In his keynote speech at the Thailand-China Business Forum in Bangkok, Somkid noted that China’s leadership in promoting globalisation had been challenged, an apparent reference to the ongoing trade dispute between the world’s largest economies.

Somkid foresaw Thailand having a closer relationship with China in trade, investment, education, culture and human-resource development.

He was welcoming a Chinese trade mission of more than 400 investors led by State Councillor Wang Yong. Their focus is on the Eastern Economic Corridor, where they are to visit sites on Saturday.

Chinese businesspeople have in the past two and a half years applied for Board of Investment incentives for planned financing worth Bt56 billion.

Somkid said Thailand welcomed further investment from China and also supported Beijing’s globe-spanning Belt and Road Initiative.

Wang noted that China had become the third largest-source of foreign direct investment in Thailand and that about 10 million Chinese tourists visited the Kingdom each year, with 6 million arriving in the first half of this year alone.

He also invited Thais to invest in China, which is aiming to attract new foreign direct investment worth US$140 billion by the end of this year.

It will host the China International Import Expo in November.

In a joint statement, 132 sitting MPs from five countries –Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste -including 22 members of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, called on members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Since Myanmar is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the ICC does not have the jurisdiction in the country and only the UNSC can trigger an investigation by the Court, according to the statement UNB received from Jakarta.

“One year has passed since the Myanmar military launched its murderous operation in Rakhine State, yet we’re no closer to seeing those responsible brought to justice. As Myanmar is clearly both unwilling and unable to investigate itself, we’re now at a stage where the international community must step in to ensure accountability,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of Malaysian Parliament.

“I stand together with 131 of my elected peers in calling on the members of the UNSC to immediately refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC. Those in Myanmar responsible for these horrific crimes must be held to account; they cannot be left free to commit the same abuses again in the future,” said Santiago.

The lawmakers recognised the crucial role played by their own governments in pursuing accountability.

They urged members states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), including Indonesia, which will take a seat on the UNSC next year, to press the Myanmar government and military to end all forms of human rights violations against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.

They also urged the international community to support the calls of Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to establish an international accountability mechanism aiming to impartially investigate human rights violations in the country.

On August 25, marks the one-year anniversary of the Myanmar’s military launch of an operation in Rakhine in response to what Myanmar says attacks by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on police posts.

Security forces and their proxies killed thousands of Rohingya, burned villages to the ground, committed widespread sexual violence and drove more than 700,000 people to flee into Bangladesh, reads the statement.

Although human rights groups have credibly documented violations against Rohingya that amount to crimes against humanity, Myanmar officials have largely ignored that any abuses have taken place.

While Nay Pyi Taw has announced a “commission of inquiry” into the events in Rakhine State, Myanmar has a long track record of establishing similar bodies which have almost never led to any genuine accountability.

This lack of accountability is affecting people in other ethnic areas too, including Kachin and Shan State, where the Myanmar military has committed war crimes and displaced thousands.

“Time has run out for Myanmar’s internal procedures which have only meant to deflect international pressure and are not mandated to seek genuine accountability. Asean countries must set aside their destructive ‘non-interference’ policy and take genuine action. Justice for the Rohingya is an issue that goes beyond regional politics — it concerns humanity as a whole.

We cannot allow these atrocities to take place in one of our member countries with complete impunity,” said APHR Board Member, Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of the Indonesian House of Representative.

Kusuma Sundari said the fact that more than 100 sitting parliamentarians from across the region are willing to speak up showing the level of regional support for the Rohingya, and for human rights. Governments must now follow suit and condemn Myanmar for its horrific policies and practices.

“We’re combining our voices with all those around the globe that are demanding the world stand up against atrocious crimes and bring those responsible to account.”

The merting is co-hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Vietnam News.

Park, who has refused to appear at her trial, claiming she has lost faith in the judiciary, was not present at the ruling.

The appellate court also ruled that Park had taken bribes from Samsung Group, overturning an earlier ruling.

The appellate court said the former president had given “implied approval” for request in aiding Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong in the process of taking over the group.

The court, however, said the alleged deal between Park and Lee did not involve specific requests. In ruling on the matter, the court upheld the earlier ruling that Samsung donated funds to the Mir and K-Sports foundations under pressure from the government, rather than as bribes.

The Mir and K-Sports foundations are alleged to have been run by Park’s longtime associate Choi Soon-sil. Choi is also on trial for meddling in state affairs.

