Pete McGee BANGKOK, July 22 -- The section of the Yom River that runs through the Sam Ngam district has run dry following months without rain, local officials said. The river has been reduced into a narrow and shallow waterway in the middle with sand dunes clearly visible along both banks. The remaining water is so shallow that the locals can walk across. Sam Ngam is located in the upper part of the province in an area that has suffered from drought for several months.
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Linda Lim TAIPEI, July 22 -- Taiwan's foreign minister on Monday (July 22) called for "genuine" democratic elections to be held in Hong Kong after the city was rocked by fresh political violence, comments that will likely infuriate Beijing. Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history by weeks of marches and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters. The initial protests were lit by a now-suspended Bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. But they have since evolved into a wider movement calling for democratic reforms, universal suffrage and a halt to sliding freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters on Sunday night, the seventh weekend in a row that the city has witnessed political violence. Separately masked men wielding sticks beat up anti-government protesters at a subway station, putting dozens in hospital. In a tweet on Monday, Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu said it was time for the city's leaders to grant universal suffrage, a core demand of protesters. "It's sad to see the rule of law eroding and the divide between the people and the government widening in Hong Kong," Wu said as he accompanied President Tsai Ing-wen in a stopover in Denver on their way back from a visit to diplomatic allies in the Caribbean. "The way forward is genuine democratic elections, not violence in the streets & MTR stations. The freedom and human rights of the people must be protected!" he added. Lora Smith MIAMI, July 22 -- American crocodiles, once headed toward extinction, are thriving at an unusual spot — the canals surrounding a South Florida nuclear plant. Last week, 73 crocodile hatchlings were rescued by a team of specialists at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant and dozens more are expected to emerge soon. Turkey Point’s 168-mile (270 kilometers) of man-made canals serve as the home to several hundred crocodiles, where a team of specialists working for FPL monitors and protects them from hunting and climate change. From January to April, Michael Lloret, an FPL wildlife biologist and crocodile specialist, helps create nests and ponds on berms for crocodiles to nest. Once the hatchlings are reared and left by the mother, the team captures them. They are measured and tagged with microchips to observe their development. Lloret then relocates them to increase survival rates. “We entice crocodiles to come in to the habitats FPL created,” Lloret said. “We clear greenery on the berms so that the crocodiles can nest. Because of rising sea levels wasting nests along the coasts, Turkey Point is important for crocodiles to continue.” The canals are one of three major US habitats for crocodiles, where 25% of the 2,000 American crocodiles live. The FPL team has been credited for moving the classification of crocodiles on the Endangered Species Act to “threatened” from “endangered” in 2007. The team has tagged 7,000 babies since it was established in 1978. Temperature determines the crocodiles’ sex: the hotter it is the more likely males are hatched. Lloret said this year’s hatchlings are male-heavy due to last month being the hottest June on record globally. Because hatchlings released are at the bottom of the food chain, only a small fraction survives to be adults. Lloret said they at least have a fighting chance at Turkey Point, away from humans who hunted them to near-extinction out of greed and fear even though attacks are rare. Only one crocodile attack has ever been recorded in the U.S. - a couple were both bitten while swimming in a South Florida canal in 2014, but both survived. “American crocodiles have a bad reputation when they are just trying to survive,” Lloret said. “They are shy and want nothing to do with us. Humans are too big to be on their menu.” Linda Lim PHNOM PENH, July 22 -- China will be able to place armed forces at a Cambodian naval base under a secret agreement the two nations have reached, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, although Cambodian officials denied such a deal had been struck. The agreement, reached this spring but not made public, gives China exclusive access to part of Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand, the Journal reported, citing US and allied officials familiar with the matter. Such an arrangement would give China an enhanced ability to assert contested territorial claims and economic interests in the South China Sea, challenging US allies in Southeast Asia. Chinese and Cambodian officials denied such an agreement existed. Earlier this month, the US Defence Department suggested China may be attempting to gain a military foothold in Cambodia. China will be able to place armed forces at a Cambodian naval base under a secret agreement the