The council will hold a meeting on Tuesday to hear UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi report on the crisis sparked by an army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August.

Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea requested the talks along with the three permanent council members.

The meeting comes nearly three months after the council adopted a statement demanding that Myanmar rein in its security forces and allow the Rohingya to return to their homes.

More than 750,000 Rohingya have been driven from the mainly Buddhist country to Bangladesh, fleeing soldiers accused of killings, rape and burning down villages.

Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed last month to repatriate the Rohingya over a period of two years, but the United Nations has expressed concerns after the UN refugee agency UNHCR was kept out of the agreement.

The General Assembly in December adopted a resolution asking Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to name a special envoy to Myanmar, but that appointment has yet to be made.

China, a supporter of Myanmar’s former ruling junta, and Russia voted against the resolution. Both hold veto power at the council.

Myanmar’s government also turned down a visit by council envoys to Rakhine state, saying it was “not the right time,” Kuwait’s Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said.

“I am aware of the president’s request and we are in the initial planning stages to meet the president’s direction,” General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters during a visit to the Thai capital Bangkok.

Dunford is the first top US military official to publicly address Trump’s longstanding wish for a large-scale military parade, which the White House confirmed Tuesday.

The general did not address a question on whether it would be a good use of military resources.

America normally reserves its military parades to mark the end of conflicts, such as in 1991 when President George H.W. Bush held a National Victory Parade in Washington to celebrate the end of the Gulf War.

Trump’s request may well be popular among many Americans but has drawn scorn from critics, who said it would be a waste of money and was akin to events organised by authoritarian regimes.

Dunford’s visit to junta-ruled Thailand is part of a week-long tour of the US military’s enormous Pacific Command area.

He met his Thai counterpart Tarnchaiyan Srisuwan, as well as Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and Prayut Chan-O-Cha, the leader of the junta.

After a hiatus following the 2014 coup, relations between Washington and Bangkok have resumed and Dunford said he looked forward to a continuing military-to-military relationship.

“They (Thailand) have been a good, strong partner for a long time. Our overall strength globally, but in particular in the Pacific, is our network of allies and partners. And so Thailand is an important part of that overall network,” Dunford told reporters travelling with him.

The praise was offered despite the junta’s recent postponement of a November 2018 election date which the junta chief announced after a White House visit in October.

The US has consistently urged the generals to follow through on a promised return to democracy.

But they have repeatedly let the poll timeline slip and maintained a tight lid on dissent, with bans on politics and protests of any kind.//AFP

    In a three-page letter to the foreign ministry dated February 2, the Colombian embassy expressed “serious concern”, saying the eatery was paying tribute to the “worst criminal in the history of Colombia”.

“The Embassy of the Republic of Colombia wants to share some information to refresh the horror that this criminal caused in Colombia… not to mention the drug addiction he promoted and the war he declared,” the letter said.

“If the idea of the owner was to make his or her business look profitable and trendy, it is inducing… confusion, because Colombia is not what ‘Narcos-Netflix’ portrays anymore.”

It said Colombia cannot “tolerate any more tributes to that criminal.”

When AFP visited the restaurant in the heart of Singapore’s business district Tuesday evening, patrons occupied about a dozen tables having post-work drinks, seemingly unaware of the controversy. Several bouquets stood on stands by the door next to a decal of Escobar’s face, congratulating the eatery on its recent opening.

Owner Stan Sri Ganesh told AFP that he decided on the name “simply because it had the word ‘bar’ in it”. Several users have posted abusive comments and sent threatening messages to the gastropub’s Facebook page, he said.

“It was meant to be a pun… we never expected the abuse.”

More than two decades after police shot Escobar dead in his stronghold of Medellin, the cocaine cartel leader was immortalised in the hit Netflix series “Narcos”.

Escobar is still deeply popular in Medellin, where he is regarded as a saint and anti-hero — souvenirs with his face on them do brisk business.

Colombia has recently come out of a decades-long civil conflict fuelled by drug trafficking that claimed thousands of lives.

The United Nations ranks Colombia as the world’s biggest producer of coca, the raw material for the drug. Affluent Singapore takes a strong stance against drugs, with traffickers punishable by death.//AFP

Instead the seabird, also known as “no-mates Nigel”, spent years living among a colony of fake concrete birds set up by conservationists in a bid to attract wildlife.

The antisocial avian fell in love with one of the decoys on Mana Island, off the Wellington coast, and was seen preening, nestling and even trying to mate with it.

“Nigel chose to live on Mana, and we know he was happy there because he could have left any time and didn’t,” Department of Conservation ranger Chris Bell said Wednesday.

