As Khanun forms, China warns of third typhoon in three weeks
BEIJING: Chinese forecasters on Saturday (Jul 29) warned of the approach of Tropical Storm Khanun, which is expected to rapidly gain typhoon strength and strike China’s densely populated coast sometime next week. Khanun, now more than 1,000km east of the Philippine archipelago in the Pacific, may make landfall in China’sContinue Reading
At least 9 killed in Thai fireworks warehouse blast
BANGKOK: A powerful explosion ripped through a fireworks warehouse on Saturday (Jul 29) in southern Thailand, killing nine people and injuring more than 100, a senior official said, as several nearby homes were levelled or damaged. The blast in the town of Sungai Kolok in the border province of Narathiwat isContinue Reading
Nine killed in Thai firework warehouse blast
BANGKOK: An explosion ripped through a firework warehouse in Thailand on Saturday (Jul 29), killing nine people and injuring more than 100, a senior official told AFP. The blast in the town of Sungai Kolok in the southern province of Narathiwat is thought to have been caused by welding duringContinue Reading
Nine killed in Thailand fireworks warehouse explosion
Thai Armed ForcesAt least nine people have been killed and more than 115 injured after a blast at a fireworks warehouse in a market in southern Thailand on Saturday.
The blast in Sungai Kolok, on the Malaysian border, at around 15:00 local time (09:00 BST) is thought to have been caused by construction work.
The market fire is now under control, the local governor told AFP.
A preliminary investigation indicates a “technical error” during steel welding was responsible, Sanon Pongaksorn said.
Footage published in local media showed a large smoke plume rising from the market, with many shops, homes and vehicles badly damaged by the force of the explosion – including several on fire or with their rooves ripped off.
Seksan Taesen, an eyewitness who lives 100m (330 ft) from the market, said he was at home when he heard a “loud, thunderous noise and my whole house shook”.
“Then I saw my roof was wide open. I looked outside and I saw house collapsing and people lying on the ground everywhere. It was chaos”, he told AFP.
Thailand’s construction industry has a poor safety record and deadly accidents are commonplace.
Last month two people died after a road bridge collapsed onto traffic during construction in the capital Bangkok.
9 killed in fireworks explosion in Narathiwat
More than 130 people injured, extensive damage to shops and houses in border town
PUBLISHED : 29 Jul 2023 at 19:03
At least nine people were killed and more than 130 seriously injured when fireworks exploded at a godown in Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat on Saturday afternoon.
The incident took place at around 3pm at the godown of the Weerawat Panit shop in the Muno market in the district near the Malaysian border. The explosion caused extensive damage to the godown, the market and as many as 150 houses in the area, according to reports from the scene.
The explosion initially claimed four lives and injured 90 others, but as the full extent of the damage became known, the number of dead and injured began to rise.
Local media reported that an unknown number of people were trapped inside their houses and rescue workers were trying to help get them out.
Anirut Bua-on, the chief of Sungai Kolok district, coordinated with all tambons to send fire trucks and rescue teams to the scene.
The force of the blast badly damaged the Muno market, a hub for cross-border product trade in Sungai Kolok district.
Narathiwat governor Sanan Phong-aksorn later said nine people were killed, with 113 reported to be badly injured. Subsequent reports raised the number of injured to at least 130.
The cause of the explosion was being investigated.
The incident occurred just days after an explosion at a fireworks factory in Doi Saket district of Chiang Mai, where eight people were injured.
The provincial governor subsequently ordered inspections at all fireworks factories in the northern province to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.
Rescue workers and local residents survey damage following a fireworks explosion at a godown in Sungai Kolok (Photo: Radio Thailand Sungai Kolok Facebook)
Thailand-bound Chinese activist nabbed in Laos
Lawyer Lu Siwei was attempting to reach Bangkok to board flight to US to rejoin family
PUBLISHED : 29 Jul 2023 at 18:34
BEIJING: A Chinese human rights lawyer has been arrested in Laos while en route to Thailand, and activists and family members fear he could be deported back to China and face prison time.
Lao police seized Lu Siwei on Friday morning while he was boarding a train for Thailand. He was reportedly on his way to Bangkok to catch a flight to the United States to join his wife and daughter, The Associated Press reported.
“I’m extremely worried for his safety,” said his wife, Zhang Chunxiao, in a text message seen by the news agency. “If he’s sent back to China, he’d definitely be imprisoned.”
The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lu had a history of taking on sensitive cases and defending people deemed to be political targets by Chinese authorities.
