H.E. Mr. Robert F. Godec, who became the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand since October last year, had a meeting with Government Spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri, at the Thai Khu Fah Building on February 10, 2023. They discussed activity plans for both sides to organize the celebration of the 190th anniversary of the U.S.-Thailand diplomatic relations.
In March, Ambassador Godec will bring Trade Winds, the annual U.S. government-led trade mission and business development forum, to Bangkok. He also promises that the forum will feature Thailand as its regional hub to ASEAN countries, and to strengthen the importance of the U.S.-Thailand economic ties.
H.E. Mr. Robert F. Godec, Ambassador of the United States to Thailand, pays a courtesy call on the Deputy Secretary-General to the Prime Minister and Acting Government Spokesperson Mr.Anucha Burapachaisri at Government House.
Furthermore, Ambassador Godec told Chanadda Jinayodhin, Matichon Weekly about his commitment and goal to enhance a closer cooperation between U.S. and Thailand, regarding his broad experience on trade and international affairs.
“The Indo-Pacific is considered the most significant region for the US framework on stability and prosperity with our partners and allies. I want to highlight my commitment in enhancing the closer and stronger collaboration for U.S. and Thailand. And I would dedicate all my time and energy to this mission.”
He emphasized that the Thai-U.S. relationship was established almost two centuries ago, as the American first arrived at the region with the interest in trading opportunities. The growing partnership between countries is prominent and the U.S. vision for Thailand in the future is to enhance cooperation on peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.
“I want to hear from Thais in all walks of life” Ambassador Godec said.
Mr. Robert F. Godec, Ambassador of the United States to Thailand
Previously, he had served as U.S. Ambassador to Kenya from 2013-2019 and Ambassador to Tunisia from 2006-2009. However, he revealed to Matichon Weekly that when he was young, he never dreamt of being a diplomat.
But his father served in the U.S. Airforce, and he had to move to different position in the States and abroad, including Germany and Belgium. He admitted that his childhood was incredibly special and the passion for learning and exploring various cultures might have thrived ever since.
“The meaning of being an ambassador is that wherever you are, in the end, you will connect with people, and having a mission on building and bridging relationships”
Throughout his experience, Asia is the second most visited region to him. Prior to the recent position, he had served as Assistant Office Director for Thailand and Burma in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Director for Southeast Asian Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Ambassador Robert F. Godec
Serving in these specific positions gave him a wonderful opportunity to visit every country in the Southeast Asia, except Vietnam.
“In one of my stays at the Grand Hiatt Erawan in Bangkok, I went to pay homage to Phra Phrom at the Erawan shrine. I prayed for the return to Thailand as a tourist or a diplomat. And I am here right now. It feels like a blessing.”
The first week of his arrival in Bangkok last year, he went to Erawan shrine to pay homage as he was grateful, he could be back to Thailand again. He also visited other sacred places, including Wat Pra Kaew and Wat Arun.
He stated that he is interested in so many things, including music, art, history, and literature. But in his personal time, the priority is his wife and his family, plus the hobby he cherished.
“I love running. I spend my time jogging every day. In Bangkok, I usually run at the Lumbhini Park or Benchakitti Park. And I love going to museums as well. I already visited the Queen’s Gallery and the Bangkok Art and Culture Center.”
During his visit to U.S. Consulate General Chiang Mai, he stopped by Chiang Mai City Arts and Cultural Center, and attended Loi Krathong ceremony. And the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) also granted 150,000 USD to the restoration project of the historic Lanna buildings.”
“And for the food, I love Thai food, including street foods like grilled chicken skewer, meatball skewer and Thai-styled banana fritter.” Ambassador Godec added.
FILE - Emergency teams search for people in the rubble of a destroyed building in Adana, southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish justice officials targeted more than 130 people allegedly involved in shoddy and illegal construction methods as rescuers extricated more survivors, including a pregnant woman and two small children, six days after a pair of earthquakes collapsed thousands of buildings.
The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude and 7.5 magnitude quakes that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria nine hours apart on Feb. 6 rose to 33,179 on Sunday and was certain to keep increasing as search teams locate more bodies in the rubble.
As despair bred rage at the agonizingly slow rescue efforts, the focus turned to assigning blame for the disaster in an earthquake-prone region that includes an area of Syria already suffering from years of civil war.
Aerial photo showing the destruction in Kahramanmaras city center, southern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. (IHA via AP)
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Sunday that some 131 people were under investigation for their alleged responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes. While the quakes were powerful, victims, experts and people across Turkey are blaming faulty construction for multiplying the devastation.
Turkey’s construction codes meet current earthquake-engineering standards, at least on paper, but they are too rarely enforced, explaining why thousands of buildings toppled over or pancaked down onto the people inside.