“It was odd behaviour for a gannet, but every group has their individuals.”

Bell found Nigel’s body lying next to his stony sweetheart late last month and believes he died of old age, although an autopsy is yet to confirm the theory.

Sadly, Nigel may have died just as the fake colony was having its desired effect, with Bell reporting that three gannets began visiting Mana in late December.

Bell said Australasian gannets like Nigel, while not endangered, needed nesting sites that were not vulnerable to introduced pests such as rats and stoats.

“Gannets are extremely social birds and they make their decisions on where to live based on that,” he said.

“The decoys are our way of telling passing-by gannets that this place is safe, it’s predator free and it would be a good place for them to live.”

He said the three gannet newcomers were now regular visitors to the island and may yet set up a colony that could act as Nigel’s legacy.

“We are conscious that without Nigel the other three might not choose to nest here but only time will tell. We’re optimistic,” he said.//AFP

But Won Gil-U came to a screeching halt when he met a young woman called Ko Jong-Un, a report said. Her forename matches that of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and Won — who is also Pyongyang’s vice sports minister — was stunned into silence.

After some moments he found his voice. “When he turned to me, he stared at my name tag and froze for a few seconds without a word,” Ko was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

“Then, he said: ‘I wouldn’t dare to pronounce your name’. We all broke into hearty laughter.”

The ruling Kim dynasty are revered within North Korea, where Kim Jong-Un is normally referred to as “Supreme Leader” or “Respected Marshal”.

North Korean children are taught from an early age about the exploits of his father Kim Jong-Il and grandfather Kim Il-Sung, the North’s founder, and the two predecessors’ portraits are on display in every home and on propaganda billboards throughout the country.

Like some other Korean forenames, Jong-Un can be used for both men and women — although it is predominantly female.

Another North Korean official asked Ko about her job. She told him she is a student majoring in American culture at Sogang University in Seoul.

“Then he responded: ‘All Yankees must be punched’,” she said. “This sparked more laughter.”//AFP

The investigating police were accompanied by provincial police and officers from the natural resources and environmental crime division.

The search at Premchai’s three houses, which are in the same compound in Soi Soonwichai 3 in Huay Kwang district, began after his lawyer arrived at the scene and was shown a search warrant issued by a court.

Before then, a resident of the houses came to speak with police but did not allow the search, asking for the presence of the lawyer.

It is reported that deputy national police chief, Pol General Srivara Rangsibhramakul, will join the search in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, police also searched the houses of three others suspects in Ratchaburi, Nakhon Ratchasima and Kanchanaburi provinces.

Premchai and three others suspects – Premchai’s driver, maid and close aide – were released on bail on Tuesday after being arrested for alleged poaching and hunting in Kanchaburi’s Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary on Monday.

The campsite Premchai allegedly used is in restricted site where hunting and camping are banned. At the site, wildlife authorities found the remains of protected animals including barking deer, pheasant and black leopard, as well as rifles and shotguns that police said were hidden in bushes.

This winter flu season, some 111 people have died since January, including two people aged under 18, according to figures from the Centre for Health Protection.

Health experts have warned the epidemic may not have reached its peak. Authorities are seeking to reduce contact between students in crowded environments ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which is expected to start next week.

“If we don’t deal with this now, our concern is that even if the epidemic begins to wind down there may be more deaths or severe cases with children,” microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung told reporters on Wednesday.

Public hospitals and emergency wards in the city have been overflowing with patients while struggling with staff shortages, local media reported.

Hong Kong is particularly alert to the spread of viruses.

Bird flu was first reported in humans in Hong Kong in 1997, when six people died, and subsequent outbreaks have killed hundreds more worldwide.

An outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) swept through the city in 2003, killing 299 people.

As reported by kompas.com, the visa allows Chinese-descent foreigners multiple entry throughout the five-year period, provided candidates meet certain criteria.

Announced by the Ministry of Public Security in January, China seeks to make it easier for applicants by not imposing restrictions on the reasons for visiting, specifically for ethnic Chinese from outside of China.

Implemented on Feb. 1, the new policy marks an improvement over the previous one-year multiple-entry visa, giving Chinese-descent foreigners a five-year residency permit for work, study or other purposes.

The policy aims to encourage more overseas ethnic Chinese people “to participate in China’s economic development,” Qu Yunhai, the head of the ministry’s bureau of exit and entry administration, was quoted as saying by kompas.com.

Read also: New visa rules in China streamline process for top foreign talent

What are the qualifications?

