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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/europe/40020417

German protesters call for opening of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Some hundreds of Germans protested in the eastern German seaside town of Lubmin on Sunday, calling to put into service the halted Nord Stream 2 pipeline project that was designed to transport fuel from Russia to Germany but was put on ice after the war in Ukraine broke out.

“Open Nord Stream 2” read one placard, “The government must go”, read another. “When someone turns off a gas tap, turns off the heating, these are not normal conditions and they can’t be. Germany is one of the richest countries in the world and then something like that is just not possible,” said protest organiser Martin Klein. Lubmin is the city, where the Nord Stream 2 pipeline lands in Germany.

A group of Ukrainian women got in front of the stage to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine but were escorted away by security staff.

Recently also German Economy Minister Robert Habeck visited Lubmin, stating that he didn’t see “a scenario, or no foreseeable scenario where Nord Stream 2 would play a role for Germany’s energy security.”

The protest took place on the second day of a two-day trip to the Gulf region by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in order to intensify energy cooperation and secure independence from Russia.

Scholz and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamin Bin Hamad Al Thani, spoke about LNG supplies in the light of the current energy crisis during their meeting in Doha on Sunday.

“We want to make further progress on this soon. At the same time, we will push ahead with cooperation on hydrogen, which will play a key role in the decarbonisation and electrification of our economy,” Scholz told reporters during a joint news conference.

Scholz also commented on the upcoming FIFA World Cup held in Qatar, welcoming “numerous improvements in workers’ rights in recent years” by Qatar, “in particular the abolition of the Kavalah wage system and the introduction of a minimum wage.”

German utility RWE has signed a deal with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to deliver liquefied natural gas to Europe’s largest economy by the end of December, RWE announced on Sunday.

Though the initial amount to be delivered is relatively small, it’s a politically significant deal to shore up supplies of gas from outside of Russia as Scholz seeks to deepen ties with the Gulf and find alternative energy sources.

The deal, which includes a memorandum of understanding for multi-year supplies of LNG, came on the second day of a two-day trip to the Gulf region by Scholz.

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/europe/40020416

Clashes erupt in London over Iranian protests

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Protesters gathered in their hundreds outside the Iranian embassy in London on Sunday as part of demonstrations triggered by the death of a woman detained by the morality police.

British police jostled with demonstrators as they blocked the road to the embassy, which appeared to earlier have had red paint thrown at it.

Officers detained at least one protester here.

Several attendees waved the national flag of Iran that was used prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution.

And clashes also broke out in northwest London during protests connected to the death of a woman in Iran.

British riot police were deployed to the scene of the clashes, which occurred near Marble Arch in central London and near the Islamic Centre of England, 3 kilometres to the northwest.

Demonstrations erupted across Iran more than a week ago at the funeral of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini, who died in detention after being arrested by police enforcing the Islamic Republic’s strict restrictions on women’s dress.

They have turned into the biggest Iranian protests in years and countries around the world have seen protests of solidarity in recent days.

Iran summoned the British and Norwegian ambassadors over what it called interference and hostile media coverage of the nationwide unrest.

Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asean/40020414

Vietnam fast becoming Thailand’s competitor in China durian market

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

THE NATION

Thailand may soon have to compete with Vietnam along with Malaysia when it comes to exporting durian to China, the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) said on Sunday.

The department said Vietnam recently started exporting fresh durian to China under the official quota for the first time, and the volume is expected to surge in the future.

For years, Vietnam has been exporting the fruit to China unofficially, but recently Chinese authorities made it official by setting up 76 origin codes for durian farms in Vietnam and 25 codes for packaging firms.

DIPT quoted a government online circular, vietnamnet.vn, as saying that Van Xuan Phat Import-Export Co, which has already sent three containers of the fruit to China, plans to export 1,000 tonnes of durian to the mainland every month.

“Being allowed to export under the official quota is a very good opportunity for Vietnamese durian. I foresee bigger durian exports to China in the next five or 10 years,” Ha Duy Trung, owner of the durian brand 9 Phe, said.

