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  • Families bid farewell as Thai massacre victims are cremated

    Families bid farewell as Thai massacre victims are cremated

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    UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand — Hundreds of mourners and victims’ families gathered Tuesday evening to watch flames burn from rows of makeshift pyres at cremation ceremonies for the young children and others who died in last week’s mass killings at a day care center in Thailand’s rural northeast.

    Families bid their final goodbyes at a Buddhist temple a short distance from the Young Children’s Development Center in the town of Uthai Sawan, where a former policeman, who was fired from his job earlier this year for using drugs, barged in last Thursday and shot and stabbed children and their caregivers.

    The police sergeant, Panya Kamrap, ended up killing 36 people, 24 of them children, in the small farming community before taking his own life. It was the biggest mass killing by an individual in Thailand’s history.

    Joint ceremonies for most of the victims were held at three temples to spare families from having to wait long hours for successive cremations to be completed, said Phra Kru Adisal Kijjanuwat, the abbot of the Rat Samakee temple.

    A ceremony for 19 of the dead, 18 of them children, was held at his temple. With a large crowd watching, monks slowly walked out of the temple hall, followed by grieving relatives. Each family was led by one monk, with police bearing the coffin behind them.

    After the coffins were placed in each of the small, brick-enclosed funeral pyres, the victims’ relatives came forward in the darkening skies to put portraits of their loved ones on top. Some family members also placed children’s toys alongside.

    A large mesh barrier was set up, separating onlookers from the relatives, monks and royal palace officials tasked with lighting the fires, who began putting paper flowers along the sides of the pyres and dousing them with gasoline. The officials then ushered the family members to take the portraits and toys away, and move several meters (yards) from the coffins where they knelt on mats.

    Buddhist chants played from a speaker system set up behind the relatives, as the officials and monks began lighting the pyres one by one. The coffins were soon engulfed by flames, at times stoked by the officials adding more gasoline. The victims’ relatives sat silently by, hands clasped in prayer.

    “Each one of them watched the cremation with their minds in a state of conscious awareness,” said the abbot. “The support they received from people all around has blessed them, lessened the sorrow they have.”

    On Tuesday morning, many of the young victims’ bodies had been outfitted as doctors, soldiers or astronauts — what they wanted to be when they grew up — before their evening cremation.

    “The more we talked (to the families), we realized that these children also had dreams of becoming doctors, soldiers, astronauts, or police officers,” said volunteer rescue worker Attarith Muangmangkang, whose organization arranged for the costumes.

    Petchrung Sriphirom, 73, was one of many local residents who traveled to the temple to offer condolences to the families and make a small donation to help with funeral costs, which is a common Thai custom.

    “I just want to help our friends and share our thoughts with them,” said Petchrung. “We are not talking about money or anything but rather sharing our thoughts and feelings as a fellow human being,”

    The perpetrator’s body was cremated Saturday in a neighboring province after temples in Uthai Sawan refused to host his funeral, Thai media reported.

    Mass shootings are rare but not unheard of in Thailand, which has one of the highest civilian gun ownership rates in Asia, with 15.1 weapons per 100 people compared to only 0.3 in Singapore and 0.25 in Japan. That’s still far lower than the U.S. rate of 120.5 per 100 people, according to a 2017 survey by Australia’s GunPolicy.org nonprofit organization.

    Thailand’s previous worst mass killing involved a disgruntled soldier who opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020, killing 29 people and holding off security forces for some 16 hours before eventually being killed by them.

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  • Strong Dollar Is ‘Wrecking’ Asia’s 2023 Hopes, Too

    Strong Dollar Is ‘Wrecking’ Asia’s 2023 Hopes, Too

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    When lexicographers make lists of the top phrases of 2022, the “wrecking ball” moniker economists attached to the dollar is sure to rank prominently.

    A dominant theme of the first 10-plus months of the year is how the surging U.S. currency is upending Asia’s trajectory. While that’s true of emerging markets everywhere, trade-reliant Asia is uniquely at risk. This region also has the biggest stockpiles of U.S. Treasury securities, raising the stakes.

