Last year Mahathir Mohamad castigated Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) meet in Singapore for defending the military’s crackdown on the Rohingya.

His direct condemnation of Suu Kyi was a departure from the usually staid meetings of the 10-country regional bloc, whose members normally avoid confrontation.

But the crisis has spun out across the region, with desperate Rohingya taking to boats bound for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

    In recent weeks scores of Rohingya have boarded vessels for Malaysia — a Muslim-majority country believed to be more sympathetic to their plight — raising fears of a renewed trafficking route.

Mahathir on Friday, the eve of the ASEAN summit, vowed to continue helping the Rohingya attempting to reach his shores.

“They are refugees. As much as we can do for them, we will,” the 93-year-old premier told reporters on the sidelines of a business forum in Bangkok.

“We hope something can be done to stop the oppression of the Rohingya,” he said when asked by AFP.

A deal for the Rohingya to return to Myanmar has largely stalled as virtually no Rohingya have chosen to return due to security fears.

Still an ASEAN-commissioned report leaked earlier this month to AFP predicted repatriation efforts would be complete in two years.

Mahathir also cast doubts over the timeline.

“If we can do it in two years, we will,” he said, though he was “not so sure” about whether conditions on the ground remain favourable for group’s repatriation.

More than 740,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since August 2017, flooding into neighbouring Bangladesh with accounts of rape, mass killings and the razing of villages.

Myanmar refuses to grant them citizenship or basic rights, and refers to them as “Bengali”, inferring that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

UN investigators have called for Myanmar’s top generals to be tried for genocide, but Suu Kyi has defended the military’s crackdown as necessary to flush out militants in Rakhine state.

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THA-Bangkok    – Bangkok, June 21, 2019 (AFP) –  2019-06-21 T 11:57:50

Footage on the East Coast city’s NBC affiliate station showed plumes of smoke towering from the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refining complex.

The blaze in south Philadelphia broke out around 4:00 am (0800 GMT) when a series of explosions occurred, according to NBC10. The fire could be seen for miles.

    Refinery authorities say they are still working to account for all plant staff, the network reported.

Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management asked residents and workers at businesses east of the scene to remain indoors until further notice.

A major highway was briefly closed as firefighters responded to the incident.

The PES refining complex — which has existed in some form for more than 150 years — is the largest of its kind on the US East Coast, according to its website, and processes 335,000 barrels of crude per day.

PES is a partnership between fuel distributor Sunoco, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer LP, and US-based investment firm The Carlyle Group, according to its website.

“All of the victims were trapped inside the factory. There was no way out and we suspect they were locked inside,” Binjai Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Nugroho Tri Nurhayoto said.

The 30 bodies have been recovered from the site and sent to the Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Medan for autopsies.

Among the 30 casualties, three were children who had accompanied their mothers to work.

The police are investigating the cause of the deadly fire.

A witness reported that he had heard a blast from the factory, followed by a blazing fire that consumed the building.

Five fire trucks were deployed to extinguish the fire, but as the factory was located on a narrow alley, the firefighting efforts were hampered.

ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have called on Asean member states to go beyond a narrow focus in solving the problem of marine plastic pollution to also address the plastic waste trade, as the region continues to be inundated with imported trash.

With Bangkok set to host the 34th Asean Summit over the weekend, the meeting is scheduled to hold talks on the marine debris problem. Asean member states have pledged to endorse a new regional collaborative framework – The Bangkok Declaration – to tackle marine plastic pollution.

However, Greenpeace Southeast Asia and other prominent environmental groups in the region faulted the agenda for not including the huge related problem of plastic waste trade.

They called on Asean governments to entirely ban all import of plastic waste, establish a holistic regional policy governing production of single-use plastics, and advance the framework for a sustainable and ethical circular economy in order to protect public health and the environment from plastic pollution.

Thailand, as Asean chair, will host the summit under the theme “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”.

Thailand country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Tara Buakamsri, said it was a good start for Asean countries to acknowledge the severity of the marine debris problem and work together to tackle the large environmental issue. But the Asean initiative will not be successful if member states keep their eyes shut to the rapidly growing volume of plastic waste trade in the region.

“Asean cannot tackle marine plastic pollution just by announcing a regional collaborative framework in the Bangkok Declaration. We need stronger political will and action to genuinely engage in reducing plastic waste through the entire lifecycle, including by banning trade in plastic waste,” Tara said.

“If we continue to allow our region to be the garbage bin of the world, who can guarantee that these imported wastes will be properly handled and recycled. And if these wastes are poorly managed, they will definitely leak and contaminate the environment and some of them will eventually end up in the ocean.”

According to the statistics put together by Greenpeace on plastic waste trade in Southeast Asia, nearly every country in Asean – and notably Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines – had substantially increased the volume of plastic waste imported over the past three years. A deluge of diverted shipments of waste, some of it toxic, descended on the region from developed nations after China banned their import.

Between 2016 and 2018, Asean members saw plastic waste imports grow by a staggering 171 per cent, from 836,529 tonnes to 2,265,962 tonnes, equivalent to about 423,544 20-foot shipping containers. Greenpeace has called on Asean leaders to immediately ban the import of plastic waste in the region, end the use of single-use plastic, and regulate plastic use and production at the source.