These are isolated tribe members, and little do they know, they’re being watched — drone footage revealing their existence to the world.

The video — recorded in 2017, but published this week — is just one element of the material that Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) collected during missions to the Javari Valley.

The hard-to-access area of southwestern Amazonas state is home to the majority of the more than 100 confirmed isolated tribes in the vast South American nation.

FUNAI has made contact with eight in the Javari Valley — but says that there are 11 more, detected via signs including a huge hut, handmade axes and canoes crafted out of palm tree trunks.

To get to the region, FUNAI officials and police had to cover 180 kilometers (110 miles) by river and dirt road, and then another 120 kilometers on foot through the jungle, the agency said in a statement.

The project, which aims to protect isolated tribes, relied on the in-depth local knowledge of the Kanamari tribe.

During the mission, they also encountered two groups of poachers, forcing them to release wild animals.

“Vigilance and control must be stepped up in the region to… guarantee total possession of the territory for indigenous peoples,” said coordinator Vitor Gois.

Last month, FUNAI released video of what it believes to be the only survivor of one Brazilian Amazon tribe.

The man lives in the state of Rondonia — which borders Bolivia — and it is thought he has spent 22 years living along in the jungle, after his village fell victim to landowners and loggers.

That footage was recorded in 2011, but only just released. Evidence discovered this year suggests that he is still alive.

His situation, like that of other peoples, alarms specialists who warn of pressures from the agricultural and mining industries, who seek to overtake indigenous lands.

Over 800,000 indigenous people — who belong to 305 groups and speak 274 languages between them — live in Brazil, according to official data.

Former home affairs minister Peter Dutton, an ex-police officer and right-winger, has been the stalking horse seeking to unseat Turnbull after a party backlash against his more moderate approach to politics.

Turnbull survived one attempt to knife him on Tuesday, winning a party room vote 48-35, but since then ministers have been defecting and a second leadership challenge is likely at noon (0200 GMT) Friday.

Dutton needs to prove he has majority backing, or 43 signatures from within the party’s parliamentary group — a requirement for him to force a second crack at the top job ahead of national elections due by mid-2019.

Reports on Friday said at least 40 lawmakers were onboard for a leadership change.

Turnbull, who accused Dutton and his supporters of bullying and intimidation, on Thursday said he would not contest a second leadership challenge and leave parliament, although he did not put a timetable on when he would go.

If he moves out of politics, it would spark a by-election for his Sydney seat, threatening the government’s one-seat parliamentary majority.

Even if Dutton gets the numbers for a challenge, there is no guarantee he will assume the top job after foreign minister Julie Bishop and treasurer Scott Morrison, both Turnbull allies, threw their hats in the ring.

During a three-way vote, whoever comes last in the first round will be eliminated with a second round taking place to decide who becomes leader.

Defence industry Minister Christopher Pyne, a Turnbull ally, refused to say who he would be backing and hit out at elements inside his party.

“I think some people should have considered the greater good of the people of Australia, and the government, rather than their own self-interest and ambition,” he said.

Owe you an apology

The unrest is the latest chapter in a turbulent decade for Australian politics, with no leader managing to serve out a full term since former Prime Minister John Howard lost the 2007 election.

If a new leader takes office Friday, it will be the seventh prime minister in 11 years in a remarkable revolving door at Canberra’s parliament house.

Complicating matters, Dutton was referred to the solicitor-general over his eligibility to sit in parliament due to family financial interests in childcare centres that receive government subsidies — a possible breach of constitutional rules.

The nation’s top lawyer has since cleared Dutton to continue in parliament, reports said Friday.

If he succeeds in taking the top job, Dutton will push Australian politics further to the right with a shift in several policies.

He has made clear already that he would slash the migrant intake to counter population pressures and has not ruled out withdrawing Australia from the Paris climate agreement.

The move to oust Turnbull was sparked by his plans on Monday to embed carbon emissions targets in law.

Coupled with the government long trailing the opposition Labor party in opinion polls, the move sparked a revolt that quickly spiralled into calls for his head.

One minister was so disillusioned with the push to oust Turnbull that he took to Twitter to apologise to the Australian people.

“Australia. We owe you an apology. I’m sorry. You deserve better than many of the things our Federal Parliament has served up to you for the past 10 years,” wrote Nationals MP Darren Chester, whose party is in a coalition with the Liberals.