    Episodes of extreme dollar strength tend to end badly for Asia. The most obvious episode was the region’s 1997-1998 financial crisis. The crash was precipitated by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive 1994-1995 tightening cycle.

    At the time, the dollar’s rally acted like a ginormous magnet for capital from all corners of the globe. It morphed the global economy into a zero-sum game, with dollar assets enjoying the ultimate fear-of-missing-out trade.

    That left Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and others starved for capital, and desperately so. Over time, currency pegs to the dollar became impossible to defend. Currency strains also pushed Malaysia and the Philippines to the brink.

    The worry is that this dynamic is unfolding again. And at a moment when China is stumbling—unlike in the late 1990s.

    Back then, the thing that panicked officials at both the U.S. Treasury Department and International Monetary Fund the most was China weakening the yuan. That would’ve surely kicked off a new round of competitive devaluations and added fresh fuel to the fire.

    Today, China is spooking global markets for a very different reason. It isn’t manipulating its currency, so much as investors are voting with their feet and leaving as Asia’s biggest economy weakens.

    Making things worse, its troubles are largely self-inflicted. Along with the draconian “zero-Covid” Beijing just can’t quit, the regulatory crackdown on Big Tech is working at cross purposes with President Xi Jinping’s pledges to modernize China Inc.

    The strong dollar is luring capital away from China at the worst possible moment for Xi’s government. This dynamic is hitting mainland stock bourses and boosting bond yields. The yuan’s nearly 13% drop this year makes it harder for mainland companies to may dollar-denominated debt payments, increasing default risks.

    With commodity prices surging, Asia is increasingly engaging in a “reverse currency war.” The region spent the last 30 years weakening exchange rates to boost exports. Now, the Fed’s rate hikes have officials from Beijing to Jakarta struggling to support currencies.

    “The dollar’s advance has run out of steam, but that doesn’t mean it is over,” says analyst Edward Moya at OANDA.

    Trouble is, the zero-sum dynamic is back. The skyrocketing dollar is now posing challenges to advanced and emerging economies alike.

    “We appear to be entering the third dollar boom period in the past 50 years,” says Paul Gruenwald, global chief economist at S&P Global Ratings. “There is no easy solution. Passivity endangers inflation targets and credibility, rate rises risk lower output and employment, intervention is likely to burn through precious reserves.”

    Gruenwald notes that the 1980s solution—bold global coordination—required lots of political capital from Washington and willing partners around the globe. A repeat of the 1985 deal to weaken the dollar—the “Plaza Accord”—probably isn’t in the cards. When the Bank of Japan intervened last month to support the yen, it acted alone. And it failed.

    One reason the dollar trade is so one-sided is a dearth of obvious alternatives. The euro is plodding along at 20-year lows as European growth wanes. The yen, meantime, is down 27% this year as the BOJ keeps its foot on the monetary stimulus accelerator.

    The British pound plunged toward parity to the dollar as Prime Minister Liz Truss botches economic policy out of the gate. Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded the UK’s sovereign debt outlook to negative from stable.

    Despite China’s status as the globe’s top trading nation, the yuan isn’t quite ready for prime time. The lack of full convertibility also limits the yuan’s utility as a potential reserve currency.

    China also is squandering trust among global investors. Credit growth there recovered faster than anticipated last month as Beijing increased infrastructure investment. Yet indications are that Xi is sticking with his growth-killing Covid lockdowns.

    Ironically, the more the Fed’s rate hikes shake up world markets—and the wrecking ball swings—the more global investors are hoarding dollars. In its most recent World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund warned that “in short, the worst is yet to come, and for many people 2023 will feel like a recession.”

    The IMF pruned its forecast for 2023 growth by 0.9 percentage points to 2.7%. “Persistent and broadening inflation pressures have triggered a rapid and synchronized tightening of monetary conditions, alongside a powerful appreciation of the U.S. dollar against most other currencies,” IMF economists observe.

