Prince Harry ‘wanted out’ of royal role

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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File photo: Britain's Prince Harry. // AFP PHOTO

File photo: Britain’s Prince Harry. // AFP PHOTO
Prince Harry ‘wanted out’ of royal role

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 20:21

By Agence France-Presse

LONDON – Britain’s Prince Harry once “wanted out” of the Royal Family, but instead decided to “stay in and work out a role” for himself, according to an interview with the Mail on Sunday.

The prince, 32, caused a stir earlier this week when he said that he didn’t think any member of the royal family wanted to become monarch, and revealed doubts about his own role in the family in his latest interview.

The fifth-in-line to the throne told the newspaper that being in the Army was “the best escape I’ve ever had”, and that his experience of being “just Harry” led him to consider quitting his royal role.

“I felt I wanted out but then decided to stay in and work out a role for myself,” he said.

The popular royal has since become a champion of wounded soldiers, a calling that came to him during two front-line tours to Afghanistan with the army.

Earlier this week, Harry spoke out about the heartbreaking images of him following his mother’s coffin during her 1997 funeral, telling Newsweek that no “child should be asked to do that.”

He also revealed that no-one in line to the throne was looking forward to taking over from Queen Elizabeth II.

“We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people,” he said.

“Is there any one of the Royal Family who wants to be king or queen? I don’t think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time.”

‘Toy’ bomb kills six children in NW Pakistan: officials

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A boy who was injured in a planted bomb blast in South Waziristan, receives medical treatment at local hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, 25 June 2017. /EPA

A boy who was injured in a planted bomb blast in South Waziristan, receives medical treatment at local hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, 25 June 2017. /EPA
‘Toy’ bomb kills six children in NW Pakistan: officials

Breaking News June 25, 2017 20:08

By Agence France-Presse

PESHAWAR – A bomb resembling a toy killed at least six children Sunday in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The bomb exploded while the children were playing with it in Speenmark village in the South Waziristan tribal district.

“Six children aged between six to 12 years, all boys, were killed by a toy bomb and two others wounded critically,” a local government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Another local security official confirmed the incident and casualties.

The origin of the bomb was unclear.

Dozens of children, mostly in northwest Pakistan, have lost their lives in the past when playing with “toys” that turned out to be explosive devices.

“Toy” bombs were airdropped in neighbouring Afghanistan by Soviet forces during the 1980s as weapons against those who opposed their invasion.

South Waziristan is also one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal areas, where the army has for more than a decade been battling militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The army launched an operation in June 2014 in neighbouring North Waziristan to wipe out militant bases in the tribal areas and end an insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.

As a result security has improved. Attacks still take place but fewer than previously.

Five killed in gondola accident in Indian Kashmir

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People inspect a section of the cable car which collapsed at Gulmarg, northwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 25 June 2017. /EPA

People inspect a section of the cable car which collapsed at Gulmarg, northwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 25 June 2017. /EPA
Five killed in gondola accident in Indian Kashmir

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 18:51

By Agence France-Presse

SRINAGAR – Five people including two children were killed Sunday when a tree fell on a gondola at a ski resort in Indian-administered Kashmir, sending a passenger cabin crashing to the ground.

The gondola at Gulmarg is one of the world’s highest, ferrying passengers to a height of 4,100 metres (13,450 feet) for panoramic views of the snow-clad Himalayas.

“Unfortunately one of the cabins fell after being hit by a tree. The dead included a couple, two children and a local guide,” a local police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“We are trying to get more information. All other tourists are safe.”

Gulmarg is the only ski resort in the restive Kashmir region, with tourists also visiting in the off-season for the views.

