Members of the persecuted minority were found early on Sunday morning in an area between Koh Ha and Koh Lanta in Krabi province. They were brought for interrogation by maritime security officers, police internal security operation command personnel.

The group, consisting of 19 men, 18 women, eight boys and 11 girls, were later returned to their boat in Koh Lanta with food and supplies donated by local residents before they set sail again for Malaysia.

The boat reportedly departed the coast of central Rakhine state in Myanmar last week. Given poor weather conditions prevailing in the waters off the west coast of the Thailand-Malaysia border, there were substantial concerns for the safety of the refugees yesterday.

“If they are found to be in distress, we hope they will be rescued and allowed to disembark in accordance with international maritime law,” the UN refugee agency told The Nation.

The refugee agency is in contact with Malaysian maritime authorities and “stands ready to support authorities in providing any necessary assistance to refugees upon disembarkation”, agency staff said.

Pol Colonel ML Pattanachak Chakrabandhu, superintendent at Koh Lanta police station, told Nation TV that the boat left Rakhine state in Myanmar, where the Rohingya face heavy persecution by local authorities, with the goal to reach Malaysia. They docked in the southern Thai province due to the bad weather.

An initial investigation found only Rohingya in the boat and no signs of human trafficking, Pattanachak added.

Trafficking concerns

However, police commissioner Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said a further investigation would be needed if evidence of human trafficking were found.

“If [Thailand] is only a transit area [for Rohingya] and any Thai person is found to be involved, whether they be police officers or whoever, they would need to be prosecuted,” Chakthip said. “If they [Rohingya] are found to be involved, they would need to be expelled only.”

Police officers in Bangladesh also said the boat had not departed from its shores, where close to 1 million refugees live in congested camps, according to an AFP report. “The boat didn’t leave from Bangladesh,” said Afrujul Haq Tutul, deputy police chief in Cox’s Bazar district, where most Rohingya camps are located. “But in light of the news, we are investigating the matter.”

Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, Mohammad Abul Kalam, said local authorities had “no such information” about Rohingya departing from the country by boat. “We don’t have any such intelligence about anyone leaving Bangladeshi shores for Malaysia by boat,” he said.

A senior coast guard official said it was “impossible” that a captain would be able to evade patrols, which have been stepped up in recent months to combat drug trafficking and prevent people smuggling.

“They [boats] are not allowed to go out. It would be very hard to sneak out of our coastal patrol. I don’t think these people sailed away from here,” coastguard spokesman Abdullah Al Maruf told AFP.

Longstanding persecution in Rakhine state, dubbed by the UN as “genocide” against religious and ethnic minorities, has forced the Rohingya to flee to refugee camps in neigbouring Bangladesh.

Rohingya previously tried to resettle in Thailand as well, but the country has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not recognise the status of refugees, leaving them vulnerable to threats, especially human trafficking.

THE CHINA-LED international organisation for transboundary water management in Mekong River Basin, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), has pledged to work with its counterpart, the Mekong River Commission (MRC), which regulates the lower portion of Southeast Asia’s longest river, to fulfil Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the region.

Sustainable development has been set as the main direction for the MRC’s working plan, the third MRC Summit, which is being held in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap from yesterday until Thursday, heard.

The theme of the summit is “Enhancing Joint Efforts and Partnerships towards Achievement of the SDGs in the Mekong River Basin”.

Cambodian Minister for Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor said during the opening ceremony of the international conference yesterday that the MRC would collaborate more closely with China and the LMC to achieve their common goals.

Lim Kean Hor said things had come a long way since the MRC was established in 1995 by the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. He added it had gradually developed to become recognised as a technical knowledge hub for transboundary water management in the Mekong River Basin.

It had also become an important water diplomacy platform for its member countries and dialogue partners China and Myanmar, he said.

He added that more efforts were being made in joint actions with China and Myanmar to ensure the smooth and collaborative path toward sustainable development of the whole region.