    The risks of volatile capital flows and debt crises are increasing as this giant wrecking ball swings anew.

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    William Pesek, Senior Contributor

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  • Myanmar court extends Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison sentence to 26 years | CNN

    Myanmar court extends Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison sentence to 26 years | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A court in military-run Myanmar has sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s deposed former leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to three additional years in jail for corruption, a source familiar with the case told CNN, extending her total prison term to 26 years.

    Wednesday’s verdict is the latest in a string of punishments meted out against the 77-year-old, a figurehead of opposition to decades of military rule who led Myanmar for five years before being forced from power in a coup in early 2021.

    Suu Kyi was found guilty of receiving $500,000 in bribes from a local tycoon, a charge she denied, according to the source. Her lawyers have said the series of crimes leveled against her are politically motivated.

    Suu Kyi is currently being held in solitary confinement at a prison in the capital Naypyidaw.

    Last month, Suu Kyi was found guilty of electoral fraud and sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, in a trial related to the November 2020 general election that her National League for Democracy won in a landslide, defeating a party created by the military.

    It was the first time Suu Kyi had been sentenced to hard labor since the 2021 military coup. She was given the same punishment in a separate trial under a previous administration in 2009 but that sentence was commuted.

    Suu Kyi has also previously been found guilty of offenses ranging from graft to election violations.

    Rights groups have repeatedly expressed concerns about the punishment of pro-democracy activists in the country since the military seized power.

    Last week, a military court in Myanmar sentenced a Japanese journalist to 10 years in prison for sedition and violating a law on electronic communications after he filmed an anti-government protest in July, a Japanese diplomat said.

    Toru Kubota, 26, was arrested by plainclothes police in Yangon, where he was filming a documentary that he had been working on for several years, according to a Change.org petition calling for his release.

    In July, the military junta executed two prominent pro-democracy activists and two other men accused of terrorism, following a trial condemned by the UN and rights groups.

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  • What is China’s Communist Party Congress and why does it matter? | CNN

    What is China’s Communist Party Congress and why does it matter? | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.



    CNN
     — 

    Xi Jinping is poised to cement his role as China’s most powerful leader in decades this month, when members of the country’s ruling Communist Party meet for a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle.

    In recent years, these meetings have seen a streamlined transfer of power: the convention is for the top party leader, having completed two five-year terms, to pass the baton to a carefully chosen successor.

    But this year, Xi is expected to smash that precedent, taking on a third term as general secretary of the party and pitching China into a new era of strongman rule and uncertainty over when or how the country would see another leader.

    As a result, the 20th Party Congress is among the most consequential and closely watched party meetings in decades, and will reveal much about the direction of the world’s second-largest economy for the next five years.

    Here’s what you need to know about the events – and how China chooses its leaders.

    The Chinese Communist Party’s National Congress, known simply as the Party Congress, is a roughly week-long conclave that meets once every five years to appoint new leaders, discuss changes to the party constitution and lay out a policy agenda for the country.

    The Congress itself, typically held in October or November, convenes nearly 2,300 carefully selected Communist Party members, called delegates, from around the country. These delegates range from top provincial officials and military officers to professionals across sectors, and so-called grassroots representatives like farmers and industrial workers. Just over a quarter are women, while about 11% come from ethnic minorities, according to figures released ahead of this year’s Congress.

    This cohort also includes the hierarchy of the Chinese Communist Party, which is among the world’s largest political parties with more than 96 million members.

    There are three distinct rings of power in that hierarchy. Around 400 of the National Congress delegates are members of the Party’s elite Central Committee, which in turn includes the members of the upper echelon: the 25-member Politburo and its Standing Committee – China’s most powerful decision-making body, typically composed of five to nine men and led by the general secretary.

    The Politburo members are typically men from China’s dominant ethnic Han majority – with only one woman in the current group – who take important roles in the government.