But visitor numbers have dipped in recent years amid unrest in the strife-torn region, with violence rising since the death of a popular militant leader last year.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Vietnamese-French dissident blogger deported to France

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This file photo taken on August 10, 2011 shows French-Vietnamese blogger and lecturer Pham Minh Hoang (C) being led out from the courtroom at the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court House after he was jailed for three years for attempted subversion. AFP

This file photo taken on August 10, 2011 shows French-Vietnamese blogger and lecturer Pham Minh Hoang (C) being led out from the courtroom at the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court House after he was jailed for three years for attempted subversion. AFP
Vietnamese-French dissident blogger deported to France

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 18:14

By Agence France-Presse

PARIS – A Vietnamese dissident blogger with dual French citizenship arrived in Paris on Sunday after he was stripped of his birth nationality by authorities in the one-party state and deported.

Former mathematics lecturer Pham Minh Hoang was put on a plane to Paris late Saturday, weeks after his Vietnamese citizenship was revoked — a rare move that has sparked outrage among critics of the communist government who accuse it of quashing dissent by any means available.

“I am very sad,” Hoang told AFP by phone after his arrival in Paris.

“I tried to do the best I can but today I lost the battle,” he said, adding he would continue fighting for democracy in Vietnam.

Hoang said police surrounded his house on Friday night and took him away with no prior warning.

He met French consular officials and a lawyer before his deportation but was unable to say goodbye to his wife Le Thi Kieu Oanh.

“I feel totally defeated… when my husband left, I couldn’t say any farewell words, I also feel very angry,” Oanh told AFP.

After speaking to Hoang on arrival in France, Oanh said she was at least reassured he no longer faced political persecution.

While authoritarian Vietnam routinely jails critics of its regime, 62-year-old Hoang is the first Vietnam-based dissident to have his citizenship revoked in recent history.

Human Rights Watch called the revocation an “unprecedented and shocking action”.

“(It) crosses many human rights red lines on freedom of expression, right to nationality and exercise of basic civil and political freedoms,” HRW said in its statement.

Hoang found out his Vietnamese citizenship had been stripped early this month after he received a letter dated May 17 and signed by the president, a decision he unsuccessfully tried to appeal.

He was convicted in 2011 of attempted subversion for publishing a series of articles which prosecutors said were aimed at overthrowing the government.

Hoang was released from jail after 17 months and ordered to serve three years of house arrest. He continued to post articles critical of the government on social media following his release from prison.

Hoang moved to France in 1973 and lived there for 27 years before returning to Vietnam to work as a mathematics lecturer at the Polytechnic University of Ho Chi Minh City.

He told AFP this month he had to stay in Vietnam to care for his disabled brother and elderly mother in law, whom his wife will now look after.

Banned Bahraini newspaper fires staff

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Banned Bahraini newspaper fires staff

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 18:07

By Agence France-Presse

DUBAI – A independent Bahraini newspaper has sacked its staff three weeks after Sunni-dominated authorities banned it on accusations that it “sows division” in the Shiite-majority Gulf kingdom.

“We regret to inform you that the board of directors… has decided to terminate the employment contracts with the employees,” board chairman Adel al-Maskati wrote in English in a message addressed to “all staff” on Saturday.

The information ministry banned Al-Wasat in early June “until further notice” for its “violation of the law and repeatedly publishing information that sows division in society and affects Bahrain’s relations with other states,” said BNA state news agency.

That came after the paper published an article that was “offensive to a sisterly Arab state,” BNA said, an apparent reference to an article that praised protests in Morocco’s neglected Rif region.

In his message on Saturday, which was seen by AFP, Maskati said the paper had halted its activities in accordance with the ban, which had “caused losses” to its owner, Dar Al-Wasat for Publishing and Distribution.

Al-Wasat had some 160 staff including 30 expats.

The London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said the ban on the paper was “the latest in an escalated crackdown on independent civil society”.

Bahrain has been rocked by sporadic unrest since March 2011, when security forces crushed an Arab Spring-inspired uprising.

Authorities suspended the online edition of Al-Wasat for several days in January over accusations of sowing sedition and harming national unity.

The newspaper was also suspended for two days in August 2015 on similar charges.

At the height of the 2011 uprising, Al-Wasat was suspended and its chief editor Mansoor al-Jamri tried and fined for publishing false information.

