“It’s a colossal tragedy, 18 people died, and 40 more injured, for the time being,” Aksyonov told Rossiya 24 channel, after authorities earlier said 50 people were injured.

A student carried out the attack and shot himself, according to the leader of the Russian-annexed peninsula Sergei Askyonov. Most of those killed or wounded are teenagers.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major incidents, said it had “opened a criminal case into a terrorist attack” after an “unidentified explosive device” went off in the polytechnical college in Kerch city.

   Investigators said the explosive device went off in the college’s canteen and that it was “packed with metal objects.”

“Currently we know of 13 dead and around 50 injured,” Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko earlier said in televised comments.

The “most of the (victims) are teenagers,” the committee said. The college’s website says it accepts students in the last three grades of school, from the age of 14.

An unnamed witness who worked nearby said in a video on Kerch.tv website victims “were taken away in public transport, in minibuses and buses, with 2 or 3 people in each ambulance.”

“They are children and staff,” the witness said. “I saw people without legs, without arms.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the “tragic news” from Kerch and that he “expresses deep condolences to those who lost relatives and loved ones.”

Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov said on Facebook he had gone to the scene and “all the necessary services are working at the scene of the incident.”

The emergency services ministry said that it had flown out three helicopters and a plane with rescuers.

Kerch is linked to the Russian mainland by a bridge opened by Putin in May this year.

The move is said to be an effort to achieve a goal of 60 million foreign visitors per year by the year 2030, starting with Chinese tourists, for single-entry visa applications due to the fact that 60 per cent of all visas issued in 2017 were for Chinese visitors, according to information released by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

It was also reported that the Japanese government would also be adding other types of visas to the new online system.

According to The Japan Times, travel agencies would be able to help prospective visitors apply online, and the e-visa was meant to make the application process easier by reducing the workload at diplomatic departments and immigration control ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Channel News Asia reported that tourists hailing from Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and the United States would be granted visas upon arrival, in an effort by Japan to boost tourism.

The number of visitors to Japan this year is expected to top 30 million for the first time, despite the country’s misfortune with multiple natural disasters.

Archaeologists recently discovered that a worker had inscribed the date of “the 16th day before the calends of November”, meaning October 17, on a house at Pompeii, the head of archaeology at the site, Massimo Osanna, told Italian media.

Pompeii and Herculaneum were previously thought to have been destroyed by the massive eruption of Mount Vesuvius on August 24, based on contemporary writings and archaeological finds.

Nevertheless, evidence such as autumnal fruits on branches found in the ashen ruins had suggested a later date since the 19th century, Osanna said.

“Today, with much humility, perhaps we will rewrite the history books because we date the eruption to the second half of October,” said Italy’s Minister of Culture Alberto Bonisoli.

Pompeii is the second most visited tourist site in Italy, after the Colosseum in Rome, with more than three million visitors in the first eight months of this year.

Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said there would also be a “no-straw default” position for eateries as the government was looking to cut down on single-usage plastic waste.

She said this during the launch of the ministry’s Roadmap Towards Zero Single-use Plastics 2018-2030 here on Wednesday (Oct 17).

The pollution charge, to be imposed during Phase 1 of the roadmap from 2019 to 2021, would be collected via local councils in the states.

“The implementation of the charge, as well as the no-straw default, will be done according to the (readiness of) various states, as each has a different public awareness level,” she said.

Yeo also said that by the end of the year, the government would be launching standards drawn up by Sirim for biodegradable and compostable bags.

The change was praised by pot enthusiasts and investors in a budding industry that has seen pot stocks soar on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges, but sharply questioned by some health professionals and opposition politicians.

“We’re not legalizing cannabis because we think it’s good for our health. We’re doing it because we know it’s not good for our children,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on the eve of the reform.

“We know we need to do a better job to protect our children and to eliminate or massively reduce the profits that go to organized crime.”

The Cannabis Act, which fulfills a promise Trudeau made in the 2015 election campaign, makes Canada only the second nation after Uruguay to legalize the drug.

Its implementation will be scrutinized and dissected by Canadians ahead of the next election in 2019, as well as other nations that the prime minister has said may follow suit if the measure proves a success.

Trudeau himself admitted in 2013 to having smoked pot five or six times in his life, including at a dinner party with friends after being elected to parliament.

He has also said that his late brother Michel was facing marijuana possession charges for a “tiny amount” of pot before his death in an avalanche in 1998, and that this influenced his decision to propose legalizing cannabis.

But Trudeau’s office told AFP he “does not plan on purchasing or consuming cannabis once it is legalized.”