“Our vision is that of an economically prosperous, socially just and environmentally sound Mekong River Basin. And, obviously, this can neither be achieved nor materialised by one individual organisation, government, institution or sector alone,” he said.

The Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Centre secretary-general, Zhong Yong, said cooperation under the LMC by the six member countries – China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam -– would achieve a similar goal to fulfil the SDGs for the region.

Zhong Yong said he considered the LMC and MRC as members of the same family that could forge a strong partnership to achieve their ambitious goals.

He highlighted that the LMC had already been working closely with the MRC and both organisations would have even closer collaboration and information-sharing in the future to deal with common challenges and mitigate the problems of transboundary water management in the Mekong River.

He said China had already shared more information about the water in the Mekong River to downstream countries amid efforts to relieve problems such as floods and droughts. It had also been found that water regulation by upstream dams could significantly reduce the problem of saltwater intrusion in the Mekong River Delta.

The MRC summit is convened once every four years and the current meeting in Siem Reap follows two previous summits, the first in 2010, hosted by Thailand in Hua Hin, and the second in 2014, hosted by Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City.

While the first summit catapulted MRC’s activities into an era of increased cooperation, the second brought stronger attention to the inter-dependencies between water-use sectors, such as agriculture and energy.

She was visiting Jakarta as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Goodwill Ambassador for the Rule of Law in Southeast Asia, a role she assumed since February 2017.

The Princess was welcomed at Asean Secretariat by Lim, the Deputy Secretaries General of Asean, the Thai Ambassadors to Indonesia and Asean, as well as the Chair and members of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to Asean, read the statement.

She was accompanied by a delegation of Thai diplomats and officials from the UNODC and Thailand Institute of Justice.

During their meeting, Lim congratulated the Princess on her appointment as UNODC Goodwill Ambassador and commended her leadership in promoting the rule of law and development in the region through various initiatives including a high-level conference convened in Bangkok on sustainable development, crime prevention and safe societies for Southeast Asia.

Both sides exchanged views on issues related to criminal justice, legal reforms and governance and empowerment of vulnerable groups as they are operationalised by Asean sectoral bodies and cross-sectoral mechanisms.

Her Royal Highness expressed appreciation for the comprehensive briefing and stated that further cooperation could be strengthened, with the involvement of as many stakeholders as possible.

Before the meeting, the Princess toured the Asean Gallery to view the Asean Secretariat’s collection of art works donated by heads of states and governments particularly those from Thailand.

Her Royal Highness has served for a number of years in the Office of the Attorney General of Thailand. She also serves as the Chairperson of the Special Advisory Board of the Thailand Institute of Justice and was Thailand’s Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations at Vienna in 2012-2014.  She studied criminal law and received a Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D.) Degree from Cornell University.

Apartment management company Leo Palace 21 created what it calls a “Man on the Curtain” for Tokyo residents as part of its Next Security Project. The system projects a man’s moving silhouette unto a window to make people outside believe there is more than one person in a particular apartment unit.

There are twelve different moving silhouettes to choose from, be it a man cleaning the room or a martial artist practicing his kicks and punches, the company stated.

Japan currently enjoys one of the lowest crime rates in the world and is ranked 10th on the 2017 Global Peace Index. Despite the country’s good peace and order situation, criminal incidents still occur from time to time. Perhaps preventive measures like the “Man on the Curtain” tool can help people sleep a little better at night.

The city-state voided the marriage last year, saying the operation made their partnership a same-sex union that is illegal under Singapore law.

Singapore is a modern and vibrant society in many ways but attitudes towards homosexuality are still conservative and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said the country is not yet ready for same-sex marriage.

The couple, Faith and Bryce Volta, married as man and woman in 2015, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

Faith, the husband, then underwent sex change surgery and updated her national identity card to read “female”, the paper said.

Six months later the government’s Registrar of Marriages met the couple to discuss the sex change and later informed them the marriage would be annulled.