Among those facing scrutiny were two more people who were arrested in Gaziantep province on suspicion of having cut down columns to make extra room in a building that collapsed in the quakes, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.
The justice ministry said three people in all were under arrest pending trial, seven were detained and another seven were barred from leaving Turkey.
Authorities at Istanbul Airport on Sunday detained two contractors held responsible for the destruction of several buildings in Adiyaman, the private DHA news agency and other media reported. The pair were reportedly on their way to Georgia.
One of the detained contractors, Yavuz Karakus, told reporters: “My conscience is clear. I built 44 buildings. Four of them were demolished. I did everything according to the rules,” DHA quoted him as saying.
FILE – People sit and stand around a collapsed buildings in Golbasi, in Adiyaman province, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Authorities at Istanbul Airport on Sunday detained two contractors held responsible for the destruction of several buildings in Adiyaman, the private DHA news agency and other media reported. The pair were reportedly on their way to Georgia.
One of the arrested contractors, Yavuz Karakus, told reporters Sunday: “My conscience is clear. I built 44 buildings. Four of them were demolished. I did everything according to the rules,” the DHA news agency reported.
Two more people were arrested in the province of Gaziantep suspected of having cut down columns to make extra room in a building that collapsed, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.
Rescuers use a crane to pull out Muhammet Habib, 27, from a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, late Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023. (Ismail Coskun/IHA via AP)
The detentions could help direct public anger toward builders and contractors, deflecting attention away from local and state officials who allowed the apparently sub-standard constructions to go ahead.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, already burdened by an economic downturn and high inflation, faces parliamentary and presidential elections in May.
Survivors, many of whom lost loved ones, have turned their frustration and anger also at authorities. Rescue crews have been overwhelmed by the widespread damage which has impacted roads and airports, making it even more difficult to race against the clock.
FILE – Aerial photo shows the destruction in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (Ahmet Akpolat/DIA via AP)
Erdogan acknowledged earlier in the week that the initial response has been hampered by the extensive damage. He said the worst-affected area was 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter and was home to 13.5 million people in Turkey. During a tour of quake-damaged cities Saturday, Erdogan said a disaster of this scope was rare, and again referred to it as the “disaster of the century.”
Rescuers, including crews from other countries, continued to probe the rubble in hope of finding additional survivors who could yet beat the increasingly long odds. Thermal cameras were used to probe the piles of concrete and metal, while rescuers demanded silence so that they could hear the voices of the trapped.
Two sisters were removed from the wreckage on Sunday in the city of Adiyaman, 153 hours after the quake, according to HaberTurk television, which also broadcast the live rescue of a 6-year-old boy removed from the debris of his home in Adiyaman.
The child was wrapped in a space blanket and put into an ambulance. An exhausted rescuer removed his surgical mask and took deep breaths as a group of women could be heard crying in joy.
Rescue workers pull out Rukiye Sincar, 21, from a collapsed building in Adiyaman, southern Turkey, late Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. (IHA via AP)
Turkey’s health minister, Fahrettin Koca, posted a video of a young girl in a navy blue jumper who was rescued. “Good news at the 150th hour. Rescued a little while ago by crews. There is always hope!” he tweeted.
Rescue workers pulled out a man in Antakya, hours after hearing voices from beneath the rubble. Workers said the man, who appeared to be in his late 20s or 30s, was one of nine still trapped in the building. But when asked whether he knew of any other survivors, he said he hadn’t heard any voices for three days.
The man weakly waved his hand as he was passed hand to hand on a stretcher as workers applauded and chanted, “God is great!”
FILE – A destroyed building in Antakya, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
A team of German and Turkish relief workers rescued an 88-year-old woman alive from rubble in Kirikhan, German news agency dpa reported. The efforts of a team of Italian and Turkish rescuers also paid off when they removed a 35-year-old man from the wreckage in the hard-hit city of Antakya. Mustafa Sarigul, appeared to be unscathed as he was transported on a stretcher to an ambulance, private NTV television reported.
Overnight, a child was also freed in the town of Nizip, in Gaziantep, state-run Anadolu Agency reported, while a 32-year woman, was rescued from the ruins of a eight-story building in the city of Antakya. The woman, a teacher named Meltem, asked for tea as soon as she emerged, according to NTV.
In Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter of the first 7.8 quake that struck early Monday morning, efforts were underway to reach a survivor detected by sniffer dogs beneath a now-pancaked seven-story building, NTV reported.
Those found alive, however, remained the rare exception.
A large makeshift graveyard was under construction in Antakya’s outskirts on Saturday. Backhoes and bulldozers dug pits in the field as trucks and ambulances loaded with black body bags arrived continuously. The hundreds of graves, spaced no more than 3 feet (a meter) apart, were marked with simple wooden planks set vertically in the ground.