In total, Statistics Canada says 5.4 million Canadians will buy cannabis from legal dispensaries in 2018 — about 15 percent of the population. Around 4.9 million already smoke.

Stores in St. John’s in the Atlantic island province of Newfoundland were due to open their doors to pot enthusiasts as of 12:01 am local time (0231 GMT) on Wednesday.

“I’m going to have a lot more variety than the black market dealers, so you have a lot more choice at our store. The prices are very comparable,” Thomas Clarke, owner of THC Distribution store, told public broadcaster CBC just prior to the big event.

A new industry is born

Under the new regulations, Canadians at least 18 or 19 years old (soon to be 21 in Quebec) will be allowed to buy up to 30 grams of cannabis, and grow up to four plants at home.

A patchwork of private and public cannabis retail stores and online sales have been set up across the 13 provinces and territories, ramping up to 300 storefronts by year’s end, the government predicts.

Sales of derivatives like edibles will be legalized next year.

To meet demand, hundreds of growers have been licensed, some taking over horticulture and floriculture greenhouses.

This new industry has attracted billions in funding, as well as interest from alcohol and soft drink makers such as Constellation Brands and Coca-Cola, respectively, which have expressed an interest in developing cannabis infused drinks.

Cannabis sales are forecast to boost economic growth by up to Can$1.1 billion and provide a Can$400 million tax revenue windfall for the government, according to Statistics Canada.

Public health officials contend that smoking cannabis is as harmful as tobacco, but welcome what they call the opportunity that legalization affords for open dialogue.

Some doctors, however, remain wary. Diane Kelsall, editor in chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, called legalization “a national, uncontrolled experiment in which the profits of cannabis producers and tax revenues are squarely pitched against the health of Canadians.”

Police, meanwhile, are scrambling to prepare for a predicted uptick in drug-impaired driving.

It’s unclear as yet if the new framework will succeed in undercutting the black market, as prices for illicit pot have plunged in the last year to an average of Can$6.79 per gram, and most sellers had planned to charge more.

Bill Blair, a former police chief in Toronto who is Trudeau’s pointman for pot legalization, remains optimistic.

“For almost a century, criminal enterprises had complete control of this market, 100 percent of its production and distribution and they profited in the billions of dollars each year. I suspect they’re not going to go gently into the night,” he told AFP.

“But the fact that some individuals want to cling to a prohibition model that has led to the highest rates of cannabis use of any country in the world is a little shocking to me,” he said.

According to a recent Abacus Data poll published on Monday, 70 percent of Canadians accept or support legalization.

“The Filipino teachers are probably the best teachers in the world. They are not only qualified, equipped with the credentials required by the Teacher’s Council in the case of Thailand, but armed with the most important qualification – the love for teaching and the passion to make their students learn and prepare not only for the university, the industry but to live their lives to the fullest,” says Dr. Robert Galindez, CEO of Saint Robert’s Group of Companies in Thailand.

Ranked 15th in the world by the EF English Proficiency Index in 2017, Filipinos are sought after to work overseas. Non-English speaking countries like Thailand have been a steady destination of professionals seeking English teaching jobs since late 2000.

The Philippine Embassy estimates that there are 17,921 Filipinos, documented and undocumented, in Thailand.

But with the establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, there have been changes in the needs of the labor-receiving countries like Thailand. With its open door-policy, migrants from countries such as Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines flock to Thailand for job opportunities.

However, there are only eight professions considered as skilled labor and recognized to work in the ASEAN region under the Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) — medical doctors, dentists, nurses, architects, engineers, accountants, surveyors, and tourism professionals. The teaching profession may be excluded from the list, but it is, nonetheless, the most in-demand job in non-English speaking countries.

Is English teaching still a lucrative job in Thailand? Can Filipinos still hold high positions despite being foreigners?

More inputs

Professor Analiza Perez-Amurao, a multi-awarded lecturer and a recipient of the 2011 Bagong Bayani Awardee, has been teaching in Thailand since 2006. She is currently the Chair of Humanities and Language Division of Mahidol University International College, the top university in Thailand and among the top 100 in the world university ranking.

“My workload here in Thailand is a lot lighter compared to what I had back home. I taught almost the same number of credits both in the home country and here, but the workload here is not as much as what I was expected to carry out in the Philippines. I can also say then that my work here pays better, which should be the case though,” she says.

Professor Amurao, whose dissertation is about migration in Thailand, found out that the salary and low taxes benefited Filipino migrant workers.

Despite the low cost of living, most Filipino teachers do not seek professional growth. Galindez points out the importance of further education for more marketability of the teaching profession in Thailand.

“There is no excuse for teachers not to perform and should professional development is not afforded to them by the institutions they work for, it is their duty to professionally update,” Galindez says.