According to customs data, China imported 821,600 tonnes of fresh durian last year worth US$4.2 billion, up 82 per cent year on year, the biggest import of any fruit. It is estimated that imports will continue rising this year.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s total export of durian in the first half of this year was worth over $84 million, recording a more than 90 per cent rise year on year. China proved to be its biggest market by contributing $2.86 million to the earnings, up 123 per cent year on year, according to Vietnam Customs.

DIPT said Vietnam exporters are facing some obstacles in durian exports, notably their post-harvest technology that can only keep the fruit fresh for three to four days, which makes it unsuitable for longer journeys by ship. Vietnam also needs to build strong durian brands in China to compete with market dominators like Thailand and Malaysia.

“Furthermore, the Chinese durian market is becoming fiercer since Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines are also eyeing it, not to mention the fact that Chinese companies are trying to grow their own durians in Yunnan, Hainan and Guangxi,” said the department.

THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40020412

Interpol slaps Terraform Labs co-founder with Red Notice, South Korea says

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

THE NATION

Bloomberg on Monday reported that according to South Korea, Interpol requested law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, who faces charges related to the $60 billion wipeout of cryptocurrencies he created.

Prosecutors in Seoul said Monday in a text message the international police organization has issued a Red Notice for Kwon, the latest inglorious chapter of a $2 trillion rout in digital assets that exposed hugely risky practices. 

South Korean officials have accused Kwon and five others of crimes including breaches of capital-markets law. Kwon earlier this year moved from South Korea to Singapore, where his now collapsed Terraform Labs had a base, but his location became unclear after the city-state on September 17 said he was no longer there. Prosecutors subsequently stepped up their efforts to find him.

Terraform Labs was behind the TerraUSD algorithmic stablecoin and its sister token Luna. Both coins imploded in May and sparked huge losses in crypto markets, which were already reeling from tightening monetary policy, said Bloomberg.

South Korean prosecutors have said they issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in part because there was “circumstantial evidence of escape” ever since he left for Singapore. They also took issue with his claim that he was cooperating.

“We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions — we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months,” Kwon has previously said on Twitter.

THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asean/40020413

Heavy rains from Typhoon Noru flood houses in northern Philippines

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Philippine authorities rushed on Monday to distribute aid to thousands of evacuees after typhoon Noru made landfall in the capital and northern provinces, leaving at least five dead and many areas flooded.

Residents in Bulacan province were seen wading through waist-deep waters as some asked for aid like food, water and medicine after floods inundated their homes. Five rescue workers were also killed in Bulacan province, Governor Daniel Fernando told a radio station.

President Ferdinand Marcos ordered supplies to be airlifted and clean-up equipment be provided to most-affected communities.

Noru made landfall as a category 3 typhoon but weakened as it traversed land on Sunday night. The storm was headed out over the South China Sea and toward Vietnam, according to the state weather agency.

Super Typhoon Noru has weakened to a typhoon after it made its second landing in the Philippines at 20:20 Sunday, according to the Philippine National Weather Service.

Noru, the 16th typhoon of 2022, made its first landfall in Quezon Province, at the level of super typhoon.

According to the Philippine National Weather Service, Noru is the strongest typhoon affecting the Philippines so far this year. After landing, it will traverse Luzon Island, and the capital region and central Luzon will be greatly affected.

The Philippine government approved many areas to suspend work and classes on Monday.

Affected by the bad weather, at least five international flights and 44 domestic flights were cancelled at the Capital Manila International Airport.

Residents have been forced to evacuate in places such as Polillo Island, where the No. 5 wind signal has been raised.

Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/europe/40020410

Italy’s right-wing, led by Meloni, wins election

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Giorgia Meloni, head of the nationalist Brothers of Italy party, said on Monday that Italian voters had given a clear mandate to the right to form the next government and called for unity to help confront the country’s many problems.

Provisional results from Sunday’s general election showed Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) group topping the polls with almost 26% of the vote, propelling an alliance of right-wing parties to clear majorities in both houses of parliament.

At the last general election in 2018, FdI won just 4.3%.

As head of the largest single party, Meloni will almost certainly get the nod from the head of state to form a new government and is also likely to become Italy’s first woman prime minister and face a daunting array of problems, including surging energy prices and war in Ukraine.