two nations have reached, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, although Cambodian officials denied such a deal had been struck. The agreement, reached this spring but not made public, gives China exclusive access to part of Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand, the Journal reported, citing US and allied officials familiar with the matter. Such an arrangement would give China an enhanced ability to assert contested territorial claims and economic interests in the South China Sea, challenging US allies in Southeast Asia. Chinese and Cambodian officials denied such an agreement existed, according to the Journal. “This is the worst ever made up news against Cambodia,” Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told the pro-government news site Fresh News on Monday. “No such thing could happen because hosting foreign military bases is against the Cambodian constitution.” At least 45 injured as rod-wielding mob dressed in white rampages through Yuen Long MTR station22/7/2019 Linda Lim HONG KONG, July 22 -- At least 45 people were injured in unprecedented late-night violence at a Hong Kong railway station on Sunday, as a rampaging mob of men in white T-shirts attacked black-clad protesters and passengers indiscriminately. No police officer was in sight as dozens of men, who witnesses suggested were triad gangsters, stormed into Yuen Long MTR station at around midnight by forcing open closed entrances. They hurled objects at protesters and travellers alike, and assaulted members of the public, including journalists. Some people protected themselves with umbrellas, while others tried to fight back by hurling helmets at them. By the time riot police arrived, local residents were furious and accused them of deliberately letting the assailants run wild. By 2.30am, at least 45 people had been sent to one of three nearby hospitals or had sought treatment there themselves, according to the Hospital Authority. Trains had been bypassing the station since 11pm because of a previous rampage by the same or similar mob of men in white T-shirts attacking protesters returning from another anti-government mass march opposing the now-suspended extradition bill in the heart of the city’s financial district. While protesters in Wan Chai, Central and Sheung Wan were facing off with riot police, at around 10.30pm, the attackers ran onto trains, using rods to attack passengers and chase after anyone wearing black, witnesses said. The government condemned the attacks in statement released after midnight. The statement said: “In Yuen Long, some people congregated at the platforms of the MTR station and train compartments, attacking commuters. It led to confrontations and injuries.” It continued: “This is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law. The [government] strongly condemns any violence and will seriously take enforcement actions. Lora Smith LONDON, July 21 -- British Finance Minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday he would make a point of resigning before Mr Boris Johnson became prime minister, saying he could never agree to his Brexit strategy. Mr Johnson is widely expected to win the governing, centre-right Conservative Party's leadership contest on Tuesday and be named as prime minister once Mrs Theresa May resigns the premiership on Wednesday. Mr Hammond has become an increasingly fierce critic of Mr Johnson's Brexit strategy - leaving the European Union with or without a deal on Oct 31 - and would never have expected to remain as chancellor of the Exchequer in a Johnson government. But the fact that the second-most senior figure in the government is making a point of resigning rather than wait to be moved on in the incoming prime minister's reshuffle is a significant gesture - and an indicator of the opposition Mr Johnson could face in pursuing his Brexit strategy. "I'm sure I'm not going to be sacked because I'm going to resign before we get to that point," Mr Hammond told BBC television. "Assuming that Boris Johnson becomes the next prime minister, I understand that his conditions for serving in his government would include accepting a no-deal exit on the 31st of October. "That is not something that I could ever sign up to. "It's very important that the prime minister is able to have a chancellor who is closely aligned with him in terms of policy, and I therefore intend to resign to Theresa May before she goes to the palace to tender her own resignation on Wednesday." Mrs May will head to Buckingham Palace in London on Wednesday to see Queen Elizabeth II, the head of state, and relinquish her office. Mr Johnson's rival for the premiership is Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has said that Britain should prepare for a no-deal Brexit if a deal seems unlikely by the end of September. Mr Hunt would be prepared to delay Britain's departure date if a deal seemed within reach, but is also prepared to take Britain out of the EU without a divorce deal. Mr Hunt has not said who he wants running the Treasury should he win the leadership contest. Lora Smith NEW YORK, July 21 -- Investigators found an expired Austrian passport with Epstein’s picture and a different name. Therefor Jeffrey Epstein will remain behind bars after a judge denied the accused