    The week-long meeting is all about the Communist Party – the overarching source of power in China – and will ultimately guide who fills government positions. However, it is distinct from a state government meeting.

    For example, while Xi is expected to be named the party’s general secretary following the Congress, he won’t be confirmed for a third term as China’s head of state, or President, until an annual meeting of the rubber-stamp legislature in March.

    While votes are held at the Party Congress, this is widely viewed as a formality – not a true election process. Instead, the real decisions are believed to be made during an opaque process involving top leaders that begins long before the Congress.

    During the Congress, the delegates will cast votes for a new Central Committee – the principle party leadership body of about 200 full members and another roughly 200 alternatives, which meets regularly and is responsible for formally selecting the members of the Politburo.

    Immediately after the conclusion of the Congress, the newly formed 20th Central Committee meets for its first plenary session, where they select the Politburo and its Standing Committee.

    Watchers of elite Chinese politics believe the decisions over who will fill these top spots are typically made during months of back-room negotiations between top party leaders, where different power players or factions will typically try and advance their candidates, with choices settled well before the Congress starts.

    This time, Xi is believed to have largely eliminated his rivals and dampened the lingering power of party elders, who in the past were thought to have played a strong role in such decision-making.

    The new Politburo Standing Committee revealed for the first time after the Communist Party's 19th National Congress in 2017.

    Following their selection by the Central Committee, the Party’s new top leaders will make a choreographed entrance into the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, walking in order of importance.

    As in 2017, Xi is expected to lead the group into the room as the newly-confirmed general secretary and introduce the other members of the new Standing Committee in a nationally televised event.

    The line-up will provide a rare glimpse into the black box of Chinese elite politics. China watchers will be waiting to see how many members of the Standing Committee are selected and who they are, as signs of whether Xi has absolute power or has made concessions. They will also be looking for a potential successor in the midst, which could give a clue into how long Xi intends to rule.

    For more than two decades, a new general secretary has been appointed at every other Congress.

    But since the last Congress in 2017, Xi has signaled plans to keep a firm grip on all aspects of what’s considered a trifecta of power in China: control over the party, the state and the military. For one, at the last Congress, he broke with tradition and did not elevate a potential successor to the Standing Committee.

    Then, months later, China’s rubber-stamp legislature eliminated the term limits for President of China. This was widely seen as enabling Xi to continue to a third term as head of state, while also retaining his control of the party – where the true power lies.

    While there are no formal term limits for general secretary, staying in the top party role would also require Xi to break with another unwritten rule: the party’s informal age limit.

    The norm is that senior officials who are 68 or older at the time of the Congress will retire. At 69, Xi would flout this recent convention by staying in power. What’s less clear is whether he will seek to give other Politburo allies exemptions, disrupting one of the few neutral methods the party has to ensure turnover, or whether, in contrast, he could lower the retirement age for others to oust some existing members.

    The Congress opens with the general secretary reading out a work report summarizing the party’s achievements of the past five years and indicating the policy direction it will take for the next five.

    This year, observers will be watching for signs of the party’s priorities when it comes to its restrictive zero-Covid policy, handling of steep economic challenges, and stated goal of “reunifying” with Taiwan – a self-governing democracy the Communist leadership claims as its own despite never having controlled.

    Xi is also expected to strengthen his legacy, likely through amendments to the party constitution – a regular feature of each Congress.

    Last month, the Politburo discussed these changes during a scheduled meeting, according to a government statement that did not include specifics.

    In 2017, Xi became the first leader since Mao Zedong – Communist China’s founder – to have his philosophy added to the constitution while still in power, and observers have suggested Xi’s key principles could be further enshrined this time around.

    These details will be signs of how much power Xi holds within the upper echelons of the party – and how strong his backing is as he steps into his expected, norm-breaking third term leading one of the world’s most powerful countries.

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  • Thousands protest increased violence in Pakistan’s Swat Valley

    Thousands protest increased violence in Pakistan’s Swat Valley

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    Residents take to the streets after a school bus driver was shot dead in the latest of a growing number of violent incidents.