“This [plastic waste trade] is an Asean problem,” said Heng Kiah Chun, a campaigner of Greenpeace Malaysia. “All countries need to make an urgent joint declaration to end plastic waste imports from abroad, and put in place systems to support a sustainable plastic-free world.”

Meanwhile, Marine and Coastal Resources Department’s director-general Jatuporn Buruspat said that the Bangkok Declaration would be a major milestone in tackling marine plastic debris in the region. It will mark the first time that Asean countries would have brought the issue to the regional summit and together pledged to mitigate the problem.

“The Bangkok Declaration … will be the wide framework for all Asean member states to follow, to engage in mitigating the marine debris problem,” Jatuporn said. “However, as the laws and regulations of each country differ, it will be the obligation of each member state to come up with their own action plan to tackle marine debris in their country.”

He said that Thailand will also suggest to the summit an action plan against marine plastic pollution involving the installation of garbage trapping booms at the deltas of major rivers in order to prevent garbage from flowing into the ocean. It will be up to each government to decide whether to adopt Thailand’s plan.

Xi is the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years, after relations between the Cold War era allies deteriorated over Pyongyang’s nuclear provocations and Beijing’s subsequent backing of UN sanctions.

But as he embarked on a flurry of diplomacy last year, Kim ensured that Xi — the leader of his country’s key diplomatic supporter and main provider of trade and aid — was the first head of state he met.

The North Korean has now visited his older ally four times in China and Pyongyang has been increasingly keen for Xi to reciprocate, while according to diplomats Beijing has been biding its time to see how nuclear talks between Kim and Trump play out.

    But Beijing’s own trade negotiations with Washington hit a wall last month and some analysts say Xi is now looking for leverage ahead of his meeting with Trump at next week’s G20 summit in Japan.

“When both China & North Korea are confronted by US, they have a lot to discuss with each other,” Lijian Zhao, the deputy chief of mission of China’s embassy in Pakistan, wrote on Twitter.

Kim met Xi at Pyongyang airport as he began a two-day state visit with his wife Peng Liyuan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and other officials, according to Chinese state media.

Portraits of the two leaders stood outside the terminal, pictures showed, and a 21-gun salute was fired.

Chinese flags hung throughout the capital and hundreds of thousands of residents were lined up along the streets according to CCTV — standard procedure when a foreign leader visits the isolated North, whose authorities are adept at mounting spectacular displays.

But in an unprecedented move, Xi was welcomed at the Kumsusan Palace, the mausoleum where the preserved bodies of the North’s founder Kim Il Sung and successor Kim Jong Il — the grandfather and father of the current leader — lie in state.

Kim and Xi went on to hold formal talks, Xinhua reported.

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling party, devoted the top half of its front page to the visit, with a colour picture of Xi accompanying a profile.

In an editorial, it said the trip at a time of “complex international relations” showed that the leadership in Beijing attached “high importance on the DPRK-China friendship”.

“Our people are proud of having a trustworthy and close friend like the Chinese people,” it added.

– Symbolic visit –

Xi’s visit will be largely symbolic, with no formal joint communique expected — as was the case with Kim’s April summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, Russia.

Authorities have imposed tight restrictions on coverage. International journalists in Pyongyang were told they would not be able to cover it, while foreign media organisations initially invited to attend proved unable to secure visas.

Sources said the Chinese media delegation accompanying Xi was also reduced in size from initial plans.

The North wants to demonstrate to Trump that it has China’s support with nuclear negotiations at a standstill after Trump and Kim’s second summit broke up without a deal.

In Hanoi in February the two men disagreed in February on what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.

For the North the visit “will serve to show the US that China has its back and to send a message to Washington it should stop its maximum pressure posture”, said Lim Eul-chul, professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University.

Analysts say the trip is equally a chance for China to showcase its influence in the region and the talks process, at a time when it is at loggerheads with the US over trade.

In clear assertion of Beijing’s role, Xi said in a rare opinion piece in the Rodong Sinmun that China would play an active part in “strengthening communication and coordination” between the North and “other relevant parties” to push forward negotiations.

Beijing has fretted over being sidelined after the North Korean leader agreed to meet Trump last year, with the US leader going as far as declaring he had fallen “in love” with Kim.

“Xi wants everyone to remain acutely aware that he can influence Kim, and that no comprehensive, durable deal with North Korea can occur without China’s assistance — and approval,” Scott Seaman, Asia director of the Eurasia Group consultancy, said in a research note.

Beijing sees the North as a strategic buffer, keeping the 28,500 US troops in South Korea far from its borders, and Xi’s trip will include a visit to pay homage at Pyongyang’s Friendship Tower, a monument to the millions of Chinese troops who saved Kim Il Sung’s forces from defeat during the Korean War.

But Zhao Tong, North Korea expert at the Carnegie Tsinghua Center think tank in Beijing, said Xi and Kim were unlikely to have substantive discussions on denuclearisation, because “China and North Korea do not have enough mutual trust”.

