The Air Niugini plane was attempting to land at Weno airport and ended up in Chuuk lagoon, Pacific Daily News reported, citing airport official Jimmy Emilio.

Emilio said all 36 passengers and 11 crew were safe and no serious injuries were reported, although they were taken to hospital for check-ups.

He said the cause of the crash was unclear.

“Somebody has to look into that and let us now,” he told the news website. “So far, we don’t know why they went down.”

Photographs and videos posted on Twitter show locals helping passengers into boats beside the stricken half submerged plane.

Air Niugini is Papua New Guinea’s national airline.

Australia’s ABC reported that Papua New Guinea’s Accident Investigation Commission was preparing to send a team to the accident site.

Responding to a question on what needs to be done to improve the country’s education system during a dialogue at the Asia Society here, Dr Mahathir said it was important to increase the use of English as it was a universal language.

In addition, Dr Mahathir said values play a very big role in the development of society.

He said Malaysia would not do what some countries did which is to teach children to love their national leader.

“We are not going to do that. We are going to tell them that stealing is bad, don’t steal, being trustworthy is good, is that wrong?”

Dr Mahathir said he wanted to hold the Education Minister portfolio apart from being Prime Minister as he wanted to revise the school curriculum.

“However, we have made a promise in our manifesto that the Prime Minister may not hold any other portfolio, so I had to give it to someone else.

“However, I am in close contact with him,” he added.

Dr Mahathir, who is on a five-day working visit to the US, is scheduled to speak at the UN general assembly on Friday (Sept 28) at about 11pm Malaysian time.

Addressing more than 100 leaders, ministers and representatives of embassies and UN member countries, Minh said Vietnam’s bid for the position reflected its policy of peace, independence and self-reliance and its wish to contribute more to international efforts on peace, security and sustainable development.

His appeal was well received at the meeting on the side lines of the General Assembly.

Minh also met separately with the foreign ministers of Australia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ecuador, Uganda and the United States, thanking each country for extending condolences over the death of Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang.

He proposed that EU partners support Vietnam’s candidacy and accelerate the signing of a free-trade agreement.

Foreign officials hailed the contributions Vietnam had made to joint efforts in the region and the world and vowed to consider its proposal and continue to coordinate with it to maintain international peace and security.

Minh and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne agreed to continue the exchange of delegations, especially at the high level, as well as the sharing of measures to boost economic and trade partnerships between their countries.

Payne said Australia would help Vietnam become more engaged in peacekeeping operations and building an e-government.

Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak agreed on the need to continue bolstering their nations’ sound traditional ties.

Minh suggested to Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec that their countries start negotiating a double-tax avoidance deal and strengthen affiliation in maritime transport, tourism, pharmaceuticals and house appliances.

Minh asked Ugandan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Henry Oryem Okello to support Vietnamese firms selling their products there and seek investment opportunities, including in activities of the telecommunication firm Viettel.

Minh told US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan that Vietnam valued its relationship with America and hoped to continue promoting bilateral ties in economy, trade, education training, and science and technology.

He proposed that the US continue supporting Vietnam regarding war remnants, including the implementation of a dioxin detoxification project at Bien Hoa Airport.

At the Asean-Pacific Alliance Ministerial Meeting that same day, delegates reviewed cooperation results and discussed plans for the two organisations’ future relationship.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrived in New York on Thursday morning (Bangkok time) to attend the high-level general debate of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.

Phuc was to deliver a speech during the session and attend a seminar with US businesses on investing in Vietnam amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

He will meet with leaders of the UN General Assembly and the secretary general of the UN, with the president of the Council of State of Cuba, the presidents of Fiji and Croatia, and the prime ministers of Saint Lucia and Bulgaria.

Ottawa had given the long-detained democracy advocate and Nobel laureate the rare honor in 2007.

But her international reputation has become tarnished by her refusal to call out the atrocities by her nation’s military against the Rohingya Muslims minority, which Ottawa last week declared a genocide.

“In 2007, the House of Commons granted Aung San Suu Kyi the status of honorary Canadian citizen. Today, the House unanimously passed a motion to remove this status,” said Adam Austen, spokesman for Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.

A brutal military campaign that started last year drove more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh, where they now live in cramped refugee camps — fearful of returning to mainly Buddhist Myanmar despite a repatriation deal.

Many have given accounts of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and arson.

The military has denied nearly all wrongdoing, justifying its crackdown as a legitimate means of rooting out Rohingya militants.

But after a fact-finding mission, the United Nations on Thursday set up a panel to prepare indictments against Myanmar’s army chief and five other top military commanders for crimes against humanity.

