BANGKOK, March 24 -- Thailand vote on Sunday in a long-delayed election that Prayuth Chan-ocha, the general who led the coup against the country's last elected government five years ago, hopes will return him to power as a civilian prime minister. Polling stations across the country opened at 8am (01:00 GMT) and remained open until 5pm (10:00 GMT), giving voters two hours longer to cast their ballots than in previous elections. About 52 million voters are registered to vote, some seven million of them for the first time. The vote is taking place under a new constitution that gives the military considerable influence over the country's civilian politics and makes it difficult for any party to win a majority in the 500-seat lower house. The prime minister will be the person who secures a majority in both the houses, while the 250-seat senate is largely appointed by the military, which is likely to give Chan-ocha an advantage. Nevertheless, campaigning has been spirited and Pheu Thai, the party linked to the former prime minister and exiled tycoon - Thaksin Shinawatra - that has its power base in the rural northeast, is expected to win the most seats. Opinion poll results were banned in the final week of campaigning, but the Democrats under Abhisit Prayuth are expected to come second, followed by Palang Pracharat, the party set up to back Prayuth. A potential wildcard is Future Forward, a new party founded last year by car parts billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit that wants to reform the military, that has energised people with its message of change. In the sports hall of the Mater Dei School in central Bangkok, a steady stream of voters came to cast their ballot after the doors opened. Wararat, a dermatologist who brought her one-year-old daughter with her to the polling station, said the election was significant after so many years of military rule. She had decided to back Future Forward to "give them a chance". The 35-year-old said she was tired of the political conflict that had divided Thailand and welcomed the return of democracy. "It's been a long time since we had a chance to vote," Wararat, who preferred not to give her full name, told Al Jazeera. "Everyone is aware of that." Phatcharin Ayasahond, 55, agreed the election was important, but her main concern was to preserve peace and stability. The IT worker said she had been caught up in the violence on the streets of Bangkok in 2010 and did not want that kind of conflict to return. "This election is very important," she said after casting her vote. "This time it's for us to decide who will be prime minister."
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CARACAS, March 24 -- More than $30 billion disappeared from Venezuela’s foreign accounts in the past two months, according to Venezuelan Minister for Communication and Information Jorge Rodgriguez. "In the past two months, over $30 billion were stolen," he was quoted as saying by Venezuela’s state TV. The official accused Washington of ordering to seize Venezuela’s assets. "Assets, which Venezuela has in various banks, are being withdrawn. This is carried out under direct orders from the US President Donald Trump’s administration," he said. The minister’s statement came shortly after opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself the country’s acting president in January, said that in an interview to Reuters that "the diplomatic pressure [on the country’s government] has worked, the economic pressure and the pressure on assets have worked." "They [Maduro’s government] are isolated, alone, they are falling apart day by day," he added. Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas on January 23. Several countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him as president. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro blasted these actions as an attempted coup and said that he was cutting diplomatic ties with the United States. In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro. Earlier on Saturday, the opposition leader said in a Twitter post that he and his supporters would keep protesting until Maduro resigns. MANILA, March 24 -- The Philippines is "earnestly looking forward" to actively participating in the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held next month in Beijing, Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said in a statement released on Sunday. Dominguez said the forum, which will be attended by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, will be a major catalyst for more comprehensive international collaboration aimed at creating a better future for economies across the globe. "We appreciate China's Belt and Road infrastructure program that will more closely link the economies of Asia and Europe. This program will shape the future of this century and the next century," Dominguez said. Dominguez, who visited Beijing last week, has underscored the remarkable progress made in enhancing bilateral relations between Manila and Beijing as both sides expressed optimism over the "pragmatic