The picture is less clear of the plight across the border in Syria.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths, visiting the Turkish-Syrian border Sunday, said in a statement that Syrians have been left “looking for international help that hasn’t arrived.”
“We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria. They rightly feel abandoned,” he said, adding, “My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can.”
Civil defense workers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
The first U.N convoy to reach northwest Syria from Turkey was on Thursday, three days after the earthquake.
Before that, the only cargo coming across the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border was a steady stream of bodies of earthquake victims — Syrian refugees who had fled the war in their country and settled in Turkey but perished in Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake — coming home for burial.
Political disputes have also held up aid convoys sent from areas of northeast Syria controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish groups to those controlled by the Syrian government and by Turkish-backed rebels who have fought with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces over the years.
The death toll in Syria’s northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue worker group the White Helmets. The overall death toll in Syria stood at 3,553 on Saturday, though the 1,387 deaths reported for government-held parts of the country hadn’t been updated in days.
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Fraser reported from Ankara. Abby Sewell in Beirut and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.
Soldiers and cadets perform the traditional Wai Kru ceremony during a Muay Thai festival at Rajabhakti Park in Hua Hin on Feb. 6, 2023.
As I type these words, some Thai and Cambodian trolls are doing their mighty best to undermine the future cultural relations between the two countries. The rocky cultural relations between the two neighbors with so much cultural commonality is now more of hate than love relations.
The claim that Thai boxing or Muay Thai (มวยไทย) was originally an adaptation from Cambodian kickboxing or Kun Khmer and the introduction of Kun Khmer to the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games have set off a frenzy of cultural chauvinistic battles on both sides of the border, particularly after Thailand has refused to participate in Kun Khmer competition during the SEA Games this May.
The Thai Army returned fire by enlisting 3,650 Thai soldiers and cadres to perform a pre-bout reverential dance earlier this week and have the Guinness Book of World’s Records to be a witness with PM Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha on site. The performance was led by no less than Muay Thai boxing legend Buakaw Banchamek. It was a symbolic message sent to Cambodia as much as a (tax-wasting) attempt to assure locals of the uniqueness of Thai boxing.
In Cambodia, the Khmer Times reported on Feb. 3 that the honorary chairman of Khmer Boxing Federation Oknha Srey Chanthorn has announced on social media that he will award his villa valued at 270,000 U.S. dollars to any Cambodian boxer who can defeat Buakaw. If a villa is not enough of an incentive, a beautiful Cambodia net idol, Yada Yada, also made a similar pledge with the ultimate prize being the Cambodian boxer who could beat Buakaw can marry her.
It is on social media where the real battles are being fought, however. On the Thai side, Facebook groups such as “Claimbodia” (yes, this is not a typo), with 3,700 members, has been doing its best to look down, degrade, and poke fun of Cambodian culture, as well as its ancient heritage and history. There are equivalents on the other side of the border accusing Thailand of basically being a Copyland. One can spend hours daily reading these degrading comments by trolls from both sides but the real casualty of such war is the future of Thai-Cambodia relations.
Some say this is an attempt by the powers in Phnom Penh to unite Cambodians against a common (perceived) enemy – the larger neighbor Thailand – while distracting its people from domestic problems and politics. Others say Cambodia feels threatened by the growing soft power of Thailand, thus the reactions. Whether that is truly the case or not, Thais should calm down and consider the future peaceful coexistence between the two nations. Neither Thailand nor Cambodia can relocate its country or deny the shared border, history, and cultures that we have (and should enjoy).
Once upon a long time ago, or between the 9th to 15th century to be more precise, much of the central Thai plains and the northeast was under the influence (or even a part) of the great Angkorian Empire. (Thus as a Thai, I see myself as having an Angkorian cultural heritage in me as well, partially an heir if you will). This means we, as central Thais, inherit aspects of the Angkorian (or ancient Khmer) culture.
Things get complicated with the subsequent rise of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, in what is today Thailand, which in turn, influenced its neighbor to the east. This cultural fusion and transfer went on until the early Bangkok period when France colonized Cambodia and integrated it as part of French Indochina in 1887. The cultural interactions between the two nations cannot be easily (if ever) be disentangled through nationalistic lens due to its complexity and fluidity of the shared heritage and cultures.
Thais should be happy that something almost identical to Thai boxing is being spread by Cambodians, while Cambodians should also be delighted that Thai boxing is very similar to Kun Khmer as both nations will (hopefully together) promote Thai-Khmer or Khmer-Thai kickboxing to the world and make it even more popular. Think of sepak trakaw, or kick volleyball, popular among Thais and Malaysians. The word “sepak” is Malay for kick while “takraw” is Thai and means woven rattan ball. It was a successful compromise between Thailand and Malaysia struck in Kuala Lumpur back in 1960. We need not go to war for an exclusively nationalistic name.
