Thousands more evacuate as eruption of Mt. Mayon looms

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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Mayon volcano as of January 16, 2018, 8 am. Contributed photo by Vynce Opeña
Mayon volcano as of January 16, 2018, 8 am. Contributed photo by Vynce Opeña

Thousands more evacuate as eruption of Mt. Mayon looms

ASEAN+ January 16, 2018 15:07

By The Philippine Daily Inquirer
Asia News Network
Manila

As of Tuesday, January 16, a total of 5,318 families or 21,823 individuals have been affected in 25 barangays in the towns of Camalig, Guinobatan, Ligao City, Daraga, Tabaco City, and Malilipot in Albay and were staying in 18 evacuation centers, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Tuesday.

Mina Marasigan, NDRRMC spokesperson, said classes remain suspended in areas where classrooms have been used as evacuation centers.

Alert Level 3 is still in effect over Mayon Volcano, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said. This means “that it is currently in a relatively high level of unrest as magma is at the crater and hazardous eruption is possible within weeks or days.”

“A total of nine (9) episodes of tremor, four (4) of which accompanied short-duration lava fountaining, and 75 lava collapse events, corresponding to rockfall along the front and margins of advancing lava and short pyroclastic flows downriver of Miisi Gully within the permanent danger zone, were recorded by Mayon’s seismic network,” Phivolcs said.

Residents were advised to be vigilant, and to refrain from entering the six kilometer-radius permanent danger zone (PDZ); and seven-kilometer extended danger zone on the southern flanks of the mountain due to the danger of rock falls, landslides, and sudden explosions or dome collapse that may generate hazardous volcanic flows

Duterte has nothing to do with SEC ruling vs Rappler, says Palace

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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Duterte has nothing to do with SEC ruling vs Rappler, says Palace

ASEAN+ January 16, 2018 15:03

By The Philippine Daily Inquirer
Asia News Network

President Rodrigo Duterte has denied he had a hand on the controversial ruling of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoking Rappler’s license for allegedly violating ownership rules.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte called him “for the first time “on Monday night to relay that he had nothing to do with the SEC’s decision.

“Hindi tootoo ‘yan. Wala akong kinalaman diyan sa Rappler na ‘yan ha,” Roque quoted Duterte.

“The President has nothing to do with it. It’s by individuals who were not his appointees,” he added, citing that most of the officials of the SEC were appointees of former president Benigno Aquino III.

Rappler CEO Maria Ressa on Tuesday refuted the claim of the Duterte administration that it had nothing to do with the SEC ruling.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, Roque said Duterte “found it unfair” that Ressa was crying out for violation of press freedom.

“The President found it unfair for Maria Ressa to claim violation freedom of the press when according to him, Rappler has been very active [in] criticizing individuals for violating the Constitution and the laws of the land and it turns out it is by itself violating the Constitution,” he said.

The Palace official said the government has not suppressed press freedom against Rappler contrary to the allegations of the administration’s critics.

“We would like to deny first and foremost that the state has not infringed on freedom of the press of Rappler or any of its reporters. Truth is, the reporter of Rappler is still in our press briefing, she has not been prevented from exercising her profession as a journalist. None of the individuals behind Rappler will be prevented from performing their duties as journalist,” he said.

“There is no affront of freedom of the press because there is no censorship,” he added.

Roque said the ruling of SEC simply meant that “no one is exempt from complying from the laws of the land, even Rappler and even the media.”

Woman ‘forced’ by father’s murder allegation to explain sister’s ‘suicide’ in Qatar

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Woman ‘forced’ by father’s murder allegation to explain sister’s ‘suicide’ in Qatar

ASEAN+ January 16, 2018 01:00

By The Nation

2,286 Viewed

A woman has said she had no choice but to reveal her younger sister’s suicide after her father alleged in the media that she had been strangled to death in Qatar.

Pramrudee Tiede said she had been forced to explain that her sister, Premruthai Juseng, 26, who had worked as a flight attendant in Qatar and had a history of depression, took her own life by hanging herself in an airline’s dormitory late December.

Pramrudee, whose nickname is “Nice”, earlier had told a reporter in a telephone interview that she wanted to keep the affair private, mainly to protect her mother’s feelings.

However, her father, Hiabbu Koh, 74, told the media that he believed Premruthai, whose nickname was “Ice”, had been murdered in her room in Qatar and called on the Thai Foreign Ministry to help investigate the cause of her death.