Suu Kyi’s democratically-elected government remains in a delicate power balance with the generals, whose presence in parliament gives them an effective veto on constitutional changes.

Austen cited Suu Kyi’s “persistent refusal to denounce the Rohingya genocide” for the withdrawal of the Canadian honor, which is symbolic and comes with no special privileges.

“We will continue to support the Rohingyas by providing humanitarian assistance, imposing sanctions against Myanmar’s generals and demanding that those responsible be held accountable before a competent international body,” he added.

Honorary Canadian citizenship has only been granted to five others including the Dalai Lama, girls education advocate Malala Yousafzai and Nelson Mandela.

The construction of the 124-km stretch is part of the project launched in 2010 to build a road from Tad Thong village to Sangthong district with financial support from the Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA) of Thailand.

The road from Nonsavanh-Kokkhaodor villages to Vang and Namsang villages via Xanakham district will link with a road in Xayaboury province going to northern Thailand with the aim of improving travel and transport in the region.

The total cost of the project is more than 1.8 billion Thai baht. The loan agreement for the work was signed in Vientiane on Wednesday by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs Thipphakone Chanthavongsa, and the NEDA President, Mr Perames Vudthitornetiraks.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mr Viengsavath Siphandone, and the Thai Ambassador to Laos, Mr Kiattikhun Chartprasert.

Construction of basic infrastructure, especially domestic roads, for economic development and poverty eradication is part of the national socio-economic development plan. The 8th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) defines targets for improving and constructing necessary basic infrastructure, including upgrading road links with neighbouring countries and a strategic plan for transport in the country. Construction of National Road No 11 is part of the cooperation framework between Laos and NEDA for 2017-2019.

So far, Laos has received aid worth more than 10 billion Thai baht from NEDA in terms of technical assistance and concessional loans for 18 development projects.

These socio-economic development projects relate to an integrated strategy between Laos and Thailand, especially for basic infrastructure development. The two parties also have a cooperation plan until 2020, according to the ministry.

A ceremony to hand over the new bridges, held at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport in Vientiane on Wednesday, was attended by the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Dr Bounchanh Sinthavong, China’s Ambassador to Laos, Mr Wang Wentian, the Deputy Governor of Attapeu, Mr Souksamai Chanthamath, and officials of the two sides.

Since the collapse of a dam at the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower plant inundated Sanamxay district on July 23, many government sectors, businesses and people from within the country and abroad have provided aid and relief materials to help flood victims in the area.

However, it is still difficult to transport goods to Sanamxay because the old wooden bridges in the area can only accommodate three-tonne vehicles.

In line with the coordination between the Lao and Chinese governments, the Laos-China Railway Project assigned two Chinese companies with 160 personnel and 50 machines to construct the bridges within 45 days from August 18.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Director General of the Roads Department under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Mr Pheng Duangngeun, said, “The four bridges are located along Road No 18A in Sanamxay district. This project was financially supported by the Laos-China Railway Project.”

“The four bridges are steel bridges and they were constructed to solve the problem of transporting relief materials and other supplies to victims in the disaster zone.”

The steel bridges are capable of accommodating vehicles weighing up to 45 tonnes, according to local officials.

The distance between Sammakhixay and Sanamxay is 30 km and motorists can comfortably travel along the route after the construction of the bridges.

During the ceremony, Dr Bounchanh presented Development Medals to representatives of the Chinese companies for their contributions in the construction of the bridges.

Peng, who became World Health Organization’s Goodwill Ambassador for TB and HIV/AIDS in 2011, shared her feelings and experiences with the attendees of the meeting, which took place in the UN headquarters in New York. She also shared the touching stories of the unsung heroes in China who have been selflessly dedicated to the cause of combating TB.

Peng, who is also China’s National Ambassador for TB Control and Prevention, said that the control and prevention of the epidemic disease in China have made rapid progress and its victims are being diagnosed and treated more timely and effectively.

She also pointed out such progress has been made because of the great importance that the Chinese government and the entire society have attached to the cause as well as the enthusiastic participation of about 700,000 volunteers.

In some parts of China, TB prevention has become one of the key tasks in the government’s poverty alleviation program, said Peng.

Now, China has seen continuous increases of case detection and cure rates for TB and decreases in morbidity and mortality, as many TB victims in the country have their lives renewed, said Peng, adding that the awareness rate of TB control and prevention knowledge has reached over 75 percent in China.

Thanks to joint efforts of governments, international organizations, NGOs, specialists and volunteers, the control and prevention of the tuberculosis epidemic on the global level have scored significant achievements, but mankind still faces severe challenges in the aspect, Peng said.