child sex trafficker’s request for bail. US district judge Richard Berman on Thursday turned aside Epstein’s bid to be confined in his Manhattan mansion, where he had offered to pay for armed guards and wear an ankle bracelet tracking his location. Tens of thousands in Hong Kong kick off third major Protest march against Extradition bill21/7/2019 Linda Lim HONG KONG, July 21 -- Tens of thousands of protesters in Hong Kong took to the streets again on Sunday in a third massive march against the now-suspended extradition bill and the city’s embattled government, amid tightened security measures by police over fears of escalating violence. The march kicked off at about 3.30pm at Victoria Park and will end at Southorn Playground in Wan Chai instead of its original destination at the Court of Final Appeal in Central. Organiser Civil Human Rights Front had lost its appeal a day earlier against police, who want to shorten the route out of security concerns. The front held two massive peaceful marches on June 9 and 16, drawing an estimated 1 million and 2 million people respectively. The theme of Sunday’s march centred on demands made by protesters, among which is the setting up of an independent commission of inquiry over police actions involving what is perceived as excessive use of force on protesters. Over the past weeks, protesters and police have clashed in running battles after marches, resulting in casualties and arrests. Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, on Sunday slammed police’s crowd control measures as “ridiculous”. “There is no clear guidance from police on how to leave Wan Chai after the march, except to say we should leave from the south side of Wan Chai. But there are big crowds in the same area heading to the book fair, as well as people everywhere in Causeway Bay and Admiralty. “If there are any disturbances or accidents today, the responsibility lies squarely with police,” Sham said. If there are any disturbances or accidents today, the responsibility lies squarely with policeJimmy Sham, march organiser He added that escalating violence which culminated in last Sunday’s bloody clashes in Sha Tin were a result of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s failure to resolve the problem. “The front will continue to ensure the safety of our march participants. But the buck stops with Lam for all the violence and clashes,” Sham said. Among rally-goers under Sunday’s searing heat was housewife Wendy Wong, 57, who said she had joined almost every extradition bill protest since late April. Wong called on the government to solve the city’s political crisis immediately to prevent further violence. “Those who resort to violence are just a small number of protesters, who feel hopeless over the government’s lack of response,” Wong said, adding that conflicts between police and protesters were a result of the government’s intransigence. Police said their decision to shorten the route, the first time for a protest since 2014, was needed for public safety as they noted there were online posts advocating the use of weapons and deviating from the approved roads. The shorter route prevents protesters from passing police headquarters in Wan Chai, as well as the government headquarters and legislature in Admiralty, which have been barricaded by 2-metre water barriers to avoid a repeat of sieges and storming in the past month. Hong Kong has been rocked by protests and increasingly bloody clashes over the extradition bill, which would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions with which the city has no such arrangement. Lora Smith MOSCOW, July 21 -- More than 22,000 people packed a Moscow square Saturday to demand free and fair local polls, incensed by the authorities' refusal to put popular opposition candidates on the ballot. Staging their largest protest in years, opposition leaders such as President Vladimir Putin's top opponent Alexei Navalny and ordinary Muscovites rallied after authorities refused to register independent candidates seeking to contest the September vote for the capital's parliament. "This is my city!" the crowd chanted during the two-hour-long sanctioned rally."We will show them this is a dangerous game," Navalny bellowed from a stage. "We should fight for our candidates," he said as the huge crowd cheered and waved Russian flags. The 43-year-old threatened an even bigger rally next Saturday, near the mayor's office, unless Moscow's authorities register a new crop of popular politicians including Ilya Yashin and Lyubov Sobol within seven days. After the rally, 16 independent candidates issued a joint statement demanding access to the ballot and accusing Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin of sparking a "political crisis" in the city of some 15 million. Speaking at the rally, Navalny ally Sobol, who has been on a hunger strike for a week to protest the authorities' refusal to allow her to run, vowed to keep up the fight. "I am sure that we will win," said the visibly fatigued 31-year-old lawyer, propped up by an ally on stage. Many ordinary Russians have slammed what they called the blatant impunity of officials, saying people's patience was running thin. "We are angry at the lawlessness," Alexander Polovinkin, a 21-year-old student. Police detained