He said his daughter looked happy when she talked to him in Line message chats. “We talked to each other everyday. She was very happy after she became a flight attendant, the job she had dreamed about for a long time.”

Pramrudee wrote on Facebook that initially she had not wanted to say anything about her sister, who was resting in peace, but she decided to go public to protect her, her mother and the Thai Embassy in Doha.

“My father’s interview with the press was groundless. Ice was not murdered, but she had suffered from depression, resulting in her deciding to take her own life.”

Pramruedee, who is based in Berlin, said she had been alerted about the tragedy by the Thai Embassy in Doha and then she had told her mother, who was in Bangkok. Hiabbu had been separated from her mother for years.

She and her mother then travelled to Doha, she said, where Thai diplomats and the airline’s staff brought them to see her sister’s body.

Police also gave them a letter written by Premruthai, she said, the details of which she would not reveal. However, a source said Premruthai had written down private information concerning her bank accounts.

“Before the day she died, she wrote to me via Whatsapp, saying “I love you sister Nice. Tell mom also.”

Doha police concluded the cause of the death was asphyxiation by hanging.

The two women spent seven days in Doha arranging for Premruthai’s body to be transported to Thailand and during their stay the Thai Embassy and the airline firm took good care of them and helped facilitate the process despite language barriers, Pramrudee said.

“The airline also provided support for our expenses during our stay and procedures to bring her home,” Pramrudee wrote.

She also wrote that she wanted to apologise to everybody that may have been caused trouble because of her father’s allegations.

Meanwhile, Hiabbu yesterday met Foreign Ministry Consular Affairs director-general Chatree Atjananun and his deputy Pattarat Hongthong to seek information about the death of his daughter.

After a two-hour meeting, the father said he still did not believe that his daughter had committed suicide and had submitted a petition for the department to prove the real cause of death.

“My eldest daughter [Premrudee] can write whatever she wants, that’s her right. I have not yet seen the suicide note she mentioned, but what the officials told me was that it was about the location of her belongings and assets,” he said.

The death certificate mentioned only that she had died from asphyxiation and did not contain details about her having been hanged, Hiabbu said.

Premruthai was dead so it was not right to blame depression, he added.

Chatree had promised to make more inquires about the cause of death, Hiabbu said, adding that he wanted Qatari authorities to be direct in handling the case.

However, he said he was worried that if the investigation concluded that Premruthai had killed herself, he would be unable to come to terms with the conclusion.

Floor at Indonesia stock exchange tower collapses, 75 injured

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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  • Photo : AFP
  • Photo : AFP
  • Photo : AFP
  • Photo : AFP
  • Photo : AFP

Floor at Indonesia stock exchange tower collapses, 75 injured

ASEAN+ January 16, 2018 01:00

Jakarta – At least 75 people were injured Monday when a mezzanine floor at Indonesia’s stock exchange building collapsed into the lobby, police said, with victims carried out of the debris-filled building on stretchers.

Dramatic CCTV footage showed a group of some 40 visiting students on a balcony section plunge as the floor gave way with a cascade of glass, metal and other material crashing onto the ground floor where several others were walking.

A Jakarta police spokesman said the collapse was an accident and not the result of an explosion.

National police spokesman Setyo Wasisto told AFP 75 people had been injured. There were no reports of deaths so far.

Television images showed chaotic scenes as victims were taken to hospital or lay on the ground outside the tower complex in the centre of the sprawling city’s business district.

“I saw many people bleeding,” student Rizki Noviandi, who was taking part in a competition at the exchange building, told Metro TV.

“So many people were carried out of the building and were left on the grass outside… until the ambulances arrived.”

The lobby was filled with debris and toppled-over plants near a Starbucks coffee outlet, as hundreds of building employees were evacuated from the complex which was bombed by Islamist militants in 2000.

At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured by a car bomb in that attack.

“Our search and rescue teams, the police, doctors, the firefighters are all still working,” Wasisto said.

“They are cleaning the debris and also searching for other possible injuries,” he added.

Those hurt mostly sustained injuries to their legs and arms, including broken bones, a spokesman for one local hospital said.

Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono added: “The accident happened at the first floor… It’s a floor where many employees are passing by.”

 

– ‘Panicking’ –

 

The collapse took place in one of two towers in the complex.

“There was a sound, like something had fallen off a building structure, for about 20 seconds. Everyone was panicking and people were immediately being evacuated,” Amailia Putri Hasniawati, a journalist based at the exchange, told AFP.