Foreigners of Chinese origin according to China’s official definition refers to former Chinese citizens who have obtained foreign citizenship and to the offspring of present or former Chinese citizens.

Applying descendants of former Chinese citizens need to prove their relationship to either a parent, grandparent or ancestor. Authorities have specified no limit on the number of generations.

The ministry noted that all applicants were required to prove their Chinese origin by submitting official documents issued either by the Chinese government or by authorities of the country they are applying from.

Documents proving Chinese origin include copies of the applicant’s or their relatives’ Chinese passports or identity cards.

According to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office in Shanghai, certificates from overseas governments are also accepted after being assessed by the Chinese embassy or consulate in their country of origin. (liz/kes)

The cooperation was one of the Asean Projects that was initiated at the Senior Officials Meeting of the 2012 Asean Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry in Manila. The project was named the Asean Secretariat Program last October, with funding from the Japan Asean Integration Fund (JAIF).

The regional consultation meeting in Bogor saw the attendance of experts and officials on agriculture as well as representatives from farmers groups and the private sector.

The meeting was opened by the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister’s food and agricultural coordination deputy, Musdhalifah Machmud.

In her opening remarks, Musdhalifah said major progress must be made, as one-third of the world’s available food was lost during the post-harvest chain, an amount that could feed 868 million people. She said post-harvest losses in Indonesia remained high, with average losses of over 20 percent.

Musdhalifah stressed that because of this, agriculture was still a priority for Indonesia. “The government is developing rural and agricultural infrastructure that facilitate not only production, but also procurement, processing, preservation and trade,” she said.

She said the source of food loss was split evenly in the post-harvest chain across the stages of production, distribution and consumption.

“Reducing post-harvest losses, especially in developing countries, could be a sustainable solution to increasing food availability,” she said. (dmr)

A hotel and an apartment block were the worst hit by the quake in the port city of Hualien, according to the national fire agency.

Five more buildings including a hospital have also been damaged with roads strewn with rubble, cracks along highways and damaged buildings tilted at angles.

The worst-hit Marshal Hotel partly crumpled into the ground, leaving it slanting on its side, as rescuers on cranes attempted to free people from its upper floors.

“It’s the biggest quake I’ve experienced in Hualien in more than 10 years,” resident Blue Hsu told AFP, who said his home shook violently.

Describing the scene at the hotel, Hsu said its bottom storeys had been crushed.

“The lower floors sunk into the ground and I saw panicked tourists being rescued from the hotel,” he said.

Hualien is one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist hubs as it lies on the picturesque east coast rail line and is near to popular Taroko Gorge.

Facebook user Sun Chen-hsiang, who was livestreaming the scene at the hotel from a distance, told how the building next to his home had also collapsed.

“All the people watching this livestream, please get yourself to a safe place and don’t stay home,” he said.

Another resident told AFP how an apartment block near his flat had also partially collapsed.

“I saw the first floor sink into the ground. Then it sunk and tilted further and the fourth floor became the first floor,” said Lu Chih-son, 35, adding he saw 20 people rescued from the building.

“My family were unhurt, but a neighbour was injured in the head and is bleeding. We dare not go back home now. There are many aftershocks and we are worried the house is damaged.”

There had been at least 15 aftershocks following the quake, Taiwan’s weather bureau said.

– Quake anniversary –

Officials from Hualien fire department said 149 people had been rescued from damaged buildings.

Authorities said some people remained trapped but were unable to give an overall figure.

Rescuers from around the island were preparing to help, Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen said on her Facebook page, promising rapid disaster relief.

The quake hit at 23:50 pm (1550 GMT) around 21 kilometres (13 miles) northeast of Hualien, according to the United States Geological Survey.

It follows almost 100 smaller tremors to have hit the area in the last three days and comes exactly two years since a quake of the same magnitude struck the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, killing more than 100 people.

Most of the deaths from the February 2016 earthquake were from the 16-storey Wei-kuan apartment complex, which toppled on its side with many of its residents buried in the rubble.

It was the only high-rise in Tainan to crumble completely in the quake, which came two days before Lunar New Year, when many people would have been visiting relatives for the biggest celebration of the Chinese calendar.

The safety of the building was called into question immediately after the disaster, when metal cans and foam were found to have been used as fillers in the concrete and residents said there had been cracks in the structure.

Five people were found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment over the disaster, including the developer and two architects, with prosecutors saying they “cut corners” that affected the building’s structural integrity.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

The island’s worst tremor in recent decades was a 7.6 magnitude quake in September 1999 that killed around 2,400 people.