During a visit to China, Somkid applauded the China International Import Expo and said Thailand strongly supports the free trade cooperation led by President Xi Jinping.

“With a number of global uncertainties, China continues to manifest resolve in support of the free trade system, which shows that the country has become a pillar of global economic development,” he said in an interview with China Daily on Tuesday.

Thailand has good relations with member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Somkid said. Located between Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, Thailand could play the role of coordinator to promote closer relations and better subregional cooperation between the five countries, he said.

“Cooperation in the Yangtze River region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Three Rivers region will grow closer, which will be of greater help to economic cooperation between China and Thailand,” he said, referring to the Jinsha, Lancang and Nujiang rivers.

“Many Chinese companies have come to Thailand to make investments, and I believe the number of investors will keep growing,” he said.

ASEAN members have called for accelerated negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a proposed free trade framework involving the 10 member states and six partner countries.

“After the outcome of the RCEP negotiations is announced, China’s Belt and Road Initiative will develop faster next year, as it will be able to extend to the free trade zone created by the RCEP, bringing cooperation with surrounding countries to a deeper level,” Somkid said.

“The RCEP and the BRI complement each other, and the Eastern Economic Corridor converges with the BRI,” he said. “Thailand will promote seamless cooperation and integration of different regions and subregions under the RCEP and the BRI.”

Riyadh, Nov 15, 2018 (AFP) –

Five Saudi officials face the death penalty for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was dismembered inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate, but Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not involved, the prosecutor said Thursday.

The announcement follows growing international outcry over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi rulers who was last seen entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage.

Khashoggi died after being drugged and then dismembered, a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office said in the first Saudi confirmation of how he was killed.

The journalist’s body parts were then handed over to an agent outside the consulate grounds, the spokesman said.

He denied Prince Mohammed had any knowledge of the murder.

The deputy chief of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence, General Ahmed al-Assiri, gave the order to repatriate Khashoggi — and “the head of the negotiating team” that flew to the Istanbul consulate had ordered his murder, the spokesman said.

After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted in mid-October that Khashoggi had been murdered at the compound, but blamed it on a “rogue” operation.

The prosecutor has requested the death penalty for the five who “are charged with ordering and committing the crime and for the appropriate sentences for the other indicted individuals,” an official statement published by state news agency SPA said.

It said a total of 21 individuals were in custody in connection with the killing, 11 of whom have been indicted with investigations to continue into the others.

Turkey on Wednesday called for an international investigation into the murder.

Ankara has already shared voice recordings linked to the murder with a number of countries including Saudi Arabia, the United States and its Western allies.

– ‘Global fallout’ –

Khashoggi’s killing has plunged the world’s top oil exporter into its worst diplomatic crisis since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, in which most of the hijackers were identified as Saudi nationals.

After first insisting Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, Saudi authorities said he was killed in an argument that degenerated into a brawl before finally accepting what Turkey had said virtually from the start — that he was killed in a premeditated hit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from “the highest levels” of the Saudi government.

Khashoggi’s murder has also led to increased scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s role in the Yemen war, which has pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine.

The journalist went into self-imposed exile in the United States in 2017 after falling out with Prince Mohammed.

But as the chairmanship of the Asean passed Thursday from Singapore to Thailand, Bangkok is hoping unrest will not spoil its year in the spotlight.

The annual Asean summit has become a major stop on the diplomatic circuit, even drawing leaders from the US, China, Japan and Russia.

Thailand’s chairmanship means Asean will be hosted by a military dictatorship the same year it plans to hold elections.

The kingdom is notorious for its fractious, disruptive and sometimes violent street politics.

Thailand’s generals will be desperate to avoid a repeat of 2009 when protesters from the pro-democracy “red shirt” faction smashed their way into the summit venue in the resort city of Pattaya demanding elections.

Pandemonium ensued, with a number of leaders having to be rescued from a hotel roof by Thai army helicopters while others fled by boat.

“It was chaotic,” one Southeast Asian diplomat who attended that cancelled summit told AFP.