The sport belongs to both Thailand and Malaysia (as well as Indonesia and Singapore) and perhaps even a few more neighboring countries. It did not have to be exclusively Thai or Malay for that matter because many cultural heritage knows no rigid national boundary as nationalism and national borders came much later.
Scholars from both nations should consider conducting a joint research on the origin of both Kun Khmer and Muay Thai that transcend the narrow nationalistic lenses and perhaps in the future, we might want to discuss the possibility of sharing a common name for Muay Thai and Kun Khmer.
The Buddhist temple of Watt Munisotaram is seen on snow-covered farmland in Hampton, Minn., on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell'Orto)
HAMPTON, Minn. (AP) — The Buddhist community anchored by an ornate temple complex here in the Minnesota farmland is trying a new way to ensure its faith and ancestral culture stay vibrant for future generations — an open call for the sacred dance troupe.
Founded by refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime, which sought to eradicate most religious institutions, Watt Munisotaram and its troupe hope that teaching young children sacred dance will strengthen their ties to both Buddhism and Cambodian traditions.
“The connection is stronger when I dance,” said Sabrina Sok, 22, a Wattanak Dance Troupe leader. “The thing that stays in my head is this dance form almost disappeared with the Khmer Rouge.”
A woman prays in front of an altar in the ceremonial hall of Watt Munisotaram temple on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, in Hampton, Minn. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)
During their 1975-79 regime, the Khmer Rouge caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million in Cambodia. Hundreds of thousands fled, first to neighboring Thailand and later the United States, where Southeast Asians are one of the largest refugee communities.
They carried this sacred dance tradition with them. On a frigid early February evening, Sok rehearsed for the upcoming Cambodian New Year holiday with fellow troupe leader Garrett Sour and his sister Gabriella, whose parents were among those refugees.
Practice used to be held at the temple, whose golden spires outshine the red barn roofs and silos in the snow-covered fields about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of the Twin Cities. But it was recently moved to a Minneapolis studio to make it easier for families to participate.
Theravada Buddhist monks from Watt Munisotaram temple lead the faithful in chanting on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)
While recruitment was by word of mouth, this winter’s enrollment — open to anybody eager to learn the dance form — brought in the highest number ever after being posted on the temple’s Facebook page.
Clothed in traditional thick silk shirts and pants from Cambodia, the three dancers sinuously stretched and bent every part of their bodies, from joint-defying toe curls on up. Each movement helps tell ancient stories about gods, the cycle of life and other spiritual tales that intertwine elements of Buddhism, Hinduism and Animism.
“We’re never ourselves, we’re just physical embodiments of higher spirits,” said Garrett Sour, 20, as he meticulously coached the poses, urging a smaller step here, a deeper calf tilt there. “Dance was seen not as entertainment but a medium between heaven and earth.”
From left, Gabriella Sour, Sabrina Sok and Garrett Sour rehearse traditional, sacred Cambodian dances in the Wattanak Dance Troupe studio on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)
The marketing student at a Twin Cities university started dancing when he was six and has learned Khmer to better delve into the sacred storytelling. He will be one of the teachers for the incoming dancers – about 20, which nearly doubles the troupe, and most of them younger than teens.
“For me, to see the kids perform these traditional dances is verification they cherish and take seriously our tradition and our religion,” said Garrett’s mother, Sophia Sour, who has long been a volunteer at Watt Munisotaram.
In the temple’s ornate higher room, where the ten monks in residence chant and meditate daily surrounded by sacred books and large Cambodian-made paintings of Buddha’s life, the Venerable Vicheth Chum also highlighted the importance of what he called “blessed dance.”
“Very important to have, and to keep our ancestral tradition even when moved to (Minnesota),” said Chum, who came to the United States more than 20 years ago from Cambodia. “Buddhist teaching is practice for peace and happiness, no matter the nation.”
Monks at Watt Munisotaram – which roughly means the place to enjoy learning from wise men – practice Theravada, one of the oldest forms of Buddhism rooted in Southeast Asian cultures.
Monks carrying candles process in front of an altar at Watt Munisotaram to mark the Buddhist holiday of Magha Puja on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, in Hampton, Minn. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)
During the Khmer Rouge regime, and the communist Vietnamese rule that followed it, religious institutions were targeted by violence and repression, but Cambodian refugees kept traditions alive, said John Marston, an expert in Cambodian Buddhism at the Mexican university Colegio de Mexico.