The paper’s suspension came days after five demonstrators were killed when police opened fire on a long-running sit-in outside a prominent Shiite cleric’s home.

In late May a Bahrain court dissolved the secular opposition party Waed, months after the main party representing the kingdom’s Shiite majority, Al-Wefaq, was also outlawed.

Tiny but strategic Bahrain, which lies just across the Gulf from Iran, is a key regional ally of the United States and home to its Fifth Fleet.

It has come under frequent criticism from international human rights groups.

The administration of Barack Obama often criticised Manama authorities for not doing more to reconcile with the opposition.

However President Donald Trump made a clear break from that policy during a visit to the region in May, telling Bahrain’s King Hamad in neighbouring Saudi Arabia “there won’t be strain with this administration”.

Guatemala, El Salvador host gay pride parades

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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  • Revellers take part in the Gay Pride Parade in Guatemala City, on June 24, 2017. // AFP PHOTO
  • Hundreds of people takes part in the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or intersex) Pride Parade in Guatemala City, Guatemala, 24 June 2017. // EPA PHOTO
  • Revellers take part in the Gay Pride Parade in Guatemala City, on June 24, 2017. // AFP PHOTO
  • Revellers take part in the Gay Pride Parade in Guatemala City, on June 24, 2017. // AFP PHOTO
  • A transgender person participates in the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or intersex) Pride Parade in Guatemala City, Guatemala, 24 June 2017. // EPA PHOTO 
Guatemala, El Salvador host gay pride parades

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 15:10

By Agence France-Presse

SAN SALVADOR, June 25, 2017 (AFP) – Some 5,000 supporters of gay rights marched in the Salvadoran capital Saturday in a show of solidarity after the recent murders of several gay men.

 “We are united in the demand of respect for our rights, and united in a call for justice for the 15 members of our community who were murdered over the past year,” said Joaquin Caceres one of the leaders of a gay rights group in El Salvador.

In neighboring Guatemala, hundreds of marchers from the gay community marched in downtown of Guatemala City, demanding equal rights and an end to discrimination.

Some protesters carried rainbow banners as well as the flag of Guatemala. Others carried signs, some in English, with slogans such as “Love is not a crime” and “Sorry girls I like boys.”

123 dead, more than 100 wounded in Pakistan oil tanker fire: official

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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  • Pakistani rescue workers gather near burnt bodies after an oil tanker caught fire following an accident on a highway near the town of Ahmedpur East, some 670 kilometres (416 miles) from Islamabad on June 25, 2017. // AFP PHOTO
  • Local residents look at burnt bodies after an oil tanker caught fire following an accident on a highway near the town of Ahmedpur East, some 670 kilometres (416 miles) from Islamabad on June 25, 2017. // AFP PHOTO 
123 dead, more than 100 wounded in Pakistan oil tanker fire: official

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 14:44

By Agence France-Presse

ISLAMABAD, June 25, 2017 (AFP) – At least 123 people were killed and scores injured in a fire that broke out after an oil tanker overturned in central Pakistan early Sunday and crowds rushed to collect fuel, an official said.

The tragedy came one day before Pakistan was due to begin Eid ul-Fitr celebrations marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, with many roads crowded as people travel home for the holidays. Images of the crash showed rising flames and a thick plume of smoke, along with charred vehicles. The crash happened near the town of Ahmedpur East, some 670 kilometres (416 miles) south of the capital Islamabad.

“At least 123 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in a fire which erupted after an oil tanker turned over and victims rushed to collect spilt fuel,” senior local government official Rana Mohammad Saleem Afzal told state television.

The military said it was sending army helicopters to evacuate the wounded and hospitals were put on high alert. The nearest burn centre is believed to be more than 150 kilometres away. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed his grief and directed the government of Punjab province, run by his brother Shabhaz Sharif, to provide “full medical assistance”. Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

At least 62 people including women and children were killed in southern Pakistan in 2015 when their bus collided with an oil tanker, starting a fierce blaze that left victims burnt beyond recognition. The country has also long struggled to contain a chronic energy crisis, with regular blackouts suffocating industry and exacerbating anger against the government.