Back then Thailand was riven by political tensions that pitted the “red shirts” — loyal to ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra — against their “yellow shirt” rivals, allies of the royalist and military elite in Bangkok.

In 2014 an ultra-royalist military clique again seized power, ushering in the most autocratic government Thailand has seen for a generation.

Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha risks lifting the lid on Thailand’s political pressure cooker with elections slated for some time early next year.

That could usher in a return of Thailand’s traditional rambunctious party politics.

But Busadee Santipitaks, a spokeswoman at Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the country was ready to host world leaders regardless of the elections.

“We expect to host more than 170 meetings at various levels next year in Thailand,” she told AFP, adding “tentative dates” for the key summits were under discussion.

A second Southeast Asian diplomat said the Thai government is unlikely to let a repeat of the 2009 debacle occur.

“I don’t think they will allow another such incident to mar their chairmanship,” the diplomat told AFP.

Historically Asean tries to avoid hosting summits in countries the same year they hold elections.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a veteran politics commentator, said the 2009 debacle was a “fiasco, the lowest point in respected and recognized Thai diplomatic annals.”

He said while political unrest could never be ruled out in Thailand, the junta could make their ASEAN hosting duties easier if they deliver a clean and timely election.

“The junta has to ensure that the overall electorate is satisfied with the electoral process and timing,” he told AFP.

“If the junta manipulates at all costs to stay in power after the poll, it could elicit a popular backlash.”

Debbie Gerlach honored their expected wedding day with a photo shoot in her wedding gown among the region’s cacti. Some pictures were edited to imagine the spirit of her partner, Randy Zimmerman, by her side. She shared the heartbreaking pictures on Facebook Monday, Nov. 12.

Image: Facebook/@debbie.gerlach.79

Image: Facebook/@debbie.gerlach.79

Zimmerman, 25, was involved in a tragic motorcycle accident in Tucson, Arizona, last Feb. 1, where he fatally collided with a Jeep Cherokee, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

In her caption, she reminisced about her expectations of their big day and expressed sadness on the accident.

Image: Facebook/@debbie.gerlach.79

“Today was supposed to be the best day of my life. Today was supposed to be the day I married my best friend. I was supposed to wake up, put on my wedding dress and walk down the aisle to the man of my dreams,” she wrote. “But today I woke up alone as I do every day. Today I woke up with my heart broken all over again. Today my daddy will not walk me down the aisle.”

“Today I will not get to see the look on Randy’s face at the end of that aisle when he gets his first look at me in my wedding dress, the dress I had to hide from him because he couldn’t wait to see it.

“Today I will not marry the love of my life. Today I will not have a husband…and that is because a person made a choice that has forever changed my life, a choice to not stop at a stop sign, to not stop when he saw my fiance coming toward him on his motorcycle, but instead tried to hurry across the street.

“Please I beg each and every one of you that reads this post, watch for motorcycles, stop at stop signs and drive with care because you never know whose whole world is on that bike,” she implored.

Gerlach poses in her wedding dress with the ashes of her late fiance in an urn.  Image: Facebook/@debbie.gerlach.79

Image: Facebook/@debbie.gerlach.79

Her post has struck a chord on social media, earning over 200,000 likes and 107,000 shares as of this writing. Netizens in similar situations expressed their sympathies and their own stories of loss in the comments section of the post.

She and Zimmerman had been a couple for six years. Based on her Facebook posts, she has continued to remember him months after his death.

Political parties are prohibited by law from seeking outside influence and may face dissolution.

EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma, however, said on Wednesday the agency did not have enough reason to say the party is violating the law, and that it was gathering more facts and information.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan yesterday denied any knowledge about Thaksin’s movements or if Pheu Thai could be found guilty of allowing outside influence.

However, he did say that there was no chance of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha running into Thaksin in Singapore because the former is there to attend the Asean summit, while the latter is there for pleasure.

Most of those unaccounted for are from the Butte County town of Paradise, in northern California, which was virtually erased from the map by the so-called “Camp Fire” blaze that erupted last week.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told journalists Wednesday evening that 461 search and rescue personnel and 22 cadaver dogs were involved in the effort to locate those missing and DNA testing was being expedited to identify the victims.