    Islamabad, Pakistan – Thousands of people have rallied in Pakistan’s Swat Valley to protest against growing insecurity following the killing of a local school bus driver who was shot by an unknown assailant on Monday.

    Chanting slogans against the increasing number of killings in the area, protesters took to the streets on Tuesday afternoon in Nishat Chowk, demanding that the government do more to ensure the safety of residents there.

    Ahmed Shah, spokesperson for Swat Qaumi Jirga, a representative body of local residents, said more than 15,000 people had attended the protest – the sixth in the past two months.

    “We held one protest last week but the one today is among the largest demonstrations ever in Swat,” he told Al Jazeera.

    Fawad Khan, an activist with Swat Olasi Pasoon (Swat People’s Movement), who was at Tuesday’s protest, told Al Jazeera that there had been a clear increase in violent incidents in the region.

    “We are demanding the government control the terrorist elements who are back and spreading terror here,” he said. “We must be given protection, which is our constitutional right.”

    According to police officials, the latest incident of violence took place in Mingora on Monday morning when the school bus driver was shot dead by a man riding a motorcycle.

    Hussain Ahmed, 33, was driving two young students, one of whom was wounded and taken to hospital before being discharged.

    Police officials told Al Jazeera they have ruled out “terrorism” since this was a targeted attack on an individual, but they are continuing to investigate. They added that there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack so far.

    Monday’s attack came a day after the 10th anniversary of the shooting of Malala Yousafzai by the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP or Pakistan Taliban) when she was a schoolgirl.

    Mohsin Dawar, a member of Pakistan’s National Assembly, condemned the latest attack and said this should be a wake-up call for the state.

    Speaking to Al Jazeera, Dawar said that he has voiced concerns about the increased presence of “militants” in the area since he joined parliament, but nothing has been done.

    “Mainstream Pakistan perhaps does not realise the severity of the situation because they are not feeling the heat yet,” he said. “If Pakistan’s political and military leadership does not sit together to resolve this menace, I fear that in coming days the situation will be out of control.”

    TTP stronghold

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a civil rights group, also issued a statement on Monday saying that residents of Swat are justified in holding security forces responsible.

    “It was callous and short-sighted to have downplayed the threat from militants given residents’ growing protests and calls for security,” the statement read.

    Last month, five people – including an influential anti-Taliban tribal leader – were killed in a bomb blast in Swat’s Kot Katai village.

    Swat, which is roughly 240km (150 miles) from the capital, Islamabad, was a major TTP stronghold until 2009, when the Pakistani military drove the armed group’s fighters out.

    The recent surge in violence comes as peace talks between Pakistan’s security forces and the TTP have failed to yield any progress.

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  • Malaysia’s Mahathir, 97, to run in general elections

    Malaysia’s Mahathir, 97, to run in general elections

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    PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — Malaysia’s 97-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohamad announced Tuesday he will defend his seat in the general elections expected next month, though he wouldn’t say whether he would be prime minister a third time if his political alliance wins.

    “We have not decided who will be prime minister because the prime minister candidate is only relevant if we win,” Mahathir told a news conference.

    Though unlikely, he would be the oldest ever candidate for the post, which has a five-year term.

    Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament on Monday for snap polls, caving in to pressure from his United Malays National Organization party, which is hoping for a big win on its own amid feuds with allies in the ruling coalition. The Election Commission will meet on Oct. 20 to fix a date for the vote, which must be held within 60 days of Parliament’s dissolution.

    Despite his age and a health scare this year, Mahathir said he will defend his parliamentary seat in Langkawi island. He also warned that a win by the ruling UMNO party could see imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak pardoned and let off the hook.

    Mahathir was a UMNO premier for 22 years until his retirement in 2003. Then, in 2016, he was inspired to return to politics by the massive looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund during Najib’s term in office and rode a wave of public anger to lead the opposition to a historic victory in 2018 polls that ousted UMNO, which had ruled since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957.