a handful of protesters, said the OVD-Info monitor, adding one of them had his arm broken.Many protesters took direct aim at the 66-year-old Putin, who has brooked no dissent during his two decades in power. "Putin lies," said one placard. "Stop lying to us," read another one. Opposition candidate Ilya Yashin, who is a local councillor, said Putin must go. "I've lived half my life under Putin. I've had enough," the 36-year-old said. Fellow opposition contender Dmitry Gudkov, who was also disqualified, accused the authorities of stealing not only people's votes but their very future. "We've been living in an occupied country for the past 20 years," he said. White Counter, an NGO that tracks participation in protest rallies, said about 22,500 people took part in Saturday's rally. Navalny said it was the largest rally since 2012 when tens of thousands protested election fraud during parliamentary polls. Police, which downplay turnout at opposition rallies, said 12,000 turned up. Observers said that never before have Muscovites turned up in such great numbers to demand access for their candidates in local elections. Opposition politicians fought tooth and nail to get on the ballot paper as they seek to capitalise on Putin's falling approval ratings and anger over declining living standards and unchecked corruption. They were made to jump through countless hoops, and each had to collect roughly 5,000 signatures to be eligible. Electoral authorities this week still refused to register the opposition candidates, accusing them of faking some of the signatures. Critics said some of the officials' reasoning bordered on the absurd. The Kremlin dismissed the opposition's complaints, but many Russians are furious at what they perceive as electoral interference. The opposition candidates staged smaller daily rallies throughout the week. Many have also taken to social media in recent days to post messages or videos to prove they were not "dead souls." At Saturday's rally, some protesters waved their passports in the air, chanting "We have come!" Greg Yudin, a lecturer at the Higher School of Economics, said he and many other Muscovites discovered that their signatures were declared fake. "All of us are ghosts. We are the nobodies," he said on Facebook this week. Observer Kirill Rogov said the candidates' exclusion was "one of the largest frauds in Russia's electoral history". "We are witnessing a major large-scale crime," he wrote on his blog. Some 7.2 million Muscovites are eligible to elect 45 lawmakers to the local parliament, currently dominated by the United Russia ruling party. Lora Smith MONTPELLIER, July 21 -- About 600 yellow vests demonstrated in the center of Montpellier this Saturday afternoon. During clashes with protesters, three police officers were injured. Black blocs have committed degradations, especially at the level of the place of Europe. In their parade marking act 36 of the movement, the yellow vests again expressed their dissatisfaction with the government's policy with a sign "It's going to fart". The atmosphere of the procession, in which black blocks have interfered, has stretched to the level of the sector Antigone. During the clashes between protesters and police, three police officers, including two CRS, were injured. One person was arrested Lora Smith MOSCOW, July 19 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed concern over the confrontation between the United States and Iran. He said this to US director Oliver Stone in an interview published on the official Kremlin website on Friday. "This worries us because this is happening near our borders. This may destabilize the situation around Iran, affect some countries with which we have very close relations, causing additional refugee flows on a large scale plus substantially damage the world economy as well as the global energy sector," Putin said. "We would welcome any improvement when it comes to relations between the US and Iran. A simple escalation of tension will not be advantageous for anyone. It seems to me that this is also the case with the US," he added. The United States withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal on 8 May 2018 and imposed economic sanctions on Tehran's oil exports. One year later, on 8 May 2019, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced Iran's suspension of some commitments in the framework of the nuclear deal and gave other participants in the deal two months to return to its implementation. The situation around Iran further deteriorated after the June 13 incident in the Strait of Hormuz when two tankers caught fire after presumable attacks. The United States placed responsibility for the incident on Iran. The United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia supported these accusations. Teheran rejects these allegations. Linda Lim LONDON, July 20 -- Britain said Iran seized two oil tankers in the Gulf on Friday and told Teheran to return the vessels or face consequences in the latest confrontation to ratchet up tension along a vital international oil shipping route. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had captured the British-flagged Stena Impero, announcing the move two weeks after the British navy seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said the second vessel, the British-operated Mesdar, had not been seized. It said the ship had been allowed to continue its course after being given a warning over safety and environmental issues. The Stena Impero and Mesdar changed direction sharply within 40 minutes of each other shortly after entering the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, taking up a course towards Iran, Refinitiv tracking data showed. The data later showed Mesdar changing direction again, heading westward back into the Gulf. "These seizures are unacceptable. It is essential that freedom of navigation is maintained and that all ships can move safely and freely in the region," British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said. Hunt later said, in comments reported by Sky News, that there would be consequences if Iran did not return control of the ships, but said Britain was not considering military options. US President Donald Trump said he would talk to Britain about the issue, speaking after a war of words earlier on Friday about whether the United States had shot down an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz. Already strained relations between Iran and the West have become increasingly fraught since the British navy seized Iran's Grace 1 tanker in Gibraltar on July 4 on suspicion of smuggling oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions. Oil prices gained on Friday after the latest spike in tensions along the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil supplies pass. MARITIME RULES Iran's Guards, an elite force under the command of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said they seized the Stena Impero at the request of Iranian authorities for "not following international maritime regulations", state television reported. Northern Marine Management, which is owned by Stena AB, confirmed the Stena Impero was heading towards Iran. Norbulk, the manager of the tanker Mesdar, said the vessel had been boarded by armed personnel but was later allowed to continue its voyage. Pete McGee BANGKOK, July 20 -- Thai Vietjet will play host to the THAIPA Airline Pilot League 2019, an annual football league for Thai pilots from airlines in Thailand. The Thai Vietjet representative and Captain Sanong Mingcharoen, Leader of the Thai Pilots Association, held a media conference at The Grand Fourwings Convention Hotel. “Vietjet is delighted and honoured to support the activity for aviation people in Thailand, which shows our lively spirit to contribute to the community,” the Thai Vietjet representative said. He said the league will be held on August 20 at Grand Soccer Pro fields on Kaset Nawamin Road from 8am to 6pm. Twenty teams from 12 airlines and aviation institutes in Thailand are taking part this year. THAIPA Airline Pilot League aims to create and strengthen relations among Thai pilots, and harmonise the pilots association with related organisations. The league kicked off in 2014, with different airlines taking turns to host the annual event. Linda Lim The Daini complex was also hit by tsunami waves in the 2011 disaster and temporarily lost reactor cooling functions. But unlike the Daiichi plant, it escaped meltdowns. Since the disaster, the decommissioning in Japan of 21 nuclear reactors, including those at Daini, has been decided. For the Tokyo-headquartered power company, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture will be its only nuclear complex. In June last year, TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa told the governor that the company is leaning toward scrapping all four reactors at the Daini plant. A project team was later formed at the utility and looked into whether that is possible, according to the source. The prefecture has demanded the utility scrap the reactors, saying their existence would hamper its reconstruction efforts.
Lora Smith PAU, July 19 -- There is nothing bigger for male riders than victory at the Tour de France. It's the pinnacle of cycling. But there is no such prize for female riders. Despite calls from cycling's governing body UCI for the creation of a women's Tour, organizers of cycling's marquee race have yet to come up with plans for an equivalent. All they offer in July is a one day-race, La Course, that was held on the margins of the Tour de France on Friday in Pau and won by Dutch rider Marianne Vos. Fresh from winning four stages at the 10-day Giro Rosa in Italy, Vos added another trophy to her large collection in the southwestern city of Pau, but victory in France did not taste the same. "It was an incredible feeling to win four stages at the Giro, at the highest level," said Vos, a three-time world champion. "Here at La Course, it was really nice to show this form." Tour organizers ASO have been holding the event since 2014 and say it's not possible for them to operate a longer race, for logistical and security reasons. "We are not capable of organizing another event during the Tour," Tour director Christian Prudhomme told The Associated Press. "About 29,000 police forces are mobilized for three weeks. France has been struck by attacks, there were the yellow vests (protesters). It's impossible to have even just one extra security staff during the Tour." |
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