The World Health Organization has adopted the End TB Strategy, she said, urging all countries in the world to join hands and do their best to change the life of the millions of people who are affected by TB and end the global epidemic.

The high-level meeting was chaired by Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, president of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly. A political declaration on the control and prevention of TB was endorsed by the meeting.

But behind the glamour and the travel, many models are earning mere “pocket money”, tied by debt to agencies and afraid to admit what they owe.

“The worst thing is that it is impossible to talk about because in this industry people only want to work with ‘successful’ girls,” said 26-year-old Clara, who has appeared in Vogue and walked for uber-hip labels like Prada, Rick Owens and Comme des Garcons.

The London-based model, who is deeply in debt to her agencies in New York and Paris, only agreed to talk to AFP of the trap she and many of her colleagues have fallen into if her name was changed, fearing she might never get work again.

Other models told AFP that they were often paid in clothes and handbags and that they were “almost never paid” for fashion magazine shoots.

The model rights group Model Law, which was set up earlier this year in Paris, said debt is a bigger taboo than sexual harassment since the #MeToo movement lifted the lid on abuse.

– ‘Dubious’ practices –

The group’s co-founder Ekaterina Ozhiganova, a Paris catwalk regular, said it was time “to put an end to the years of abuse, dubious practices and the flouting of labour laws.”

Clara, who began modelling when she was still at school, said that on her first Paris fashion week “my agency gave me a car (for castings) which I was sharing with other models from the big Airbnb apartment they had put us in.

“It was only later that I learned that I was paying 300 euros ($350) a day for the driver. I had signed the contract and I was 3,000 euros in debt” by the end of the week, she added.

“Later I did New York fashion week. Every model from overseas starts by going into debt because the work visa is very expensive.

“Then you stay in a ‘models’ apartment’ which your agency charges you $50 a night for a room you share with three others. When the castings started I got really sick and therefore missed most of them, so I ended up going home $8,000 in the red,” said Clara.

Yet she insisted her “situation is not particularly bad”.

“I am still in debt to my agencies in Paris and New York although I have since done many jobs through them. For instance I was in a big Paris show which had a 1,100-euro fee, of which I got only 400. And I didn’t see any of that because it was taken off my debt.”

Despite her difficulties, Clara insisted that she is doing better than most models “who are 16, hardly speak English and come from poor backgrounds.”

Two highly experienced US models who also talked to AFP described being “slaves” to debt, with agencies at times talking the lion’s share of their earnings.

But they said East European and Brazilian girls — who now dominate castings — are the most vulnerable to exploitation and get the rawest deal.

One 24-year-old American model who has appeared in Dior, Issey Miyake, Balmain and Off-White shows, said debt had also shaped her personal life.

    – Only 2% do well –

She said she took a “professional decision to only go out with men who were rich enough to support me,” something that “sat awkwardly with my feminism”.

Ozhiganova, 26, said she hopes that Model Law can help “break through” the fear of speaking out in an industry “where you are quickly labelled as difficult if you ask questions.

“People imagine models earn lots of money, but that is absolutely not true. It’s only the case for about two percent of girls”, with male models even worse paid, she said.

The group said unpaid work was the bane of models’ lives. “Only rarely are people paid for modelling for magazines even though it takes hours of work,” Ozhiganova said.

“Okay, it’s prestigious, but how are you going to pay your rent?”

Model Law, which is in talks with a French union, has already met with Synam, the body that represents French model agencies.

Synam’s chief Isabelle Saint-Felix admitted that Model Law had “some justified demands” including that employment regulations should be translated into English given that most models working in Paris do not speak French.

However, she questioned how representative the group was. “They have to narrow their claims and not make general demands,” she said.

The treatment of models has become a hot potato for the big luxury brands after New York casting agent James Scully blew the whistle last year on the way some were treated at “cattle call” castings.

The incident prompted the two French fashion giants LVMH and Kering — who own some of fashion’s biggest names — to join forces to create a charter to combat mistreatment.

The new rules also banned the use of ultra-thin models and those under 16.

Exhorting heads of governments to implement a ban on surrogacy and to stop funding UN agencies that advocate its legalisation, they issued a statement which read: “Surrogacy is a serious violation of the rights and dignity of women and children. It is a form of women’s reproductive exploitation and it treats newborns as commodities.”

In the Kingdom, the Ministry of Women Affairs spokesperson Pon Putborei was unable to provide a comment on the statement.

However, he said: “We want to adopt a law that serves the interest of women and children.”