It was not immediately clear what caused the accident at the tower in Sudirman district, which was built in 1995.

“Material degradation could be the cause,” construction expert Iswandi Imran told local TV.

“It could be corrosion or anything which slowly degrades the strength of the structure so it cannot take the weight any longer. But all that has to be investigated.”

Despite the chaos Monday, trading continued as usual in the afternoon session with the main index closing 0.2 percent higher.

The accident happened shortly after noon local time (0500 GMT) while the market was on its lunchtime break.

“There was a loud banging so people who were inside immediately ran outside of the building,” said Metro TV journalist Marlia Zein.

The local office of the World Bank is housed on the 12th floor of the complex, according to its website.

Reports at the time of the 2000 bombing said one of the men responsible was a member of the Free Aceh Movement, a separatist group which had been fighting for a free Islamic state in Aceh province since the mid-seventies.

Some 200 cars were also damaged in the blast in an underground parking lot.//AFP

Belgium crowns Filipina as representative for 2018 Miss Universe

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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Image: Instagram/@missbelgium_official
Image: Instagram/@missbelgium_official

Belgium crowns Filipina as representative for 2018 Miss Universe

Breaking News January 15, 2018 14:36

By Philippine Daily Inquirer
Asia News Network

A Filipina by the name of Angeline Flor Pua has been crowned Miss Belgium 2018 on January 13 at the beauty pageant held in Plopsaland Theater, De Panne, Belgium. She will go on to represent Belgium in the 2018 Miss Universe Pageant.

According to pageant community forum Missosology, pilot student “Angel” Pua is a pure Filipina. Pua also has previously won two other crowns. In 2016, she won as Miss Filipina Europe in Vienna, Austria; while 2017 saw her crowned as Miss Antwerp.

Pua may also represent Belgium in the 2018 Miss World pageant.

Watch Pua speaking fluent Dutch and going about her day at work in the video below. It also features what appears to be her Filipino parents and little brother. Pua has a lovable pug named Bobby.

 

StanChart robbery suspect detained by UK after Thailand rejects extradition request

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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Bank robbery suspect David James Roach, 27, who has hired a lawyer, has been transferred from Bangkok’s immigration detention centre and is currently held in prison.//Photo : Royal Thai Police
Bank robbery suspect David James Roach, 27, who has hired a lawyer, has been transferred from Bangkok’s immigration detention centre and is currently held in prison.//Photo : Royal Thai Police

StanChart robbery suspect detained by UK after Thailand rejects extradition request

Breaking News January 15, 2018 14:16

By The Straits Times
Asia News Network

Singapore – David James Roach, the suspect in the 2016 Standard Chartered Bank robbery case, has been detained by the British authorities and Singapore is working to extradite him.

Roach, a 28-year-old Canadian national, was detained in London last Thursday (Jan 11) following a request from Singapore, said the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a joint statement on Monday.

Singapore has an extradition treaty with Britain.

Roach is accused of robbing the Holland Village branch of Standard Chartered Bank of $30,000 on July 7, 2016.

Roach allegedly handed the teller a note with his demands, then fled to Bangkok with the money on the same day.

He was arrested at a backpacker hostel three days later and was held in remand in Bangkok.

The Singapore authorities wrote to the Thai government, asking for assistance to repatriate Roach back to Singapore.

However, the AttorneyGeneral’s Office in Bangkok reportedly rejected Singapore’s request. Singapore has no extradition treaty with Thailand.

Since his arrest by the Thai authorities in July 2016, the Singapore authorities have been in regular contact with the Thai authorities to secure his return to Singapore, AGC and MHA said.

On June 6 last year, Roach was sentenced to 14 months’ jail in Thailand for violating money laundering and customs laws by bringing loot into the country.

He was carrying the equivalent of more than US$20,000 (S$27,600)  believed to be the loot from the bank robbery  when he entered Thailand while on the run.

He was deported from Thailand after serving his imprisonment term for the commission of criminal offences there, and arrived in London on Jan 11, AGC and MHA said.

“We sought the assistance of the UK authorities to arrest Roach, with a view to his eventual extradition to Singapore,” said the statement. “We are working with the UK authorities to commence the extradition proceedings.”