The couple have now asked the High Court to review the decision taken by the registrar, confirmed lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, whose law firm is representing them for free.

Authorities previously cited the country’s laws which state marriage is a union between a man and a woman as the reason for annulling the union.

Singapore maintains legislation dating back to British colonial rule making sex between men a criminal act, although it does not actively enforce the law.

Nevertheless support for gay rights is growing due to more relaxed views among the younger generation and the large expatriate community.

Last year, statistics showed this model was number one on the stolen cars list. A total of 654 cars were reported stolen.

General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) chief executive Mark Lim said the cars were definitely stolen for the parts.

“We believe the stolen vehicles were cannibalised and the parts sold as production of spare parts for this model has been stopped and the parts are difficult to obtain in the market,” he said in an interview with The Star.

A Proton spare parts dealer in Jalan Ipoh in Kuala Lumpur said many of the Wira’s interior items are no longer in production.

These include the dashboard, instrument panel, control panels, cushions, speedometer, handbrake lever, steering and other smaller items inside the car.

“The parts are scattered and difficult to find in the market. Even if they are available, the items could be the last few from the old stock.”

He said many Proton Wira spare parts were becoming more difficult to find as the items were no longer in production.

The industry, he said, had been told by Proton Wira spare parts manufacturers that the company planned to cease the production of parts for this model by the year’s end as it is no longer economically viable to make it.

The only option, he said, was to find the spare parts at the “potong-kereta” outlets. Proton Wira was produced between early 1993 and June 2009.

In its 16 years production, 952,216 units were sold. It has been estimated that at least 85% of the models are still on the road.

A second-hand car dealer, James Lim, said a Proton Wira in good condition could fetch between RM2,000 and RM4,500 each, depending on the year the car was manufactured and its model – either automatic or manual, hatchback or saloon.

“The value of the model offered by second-hand dealers is definitely much lower than the market price. Some dealers are only offering as much as RM1,000 for the model.”

He said many second-hand dealers were reluctant to trade this model as they found it difficult to dispose of the vehicles as buyers have to pay cash for the car.

“The model is too old, spare parts are difficult to find and banks have refused loans. Even many insurance companies would not want to insure the vehicles. If they do, Proton Wira car owners have to pay a higher premium and additional loading for it,” he said.

He said the model had been tagged as “high-risk cars for the second-hand market”.

However, a Sungai Besi junkyard operator, who only wanted to be identified as Lim, said the model still had value, either as scrap metal or second-hand parts.

A Proton Wira could fetch between RM5,000 and RM7,000 if the vehicle was cannibalised.

The gearbox and engine alone can fetch between RM1,000 and RM2,500 each, depending on its model and year the vehicle is ma­­nufactured.

“The speedometer and other gadgets on the dashboard can fetch good prices as many are no longer or easily available in the market,” he said.

The entire original seats, if in good condition, could be disposed of for RM200 a set.

The junkyard operator said Proton Wira spare parts were considered a hot item in the second-hand market as there are still many cars of this model on the road.

“It was one of the robust cars, where many of its parts and engines were directly imported from Japan, to be assembled locally when it was first introduced to the market.”

Alex Johnson, 44, and his wife Luna, 31, admitted that they had sex with Smit three weeks earlier and on the day she was found dead. Smit had fallen to her death from the balcony of an apartment in Jalan Dang Wangi.

The Johnsons also admitted in an interview with British tabloid Daily Mail that all three of them had been drinking heavily and that Ivana had been taking drugs.

The couple had met Smit at a nightclub in Kuala Lumpur in October last year, where they were introduced by a mutual acquaintance.

“She asked me to stand up and dance with her. We weren’t kissing, but we were doing sexy moves,” said Luna.

“She was beautiful, charming, confident. I was already melting,” added Luna.

The three of them even set up a WhatsApp group among themselves, which contained explicit flirting.

They had a threesome in a five-star hotel in November. On the day Smit was found dead, the three had been out all night partying before coming back in the wee hours of the morning.