“Beginning Thursday, anyone who believes a family member perished can provide a DNA sample” to the sheriff’s office, Honea said.

Paradise, a town of around 26,000 in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, was popular with retirees and many of those reported missing by the sheriff’s office are elderly — in their 70s, 80s and 90s.

Virtually every home in Paradise, located 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of the state capital Sacramento, was destroyed by the fast-moving fire fueled by high winds.

At least 59 deaths have been reported so far from the devastating wildfires and body recovery teams were going house-to-house with cadaver dogs in Paradise on Wednesday.

“We are in the midst of a catastrophe,” Governor Jerry Brown told a press conference. “The fire was unprecedented, overwhelming, so a lot of people got caught.”

Brock Long, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said Paradise was looking at a “total rebuild” with many homes, businesses and infrastructure destroyed.

“This is going to be a very long and frustrating event for the citizens of Paradise,” Long said. “We’re going to have to find a new normal.”

“You’re not going to be able to rebuild Paradise the way it was.”

An AFP reporter in Paradise on Wednesday saw crews removing trees, repairing fences along roads and towing away cars.

Authorities said livestock owners were being allowed in to restricted areas for brief periods to feed the animals but it was unclear when residents would be allowed back in.

Tales of courage, survival

Fifty-six deaths have been reported from the “Camp Fire,” mostly in Paradise, while three people have died in the “Woolsey Fire.”

Honea said that of the 56 human remains found in his county, 47 had been identified.

While the cause of the “Camp Fire” is still under investigation, a lawsuit has been filed against the local power company, PG&E, by fire victims claiming negligence by the utility.

The complaint alleged that the fire began on November 8 when a high voltage transmission line failed, igniting a vegetation fire.

As thousands of firefighters fought the fires, incredible tales have emerged of courage and survival.

A man who asked to be identified by only his first name, Scott, told the San Francisco Chronicle that when the “Camp Fire” surrounded his home in Concow in Butte County he and his family plunged into a reservoir along with a 90-year-old neighbor, Bruno.

“Bruno was saying, ‘Just leave me. I can’t do this,'” Scott, 51, told the newspaper. “I said, ‘Bruno, we’re not going to leave you. And I’m not going to burn, so you better hurry.'”

They remained in the cold water as flames licked the shore and made their way to a small island in the reservoir after finding a pair of rowboats.

– ‘I was terrified’ –

Allyn Pierce, a nurse in Paradise, told The New York Times and CNN how his life was saved by a bulldozer driver as he fled the town in his pickup truck along with other residents on Thursday.

Pierce said cars were catching fire around him and he dictated a goodbye message to his family, expecting his vehicle to catch fire next.

“I stayed calm but I was terrified,” Pierce said.

“Then all of a sudden this bulldozer comes out of nowhere and knocks this burning truck out of the way,” he said.

Instead of fleeing to safety, however, Pierce turned around and went back to the Adventist Health Feather River Hospital, where he works as an intensive care nurse, and helped evacuate patients to the hospital’s helipad.

Pierce displayed pictures of his Toyota pickup truck which he said was still working despite lights which had melted and a rear passenger door which had been welded shut by the heat from the fire.

The “Camp Fire” has ravaged 135,000 acres (54,632 hectares) of land and is 35 percent contained, according to Cal Fire.

It has destroyed some 7,600 homes and 260 commercial properties. Battling the blaze are more than 5,600 fire personnel, some from as far away as Washington state and Texas.

The “Woolsey Fire” has razed 97,620 acres (39,505 hectares) and has been 47 percent contained.

Cal Fire said more than 3,500 fire personnel were battling the “Woolsey Fire,” which has destroyed the Malibu homes of several celebrities including Miley Cyrus, Neil Young, Robin Thicke, Shannen Doherty and Gerard Butler.

The city’s new Air Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) appeared likely to be called in to review the incident, which raised questions over whether controllers gave prompt orders to both planes and why the department only disclosed what happened a day later.