Balcony at Indonesia Stock Exchange building collapses; people trapped

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  • Twitter : Miftahul Jannah‏
  • Twitter : Miftahul Jannah‏
  • Twitter : Miftahul Jannah‏

Balcony at Indonesia Stock Exchange building collapses; people trapped

ASEAN+ January 15, 2018 13:34

By The Straits Times
Asia News Network

Jakarta – The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building in Jakarta was evacuated after a balcony in Tower Two of the complex collapsed just after 12pm on Monday (Jan 15).

Local reports indicated an unspecified number of people were trapped under debris as videos of people screaming and rushing out of the building went viral online.

The balcony was located above the main lobby of the building and near where visitors are screened and checked before entering.

When it collapsed, hundreds of office workers were leaving for lunch.

But after the initial period of chaos, many rushed back in to help carry out the injured found amid bent steel structures, broken glass, and other debris of what was left of the balcony.

Reuters reported that the director of the stock exchange, Alpino Kianjaya, declined to comment on the incident. Markets are currently in midday break and will reopen at 1.30pm local time.

The cause of the collapse is not known, but initial reports do not point to a terrorist attack.

The IDX is located opposite Pacific Place, a popular mall in the Sudirman Central Business District.

It is also about 1km away from the recently renovated Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, which was officially opened by President Joko Widodo on Sunday.

The stadium is the key feature among other sporting facilities in the area which have been undergoing construction for the 2018 Asian Games, to be held in Jakarta and Palembang from Aug 18 to Sept 2 this year.

Turkish passenger plane goes off runway metres away from sea

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Photo : AFP
Photo : AFP

Turkish passenger plane goes off runway metres away from sea

Breaking News January 15, 2018 10:19

A passenger plane late Saturday skidded off the runway just metres away from the sea as it landed at an airport in northern Turkey, local media images showed.

The Pegasus Airlines flight had taken off smoothly from the capital Ankara and landed in Trabzon, but skidded off the runway in the northern airport. No one was injured or killed in the landing.

Dramatic images from CNN Turk broadcaster showed the plane dangerously hanging off a cliff several metres (feet) from the Black Sea, its wheels stuck in mud.

View image on TwitterView image on Twitter

 

 

Other images from Dogan news agency showed smoke emanating from the trapped plane.

Pegasus Airlines confirmed in a statement Sunday there were no injuries among the 162 passengers onboard as well as two pilots and four cabin crew after they were evacuated.

The cause of the incident was not known but an investigation is under way, the Trabzon governor’s office said.

One of the passengers, Fatma Gordu, panic erupted onboard during the landing.

“We tilted to the side, the front was down while the plane’s rear was up. There was panic; people shouting, screaming,” she told state-run news agencyAnadolu.

The airport was temporarily shut before reopening on Sunday morning.//AFP

Two dead in Peru after 7.3-magnitude quake

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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Two dead in Peru after 7.3-magnitude quake

ASEAN+ January 15, 2018 08:25

By Agence France-Presse
Lima

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake shook southern Peru on Sunday, killing at least two people and injuring 65, the South American country’s civil defense agency said.

Homes made of adobe collapsed in coastal areas most directly affected by the quake, local authorities said.

The earthquake struck in the Pacific, 31 kilometers (19 miles) from the seaside town of Acari in the region of Arequipa, according to the US Geological Survey.

“There are two fatalities in the region of Arequipa and so far 65 injured have been reported,” said General Jorge Chavez, head of the National Civil Defense Institute.

Chavez said military planes were delivering humanitarian aid including tents to affected areas.

An emergency will be declared in most of the stricken areas so that reconstruction of homes and roads can begin immediately, said Mercedes Araoz, president of the Council of Ministers.

One person died in the Yauca district and another in the Bella Union district, both in the Arequipa region, where rescue workers were trying to help those affected, Peru’s Civil Defense said.

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski traveled to the region and flew over the quake zone. Speaking to reporters, he attributed the two deaths to adobe houses collapsing.

About 47 percent of homes in Peru, or 3.6 million, are made of clay, earth, stone or wood materials that are vulnerable in earthquakes, according to government statistics from 2014.

The Peruvian navy and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii ruled out the threat of a tsunami.

Adobe houses were leveled in the coastal town of Lomas and elsewhere in the surrounding area, Santiago Neyra, the mayor of the nearby town of Caraveli said.

Electricity was out in several municipalities and many roads were closed or passable in only one direction, the mayor said.

Structural damage was reported to a bridge in Arequipa, said the head of the region’s highway police, Major Alberto Rojas.

In the city of Arequipa, residents ran into the streets after the quake struck at 4:18 am (0918 GMT).