Dance in particular, which dates back nearly 1,000 years and was linked to the royal court as well as temples, has become “a marker of Cambodian identity” in the U.S. diaspora, he added.
That’s why the dance troupe was started at Watt Munisotaram, which has grown into a 40-acre complex with golden Buddha statues, a stupa with relics and a meditation pond that lay frozen under knee-high snow on that early February weekend.
Dozens of faithful in equally bright white outfits met then to celebrate Magha Puja, a holiday marking the gathering of 1,250 of Buddha’s first disciples and the establishment of his rules for the new community.
Venerable Vicheth Chum walks down from the upper room of Watt Munisotaram temple on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, in Hampton, Minn. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)
Chum and seven other monks in elaborately folded, bright orange robes led a candlelit procession multiple times past an altar with several golden Buddha statues, glittery decorations and a profusion of flowers including lotus blossoms – most artificial, though in more clement weather some are grown locally or shipped from Florida.
Several children marched along, carrying the U.S. flag and Cambodia’s state and Buddhist flags, before everyone sat in neat rows on the carpeted floor for two hours of chanting in Khmer.
Chum said the monks worry about young people’s growing disenchantment with religion but believe that life’s inevitable struggles will eventually bring most back to the temple for guidance from Buddha’s teachings.
“It’s like learning a map and then taking action,” he said.
Garrett Sour, who grew up going frequently with his family to the temple, said he’s still figuring out how Buddhism applies to his life culturally and religiously.
But he’s fully embraced sacred dancing, and is eager to share what he learned from his teachers – including an aunt who danced in refugee camps before moving to Minnesota – with children, so the tradition can continue through generations.
Statues of Buddha and the stupa housing his relics are seen at dusk at the Watt Munisotaram temple complex on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, in Hampton, Minn. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)
The troupe’s main goal “is to preserve dances that were already there,” he said, adding that each summer they perform in a special ceremony honoring the spirits of previous dancers with altars replete with dancing ornaments and offerings.
Watching the recent rehearsal, Garrett’s mother beamed with pride.
“The world is using them to educate the other communities, I keep on reminding them,” Sophia Sour said.
She hopes to take Garrett and Gabriella to Cambodia to learn even more about the roots of their spirituality, whose fundamental values she listed as respect for the elders and good deeds.
“If you do good, good will come to you,” she said. “I’m not sure if that’s religion, or just life.”
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
This photo taken on Jan. 20, 2023 shows a pet rabbit at a rabbit cafe in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)
SHENYANG, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) — Pet stores in northeast China are still busy after the Spring Festival holiday, during which many pet owners left their animals in the care of these businesses.
“During the holiday, our six chain stores provided boarding services for many pets, with our average turnover increasing by about 20 percent,” said Zhang Jiaqi, manager of a store in the city of Shenyang.
“Currently, our pet snacks and toys still sell well and the pets waiting to get groomed have to queue.”
Data from major online delivery platform Meituan shows that search volumes for Spring Festival pet boarding and pet grooming services respectively increased by 82 percent and 255 percent from the same holiday in 2022. And these services are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to pet industry consumption in China.
According to research firm iiMedia Research, the industry scale of China’s pet economy hit 493.6 billion yuan (about 72.71 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 25.2 percent, and its market size is expected to reach 811.4 billion yuan by 2025.
Xinhua
The company noted that the pet economy is developing and expanding across the whole industrial chain, and its coverage is constantly expanding, leading to new businesses in areas such as pet livestreaming, pet boarding and pet training, which have strong growth prospects.
“Behind the booming pet economy is economic and social change,” said Zhang Sining, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.
“The current social rhythm is fast, and young people are under great work pressure. Also, with the increase of elderly people living alone and the intensification of an aging society, raising pets meets the emotional needs of many people.”
Zhang also noted that pets are no longer just animals but are now like their owners’ children, and relationships between pets and their owners are becoming closer.
Liu Yu, a 25-year-old human resources manager who comes from Shenyang and works in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, said that her mood improves greatly when she arrives home from work and sees her cat waiting for her.
Industry insiders say that China’s pet economy has not been developed for a long time, its foundation is relatively weak and there are some regulatory challenges.
The expansion of the country’s pet economy requires continuous follow-up regulatory policies, so that consumers and operators can benefit from the healthy development of the industry.
Turkish rescue workers carry Ergin Guzeloglan, 36, to an ambulance after pulled him out from a collapsed building five days after an earthquake in Hatay, southern Turkey, early Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Can Ozer)
ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — Rescue crews on Saturday pulled more survivors, including entire families, from toppled buildings despite diminishing hopes as the death toll of the enormous quake that struck a border region of Turkey and Syria five days ago surpassed 28,000.