The crash came days after a series of militant attacks killed at least 57 people across the country Friday, unnerving many Pakistanis, with authorities ordering a security crackdown. On social media Sunday users posted messages of grief and solidarity with the victims of the oil tanker crash as well as Friday’s attacks, as many prayed for a safe Eid.

Hopes dim in search for 118 buried by China landslide

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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  • In this picture taken on June 24, 2017, rescue workers search for survivors at the site of a landslide in in Xinmo village, Diexi town of Maoxian county, Sichuan province. // AFP PHOTO
  • In this picture taken on June 24, 2017, rescue workers and local residents pull on a rope to move a big rock at the site of a landslide in Xinmo village, Diexi town of Maoxian county, Sichuan province. // AFP PHOTO 
Hopes dim in search for 118 buried by China landslide

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 12:44

By Agence France-Presse

WENCHUAN – Rescuers dug through earth and rocks for a second day on Sunday in an increasingly bleak search for some 118 people still missing after their village in southwest China was buried by a huge landslide.

Rescuers have pulled 15 bodies from the avalanche of rocks that crashed into 62 homes in Xinmo, a once picturesque mountain village nestled by a river in Sichuan province.

Only three survivors — a couple and their one-month-old baby — have been found since heavy rain brought down a side of the mountain early Saturday, officials said. At least 118 people remain missing, according to the local government — the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba.

The official Xinhua news agency cited geological experts at the site as saying the chance of finding any survivors “was really slim”. Qiao Dashi, the surviving baby’s father, said he had woken up after 5:00 am to change his crying son’s diaper when he “heard a big noise coming from the back”.

“The house shook,” he told state broadcaster CCTV from his hospital bed. “Rocks were in the living room. My wife and I climbed over, took the baby, and got out.” “I have superficial injuries. Overall, I’m okay.

But psychologically, it’s hard. The entire village, with dozens of families, was flattened,” he said, with a bandage around his head. Rescuers with lights on their helmets and sniffer dogs searched for people through the night as lamps illuminated the grey rubble, according to images on state media. Excavators removed debris as the search continued on Sunday morning.

Some 3,000 workers with life-detection instruments were taking part in the search, Xinhua said. The landslide blocked a two-kilometre (one-mile) stretch of river and 1.6 kilometre of road.

– Quake ‘weakened’ mountain –

No sign of the village could be seen in aerial footage, which showed a grim and grey rock-strewn landscape covering the area where it once existed by a river.

“It’s the biggest landslide in this area since the Wenchuan earthquake,” said Wang Yongbo, one of the officials in charge of rescue efforts, referring to the disaster that killed 87,000 people in 2008 in a town in Sichuan. Xu, the deputy governor, said there had been 142 tourists visiting the village on Friday but that none of them were buried.

Local police captain Chen Tiebo said the heavy rains that hit the region in recent days had triggered the landslide, burying the village under several tonnes of rock. “It’s a seismic area here. There’s not a lot of vegetation,” Chen said.

Trees can help absorb excess rain and prevent landslides. Tao Jian, director of the local weather service, told CCTV that the 2008 earthquake had “weakened the mountain” and that even a small amount of rain could provoke a geological catastrophe.

– Past disasters –

President Xi Jinping called for rescuers to “spare no effort” in their search for survivors and prevent more disasters.

More than 100 people living close to the landslide were being evacuated, Xinhua reported.

Landslides are a frequent danger in rural and mountainous parts of China, particularly at times of heavy rains. At least 12 people were killed in January when a landslide crushed a hotel in central Hubei province. More than 70 were killed by a landslide in the southern commercial hub of Shenzhen in December 2015, caused by the improper storage of waste.

One of the deadliest landslides took place in 1991, when 216 were killed in southwestern Yunnan province.