    Mahathir became the world’s oldest head of government at 93, and oversaw graft charges against Najib and other UMNO leaders. But his reformist alliance collapsed in less than two years due to defections, returning UMNO to power under a new coalition government.

    After his government’s collapse in 2020, Mahathir formed the Pejuang party and a new alliance with several small parties.

    Mahathir, echoing both the opposition and UMNO allies, slammed UMNO on Tuesday for putting its own interest first in rushing elections during the annual monsoon season in November that brings major floods. He said UMNO aims to win big by offering bribes and money to the people.

    He said UMNO’s main objective is to free Najib, who began his 12-year jail term in August after losing his final appeal in a corruption case linked to the 1MDB scandal. Najib also faces several other trials linked to 1MDB that could lengthen his jail term if he is found guilty. UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is also on trial for dozens of graft charges unrelated to the 1MDB case.

    “If they win this election, their first move would be to ask (Malaysia’s king) to pardon Najib. At this moment, they have made a request but has not been pardoned,” Mahathir said. “Should they be able to win and form the government, that is their first objective, not about the welfare of the people.”

    Mahathir said his political alliance hasn’t been approved by the government and that some 120 candidates will run under Pejuang’s banner in Malay-dominated parliamentary seats.

    Analysts said Mahathir’s pull may no longer appeal to ethnic Malay voters who supported him in 2018. UMNO, which had only 36 out of 222 lawmakers in the just-dissolved Parliament, believes many Malays have returned to its fold following its landslide victory in recent byelections.

    The Alliance of Hope, which Mahathir led to victory in 2018 polls, remains the key contender with 90 lawmakers. Its prime minister candidate is Anwar Ibrahim, who was originally due to succeed Mahathir before their government collapsed.

    While Mahathir competes head-on with UMNO and others for votes of Malays, who account for two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people, Anwar’s alliance remains on a multi-racial platform. Ethnic Chinese and Indians form large minorities in the country.

    Anwar said Monday that the election will be a time for the people to vote out traitors who led to the collapse of his alliance government in 2020.

    “Did you think we could reverse 60 years of entrenched corruption and kleptocracy with just one election? Did you think these conniving robbers and thieves would just give up?” Anwar said in a statement. “We don’t give up, either. We don’t give up, ever.”

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  • LIV Golf players should get ranking points, Matsuyama says

    LIV Golf players should get ranking points, Matsuyama says

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    INZAI CITY, Japan — The players who left to compete in the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series should be entitled to earn ranking points, former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama said Tuesday.

    Speaking at the Zozo Championship, which opens Thursday, Matsuyama called the ranking-points question ”difficult” and didn’t offer any details, solutions or clarifications.

    “I think they should be able to,” he said, speaking in Japanese. “However, there’s a procedure they’ll have to follow.”

    LIV Golf is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Matsuyama suggested he was staying with the PGA Tour.

    “I’m a member of the PGA Tour,” Matsuyama said. “The players who left did so because they thought it was the right thing to do. So I can’t say anything about them.”

    Viktor Hovland also said LIV players shouldn’t get an automatic exemption for ranking points.

    “If you want to get world ranking points, you obviously have to follow the process,” the Norwegian said. “And I think they’re obviously making an effort to get those points, but I don’t think it’s right to give them an exemption to just get points overnight. They obviously have to follow the process, whatever the process might be.”

    Matsuyama won last year’s Zozo Championship — the only PGA Tour event in Japan — with a final-round 65 for a five-shot victory over Brendan Steele at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, the same venue for this year.

    He’ll be the local favorite at the course located about an hour outside Tokyo. The purse is $11 million.

    “The energy that the fans provide really helps out, it helps my game,” Matsuyama said. “But on the other hand, there’s pressure that goes along with it.”

    Xander Schauffele may be under more pressure than Matsuyama, and also will have his own Japan-related following.