Dramatic rescues were being broadcast on Turkish television, including the rescue of the Narli family in central Kahramanmaras 133 hours after the 7.8-magnitude temblor struck Monday. First, 12-year-old Nehir Naz Narli was saved, then both of her parents.
That followed the rescue earlier in the day of a family of five from a mound of debris in the hard-hit town of Nurdagi, in Gaziantep province, TV network HaberTurk reported. Rescuers cheered and chanted, “God is Great!” as the last family member, the father, was lifted to safety.
Turkish rescue workers carry Ergin Guzeloglan, 36, to an ambulance after pulled him out from a collapsed building five days after an earthquake in Hatay, southern Turkey, early Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023.(AP Photo/Can Ozer)
Five days after two powerful earthquakes hours apart caused thousands of buildings to collapse, killing more than 28,000 people and leaving millions homeless, rescuers were still pulling unlikely survivors from the ruins — one of them just 7 months old.
Turkish President Recep Tayypi Erdogan, on a tour of quake-stricken cities, said a disaster of this scope is rare, affecting an area so large that is home to so many people. He referred to it as the “disaster of the century” and said it had affected an area 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter that is home to 13.5 million people in Turkey and an unknown number in Syria.
“In some parts of our settlements close to the fault line, we can say that almost no stone was left standing,” he said earlier Saturday from Diyarbakir.
FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a survivor speak as he visits the city center destroyed by Monday earthquake in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (Turkish Presidency via AP, File)
Still, the day brought one astonishing rescue after another, numbering more than a dozen.
Melisa Ulku, a woman in her 20s, was extricated from the rubble in Elbistan in the 132th hour since the quake, following the rescue of another person at the same site in the same hour. Ahead of her rescue, police announced that people shouldn’t cheer or clap in order to not interfere with other rescue efforts nearby. She was covered in a thermal blanket on a stretcher. Rescuers were hugging. Some shouted “God is great!”
Just an hour earlier, a 3-year-old girl and her father were pulled from debris in the town of Islahiye, also in Gaziantep province, and soon after a 7-year-old girl was rescued in the province of Hatay.
A man pulls out a young girl from the debris of collapsed buildings in Hatay, southern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Can Ozer)
The rescues brought shimmers of joy amid overwhelming devastation days after Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake and a powerful aftershock hours later caused thousands of buildings to collapse. Along with the nearly 26,000 people who were killed, more than 80,000 were injured and millions were left homeless.
Not everything ended so well. Rescuers reached a 13-year-old girl inside the debris of a collapsed building in Hatay province early Saturday and intubated her. But she died before the medical teams could amputate a limb and free her from the rubble, Hurriyet newspaper reported.
Aerial photo showing collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023.(IHA via AP)
Even though experts say trapped people can live for a week or more, the odds of finding more survivors were quickly waning amid freezing temperatures. Rescuers were shifting to thermal cameras to help identify life amid the rubble, a sign that any remaining survivors could be too weak to call for help.
As aid continued to arrive, a 99-member group from the Indian Army’s medical assistance team began treating the injured in a temporary field hospital in the southern city of Iskenderun, where a main hospital was demolished.
One man, Sukru Canbulat, was wheeled into the hospital in a wheelchair, his left leg badly injured with deep bruising, contusions and lacerations.
Turkish rescue workers carry Kamil Can Agdas to an ambulance after pulled him out from a collapsed building five days after the earthquake, in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, early Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023. (Ismail Coskun/IHA via AP Photo)
Wincing in pain, he said he had been rescued from his collapsed apartment building in the nearby city of Antakya within hours of the quake on Monday. But after receiving basic first aid, he was released without getting proper treatment for his injuries.
“I buried (everyone that I lost), then I came here,” Canbulat said, counting his dead relatives: “My daughter is dead, my sibling died, my aunt and her daughter died, and the wife of her son” who was 8 ½ months pregnant.
A large makeshift graveyard was under construction on the outskirts of Antakya on Saturday. Backhoes and bulldozers dug pits in the field on the northeastern edge of the city as trucks and ambulances loaded with black body bags arrived continuously. Soldiers directing traffic on the busy adjacent road warned motorists not to take photographs.
The hundreds of graves, spaced no more than 3 feet (a meter) apart, were marked with simple wooden planks set vertically in the ground.
People bury their loved ones, victims of Monday earthquake, in Adiyaman, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
A worker with Turkey’s Ministry of Religious Affairs who did not wish to be identified because of orders not to share information with the media said that around 800 bodies were brought the cemetery on Friday, its first day of operation. By midday on Saturday, he said, as many as 2,000 had been buried.
“People who are coming out from the rubble now, it’s a miracle if they survive. Most of the people that come out now are dead, and they come here,” he said.