The National Weather Service said Lane — located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of Hawaii — remained a powerful category four hurricane, packing winds in excess of 130 miles per hour.

The eye was expected to sweep very close to or over the islands, 2,000 miles southwest of the mainland US, sometime later Thursday.

Up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain have already fallen, according to federal authorities, with 30 inches expected in the worst-hit areas over the coming four to five days.

“Someone once told me it wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark,” American Red Cross vice-president Brad Kieserman told a news conference in Washington.

“That means that readiness is important — readiness to make sure we can fulfill our responsibility and the critical infrastructure lifelines.”

Emergency teams have set up 16 evacuation centers, with a further 19 due to open throughout the day, authorities said, as Trump urged Hawaiians to hunker down and prepare for the worst.

“Our teams are closely coordinating with the state and local authorities. You are in our thoughts!” Trump tweeted.

Brock Long, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said: “We are extremely concerned about the potentials for inland flooding, landslides occurring and damage to the transportation, communications infrastructure.”

‘Panic mode’

Residents across the state were stocking up on water, food, gasoline and emergency supplies as Lane drew nearer.

“Last couple of days it’s been like this — it’s been busy,” said Chris, an employee at a gas station in Haleiwa, on the north shore of Oahu island — the location of the capital Honolulu.

“We have been just constantly getting cars filling up. Everybody is in a panic mode right now — everyone is filling up gas, gas cans, propane cans and all that.”

Landslides and flooding caused by the first rainstorm partially blocked several roads on Big Island, according to local media.

Forecasters said the slow-moving storm would generate large swells in the coming days that would produce “very large and damaging surf” on shorelines facing west and south, likely triggering “significant coastal erosion.”

Sea levels were expected to rise as much as two to four feet above normal tide levels, prompting a storm surge and “large and destructive waves.”

Surfers were observed taking advantage of the calm before the storm to get out on their boards one last time Wednesday before the ocean got too violent.

Bracing for the worst

Lane’s wind power was expected to weaken into the weekend, but forecasters warned it would remain a hurricane as it approaches Hawaii.

The US Coast Guard said 57,000 US military personnel already stationed in Hawaii stood ready to launch search and rescue missions, and provide logistics and medical support.

Governor David Ige declared a state of emergency Tuesday on Big Island to help provide relief for damage from the hurricane.

“Hurricane Lane is not a well-behaved hurricane,” he said in a statement. “I’ve not seen such dramatic changes in the forecast track as I’ve seen with this storm.

Hurricanes rarely make landfall in Hawaii and the last major storm to strike the state was nearly three decades ago, when Hurricane Iniki barrelled into the island of Kauai, leaving six people dead and causing billions of dollars in damage.

Federal officials have been working with Hawaiian utility managers to keep a close eye on the power grid, a major vulnerability in Puerto Rico last year when it was hit by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm.

Hurricane-related deaths in Puerto Rico have been estimated at as many as 4,600 people, largely because prolonged and widespread power outages and washed out roads prevented access to health care, according to US researchers.

The government of Puerto Rico, a self-ruled US territory, has put the toll at 1,427.

After Trump was implicated as a co-conspirator in two campaign finance violations, both of them federal felonies, he and his closest advisors offered dire words of caution about the consequences of removing him from office.

“I will tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor,” the president warned in an interview aired Thursday on talk show “Fox and Friends.”

“I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job.”

The president’s personal lawyer-cum-spokesman Rudy Giuliani echoed that stark warning, hinting at political unrest.

“You would only impeach him for political reasons and the American people would revolt against that,” he told Sky News while on a golf course in Scotland.

The comments came after two of Trump’s former top aides — onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort and longtime lawyer Michael Cohen — were found guilty of various financial crimes in a one-two punch for the president.

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in the form of hush payments during the 2016 campaign to two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump, which he said he committed at the behest of the then-candidate.

Although Cohen did not name the women, they were believed to be porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Because the hush payments were intended to influence the outcome of the elections, they violated US laws governing campaign contributions, making Trump an — as yet — unindicted co-conspirator.

In another hammer blow Thursday, The Wall Street Journal and other US media reported that the CEO of tabloid publisher American Media, David Pecker, has been given immunity by prosecutors investigating the payments, opening a new area of vulnerability for Trump.

Pecker’s company publishes the National Enquirer.