    The American’s mother has roots in Taiwan but grew up in Japan. He said his wife, Maya, was born in Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, and her mother is from a small island off the Okinawa coast — Miyakojima.

    He said he has a pre-tournament meal in the Tokyo area planned with some of his extended family in Japan.

    “I think there’s going to be probably roughly 30 of us is what I’ve heard. It will be nice to see all my grandparents, my uncles, aunts and my cousins,” he said.

    Schauffele was asked precisely how many he expected for dinner.

    “As many as I can get out,” he said.

    After the tournament, he’s heading to the Okinawa area for another family event with his “wife’s grandparents.”

    “I’ve never met them,” he said, “so I’m very excited to go and spend a couple nights.”

    ———

    More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Superyacht linked to Russian billionaire mysteriously shows up in Hong Kong | CNN

    Superyacht linked to Russian billionaire mysteriously shows up in Hong Kong | CNN

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    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    A megayacht linked to a sanctioned Russian oligarch has dropped anchor in Hong Kong, amid efforts by the West to seize the luxury assets of Russian elites in allied ports as the war in Ukraine drags on.

    The Nord, a nearly 142-meter (466-foot) yacht that is said to be one of the world’s largest, was spotted by CNN on Friday in Hong Kong’s waters, just minutes from the central downtown district. The vessel is estimated to be worth at least $500 million and widely believed to belong to Alexey Mordashov, an industrial billionaire, according to a yacht broker who spoke with CNN.

    The yacht, 1.5 times the size of an American football field, arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday from the Russian port of Vladivostok, according to the Chinese city’s Marine Department. The government agency told CNN on Friday that it hadn’t been notified about when the yacht would depart for its next destination.

    As of Friday afternoon, the Nord was seen flying a Russian flag, with the name of its home base, “Vladivostok,” emblazoned on its stern. A few people, apparently crew members dressed in uniform, were spotted on the vessel’s deck.

    Mordashov is one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $18.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s down by $10 billion so far this year, according to the wealth tracker.

    The tycoon is chairman of Severstal, a Russian steel and mining giant that at last count had 54,000 employees across 69 countries.

    The US State Department sanctioned him and Severstal in June, in addition to three of Mordashov’s other companies, his wife and two adult children.

    In a statement at the time, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Treasury Department was taking further action to “degrade the networks allowing Russia’s elites, including President [Vladimir] Putin, to anonymously make use of luxury assets around the globe.”

    But the United States isn’t the only country cracking down. Several superyachts tied to Russian businessmen have been seized this year in high-profile cases around the world, including in Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom.

    Mordashov has challenged sanctions against him in European courts. In May, he argued that an EU court should annul the decision to add him to a list of those penalized over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to European Union filings.

    “I have absolutely nothing to do with the emergence of the current geopolitical tension and I do not understand why the EU has imposed sanctions on me,” he said this spring, at the beginning of the war, according to TASS, Russia’s state news agency.

    Nord seen anchored in Hong Kong on Friday, Oct. 7, just minutes by boat from the city's central district.

    Hong Kong may provide some refuge. Reached for comment by CNN on Friday, the Hong Kong Marine Department said that it would “not comment on any individual cases of vessel entry.”

    The city requires overseas yacht owners to gain permission from authorities to enter, including showing proof of insurance, according to the Marine Department.

    “We note that certain countries may impose unilateral sanctions against certain places on the basis of their own considerations,” it said.

    But the government “does not implement, nor do we have the legal authority to take action on, unilateral sanctions imposed by other jurisdictions,” the department added, saying only that it would enforce “sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council.”

    On Tuesday, Hong Kong leader, Chief Executive John Lee, said the city had “no legal basis” to act on Western-imposed sanctions – referring to the United States– but “will comply with any United Nations resolution on sanctions.”

    Lee himself is among nearly a dozen people sanctioned by the US in 2020 for undermining the city’s autonomy and democratic processes, to which he described as a “a very barbaric act” on Tuesday.

    “Hong Kong respects the rule of law. As an international financial city, Hong Kong’s regulatory system is on par with international standards. We will not do anything that has no legal basis,” Lee said.