Temperatures remained below freezing across the large region, and many people have no shelter. The Turkish government has distributed millions of hot meals, as well as tents and blankets, but is still struggling to reach many people in need.
People keep warm next to a fire at a camp for survivors of the earthquake in Gaziantep, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Mustafa Karali)
The disaster compounded suffering in a region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war, which has displaced millions of people within the country and left them dependent on aid. The fighting sent millions more to seek refuge in Turkey.
The conflict has isolated many areas of Syria and complicated efforts to get aid in. The United Nations said the first earthquake-related aid convoy crossed from Turkey into northwestern Syria on Friday, the day after an aid shipment planned before the disaster arrived.
The U.N. refugee agency estimated that as many as 5.3 million people have been left homeless in Syria.
President Bashar Assad and his wife have visited injured quake victims in a hospital in the coastal city of Latakia, a base of support for the Syrian leader.
Syria’s first lady Asma Assad, right, wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad, comforts a woman affected by the devastating earthquake that rocked Syria and Turkey, in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023. (SANA via AP)
Syrian state TV said Assad and his wife Asma on Saturday morning visited Duha Nurallah, 60, and her son Ibrahim Zakariya, 22, who were pulled out of rubble the night before in the nearby coastal town of Jableh.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, bringing with him 35 tons of medical equipment, state news agency SANA reported. He said another plane carrying an additional 30 tons of medical equipment will arrive in the coming days.
The opposition Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said Saturday that it “is almost impossible to find people alive.”
The total death toll in Syria’s northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the White Helmets. The overall death toll in Syria stood at 3,553 on Saturday, including government-held parts of the country.
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Shaheen reported from Latakia, Syria, and Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Ghaith Alsayed in Bab al-Hawa, Syria, and Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Is Move Forward Party Internally Undemocratic? A Q&A with Former Key Member Chris Pogtranandana
Prominent Move Forward Party member Chris Potranandana resigned from the party on Wednesday and accused the party of being non participatory, led by a small clique of people and on the verge of becoming a hypocritical party – allegations the party later denied. Chris answers five questions posted by Khaosod English.
How do you justify branding the Move Forward Party a party controlled by a small clique of “politburo” members?
Most of the important decisions are made by the so-called “politburo”. Decisions like, who is going to be members of the general committee of the Move Forward Party, which policy to campaign in the general election, who gets to be chosen to be partylist candidate.
There isn’t any “real” general party convention within the Move Forward Party. In fact, there was an election on 14 of March 2020, the first day that the party let the public apply for membership.
However, that election was a just a ploy, a mere formality (การเลือกตั้งปลอม). They didn’t let any members who registered participate in the election. The general committee is in fact appointed by a group that I called the “politburo”. So do other key decisions made.
FB : ChrisPotra
Despite your criticisms, would you say the party is still most open and participatory compared to other parties like Pheu Thai or Phalang Pracharath Party?
Yes. Move Forward Party might still be relatively more open compared to parties like Phue Thai or Palang Pracharath.
You started out by joining Future Forward before it was disbanded and evolved into Move Forward. Do you think people like former Future Forward Party Thanathorn Juangrungruangkit are aware of the problems?
Yes, he is aware of this problem. I have informed him in the past. There is some development regarding the democratic process within the party. They are trying to establish a representative system from members of each district. However, most decisions are still made by the “politburo”.
FB : ChrisPotra
Some say you left the party simply because you’re unhappy that the party is not choosing you as partylist candidate for the upcoming general election. What would you say to that?
I was a co-founder of Future Forward Party. I had served the Future Forward Party and Move Forward for 5 years without getting paid. I contributed time, effort, and capital to this party as much as I can. I am still proud of this party.
All I wrote is just constructive criticism from an old comrade.If they listen and are willing to change, the party will be better. If they don’t, they will see my criticism as a move to discredit them.
What’s your future political plan?
I intend to establish a new party because there is no other political party that reflects my beliefs in economic policies, freedom, better health of the people, and a genuine democracy
A British drug trafficking ring leader was arrested in Bangkok, five years after he skipped bail in Britain to hide in Thailand. The Royal Thai police disclosed on Saturday 11 February 2023.
Richard Mark Wakeling, 54, was sentenced by the English Court to 11 years in prison for trafficking 8 million pounds worth of methamphetamine from Italy to the UK by land.
Wakeling, who also goes by another passport name of Aaron Peter Lumsden, then skip bail and fled the UK before the ruling was made.
He had been living in the beachside town of Hua Hin before was arrested while visiting a friend in Bangkok. The Royal Thai Police arrested the fugitive on Friday at a Bangkok garage where he had been collecting his car after repairs.