Meloni, 45, plays down her party’s post-fascist roots and portrays it as a mainstream conservative group. She has pledged to support Western policy on Ukraine and not take undue risks with the third largest economy in the eurozone.

“When this night is over, we must remember that we are not at the endpoint, we are at the starting point. It is from tomorrow that we must prove our worth,” Meloni told the party faithful early Monday morning.

The rapid rise in her fortunes is intricately tied to the transformation of Brothers of Italy, which has moved out of the shadows and into the mainstream without ever entirely repudiating its post-fascist roots.

Friends and critics alike say the surge in support is mainly due to the steely determination of Meloni, who won her first local election at 21 and became Italy’s youngest ever minister when, at the age of 31, she was given the youth portfolio in Berlusconi’s 2008 government.

An exit poll for Italy’s SKY said the bloc of conservative parties, which also includes Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, won over 40%, enough to guarantee control of both houses of parliament.

Italy’s electoral law favours groups that manage to create pre-ballot pacts, giving them an excessive number of seats by comparison with their vote tally.

Full results are expected by early Monday.

Italy’s first autumn national election in over a century was triggered by party infighting that brought down Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s broad national unity government in July.

Italy has a history of political instability. The next prime minister will lead the country’s 68th government since 1946 and face a host of challenges, notably soaring energy costs and growing economic headwinds.

The outcome of the vote was also being watched nervously in European capitals and on financial markets, given the desire to preserve unity in dealings with Russia and concerns over Italy’s daunting debt mountain.

The new, slimmed-down parliament will not meet until Oct. 13, at which point the head of state will summon party leaders and decide on the shape of the new government.

Italians expressed a deep feeling of uncertainty in the early hours of Monday shortly after exit polls projected the right-wing coalition’s win in the country’s national election.

‘It seems that the centre-right won over the centre-left. An uncertain future awaits us.’, said Rome resident Silvia Zacchi.

Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/us-canada/40020409

Thai energy sector very attractive to US businesses, says Don

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

THE NATION

US investors are showing strong interest in Thailand’s energy sector, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday after the foreign minister met investors at a dinner talk in New York last week.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, who doubles as deputy prime minister, was in the US to attend the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on September 13, with high-level talks taking place from last Monday to Friday.

The minister met representatives from the US-Asean Business Council (USABC) to discuss ties between US businesses and Thailand’s public and private sectors.

“Several topics were discussed during the dinner talk, including cooperation in trade, service, transport and healthcare industries, digital transformation and supply chain,” ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said on Sunday.

“American businesses were especially interested in Thailand’s energy sector and they also urged the government to update regulations to promote energy saving and become more environmentally friendly.”

Tanee said their interest in the energy sector, which is key to the country’s overall development, is a good sign that US investors still have confidence in Thailand’s potential and will continue investing in the country.

“US businesses are excited that Thailand and other Asean countries have started reopening after years of Covid-19 lockdown. The USABC and USCC [US Chamber of Commerce] are planning to visit Thailand in November to attend several meetings with business partners in energy, healthcare and other industries,” he added. “Energy will be their main focus as Thailand is still reliant on external energy sources.”

THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/china/40020405

Rumours that President Xi arrested in coup ‘fake news’, says Thai expert on China

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

THE NATION

A Thai expert on China affairs has dismissed reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping is under house arrest following a “silent coup”.

Assoc Prof Dr Aksornsri Phanishsarn, a Thammasat University lecturer on China’s economy and strategies, said reports and rumours of Xi’s arrest had no basis in fact.

“It’s fake news,” Aksornsri said on Sunday, adding that he had cross-checked with his contacts in China, who confirmed that the reports, which emerged in India, are false.

The Times of India reported on Sunday that social media was awash with speculation Xi had been deposed. The newspaper quoted social media speculation that a coup unfolded while Xi was abroad attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan.

The Times quoted “unverified posts on Twitter” as saying that Xi had left Samarkand before the official closing ceremony only to be placed under house arrest upon landing in Beijing on September 16. The Times also reported rumours that Xi had been stripped of authority over the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

It quoted Twitter posts claiming that Beijing airport had cancelled 6,000 international and domestic flights and that sale of train tickets had been suspended.

