is moving towards the more refined "fast casual dining," and companies like Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread are succeeding by marketing their products as a healthy option on the "fast food" scene.

As business has lagged, company CEO Don Thompson stepped down this year after less than three years on the job. In March, successor Steve Easterbrook put the firm into crisis mode. McDonald's urgently needs to adapt to consumers' changing preferences, Easterbrook said.

Customers are to be lured back with new products on the menu. Analysts speculate that trendy kale, popular with the health-conscious community, will soon be on offer. The company will experiment with all-day breakfasts.

Easterbrook is taking steps to restore McDonald's ailing reputation by agreeing to use less meat from chickens that were fed antibiotics and granting a long-demanded wage increase for its employees.

Critics say the steps are lame at best. Employees, for one, intend to keep protesting over still-low wages.

McDonald's image and sales are under pressure outside the US, too. In Asia, the consequences are still being felt from a scandal over rotten meat found at one of the company's suppliers. In Europe, as in the US, competition from premium burger suppliers is rising. Pizza, sandwich and fast food fish outlets add to the competition.

In Germany, a key element of what made McDonald's world-famous is being partially dropped: Guests no longer necessarily have to order at the counter, and can expect waiter service at their table.

"That's a major step for us," the firm's top executive in Germany Holger Beeck said at the recent re-opening of the chain's largest restaurant at Frankfurt airport – now complete with waiters.

It's uncertain whether McDonald's can reverse the current trend with new recipes, waiters and higher wages. But it's too soon to write it off altogether.

For shareholders at least, the company still holds one trump card – its huge real estate holdings. McDonald's owns more than half of all the land and buildings of its restaurants, and analysts believe that portfolio alone is worth more than 20 billion dollars.

New York hedge funds like Glenview Capital are already eyeing these assets and want them to be split off into their own investment fund.

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Bangladesh Hangs Islamist Leader Over War Crimes

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12 April 2015, 12:44

Former fighters who won Bangladesh's independence celebrate in Dhaka in this May 2013 file photo after the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Islamist party leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman to death for atrocities committed in 1971 during the war of independence against Pakistan. Kamaruzzaman was hanged Saturday. EPA/ABIR ABDULLAH<br /> — Former fighters who won Bangladesh's independence celebrate in Dhaka in this May 2013 file photo after the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Islamist party leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman to death for atrocities committed in 1971 during the war of independence against Pakistan. Kamaruzzaman was hanged Saturday. EPA/ABIR ABDULLAH

DHAKA (DPA) – Senior Islamist party politician Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was hanged Saturday for crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan, officials said.

His execution was carried out five days after the Supreme Court dismissed his request for a review of the death sentence.

Kamaruzzaman, 62, was sentenced to death in May 2013 by a special tribunal set up to prosecute people who worked with the Pakistani military during the war. Both Pakistan and its local agents were responsible for atrocities on unarmed civilians during the nine-month conflict.

Kamaruzzaman, who was a senior leader in the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, was hanged Saturday night at Dhaka Central Jail, prison official Farman Ali said.

He had been sentenced to death for his involvement in crimes that included mass killings, abductions, torture, rape, persecution and complicity in torture.

Most top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, which opposed the creation of Bangladesh, have already been convicted of war crimes by the tribunal.

The party has called the trials politically motivated.

Television footage showed Kamaruzzaman's body brought out of the prison by an ambulance under a heavy police presence.

The body was taken to his village home in northern Sherpur district, where he had carried out atrocities on civilians during the war.

Members of Kamaruzzaman's family met him for an hour before the execution. "My father was in good health, and he was not troubled," Hasan Iqbal, Kamaruzzaman's son, told local media.

Bangladesh won its independence four decades ago in a bloody war that left an estimated 3 million people dead, 200,000 women raped and numerous homes torched.

Kamaruzzaman was the second Jamaat-e-Islami leader executed over war crimes charges after Abdul Kader Mullah was hanged in 2013.

The government beefed up security across Bangladesh apparently to prevent violence by activists from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which earlier went on rampage when verdicts in war crimes cases were handed down.

Several hundred youths, who have long demanded trials for the war crimes suspects, celebrated the execution in Dhaka, and demanded the immediate execution of all other war crimes convicts.

The special tribunal has so far handed down verdicts to 18 defendants – all found guilty of offences including crimes against humanity, murder and rape.

Fourteen were sentenced to death, three to life in prison and another to 90 years in jail.

Saturday's execution means that two have now been hanged and another two have died in prison

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set up the tribunal in 2010 after an earlier attempt to prosecute the suspects was called off following the 1975 assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding president and Hasina's father.

The then East Pakistan became Bangladesh after the fighting ended with the surrender of Pakistani forces on December 16, 1971. The accused allegedly collaborated with the occupying army during the nine-month conflict.