According to Express, the British press, Wakeling, 55, from Brentwood in Essex, tried to import £8million of liquid amphetamine into the UK in April 2016. He fled in 2018 before his 12-week trial began and was sentenced to 11 years in his absence at Chelmsford Crown Court on April 9 of that year.
Wakeling, who has a prosthetic lower right leg, was placed on the National Crime Agency (NCA)’s “most wanted” list, and appeals were issued for information to help trace him.
He remains in custody with extradition proceedings under way.
A woman takes a photo of her child in front of a "Slam Dunk" poster at a movie theater in Seoul on Jan. 23, 2023. Kyodo
SEOUL – A recently released reimagining of hit Japanese anime “Slam Dunk” has proven hugely popular in South Korea and brought with it a wave of nostalgia for the 1990s manga and television series as well as the underdog basketball team the film features.
Jeong Jin Hyeok is one of many South Koreans in their 30s and 40s revisiting their childhood with “The First Slam Dunk,” a new film version of the beloved and wildly popular basketball manga.
The film has currently sold the third-most theater tickets ever for a Japanese anime film shown in South Korea, according to the Korean Film Council.
Written and directed by the manga’s author Takehiko Inoue, the film now trails only the blockbuster hit “your name.” and “Howl’s Moving Castle” from Studio Ghibli, the film promotion group said. It has moved into third ahead of 2020’s “Demon Slayer.”
This latest theatrical hit demonstrates Japan’s soft power can to some degree overcome historical issues such as compensation over wartime unpaid labor and comfort women who were forced to work in wartime brothels.
While these issues occupy the political classes of both countries, South Koreans have appeared to be happy to embrace Japanese culture through the film that started showing in early January.
A special section for “Slam Dunk” comic books is created at a bookstore in Seoul on Jan. 23, 2023. (Kyodo)
Lee Dalho, a 31-year-old actor who performs in musical theater, said he sees the current status of South Korea-Japan relationship having “no impact” in people simply enjoying the Slam Dunk movie.
“The boom is all about nostalgia and old good memories about our childhood,” he added.
As of Wednesday, more than 2.49 million people in total have seen the movie.
On the first day the film was shown, Jeong, 32, watched it with his basketball-loving friends. He recounted his passion for the sport and how when they were younger he and his friends would give each other nicknames based on Slam Dunk characters.
The country’s biggest theater complex CGV said people in their 30s and 40s made up more than 70 percent of the moviegoers. Some brought their children to theaters, South Korean local media reported, creating a whole new generation of fans.
In some parts of the country, specially-arranged sections for the Slam Dunk manga can be seen in bookstores, with translations in Korean. The manga has been translated into other languages including English and French.
The craze has also led to brisk sales of Slam Dunk-related merchandise. For example, The Hyundai, one of the nation’s department store chains, has opened a pop-up store where official merchandise such as uniforms attract many shoppers daily.
The story has also attracted new fans like Park Jeong Ah.
“I really liked how everyone in the movie put their best efforts possible to win the game. It’s entertaining enough for someone like me new to the manga series,” said the 30-year-old Park.
Chinese tourists pose for photos at the Grand Palace scenic spot in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 7, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)
BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) — China on Monday resumed outbound group travel to 20 countries, including Thailand, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and New Zealand.
Group tours between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions also resumed.
The move came after the country downgraded its management of COVID-19 from Class A to Class B on Jan. 8. Resuming outbound travel is one of the measures in China’s COVID-19 response adjustment.
Customers learn about outbound travel at a travel agency in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, Feb. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)
It has been three years since the country suspended outbound group tours — the major form of travel for outbound tourists. The rebooting of the services is undoubtedly part of the certainty and momentum that the world’s second-largest economy is contributing to a world faced with uncertainties and bleak growth prospects this year.
Countries like Thailand, Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates welcomed the first tour groups from China in three years on Monday. Chinese tourists used to account for about a quarter of all arrivals in Thailand, which aims to receive 7 million Chinese tourists this year.
Tourists bound for Thailand pose for photos at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
During the Spring Festival holiday from Jan. 21 to 27, China saw nearly 2.9 million cross-border trips, up 120.5 percent year on year, and 308 million domestic trips, up 23.1 percent and back to 88.6 percent of the 2019 level for the same period.
With the gradual and orderly recovery of outbound tourism, more countries are expected to receive tour groups from China.
An Egyptian artist performs a traditional folk dance to welcome Chinese tourists at the Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)
Over the past three years, China’s average growth rate was 4.5 percent, far higher than the global average of 1.8 percent. The resumption of group tours shows that in the new phase of its COVID-19 response, China will strengthen people-to-people and economic exchanges with other countries, and inject more confidence and strength into global economic recovery.
Tourists from China are welcomed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 in Pasay City, the Philippines, Jan. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