A president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

‘Will not be improperly influenced’

As the legal net closed in on Trump, he renewed attacks on his own Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in an apparent attempt to have him squash awkward investigations that could endanger the president.

The president has repeatedly berated Sessions for recusing himself from the federal probe into Russian election meddling, which has expanded into questions of collusion and obstruction of justice as well as the financial dealings of Trump associates.

“I put in an attorney general that never took control of the justice department,” he complained to Fox News, fueling rumors he may fire Sessions and install someone more pliant.

That prompted Sessions to fire back that he would not be swayed, in a remarkable public broadside.

“While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations,” he said.

Lawmakers from Trump’s own Republican Party warned the president they would not confirm a new attorney general if Sessions — a former senator — was fired.

“It would be a very, very, very bad idea to fire the attorney general because he’s not executing his job as a political hack,” said Senator Ben Sasse.

Hush payments ‘not a crime’?

Trump’s story about Cohen’s payments has changed multiple times over the past year, and in the Fox interview aired Thursday, he tried several ways of defusing the allegations.

Trump claimed his former lawyer “made the deals,” and insisted that Cohen’s actions were “not a crime,” while going on to claim that “campaign violations are considered not a big deal, frankly.”

Trump then said the hush payments were financed with his own money — to which Cohen had access — and that while he had no knowledge of them at the time, he had since been fully transparent.

In entering a guilty plea, Cohen said under oath that the payments were made “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office” — a clear reference to Trump.

Cohen also has pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud.

Cooperating ‘almost ought to be outlawed’

In the sit-down with Fox, Trump slammed his once close associate for “flipping,” saying it “almost ought to be outlawed.”

Trump conversely praised Manafort for going to trial — the first case stemming from Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe to go before a jury — and eschewing a plea deal.

Asked if he was considering a pardon for Manafort, Trump told Fox only that he has “great respect for what he has done, in terms of what he has gone through.”

On Thursday, Trump ignored questions from the press on the issue.

But Giuliani floated the idea that Manafort — who faces more charges more directly related to the Russia probe — should hold out for a pardon.

Recounting pardon discussions with Trump, Giuliani told The Washington Post: “We told him he should wait until all the investigations are over.”

“The real concern is whether Mueller would turn any pardon into an obstruction charge,” Giuliani said.

Reporting a 54 per cent jump in net income for the six months through June, the carmaker said in a filing Wednesday that sales this year will beat its target of 1.58 million units.

Geely now trails only Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co in China, after overtaking Nissan Motor Co, Honda Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp in the period.

Controlled by billionaire Li Shufu, Geely is among Chinese carmakers seeking to dominate the auto industry as newer technologies such as electrification and automation define the future of transportation. With an eye on leadership in its key market, Geely has been expanding, offering vehicles such as those under the Lynk & amp Co brand, jointly developed with Volvo.

“In view of an even stronger new products pipeline ahead, the group should be in a good position to secure higher market share in China’s passenger vehicle market in the near future,” Geely said in its filing.

The mainland market share of the Hong Kong-listed company increased to 6.4 per cent in the first half of this year, from 5 per cent in 2017. It sold 766,730 vehicles in the period, beating Nissan’s 720,447. Geely sold 1.25 million vehicles in 2017.

Li has also been active overseas, expanding his automotive empire. After his purchase of Volvo Cars in 2010 from Ford Motor Co, he snapped up stakes in the iconic British sports-car maker Lotus Cars and Malaysia’s Proton Holdings Bhd.

In February this year, he disclosed a 9.7 per cent stake in Daimler AG, emerging as the largest shareholder in the maker of Mercedes-Benz.

Although cuts in subsidies for electric vehicles and the tariff war between the world’s biggest economies will weigh on industry sales in the second half, the company will build on the momentum from the first half, it said.

Chinese car sales slumped for a second consecutive month in July as a slowing economy and a tit-for-tat trade war with the U.S. kept consumers away from showrooms.

Retail sales of cars, SUVs and multipurpose vehicles fell 5.4 per cent to 1.6 million units in July, the China Passenger Car Association said. That compares with a 3.7 per cent drop in June, trimming the year-to-date growth in the world’s biggest automobile market to 2 per cent.

Geely has been far outpacing the broader market by posting 43 percent increase in its sales in the first seven months this year.

Net income at Geely rose to 6.67 billion yuan ($975 million) from 4.34 billion yuan a year ago, according to the filing. Revenue jumped 36 per cent to 53.7 billion yuan.