cooperation" between the two countries becoming even stronger in the coming years. In his meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, Dominguez said that over the past two years under Duterte's leadership, the Philippines has seen its relationship with China growing closer and more comprehensive. He also thanked China for the generous support it has extended to the (Philippines') ambitious effort to modernize its infrastructure and build a more competitive economy. "We look forward to implementing more strategic infrastructure projects supported by highly concessional financing from China," Dominguez said during a dinner-meeting between officials of the two countries to discuss the status of the Philippines' priority projects being rolled out with funding assistance from China. The Philippine officials discussed the Philippines' economic performance and outlook, presented the long list of infrastructure development projects under the "Build, Build, Build" program, and invited investors to do business in the Philippines and ride on the economy's growth trajectory. The "Build, Build, Build" program, which was rolled out by the Duterte administration in 2017, intends to spend 8 to 9 trillion pesos (roughly $160 billion to $180 billion) in the medium term on building roads, bridges, airports, seaports and railways in the Philippines. "Like China, the Philippines is well positioned for growth. The Philippines, with a fast-growing economy and business-friendly tax reforms, is perfect for investment," Dominguez said, pointing to his country's "strong fiscal position" that has paved the way for the government to invest in an ambitious infrastructure program that works in concert with the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. "We look forward to a seamless network for the flow of goods, the exchange of best practices, and boundless cooperation in the coming years," Dominguez added. “We are a Remain country now with 60% wanting to stop the Brexit mess." LONDON, March 23 -- Hundreds of thousands of people have poured into the capital to take part in the Put it to the People march. Sadiq Khan tweeted a video of the countdown launching the Put it to the People march, with the London mayor holding up a banner at the front of demonstrators. He wrote: “And we’re off! “Here in London, thousands of people from across our city and country have come together with @peoplesvote_uk to send a clear message: Enough is enough - it’s time to give the British public the final say on Brexit.” The day’s activities were kicked off by the unfurling of a large banner on Westminster Bridge that read “Love socialism, hate Brexit”. The stunt was organised by a group calling itself the “Left Bloc” which is supported by Labour MPs, including Clive Lewis and Kate Osamor, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, trade unions and grassroots campaigners. The march sees protesters process from Park Lane to Parliament Square, where a rally will be held. As many as a million people could flood the streets of London after estimates for a similar rally in October were as high as 700,000. In Parliament Square, Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson is expected to tell marchers the only way to resolve the Brexit impasse is “for people themselves to sign it off”. Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine and London mayor Sadiq Khan are also expected to take the stage. Other speakers will include former Conservative cabinet minister Justine Greening and ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve, former Tory turned independent MP Anna Soubry, Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford. Campaigners arrived in the capital from across the country, with one taking on a 715-mile journey on ferries, trains and buses from Orkney in Scotland. Student Sorcha Kirker, 27, will be joined by about 30 other students from the University of the Highlands and Islands. The demonstration follows EU leaders agreeing to delay Brexit to give prime minister Theresa May a final chance to get her deal through Parliament. Leaders agreed to extend Brexit to May 22 if May can get MPs to back her deal in the Commons at the third time of asking. If the vote is not passed, the UK will have to set out an alternative way forward by April 12, which could mean a much longer delay - with the UK required to hold elections to the European Parliament - or leaving without a deal at all. An online petition demanding the government stops the Brexit process had topped four million signatures by this morning. It is now the most popular ever submitted to the Parliament website, moving ahead of a 2016 petition calling for a second EU referendum. Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Vince Cable has tweeted his support for a second referendum after launching the march. Alongside two photos of him with demonstrators, he wrote: “Great to kick off the #PeoplesVoteMarch just now. “There is a huge turnout of people here from all walks of life, of all ages and from all over the country. WASHINGTON, March 23 -- Important pundits and news networks have served up an impressive display of denials, evasions and on-air strokes after learning that Robert Mueller has ended his probe without issuing a single collusion-related indictment. The Special Counsel delivered his final report to Attorney General William Barr for review on Friday, with the Justice Department confirming that there will be no further indictments related to the probe. The news dealt a devastating blow to the sensational prophesies of journalists, analysts and entire news networks, who for nearly two years reported ad nauseam that President Donald Trump and his inner circle were just days away from being carted off to prison for conspiring with the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Some journalists and television anchors took to Twitter and the airwaves on Friday night to acknowledge that the media severely misreported Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia, as well as what Mueller's probe was likely to find. "How could they let Trump off the hook?" an inconsolable Chris Matthews asked NBC reporter Ken Dilanian during a segment on MSNBC's 'Hardball'. Dilanian tried to comfort the MSNBC host with some of his signature punditry. "My only conclusion is that the president transmitted to Mueller that he would take the Fifth. He would never talk to him and therefore, Mueller decided it wasn't worth the subpoena fight," he expertly mused. Actually, there were several journalists who conjureв up a reason why Mueller didn't throw the book at Trump, even though the president is clearly a Putin puppet. "It's certainly possible that Trump may emerge from this better than many anticipated. However! Consensus has been that Mueller would follow DOJ rules and not indict a sitting president. I.e. it's also possible his report could be very bad for Trump, despite 'no more indictments,'" concluded Mark Follman, national affairs editor at Mother Jones, who presumably, and very sadly, was not being facetious. PARIS, March 23 -- French authorities early on Saturday deployed its military on the streets of Paris in order to assist police as the country prepares for fresh ' Yellow Vest' protests. Paris military governor, General Bruno Leray, is saying that the military can go as far as opening fire if their lives or the lives of people they defend are threatened. However, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that the soldiers would not be involved in keeping public order. Their soldiers mission is to fight against terrorism and to protect vulnerable sites, this is for police men and military police to get to the operational ground. In our country, the army is not in any way in charge of public order or law enforcement," Macron was quoted as saying. The decision to deploy the army was undertaken to curb the violence and rampages caused last week when a large group of masked protestors looted and vandalised shops and restaurants located along the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, as the ‘YellowVests’ protests entered the 18th consecutive weekend. The French police have also imposed a ban on protests across the Champs-Elysees to ensure the law and order in the French capital. In addition, French government's spokesman, Benjamin Griveaux, noted that the troops deployed under “Operation Sentinelle” -- an anti-terror operation, patrolled streets and protected airports, train stations, places of worship and other sites. During last week’s protests, the French police had put barricades around the Champs-Elysees and resorted to firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters. The anti-government protests had previously forced President Emmanuel Macron to scrap the proposed hike in fuel prices. The government introduced a string of initiatives, including increasing the minimum wage by 100 euros a month, as part of 'economic and social emergency plan' unveiled in December last year. However, the protesters have continued their agitations regardless, demanding 20 per cent hike in minimum wages, equal pay for men and women, tax reform, development of public services and just environmental reforms. DAMASCUS, March 23 -- U.S.-backed forces said they had captured Islamic State's last shred of territory in eastern Syria at Baghouz on Saturday, ending the group's self-proclaimed caliphate after years of fighting. "Baghouz has been liberated. The military victory against Daesh has been accomplished," Mustafa Bali, a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman, wrote on Twitter, declaring the "total elimination of (the) so-called caliphate". However, a Reuters journalist at Baghouz said there were still some sounds of shooting and mortar fire. The final battle lasted weeks as huge numbers of civilians poured out, and for many Kurdish fighters in the SDF, victory was sweeter as it coincided with their "Now Ruz" new year. Though the defeat of Islamic State in Baghouz ends the group's grip over the jihadist quasi-state straddling Syria and Iraq that it declared in 2014, it