The concern over political activism stemmed from the disaster in 2009 when the Asean summit in Pattaya was wrecked by red-shirt protesters discontent with the Abhisit Vejjajiva premiership.

Chakthip said on Thursday after the meeting on security provision for the summit that the authorities had been following up with the political groups. Talks had been conducted and he believed they should not pose any problem, he added.

The disaster in 2009 had been studied and the authorities had plans to avoid it from recurring, the police chief said. All the forces were 100 per cent ready for the summit, he said.

Aside from security, Chakthip also said the government placed importance on traffic, promising to have minimal impact on commuters.

However, Wireless Road from Ploenchit to Sarasin junctions would be closed from 6am on Saturday to 6pm on Sunday, according to the Metropolitan Police Bureau.

“We are very unhappy. From the very beginning, it became a political issue on how to accuse Russia of the wrongdoing.

“Even before they examined the case, they have already claimed it (the shooting down of MH17) was done by Russia,” said Dr Mahathir to reporters at the Prime Minister’s Department Hari Raya celebration event here.

Dr Mahathir said Malaysia is not convinced with the findings and demands that the investigators provide proof that the Russians were behind the shooting.

“As far as we are concerned, we want proof of guilt (that Russia did it). But so far, there is no proof, only hearsay.

“This is a ridiculous thing. Someone shoots a gun and you are not able to see who, but you know who shot,” said Dr Mahathir.

When asked if Malaysia’s stance was because it had a stake with Russia, who are the buyers of its palm oil, Dr Mahathir said no.

“No, no. That is different,” he said.

International investigators charged four people with murder over the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 above rebel-held eastern Ukraine in which 298 people were killed.

The four were Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.

Seven persons have been arrested for attacking the model-turned-actor and vandalising the vehicle she was travelling in.

Sengupta who is the winner of Miss India Universe pageant in 2010, was attacked on Monday night while coming back from a five-star hotel in Kolkata in an Uber cab.

“Seven persons — Sheik Rahit, Fardin Khan, Sk. Sabir Ali, Sk. Gani, Sk. Imran Ali, Sk. Wasim and Atif Khan have been arrested on Tuesday for allegedly harassing the complainant, assaulting an Uber driver and vandalising the cab. A detailed inquiry is going on into the case,” Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police, Crime, Praveen Tripathi said.

Amidst the commotion, Sengupta stepped out of the cab and started filming the incident.

She further said the miscreants followed her after they left the place. The boys, she claimed, caught up with her outside her friend’s house and dragged her out and tried to break her phone to delete the video.

She said the miscreants finally left when she started shouting and the locals came out on the street.

The actor shared the harrowing the incident on social media.

The actor also alleged that officers at the nearby Charu Market Police Station refused to take any complaint and advised her to, instead, approach the Bhawanipore Police Station.

“After raising a lot of questions, the officer took my complaint but refused to take the complaint of the driver,” she said in a Facebook post, recounting the incident.

The Kolkata Police on Tuesday said it has arrested the seven persons and also initiated an inquiry into the alleged non-registration of FIR.

“We have taken this incident very seriously and seven persons have been arrested so far. On the order of the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, an inquiry regarding the non-registration of FIR has been initiated into this incident, at a very senior level,” the Kolkata Police wrote on its Twitter handle.

    Writing in the Wall Street Journal and not his own newspaper, Arthur Sulzberger warned there was “no more serious charge a commander in chief can make against an independent news organization”.

“He’s gone from misrepresenting our business, to assaulting our integrity, to demonizing our journalists,” the publisher wrote. “Now the president has escalated his attacks even further, accusing the Times of a crime so grave it is punishable by death.”

Sulzberger’s commentary was in response to comments by Trump on Twitter last Saturday where he said the Times had committed “a virtual act of treason” after it reported that the US is stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid.

    The action is intended partly as a warning, but also to leave the US poised to conduct cyberstrikes in the event of a major conflict between the US and Russia, the newspaper report said.

“Do you believe that the Failing New York Times just did a story stating that the United States is substantially increasing Cyber Attacks on Russia. This is a virtual act of Treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our Country…..” Trump tweeted, adding that “Anything goes with our Corrupt News Media today.”

Sulzberger said his newspaper had contacted the White House prior to publishing and been assured by Trump’s aides that the article raised no national security concerns.

The “treason” comments marked the latest in a series of attacks by the US president on media outlets — particularly those that have run investigative reports into Trump and his administration — which Sulzberger says have created a climate where trust in the media is declining and violence against journalists is on the increase.

He also warned of an “aggressive legal campaign against journalists” being waged by the White House.

Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, or A.G. as he is known, took the helm of America’s most prestigious newspaper last year, and has since made a series of rebukes to Trump in defence of free press.

In 2018 the Times shared, with The Washington Post, a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its alleged connections to the Trump campaign.

“Mr. Trump’s campaign against journalists should concern every patriotic American,” Sulzberger wrote Thursday. “A free, fair and independent press is essential to our country’s strength and vitality and to every freedom that makes it great.”