China’s Xi to attend Hong Kong handover anniversary

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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  • Traffic drives by a giant electronic billboard showing a Chinese flag on the side of a building in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, China, 24 June 2017. // EPA PHOTO
  • A man walks past a giant electronic billboard showing a Chinese flag on the side of a building in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, China, 24 June 2017. // EPA PHOTO 
China’s Xi to attend Hong Kong handover anniversary

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 12:37

By Agence France-Presse

BEIJING – President Xi Jinping will visit Hong Kong this week to celebrate 20 years since the former British colony’s return to China, state media confirmed Sunday, a trip that will stoke resentment among pro-democracy activists.

It will be Xi’s first visit to Hong Kong since the head of the Communist Party became president in 2013.

Xi will be in the city from Thursday to Sunday to attend a ceremony marking the anniversary of the handover, which took place on July 1, 1997. The Chinese leader will also take part in the inauguration of the fifth administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the semi-autonomous city’s government.

Xinhua did not provide more details about the trip. Carrie Lam, a former career civil servant, was chosen in late March as the city’s new chief executive and will be sworn in on July 1. Xi’s visit comes at a time when Beijing stands accused of squeezing the city’s freedoms and frustrations have led to the emergence of a new independence movement calling for Hong Kong to break from the mainland.

Protesters say they are preparing to gather during the handover celebrations and Xi’s visit will be shrouded in a huge security operation. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper gave a detailed itinerary of the trip last week.

Xi, who will be accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, will tour the garrison of China’s People’s Liberation Army in central Hong Kong and an infrastructure project, the Post said. Hong Kong was handed back to China by colonial power Britain in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” deal designed to protect its freedoms and way of life for 50 years.

But a number of incidents, including the disqualification from parliament of two pro-independence lawmakers and the alleged abduction of five Hong Kong booksellers, have raised fears that Beijing is trampling the agreement.

Alleged IS militants kill police officer in Indonesia

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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Indonesian anti-terror police personnel keep watch during a press conference and media presentation of seized material and evidence from recent attacks, at the police headquarters in Jakarta on June 22, 2017.  / AFP PHOTO

Indonesian anti-terror police personnel keep watch during a press conference and media presentation of seized material and evidence from recent attacks, at the police headquarters in Jakarta on June 22, 2017. / AFP PHOTO
Alleged IS militants kill police officer in Indonesia

ASEAN+ June 25, 2017 12:31

By Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA – Two alleged Islamic State group militants stabbed a police officer to death in western Indonesia, authorities said Sunday, in the latest assault targeting officials in the world’s most populous Muslim country.

The two attackers shouted “Allahu Akbar”, or God is great, as they entered a security post in North Sumatra’s police headquarters in Medan city where they stabbed a police officer, officials said. Several police officers fought back against the militants, killing one and critically injuring another. “We suspect the attackers have links with IS and Bahrun Naim, because we found a IS flag, books and CDs linked to IS in the house of one attacker,” national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto told AFP.

Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian who is fighting with IS in Syria, has been accused of directing a series of mostly botched terror plots in his homeland in recent years. Hundreds of radicals from Indonesia have flocked abroad to fight with IS, and the country has seen a surge in plots and attacks linked to the jihadists over the past year.

The attack happened just hours before Eid prayers were held, including at the North Sumatra police headquarters, as part of the Eid al-Fitr celebrations that mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Police are also investigating whether Sunday’s incident was linked to the recent capture of three militants accused of plotting to attack police, Wasisto added.

In May suicide bombers killed three police officers at a bus station in Jakarta in the deadliest attack in Indonesia since January 2016, when a suicide blast and gun assault claimed by IS left four assailants and four civilians dead in the capital.

Indonesia has long struggled with Islamic militancy and has suffered a series of fatal attacks in the past 15 years, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. A sustained crackdown weakened the country’s most dangerous networks but the emergence of IS has proved a potent new rallying cry for radicals.