It was even felt in the capital Lima, hundreds of kilometers away.

“Here at the clinic the tremor felt super long,” a patient in a Lima private hospital told AFP.

The earthquake rocked Peru just before Pope Francis is slated to arrive Thursday for a three-day visit after touring Chile.

Peru lies on the so-called “Ring of Fire” — an arc of fault lines that circles the Pacific Basin and is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The South American country records about 200 earthquakes a year, most of them going unnoticed by the public.

The last major earthquake to shake Peru hit in August 2007, killing 595 people.

A 6.3-magnitude quake was felt in southern Peru on the border with Chile last October, leaving four people with slight injuries.

Saudi women football fans able to grandstand at last

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

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Female Saudi supporters of Al-Ahli attend their teams football match against Al-Batin in the Saudi Pro League at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on January 12.//AFP
Female Saudi supporters of Al-Ahli attend their teams football match against Al-Batin in the Saudi Pro League at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on January 12.//AFP

Saudi women football fans able to grandstand at last

Breaking News January 14, 2018 15:11

For years Areej al-Ghamdi could only cheer her favorite football team from home, but everything changed on Friday when Saudi Arabia allowed women into the stadium for the first time.

The university student was among around 300 Saudi women who thronged Pearl stadium in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after the ultra-conservative kingdom eases decades-old rules separating the sexes.

“I came with my father and my brother — we’re fans of Al-Ahli,” said Ghamdi of the Saudi Premier League club facing off against Al-Batin.

The young woman said she always used to cheer her home team from the comfort of her living room.

“We love the club very much, and our home would often become an arena for supporters,” she said.

“This is the first time we’ll be cheering for real, not just in front of the television,” said Ghamdi, who wore a black abaya robe and a black scarf with a green Al-Ahli scarf round her neck.

“It is so much better here.”

The game began at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT), but two hours before the historic kick-off enthusiasm was palpable as women supporters began arriving at the stadium.

Among the first were a woman accompanied by a younger female and a girl.

A boy sat next to them in seats that had been reserved for women who come alone or with members of their families, namely male relatives.

The women entered the stadium through a special gate, while male supporters filed in through a separate entrance.

Historic day

Saudi Arabia, which has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women, has long barred them from sports arenas through strict rules that keep the sexes apart in public.

Glass panels were set up to separate men supporters from the women and family section of the stadium.

“This event proves that we are heading for a prosperous future. I am very proud to be a witness of this massive change,” Lamya Khaled Nasser, a 32-year-old fan from the Red Sea city, told AFP.

Ruwayda Ali Qassem, another Jeddah resident, spoke of a “historic day in the kingdom which culminates (in) ongoing fundamental changes”.

“I am proud and extremely happy for this development and for the kingdom’s moves to catch up with civilized measures adopted by many countries,” she said.

 

Daughters can’t believe it

Saleh al-Ziadi brought his three daughters to the game.

“My daughters still don’t believe this is happening. They have not yet realized they will be cheering their favorite team inside the stadium,” he said.

The women entering the venue waited in long queues to be searched by women security personnel who wore orange vests over their black abayas, while inside the stadium another team directed them to their seats.

Jeddah resident Noura Bakharji was among those who patiently waited for her turn, and for a reason.

Bakharji said she always felt bitter when her brothers came home from stadiums to tell her about the excitement of watching football matches in person.

“I always watched games on TV while my brothers went to the stadiums… I asked myself repeatedly ‘Why I can’t go?'” she told AFP.

“Today, things have changed. It’s a day of happiness and joy.”

Under Saudi Arabia’s existing guardianship system, a male family member — normally the father, husband or brother — must grant permission for a woman’s study, travel and a host of other activities.

Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman at the Saudi embassy in Washington “rooted for the ladies” in a message on Twitter.

“As we speak; Saudi women fans are entering soccer stadiums! This is more than women’s rights: today’s match between Al-Ahli and Al-Batin, and the ones to follow, are opportunities for families to come together and enjoy KSA’s national sport — soccer! I’m rooting for the ladies — enjoy!” Baeshen tweeted.

Friday’s match was the first in a series that will be open to women: a second is due to take place on Saturday and a third on January 18.

And in June, as part of a reform drive led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, authorities are lifting a ban that prohibited Saudi women from driving.

And the result of Friday’s game? A 5-0 defeat for Al-Batin — and a victory for women in Saudi Arabia.//AFP