The report quoted News Highland Vision as saying that former Chinese president Hu Jintao and ex-PM Wen Jiabao, along with former Standing Committee member Song Ping now controlled the security bureau of the Chinese Communist Party.

It cited other tweets claiming PLA vehicles were moving towards Beijing on September 22, as well as posts of flight radar apps showing zero aircraft activity over Beijing.

However, the Times pointed out that international news outlets and the Chinese Foreign Ministry were silent on the rumours. Neither has the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported any news of a coup or political transition in China during the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Bangkok informed Thai media that the rumours were untrue. Argentina’s embassy in Beijing also dismissed the reports in Indian media as fake news, according to the Phujadkarn website.

It added that Thai students in China have tweeted that the situation in the country remains normal. Phujadkarn quoted the students as saying that no flights were cancelled in China and the Internet was not cut. The Thai students reportedly expressed puzzlement at why media outside China were playing up coup rumours, adding that they had detected no irregular events.

THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asean/40020406

Get drug lords, not small fry, says Marcos

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he has told the Philippine National Police that he was “not interested” in small-time drug pushers. Instead, he said, he has instructed them to work harder on going after big-time narcotics suppliers and distributors.

Changing the “focus” of the fight against narcotics, Marcos said on Friday that he issued the order during a meeting with top police officials after taking office on June 30. He succeeds Rodrigo Duterte, whose brutal war on drugs is under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“It is certainly my view that enforcement, which has been the part of the drug war that has been most vigorously pursued by President [Rodrigo] Duterte, only gets you so far. And my approach is slightly different,” Marcos told a forum with the Asia Society on Friday at the close of his six-day US visit.

“[During] my first command conference with our policemen, I said we will adjust. Let us adjust our focus … As to the enforcement, to put it very bluntly, I simply told them, ‘Look I’m not interested in the kid who makes 100 pesos a week selling weed’. That’s not the person that I want you to go after,” he said.

“I want you to go after people who, if we get them, if we neutralise them, or put them in jail, we put them away, whatever it is, we will make an actual difference to the supply of drugs, the system of distribution, the system of importation of drugs because much of it really does come from abroad. That will actually make a difference, it will put a stop to it,” Marcos said.

Duterte’s anti-drug campaign has led to thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings whose victims were mostly impoverished suspected drug pushers and users who were gunned down during police anti-drug operations.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reports that a little over 6,000 people had been killed in the drug war since 2016. Human rights groups say the number was closer to 30,000.

Data from the independent monitor Dahas PH, whose members are mostly from the University of the Philippines’ Third World Studies Programme, have shown that Duterte’s drug war consistently targeted small-time pushers, failing in its promise to bring down so-called high-value targets.

Toward the end of his term, Duterte admitted that he was unable to end the country’s drug problem, which he promised to get rid of in three to six months after taking office in June 2016. He said his self-imposed deadline was just a campaign “hubris”, adding that he was “really wrong” in making the promise.

After he won the elections in May, Marcos said Duterte told him to continue the controversial anti-drug campaign.

In an interview with vlogger Toni Gonzaga earlier this month, the president said the war on drugs would continue, but it would be waged differently.

He said there were “working groups putting together the new war on drugs”.

Marcos emphasised measures for drug prevention and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

The government’s drug rehabilitation scheme has to be “more sensitive and more sympathetic to those who actually have gotten caught up in this lifestyle … pull them out of that culture and to help them start again and do live a good life as good and contributing members of society,” he said.

At the forum in New York, Marcos said: “We cannot stop the drug war. The problem continues to exist. What we can do is examine and learn lessons from the experience from the past administration.”

The president said last week that ICC investigators need not come to the Philippines to look into the alleged crimes against humanity committed by his predecessor and other officials in the drug war.

The only way that ICC investigators would be welcomed into the country would be “if the whole system collapses” or “if we have a war here”, Marcos said.

He also said the Philippines will not join the ICC again after leaving it in March 2019 by withdrawing from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Marcos said the ICC should not intervene in the country’s domestic affairs.

“The alleged crimes were all committed in the Philippines; they were all committed by Filipinos. Why will we need a foreigner to tell us how to deal with it?” he said in an interview with the newly launched ALLTV network of billionaire Manuel Villar.