In 2021 he and a colleague were stripped of their licences, reportedly because they were representing the “Hong Kong 12”, a group of activists who attempted to flee the territory after China imposed a sweeping national security law.
Some of them were already facing prosecution for alleged crimes linked to the huge and often violent pro-democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019.
Lu was barred later in 2021 from leaving China for a visiting fellowship in the United States. His wife and daughter both resettled in the United States last year.
Bob Fu, founder of the Texas-based religious rights group ChinaAid, said he was contacted by Lu’s family two weeks ago to assist in his escape from China. ChinaAid earlier this year helped to get more than 60 Chinese Christians resettled in Texas after they were detained in Pattaya for overstaying their visas.
Lu’s arrest on Lao soil reflects how Beijing pursues critics abroad, Fu said, part of a broader clampdown that has instilled fear in Chinese dissents.
Lu was being accompanied by two activists working with ChinaAid when he was arrested. Police also grabbed one of the activists and confiscated his passport briefly before returning it.
Dissidents on the run from the Chinese state have reported harassment elsewhere in Southeast Asia, including the family of one detained by Thai police after bomb threats were called in under their name.
Beijing on alert as Typhoon Doksuri sweeps northwards
BEIJING: A swathe of northern China, including the capital Beijing, was put under alert on Saturday (Jul 29) as Typhoon Doksuri swept inland, bringing high winds and torrential rain. Doksuri, which smashed into Fujian province on Friday morning with gusts of up to 175kph, is already being felt further north, accordingContinue Reading
Three Bali immigration officers arrested over Cambodia organ trafficking ring
JAKARTA: Three Bali immigration officers have been arrested for their alleged role in an illegal organ trafficking syndicate that ferried dozens of victims to Cambodia to sell their kidneys, Indonesian police said on Saturday (Jul 29). The move comes as authorities crack down on the suspected illegal organ trade ring,Continue Reading
Senegalese swimmer missing in Phuket
PUBLISHED : 29 Jul 2023 at 17:49
PHUKET: A search was continuing on Saturday for a 22-year-old Senegalese man who went missing after going swimming at Freedom beach on Friday.
Forty-five searchers from Karon municipality and other agencies were taking part in the operation on Saturday. They also expanded the search area to Patong beach to the north and Karon beach about two kilometres south of Freedom beach on the west coast of the tourist island.
The tourist, identified as Cheikhonuna Ba, 22, was last seen swimming at Freedom beach at around 11am on Friday, said a spokesman at the Royal Thai Navy Third Army operation centre.
Navy officers were dispatched to join lifeguards to search for the man on Friday, when strong wind and waves obstructed the operation.
Singapore can have âbest of three worldsâ if I become President, says Ng Kok Song
SINGAPORE: If Singaporeans choose him to be the next President, the country can have “the best of three worlds”, said presidential hopeful Ng Kok Song on Saturday (Jul 29) as he gave some personal reflections on the elected presidency.
Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the Asia Cat Expo 2023, Mr Ng said that if he is elected President, former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam can return to the government to serve Singapore as he has done for the last 22 years.
Meanwhile, Mr George Goh – the third potential presidential candidate and founder of retailer Harvey Norman Ossia – can go back to “building his business to support the government’s efforts to grow our economy”, Mr Ng said.
“I think that would be a very good thing because as you know, our government is going through a difficult time. So we need very good and capable people to come back or to go back to serve our country,” he added.
“I will be so honoured to be able to serve the people of Singapore one more time.”
Mr Ng also laid out two other scenarios where either Mr Tharman, 66, or Mr Goh, 63, become Singapore’s President.
He noted that all three potential candidates have explained what they would do if they are elected president, but have not shared what they would do when the election is over.
If he does not get elected as President, Mr Ng, 75, said he will go back to his asset management company Avanda Investment Management, which he co-founded in mid-2015.
He started out as an investment analyst at the Ministry of Finance’s overseas investment department before moving on to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, before finally ending his 45 years in public service as the chief investment officer of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
“I will go back and grow my company … so that Avanda can become a homegrown Singaporean investment management company that Singaporeans can be proud of and which will contribute to the further development of Singapore as a financial centre,” he told the media.
Mr Ng was at the Asia Cat Expo 2023 event with his fiancee Sybil Lau, where they interacted with stall owners and members of the public as well as some pet cats.
The couple own an 18-month-old British shorthair cat named Max and a Japanese Spitz dog named Cotton.