(Reporting by Nazrul Islam, dpa)

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China Threatens to Suspend Web Portal's News Services

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12 April 2015, 12:37

BEIJING (DPA) – Chinese web portal and social media company Sina will have its internet news services suspended if it fails to improve its censorship of illegal content, state media said Saturday.

Citing alleged "massive numbers of public complaints about its law violations," the Cyberspace Administration of China summoned Sina executives to a meeting in Beijing late Friday, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Sina had "spread illegal information related to rumors, violence and terrorism, pornography, swindling, advocation of heresies and has distorted news facts, violated morality and engaged in media hype," the regulator said on its website.

If the company fails to meet the administration's requirements, it would be "seriously" punished, it said.

Sina's executives pledged to intensify censorship and publish more information with "positive energy," Xinhua said.

Since President Xi Jinping came to power in early 2013, the Communist Party has overseen a massive campaign to bring China's internet under stricter government control.

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Body Believed to be Murdered Bride-to-be Found in Australia

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11 April 2015, 15:05

SYDNEY (DPA) – A body found in Australia is believed to be that of a teacher who was murdered days before her wedding, police said Saturday.

Stephanie Scott, 26, went missing in Leeton, about 550 kilometres from Sydney in western New South Wales on Sunday.

Three days later Vincent Stanford, 24, a janitor at the school were she taught, was arrested and charged with her murder.

Media reports said police found traces of Scott's blood in Stanford's car and images of a body on his mobile phone.

Investigators found a woman's body in bushes some 70 kilometres from Leeton near Griffith. It had been burned, according to police.

"We certainly believe the remains are those of Stephanie," Griffith police Superintendent Michael Rowan said Saturday.

The murder shocked the farming community of about 11,000 people.

Scott's fiance Aaron Leeson-Woolley and their families invited the public to a picnic in Leeton to celebrate her life on what would have been their wedding day Saturday.

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Car Stolen From Deep South Used in Samui Mall Bombing

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11 April 2015, 14:26

Fire at Surat Thani Cooperative Store, 10 April 2015

SURAT THANI – Police have confirmed that a car stolen from the restive southern border province of Yala was used to stage a bomb attack at a prominent shopping mall on Koh Samui island last night.

The car bomb exploded at the parking lot of Central Festival Samui at around 10.30 pm yesterday. The blast injured at least six Thais and one 12-year-old Italian girl, rescue workers say.

Almost simultaneously, a fire erupted at Surat Thani Cooperative Store, known among the locals as Co-op, in the mainland, though it has not been confirmed whether the two incidents are linked.

According to police, witnesses said they heard "two loud explosions" from the Co-op building shortly before the fire started.

The incidents came at a time when the country was preparing to celebrate the occasion of Thai traditional New Year, or Songkran, which takes place between 13 and 15 April. Koh Samui island is also a popular destination for Thai and foreign tourists.

Pol.Gen. Somyot Pumpanmuang, commander of the Royal Thai Police, told reporters today that the car bomb vehicle that targeted Central Festival mall was reported stolen in Yala province on 31 March. The car was bearing a forged license plate when it was found at the bomb site, Pol.Gen. Somyot added.

"We found evidence that the perpetrators installed explosives in the car," Pol.Gen. Somyot said as he visited the bomb site, "But we are still investigating what type of bomb it was."

The southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat have been the hotbed of the separatist insurgency for the last decade. Shadowy Islamic militants regularly stage bomb attacks, arson, and shootings against the security force and civilians in the bid to revive the independent sultanate of Patani, which was annexed by Thailand in early 20th century.

More than 6,200 people are believed to have been killed since the secessionist campaign broke out in the region, known as the Deep South, in 2004. The violence occasionally spilled to the neighboring province of Songkhla, though Surat Thani has been spared from the bloody insurgency so far.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks last night. Pol.Gen. Somyot said it is too early to determine motives of the incidents. However, he suggested that the arson of the Co-op store may have been politically-motivated.

"We are investigating whether politics is involved, because Co-op is owned by Phra Suthep, or Mr. Suthep Thaugsuban," Pol.Gen. Somyot said, referring to the leader of the street protests that preceded the coup d'etat on 22 May 2014.

The police commissioner continued, "As for our intelligence, there has been no previous warning of any unrest during Songkran festival, but police have been vigilant all the time. I would like to condemn the perpetrators. They have no good will toward the country."

"I admit that the bombing will certainly affect tourism, because the area has many Thai and foreign tourists. I will instruct all units to step up security measures," Pol.Gen. Somyot said.

Meanwhile, police have detained a man who identified himself as owner of the car used in the bombing. Abdulrasae Dumeedae, a 52-year-old Yala resident, said he informed the police that his car was stolen on 31 March.

Abdulrasae is currently being detained at a paramilitary ranger base in Yala for interrogation, said Pol.Maj.Gen. Thanongsak Wangsupha, commander of Yala police force.

"Mr. Abdulrasae gave contradictory testimonies about the incident. He has not provided us with any useful information," Pol.Maj.Gen. Thanongsak said.

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