He noted that the Cambodian surrogacy law could reflect on the trending policy in the international stage.

“We don’t encourage Cambodians to become a surrogate for money,” added Putborei.

In March, the Justice Ministry finished the first draft of the Kingdom’s long-awaited surrogacy law.

It is expected to ban the commercial industry but permits altruistic surrogacy – a controversial subject given the latter’s potential for abuse.

In June, Phnom Penh authorities discovered 33 women who were offered up to $10,000 to have children for Chinese clients.

Five were arrested during the raid, including the alleged mastermind of the ring – a Chinese national.

“We are now checking the [first draft of the new law] whether it has covered everything to act as legal frameworks for the recent case.”

“We don’t want to put the burden on those women, who were indeed victims in the case, by pressing further charges as possibly stipulated in the law,” said Putborei.

Chan Saron, a programme manager at Chab Dai, said his NGO is one of the supporters of the anti-surrogacy campaign.

He told The Post that his organisation appeals to the Cambodian government to take action against this new trend in human trafficking.

“Chab Dai encourages our members to strongly voice their support towards the campaigning of ‘Global Ban on Womb Rental’ in raising public awareness,” he said.

Of the recent surrogacy ring bust, he said: “The 33 women looked like they were the victims of human trafficking but the court has found them guilty of selling children.”

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) gender advisor Rodrigo Montero advised the government to improve its public information so that all Cambodians know that commercial surrogacy is subject to prosecution.

The question is whether the transition to a multi-polar world can be managed peacefully, Dr Balakrishnan told an audience at the Asia Society Policy Institute, in a discussion with the institute’s president and former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, on the theme “New realities for South-east Asia”.

Dr Balakrishnan identified three new realities: the digital revolution, protectionism, and major power competition.

Stressing the levels of US and Chinese investment in South-east Asia, Dr Balakrishnan said the hope in the region is that “cool heads prevail” between the two countries.

“We hope there will be enlightened self-interest and a long-term perspective,” he said.

“If there is, we can move into another phase characterised by new technologies, new world orders, new architectures which hopefully will still be open, fair (and) transparent, (and) will give opportunities to people all over the world who are willing to learn new things, work very hard and create a sustainable world along the way.”

America had been part of South-east Asia’s success story for 70 years, he emphasised, because in its own enlightened self-interest, it had underwritten that order.

And Americans are welcome in South-east Asia, he told the audience. “They are liked, they are popular,” he said. “Don’t take your eye off the ball, don’t retreat, don’t give up.”

South-east Asia hopes America and China have an “adult relationship”, he said – competing but also acting in enlightened long-term self-interest, while accepting Asean unity and centrality.

Rather than the alternative of Asean becoming a “bunch of proxy states”, the hope is that a united Asean would be seen as valuable and a major trading partner for both the US and China.

“We hope all powers in our area will also operate by multilateral rules and we will continue to have access to multilateral institutions and ways of resolving disputes,” he added.

Quoting a speech by President Donald Trump the previous day at the United Nations General Assembly, Dr Balakrishnan said: “Everyone is a patriot; everyone has to look to their own self-interest.

“But we believe in long-term enlightened self-interest.”

He said this meant both competing and cooperating with neighbours, particularly on existential challenges including climate change, the digital revolution and the next pandemic.

“All these big challenges require multilateralism, cross-border cooperation, a set of rules by which we can all operate,” he said.

Citing loss of public support for free trade between 2015 and late 2016 in America, and the apparent erosion of global consensus, Dr Balakrishnan said: “The real issue is technology, but it is very easy, it is very Twitter-worthy, to blame foreigners, to blame competition (and) free trade, for stagnation of wages and potential loss of jobs.”

On the digital revolution, he said: “South-east Asia can’t assume that we can just stay on the old path.

“We need to train our people for new jobs rather than trying to compete for old jobs, because if you compete for old jobs, that’s the route to middle class stagnation, middle class angst, and increasing unemployment, especially when people lose their jobs in their 40s and 50s.”

He added that there was a larger political message: “Whenever the middle class feels stressed and people feel unable to cope with change, you always see reactionary right or left wing extremes, whether it is fascism or communism.”

Dr Balakrishnan also noted the necessity of understanding the age and preparing people and societies to get ahead of this change, rather than pander to fears and pretend that erecting walls and insulating people from competition will be the answer.

“We need to focus on research and development and collaboration, and creating new ways of value extraction from data, and to use the new tools – and artificial intelligence is an example. That’s where the future is, that’s where the future wealth is. We need to transform our societies to be able to harvest that wealth.”