Duterte ordered the withdrawal of the Philippines from the ICC after its prosecutor opened a “preliminary examination” in February 2018 of allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the former president during his days as mayor of Davao City.

Although the Philippines withdrew its membership from the ICC in March 2018, taking effect one year later, the ICC said it had jurisdiction over the country until March 2019.

Under Article 127 of the Rome Statute, a state “shall not be discharged, because of its withdrawal, from obligations arising from this Statute while it was a Party to the Statute, including any financial obligations which may have accrued”.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Asia News Network

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40020404

Make jumping off Bridge tough, Nepal govt told as suicides rise at alarming rate

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

Over the past month, as many as five people jumped into Narayani River from Narayani Bridge, which links Narayanghat of Nepal’s Chitwan district with Gaindakot of Nawalpur. One of them was safely rescued while four others went missing.

The grim chain of incidents started on August 23, when a 26-year-old woman jumped off the bridge in broad daylight. Within 24 hours of the incident, a 49-year-old man also jumped into the river. The third incident occurred four days later, on August 28, when an adult male parked his scooter on the bridge and jumped into the river.

According to police data, a man in his late twenties and another in his early 30s jumped off the same bridge on September 6 and September 15, respectively.

The incidents of people jumping to their death from the 500-metre-long bridge along the East-West Highway has set off alarm bells in the local community.

“Five deaths by suicide at the same spot in a month is worrisome,” said police deputy superintendent Bijayaraj Pandit, adding that 25 deaths by suicide were reported in the district since the beginning of the current fiscal year on July 17. The number of suicides was 214 in the last fiscal year, Pandit said.

Citing that climbing over the railings on either side of the bridge is an easy task since they are only about waist high, Pandit added that authorities concerned should install taller railings to dissuade people from taking their own lives.

“The bridge over the Seti River in Pokhara is secured in that it has high railings,” Pandit said. “The one over the Narayani River also needs that kind of infrastructure.”

Death by suicide and suicide attempts off the Narayani bridge are nothing new. “Three years ago, five people, two in a single day, died when they jumped into the river,” Pandit said. “But the frequency of the recent cases has raised questions about security along the bridge. We will dispatch security personnel to the Narayani bridge and its vicinity to keep an eye on the people.”

In 2019, Bharatpur Municipality Youth Network submitted a memorandum to the mayor of Bharatpur Renu Dahal and the mayor of Gaindakot Municipality Chhatrraj Paudel asking them to take steps to secure the bridge. The network asked both the local units to take immediate measures to make high railings along the bridge. But their requests are yet to be addressed.

This time, local youths have urged the local unit and authorities concerned to adopt measures to dissuade people from killing themselves.

Security and rescue work falls under the ambit of the police. However, Pandit says a lack of resources affects their preventive and rescue efforts.

In the past month, police were able to rescue only one person who had jumped into the river. “The security personnel who are mobilised for rescue during natural disasters are also tasked with rescuing those who jump into the river,” Pandit said. “We have some tools and equipment to conduct rescue, but we don’t have the resources to run rescue operations in a big water body like the Narayani River.”

The recurring incidents of suicide have also worried psychologists and psychiatrists who say that those with suicidal tendencies find it easier to execute their plans when an easy, viable way becomes available to them. “For instance, those fighting conflicting thoughts and deliberating suicide will be encouraged to go ahead with their plans when they see it’s easy to jump off a bridge,” Dr CP Sedhai, a psychiatrist based in the district, told the Post.

Sedhai recommended that police should heighten security in the area and construct high railings on the bridge. “But that’s just the beginning,” Sedhai said. “The authorities must launch awareness campaigns to sensitise people in matters of mental and emotional health.”

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 700,000 people die by suicide every year across the globe and 16 million people try to kill themselves.

The UN health body says one in four people in the world are affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives and around 450 million people currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill health and disability worldwide.

“Suicide and suicide attempts have a ripple effect that impacts families, friends, colleagues, communities and societies,” the global health body states. “Suicides are preventable and much can be done to prevent it at the individual, community and national levels.”

Kathmandu Post

Asia News Network