The Johnsons’ daughter got up and Luna says she and Smit had breakfast with her.

“Ivana was hammered. I kept talking to her as I got my daughter ready for school. Ivana lay down while I took her there,” said Luna who went out for about 30 minutes.

Luna said she returned, her husband and Smit were on their bed, although Johnson was asleep.

After that, both Luna and Smit got intimate, before Luna went back to her bedroom where she lay down with her husband. When she came out of the room at about 10am, she found Smit  ‘wandering around, talking to herself and giggling.

“I was so tired after all this partying. At 10.15 I went back to the bedroom. When my head hit the pillow, I passed out,” said Luna.

Luna said she then woke at 1.25pm and saw that Ivana’s clothes, shoes, bag and phones were in the lounge/kitchen, but thought she had vanished for a photoshoot. The Johnsons were then woken up by the police at 5pm.

The Johnsons have maintained innocence in the matter, saying that there were footprints on the balcony and on to the top of the air-conditioning units.

Johnson said he has received numerous death threats since the murder claim was publicised, and claimed there was even an attempt to kidnap his five-year-old daughter:

“A man phoned our nanny, Maha, saying he was Luna’s father and would be picking her up from school. Luna’s father died before she was born.”

“We never intended to make the details of our marriage public. Now we fear our own lives are in danger, and we have no choice,” he said.

On Sunday, Smit’s family lawyer also told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that the teen had sex in the hours prior to the discovery of her body.

According to an online portal, he said this was based on “new information” that was corroborated by the findings from the second post-mortem conducted on Smit in the Netherlands.

Lawyer Sébas Diekstra added that pathologist Dr Frank van de Goot, who carried out the second autopsy, had previously detailed finding “male DNA” in Smit’s body and held the opinion that it likely occurred in the last hours of her life.

“In the Netherlands, you can be prosecuted if you commit sexual acts on someone who is unconscious or under reduced consciousness,” Diekstra told the daily.

De Telegraaf also reported that Smit family spokesman Fred Agenjo believed his niece was not in control of herself nor her actions in the hours before her death.

“There were huge amounts of drugs found in Ivana’s body. She was no longer competent.

“If anyone still had sex with an 18-year-old girl who was in that condition, that’s not good. They should stay away from someone under such circumstances,” he was quoted as saying.

The visit, described by many as a cultural charm offensive by the South, came as a diplomatic thaw quickens on the peninsula after months of tensions.

The 120-member group — 11 musical acts as well as dancers, technicians and martial artists — gave one concert on Sunday with another set for Tuesday.

Kim and his wife, a former singer herself, came to watch Sunday’s show, making him the first leader of the North to attend a concert by South Korean performers.

Kim shook hands and took photos with the stars backstage, saying inter-Korean cultural events should be held more often and suggesting another event in the South Korean capital this autumn, pool reports said.

The young couple were seen clapping their hands during the two-hour event — also attended by Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, and ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam.

“Please tell (South Korean) President Moon Jae-in how great an event like this is… I am grateful for a gift like this (concert) to the people of Pyongyang,” Kim told visiting Seoul officials.

Kim also showed “great interest in the songs and lyrics (of South Korean singers) during the concert,” Do Jong-hwan, Seoul’s culture chief and the head of the delegation, told reporters.

The South’s taekwondo athletes also staged a performance before an audience of 2,300 in Pyongyang on Sunday ahead of a joint display of the Korean martial art with the North’s practitioners on Monday.

The ongoing rapprochement was triggered by the South’s Winter Olympics, to which the North’s leader Kim Jong Un sent athletes, cheerleaders and his sister as an envoy.

A North Korean art troupe staged two performances in the South in February to celebrate the Games.

Kim followed up by agreeing to a summit with Moon, and offering a face-to-face meet with US President Donald Trump. Kim also met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week during his first overseas trip.