‘Know your rights’

As Thailand struggles to meet the standard of the ASEAN community in English language proficiency, it becomes a haven for job seekers from English speaking countries like the Philippines. Known for their adaptability, excellent work ethics, and tolerance for low salaries, Filipinos are becoming in demand in Thailand as teachers.

Teachers are paid between 18 thousand to 50 thousand baht, depending on the qualifications. At Ajarn.com, the popular job site for foreign nationals seeking teaching jobs, there is a specific salary range for Filipino teachers, which is 15 thousand baht.

“Filipinos should not bargain their labor in exchange of a teaching job,” Reuben Esteban, a lecturer at Rajamangala University-Lanna, says.

Esteban, who has been teaching for nine years, says that unfair labor practice has been happening for many years, despite the absence of a policy on the salary gap between Filipinos and native-English speakers (NES).

“In fact, universities must encourage fair competition between NES and Non-Native Speakers (NNES) in a good way. Color has nothing to do with competency and efficiency in teaching,” he says.

A teaching contract in Thailand is only for a year, but it is renewable depending on the performance. Compensation and benefits are covered by the Thai Labor Law, including the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1994 and Working Alien Act of 2008.

Serving the Filipino migrants

Professor Amurao has no immediate plan to go back to the Philippines. Her children grew up in Thailand. She still longs to teach in the Philippines though and says that she is always open to helping fellow Filipino teachers.

“While I don’t have the opportunity now to teach Filipino students, I can, at least, help train Thailand-based Filipino teachers. True, many of them remain as overseas workers here or in other destinations, but there have been a number of them who go back home. I sincerely hope they’re able to use what they’ve learned from me when they teach again in the Philippines,” she ends.

She said they were arrested under the Immigration Act on grounds of having illegally entered and illegally staying in the country, even after having received a “person of concern” status from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Fortify Rights claims Thai authorities have arrested more than 200 refugees and asylum seekers over the past two months. They have reportedly fled from Cambodia, Vietnam and Pakistan and are being detained at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Bangkok.

The executive director of Fortify Rights, Amy Smith said: “The rights of refugees are still under attack in Thailand despite the government’s promises to provide protection. Thailand is needlessly subjecting refugees to further violations.”

Among those held are some 180 UNHCR “persons of concern” from Cambodia and Vietnam, including more than 50 children. Their arrests follow a raid in Nonthaburi Province.

Two days after the raid, authorities separated 46 children, aged three months to 17 years, from their parents, said a Fortify Rights news release.

“The [Thai] government shall not deport these people to a host country where they fled [from], fearful of persecution. Non-refoulement shall be respected. Most of them are asylum seekers or refugees waiting for resettlement to a third country.”

“They should be under UNHCR protection and in principle should not be arrested and detained under immigration laws. If they are forced to go back to their country of origin, they could face serious human rights violations,” she said.

Although there have been no reports of former Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) members seeking political asylum in Thailand and living temporarily in Bangkok, former opposition party officials expressed concern for their safety considering the arrests.

Smith said there were no CNRP members among those arrested, Kong Mas, a former CNRP teamwork member who used to request for asylum in Thailand, reiterated his concerns over the safety of asylum seekers wishing to live in the third country.

“In fact, many CNRP members, fleeing here for a long period of time since the party’s dissolution on November 16, last year, are deeply worried over the migration to Thailand.”

“First, we worry about the safety and arrest by Thai authorities because the UNHCR in Thailand does not have a Memorandum of Understanding with Thai government,” he said.

He could not confirm how many former opposition party members were seeking asylum and how many had been granted to live in the third country. But, he believed most of them stuck were in Thailand after fleeing to there, following the dissolution of the CNRP.

“Our party activists who fled there dare not go out much. Most of them live quietly to seek asylum in order to live in a third county,” he said.

National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun said he has not received any information over the arrest on the Jarai people, but said if they are Cambodians and they are to be deported, Cambodia will take them back.

“If they are Cambodians, we cannot ignore them,” he said.

A raid which occurred on a residential building in Bangkok on October 9 saw the arrest of at least 77 refugees from Pakistan, including 43 children.

It came the day after Thai Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan reportedly ordered immigration authorities to arrest and deport within one month all migrants in Thailand without documentation or authorisation.

The UNHCR, mandated to protect refugees, had previously recognised some of them as persons of concern and in need of protection in Thailand.

All of those arrested, including the children, are now detained at Suan Phlu IDC awaiting charges for alleged violations under the Immigration Act.

Thai authorities are reportedly conducting “immigration raids” in many areas of Bangkok and other provinces where refugees and migrant communities reside.