In a press release issued on Wednesday night, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Department said: “At 7.47pm last night, a China Southern Airlines airliner travelling from Zhejiang to Hong Kong landed at the north runway as per the instruction of the [air traffic controller], while the preceding business jet that had landed on the same runway had not vacated the runway completely.”

He said the business jet, arrived from the Philippines, had acknowledged the instruction of the control officer to clear the runway quickly.

“The runway is 3,800 metres long. According to the preliminary information, the two aircraft were more than 1,800 metres apart when the [second] airliner touched down,” he said.

The department said no one was injured; the operation of the airport was unaffected; and it had reported the incident to the AAIA. The agency was recently set up to conform with global rules requiring investigations to be independent of local regulators.

According to arrivals data from the Airport Authority, the business jet had arrived from Angeles City. The second flight, using a Boeing 737-81B, was China Southern Airlines flight CZ6045 from Yiwu, Zhejiang province.

According to control tower audio heard by the Post, the controller spoke to the pilots in the final stages of landing. The unidentified controller instructed the business jet to “please expedite to clear [the] runway” as soon as possible.

The pilot acknowledged the instruction, according to the audio archives of LiveATC.com, a website which stores air traffic control recordings worldwide.

It is unclear from the recording whether the China Southern flight was instructed to land as the speech was inaudible, but the pilot contacted the control tower 46 seconds after it spoke to the earlier arrival, and the same controller told the pilot to “expect a late landing clearance”.

But the two aircraft soon ended up in close proximity on the airstrip.

A Cathay Pacific Airways pilot of 25 years’ experience said a late landing clearance instruction warned the pilots they may be asked to terminate the descent and go around for a second landing, due to another plane still being on the runway.

But he said the tower still had the discretion to clear the aircraft to land regardless.

The veteran said if the previous plane was still on the runway, the next aircraft in line should have been instructed to do a go-around. The pilot also has the discretion to decide on a go-around.

While no one was injured and there was still 1,800 metres between the planes, Civic Party legislator Jeremy Tam Man-ho, a commercial pilot, said it was still a dangerous situation.

“Weather conditions, such as a gust, can cause a plane to land a bit further from the target touchdown point,” he said. “Malfunctions in brakes could also mean a longer distance is required to decelerate.”

As such, Tam said, the rules state there should not be a plane on the runway when another is landing.

He said investigators would want to look into why the business jet took so long to leave the runway, and why the control officer did not instruct the pilot of the China Southern plane to go around. Tam added he would have expected the announcement of the incident to be made before noon on Wednesday, rather than in the evening.

Duterte is attending the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting alongside a string of world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Japan’s Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and US Vice-President Mike Pence.

But on Wednesday, the mercurial leader missed four of the eleven meetings he was slated to attend, as well as a gala dinner hosted by Singaporean leader Lee Hsien Loong.

“What’s wrong with my nap?” the 73-year-old told reporters as he arrived at the summit venue on Thursday morning for another long day of meetings.

Asked if he felt fully rested he replied: “Still not good enough, but enough to sustain the endurance for the last days.”

Duterte’s no-shows on Wednesday prompted a statement from his office explaining he had only had three hours of sleep the night before.

“He took power naps to catch (up) on sleep,” presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said, adding that “some quarters are making a big fuss of the president skipping a few meetings.”

“We assure the nation that his aforementioned absence has nothing to do with his physical health and wellbeing which have been the subject of speculation,” he added.

The outspoken leader remains popular at home even as he pursues a deadly drug war that has seen thousands killed and horrified western allies.

But he has regularly prompted theorising about his health by skipping events or discussing his ailments in public since taking power in 2016.

Duterte has said previously that he suffers from daily migraines and ailments including Buerger’s disease, an illness that affects the veins and the arteries of the limbs, and is usually due to smoking.

Despite his deadly crackdown on drugs, he also revealed in 2016 that he used to take fentanyl, a powerful opiate painkiller, because of a spinal injury from previous motorcycle accidents.

He is the oldest person ever to be elected president in the Philippines, but he is far from the most veteran world leader attending ASEAN.

That accolade goes to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is 20 years older than Duterte and currently the world’s oldest leader.