remains a threat. Some of its fighters still hold out in Syria's remote central desert and in Iraqi cities they have slipped into the shadows, staging sudden shootings or kidnappings and awaiting a chance to rise again. The United States believes the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is in Iraq. He stood at the pulpit of the great medieval mosque in Mosul in 2014 to declare himself caliph, sovereign over all Muslims. Further afield, jihadists in Afghanistan, Nigeria and elsewhere have shown no sign of recanting their allegiance to Islamic State, and intelligence services say its devotees in the West might plot new attacks. Still, the fall of Baghouz is a big milestone in a fight against the jihadist group waged by numerous local and global forces - some of them sworn enemies - over more than four years. It also marks a big moment in Syria's eight-year war, wiping out the territory of one of the main contestants, with the rest split between President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey-backed rebels and the Kurdish-led SDF. Assad and his Iranian allies have sworn to recapture all Syria, and Turkey has threatened to drive out the SDF, which it sees as a terrorist group, by force. The continued presence of U.S. troops in northeast Syria might avert this. Islamic State originated as an al Qaeda faction in Iraq, but it took advantage of Syria's civil war to seize land there and split from the global jihadist organisation. In 2014, it suddenly grabbed Iraq's Mosul, one of the region's great historic cities, as well as Syria's Raqqa, and swathes of land each side of the border. It declared an end to modern countries and called on supporters to leave their homes and join the jihadist utopia it claimed to be erecting, trumpeting its currency, flag, passports and military parades. Oil production, extortion and stolen antiquities financed its agenda, which included slaughtering some minorities, public slave auctions of captured women, grotesque punishments for minor crimes and the choreographed killing of hostages. Those excesses brought an array of forces against it, forcing it from Mosul and Raqqa in a year of heavy defeats in 2017 and driving it, eventually, down the Euphrates to Baghouz. Over the past two months some 60,000 people poured out of that dwindling enclave, fleeing SDF bombardment and a shortage of food so severe that some said they were reduced to cooking grass. Intense air strikes throughout the campaign have levelled entire districts and rights groups have said they killed many civilians, allegations the coalition has often disputed. A mass grave the SDF discovered last month showed there were other dangers in the enclave, though it has released no details on the identities of the victims or how they died. Civilians made up more than half the people leaving Baghouz, the SDF said, including Islamic State victims such as women from the Iraqi Yazidi sect whom the jihadists had sexually enslaved. Thousands of the group's unbending supporters also abandoned the enclave while still vowing their allegiance to a ruined caliphate and showing no remorse for its victims. At displacement camps in northeast Syria where they were sent by the SDF, the hardliners, including many foreign women who came to Syria and Iraq to marry jihadists, had to be kept away from other, often traumatized, residents. Their fate has befuddled foreign governments, who see them as a security threat and are loath to accede to SDF entreaties to take them back home. As the fighting progressed, the convoys of trucks from Baghouz started to include hundreds, and then thousands, of surrendering jihadist fighters, many hobbling from their wounds. The SDF said it captured hundreds more in recent weeks who tried to slip through its cordon and escape into Iraq or across the Euphrates and into the Syrian desert. At the end, they were besieged in a tiny camp full of rusting vehicles and makeshift shelters, pinned against the Euphrates and overlooked by hills held by the SDF. Islamic State released video from inside that squalid, shell-pounded enclave, showing its last fighters still shooting at the SDF as smoke billowed overhead. It was an attempt to shape the narrative of its defeat, portraying it as a heroic last stand against overwhelming odds and a call to arms for future jihadists. But in Baghouz in recent weeks long lines of abject, surrendering fighters sat or squatted in a desolate landscape, their dream of world domination in tatters. SHANGHAI, March 22 -- JAGUAR Land Rover has won a ‘significant’ case in the Chinese courts against a company that produced a copy of one of its models. The firm said Beijing Chaoyang District Court had decreed that the Range Rover Evoque had five unique features copied in a model called Landwind X7, built by the Jiangling Motor Corporation. The court determined that all sales, manufacturing and marketing of the Landwind vehicle must cease immediately and that Jaguar Land Rover be paid compensation. Keith Benjamin, Jaguar Land Rover’s global head of legal, said: ‘We welcome this decision of the Beijing court, which further strengthens our confidence in investing in China and in the fairness of intellectual property adjudication in the Chinese courts. ‘This ruling is a clear sign of the law being implemented appropriately to protect consumers and uphold their rights so that they are not confused or misled, whilst protecting business investment in design and innovation.’ JLR said it was the first case of its kind to support a foreign company in the car industry. The latest generation of the Range Rover Evoque was launched last November. WASHINGTON, March 22 -- US President Donald Trump’s statement Washington should recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights may destabilize the situation in the Middle East. "Such calls may considerably destabilize the already strained situation in the Middle East," he said. "In any case the idea as such by no means works for the tasks and goals of the Middle East settlement. It’s the other way round." "At the moment it’s just a call. May it remain so". Earlier, Trump tweeted that the US should recognize Israel’s full sovereignty over the Golan Heights. This plateau, which belonged to Syria since 1944 were seized by Israel during the six-day war in 1967. In 1981, the Israeli parliament passed a law to unilaterally declare sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The UN Security Council declared the annexation null and void in its Resolution 497 of December 17, 1981. MPs are expected to vote for a third time on the Brexit withdrawal deal next week, despite speaker John Bercow saying what is put forward must be substantially different to be voted on. Last night’s agreement also reduces the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit on 29 March – but the UK could still leave without a deal if Mrs May’s deal is not approved by MPs by 12 April. A petition to Revoke Article 50 has been signed by almost three million people in the two days since Theresa May made her speech. Petition organiser Margaret Anne Georgiadou wrote: “The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is ‘the will of the people’
“We need to put a stop to this claim by proving the strength of public support now for remaining in the EU. A People’s Vote may not happen – so vote now.” SHANGHAI, March 22 -- Executives of a chemical plant in China’s Jiangsu province have been taken into police custody after an explosion on Thursday killed at least 47 people and injured 640 others, 90 of them seriously. Cao Lubao, mayor of Yancheng, where the blast occurred, said on Friday that the fire had been put out and that nearly 3,000 people – employees of nearby plants and residents – had been evacuated after the explosion at the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical plant in the township of Chenjiagang. Schools and kindergartens had been closed while the authorities monitored air and water quality, Cao said. President Xi Jinping, who is visiting Italy, said no effort should be spared to rescue trapped people and treat the injured. He also demanded that all levels of government strengthen inspection procedures. Thirty-two people were in a critical condition and 58 were seriously injured. The Ministry of Emergency Management said 88 people were rescued from the scene. Early on Friday, injured people streaming into the emergency ward at Xiangshui People’s Hospital – one of the biggest in Xiangshui county, about 300km north of Shanghai. State news agency Xinhua released a video of a man calling out to his family just after he was pulled from the rubble on Thursday night. “I am out. Firefighters rescued me. I am fine, just some minor injuries,” the man said, gasping. The plant had been flattened and reduced to rubble, with only part of the workshop frame still standing. A survivor who was standing by the roadside 1½km from the factory said the impact blew him and two of his friends off their feet, sending them tumbling in the air. “The air blast hit us and sent us up in the air,” the man, surnamed Lan, told the Beijing News. “I can’t describe it. It was horrifying.” They drove themselves to hospital in a car badly damaged in the blast. “I couldn’t get through on 120 [ambulance hotline] at all,” Lan said. “We had no other means but to drive this broken car … One had an injured foot and the other had damage to his internal organs.” Workers at the Henglida Chemical Factory, 3km from the blast, said its windows and doors were blown out. Its roof collapsed as they tried to escape, causing head injuries. Residents from Yancheng and nearby cities queued past midnight to donate blood. OTTAWA, March 21 -- The bodies are piled up like cordwood, yet the Trudeau Liberals insist they have done no wrong and, please, turn the page – look at our budget, gaze at your navel, anything, but stop looking at LavScam. If the Liberals have done no wrong, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists beyond credence, then how is the body count explained? It’s a veritable massacre. Justice Minister and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, fired and then resigned. Treasury Board President Jane Philpott, resigned. Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, resigned. Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s principal secretary and fast friend, resigned. How many is that? Four bodies for doing nothing wrong? And they are not just any bodies. These are front-line casualties, two top-ranking cabinet ministers. And Wernick is the chief bureaucrat in all the land, the boss of all bosses in the federal civil service. And, Butts, of course, was Trudeau’s puppet master, the brains in the PMO, his best friend since their days at McGill University, and the man everyone outside the hearing range of Trudeau referred to as PM Butts. They all had gold seats at the power table. Anyone who had the misfortune to tune in to their favourite news channel saw the House of Commons become a circus Tuesday as the screams and insults from Opposition MPs drowned out Finance Minister Bill Morneau as he attempted, in vain, to read his last budget before October’s election. So, he literally “tabled” it, set the physical copy on his desk, lifted the embargo, and left the Commons to conduct post-budget interviews out of range. The outraged Opposition had every right to be ranting and raving, of course, not so much because the budget stunk but because the Liberal puppets who had majority control on the emergency justice committee used that power to permanently shut down the probe into the LavScam scandal. There was nothing more to see, they claimed. It was time to move on, they said in unison, as journalists covering the fiasco looked behind the curtains to see if Gerald Butts was still directing the show from his hidey-hole. On Wednesday, the Conservatives under Andrew Scheer moved it up a notch, writing a letter to the chair of the Commons’ ethics committee – yes, another committee – to hold a televised hearing Thursday to “examine developments in the accusations against the Prime Minister and his closest political allies that they conspired to stop the criminal trial of a company accused of bribery.” That company, of course, is Quebec-based SNC-Lavalin – hence LavScam – which had the Trudeau inner circle twisting itself in knots trying to get Wilson-Raybould to convince federal prosecutors to pass on a criminal trial, and give SNC-Lavalin a sweetheart plea agreement that could see it heavily fined but escaping the hardball of criminal court. Wilson-Raybould refused, she got turfed and demoted, and then quit cabinet. The result was LavScam. Butts rolled his own head out the door as the required sacrificial lamb. Philpott quit cabinet in principle, and in solidarity with Wilson-Raybould, and Wernick submitted his pink slip as the boss of bosses. And then there was the sudden slap to Trudeau’s face Wednesday when Whitby, Ont. MP Celina Caesar-Chavanne, who has accused the PM of hostile treatment, and who had verbally backed Wilson-Raybould and Philpott, packed her bags in the Liberal caucus and left to sit as an Independent. So, there’s the fifth body. Yet nothing wrong allegedly happened, despite political blood flying every which-way and the first probe shut down by the Liberal bobbleheads who controlled the so-called “emergency justice committee.” The Liberals must think Canadians are suckers. They’re playing us as fools. MOSCOW, March 21 -- Two Russian jets Sukhoi-27 have forced a US B-52 bomber to move away from the Russian border, the Defense Ministry told the media on Thursday. The B-52 was flying over international waters of the Baltic Sea. Russia’s air space control means identified it far away from the border and put it under observation. Two Sukhoi-27 jets of the air defense force were ordered to identify and escort the aircraft. After the strategic bomber B-52H changed course to move away from the Russian state border the jets returned to base, the Defense Ministry’s statement says. The Defense Ministry has uploaded a video of the incident to its Facebook page. "Trudeau’s fake feminism exposed yet again" OTTAWA, March 21 -- Caesar-Chavannes had challenged Justin Trudeau on Twitter, calling him out after he tried to claim he was about “listening.” ‘“I believe real leadership is about listening, learning & compassion…central to my leadership is fostering an environment where my Ministers, caucus & staff feel comfortable coming to me when they have concerns” I did come to you recently. Twice. Remember your reactions?” She letter said that Justin Trudeau yelled at her and said she didn’t “appreciate him.” After the PMO denied the account, Caesar-Chavannes’ husband backed her up, saying that the yelling was so loud that he could hear it through the phone while his Celina and Justin were talking. The MP for Whitby will now sit as an independent MP. She has previously confirmed that she won’t be seeking re-election. As we see yet again, Justin Trudeau does everything he can to help out his corrupt buddies, while screaming and yelling at women who disagree with him. |
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