The inter-Korean summit, the third after meetings in 2000 and 2007, will be held on April 27. No date has been set for the US-North Korean summit although it is expected before the end of May.

In another sign of eased tensions, an annual US-South Korean military exercise which got under way in the South Sunday will last for just one month compared to some two months normally.

This year’s drills feature fewer strategic weapons such as nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, Seoul’s military has said. Such deployments during past drills has frequently drawn an angry response from Pyongyang.

– ‘Let’s do our best’ –

Sunday’s concert to a packed audience at the elaborately decorated 1,500-seat East Pyongyang Grand Theatre ended with a standing ovation after a finale in which all the stars appeared on stage to sing a song about unification.

One of the most closely watched acts was Red Velvet, part of the South’s hugely popular K-pop phenomenon that has taken audiences in Asia and beyond by storm in recent decades.

Before the concert, even the leader Kim joked: “There was so much interest in whether I’d come to see Red Velvet or not.”

The five-member girlband — known for its signature K-pop mix of upbeat electronic music, stylish fashion and high-voltage choreography — performed two of their hits, “Bad Boy” and “Red Flavour”.

“The North’s audience applauded to our performance much louder than we expected and even sang along to our songs… it was a big relief,” band member Yeri told reporters.

“I told myself, ‘let’s do our best even if there’s no response (from the audience)… but they showed so much reaction,” added a member called Wendy.

Another member, Seulgi, appeared red-eyed as she bid farewell to the audience at the end of the concert, apparently overcome with emotion.

– ‘Maze of Love’ –

Despite the North’s isolation and strict curbs on unauthorised foreign culture, enforced with prison terms, K-pop and South Korean TV shows have become increasingly popular there thanks to flash drives smuggled across the border with China.

The emcee of Sunday’s concert was a popular member of K-pop band Girls’ Generation, Seohyun, who had performed with the visiting North Korean singers during their Seoul concert in February.

Legendary South Korean singer Cho Yong-pil, who held a solo sell-out concert in Pyongyang in 2005, was another star of the show.

Kim’s late father and longtime ruler, Kim Jong Il, was known to be a fan of the 68-year-old Cho.

Another famous singer, Choi Jin-hee, also performed for the fourth time in the North and sang “Maze of Love” — a hit in both Koreas and another of the late Kim’s favourites.

But not all onlookers were receptive to the K-pop offensive.

During the taekwondo event, a previously-enraptured audience turned stone-faced during a performance combining K-pop dance and Taekwondo routines to a hit song by the ultra-popular boyband BTS.

The stiffened crowd refused to respond to the athletes who asked them to clap their hands to “Fire” — an intense electro-dance score peppered with rapid-fire rap delivered in both Korean and English. //AFP

“Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God… baby Kerim is safe now,” Kerem Kinik, head of the Turkish Red Crescent tweeted.

The child, who was just five weeks old when he was injured, will “survive on behalf of all innocent children of Syria” and “remind us that we have a conscience as humanity,” he added.

President Recep Erdogan personally greeted little Karim Abdallah, now six months old, and surviving members of his family after their arrival in the Turkish border province of Hatay, according to Turkish media.

Karim lost his left eye in an air raid last October, in the opposition-held area of Eastern Ghouta, which also killed his mother.

The damage to his frontal lobe and left eye will likely leave him suffering long-term effects, said the brain surgeon who treated him and who identified himself as Abu Jamil.

“The frontal lobe plays an essential role in a human being’s comprehension, intelligence, and memory,” said the 50-year-old doctor who added that it could be “treatable with behavioural and cognitive therapy and cosmetic surgery, but not in Ghouta”.

A final deal appeared to have been reached Sunday for fighters and civilians to leave the last opposition-held area of Eastern Ghouta, paving the way for Syria’s regime to retake all of the one-time rebel enclave near Damascus.

More than 45,000 rebels and their families have been evacuated from Eastern Gouta since March 22 to be relocated in Idlib, according to Syrian authorities.