    Russia and China — of which Hong Kong is a part — are two of the five members on the Security Council with veto power. Russia has consistently vetoed resolutions on the council in recent months, impeding action on Ukraine.

    Severstal did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mordashov on Friday.

    MarineTraffic, the global maritime analytics provider, shows that the Nord arrived in Hong Kong this week after a seven-day journey through the Sea of Japan and East China Sea.

    It’s hard to know exactly why the crew chose to come to the Asian hub now, said Michael Maximilian Bognier, a yacht broker with Next Wave Yachting in Hong Kong.

    But he noted that the port of Vladivostok could get relatively cold in the winter, making it tougher to maintain such a vessel.

    “Not [an] ideal climate to keep a boat like that,” Bognier told CNN.

    Asked whether the lack of sanctions could be a draw, Bognier acknowledged the current political climate wasn’t helping.

    “This could be a reason why she’s here,” he said, referring to the yacht. “It could be a free ticket.”

    It’s rare to see proof of direct ownership of such lavish vessels. Bognier noted, however, that word usually got around about top industry sales and said it was common knowledge that Mordashov was the owner of the yacht.

    “Running a boat this size is almost [like] running a city or a business,” he added.

    The Nord was built by German shipping giant Lürssen.

    “This is definitely one of the most iconic yachts,” said Bognier. “It’s got a very flat bow, not unlike an aircraft carrier actually. That’s a very distinctive feature about this yacht. So it’s very, very difficult, let’s say, to mistake it for something else.”

    Sky-high carrying costs could make it tough for even the world’s wealthiest to maintain such assets. Bognier estimated that it could range from approximately $45 million to $70 million just to keep the yacht running each year, not factoring in variable costs of fuel or maintenance after any long journeys.

    That would break down to an average bill of $100,000 to $200,000 a day.

    The Nord is seen in Hong Kong on October 7, 2022.

    The Nord yacht boasts two helipads, and would likely have an extensive staff on board, including a full-time chef, fitness instructor, massage therapist, and possibly a helicopter pilot, according to Bognier.

    “When we talk about boats this size, these are standard items,” he said.

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  • FIFA reveals sites for World Cup fan viewing parties

    FIFA reveals sites for World Cup fan viewing parties

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    ZURICH — Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro and Dubai Harbour in the United Arab Emirates are among six locations worldwide that stage fan festivals during the World Cup in Qatar.

    Mexico City’s Plaza de la República, Sao Paulo’s Anhangabaú Valley, and downtown nightclub venues in London and Seoul, South Korea, also will host official game viewing parties and music events.

    Organizers have also hired electronic music events from Saudi Arabia and England to perform during the tournament.

    The events will “only be open to consumers of legal drinking age” at the venues co-organized by FIFA and long-time World Cup sponsor AB InBev, which brews the Budweiser, Corona and Brahma brands.

    Entry to some events will be free and some will have an entry charge, FIFA said in a statement on Monday.

    FIFA also revealed more details of music events planned in Qatar during the Nov. 20-Dec.18 tournament.

    The electronic music festival Aravia, run by a Saudi Arabian events organizer, will be staged at a 5,500-capacity site at Al Wakrah.

    The Arcadia Spectacular event, staging DJs beneath a fire-breathing, giant metal spider structure, has been a feature of the storied Glastonbury music and culture summer festival in England. It will be on a 15,000-capacity site at nearby Ras Bu Fontas, also close to Doha’s new international airport next to the Persian Gulf.

    Qatari World Cup officials and the music promoters have not detailed ticket prices for their World Cup shows.

    The main fan festival site for watching the 64 tournament games is at Al Bidda Park on the southern tip of the Corniche waterfront.

    Qatar has relaxed some restrictions on where and when alcohol can be consumed in the emirate so that AB InBev beers can be sold at official fan parties and game viewing areas.

    ———

    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • North Korea says missile tests are practice for ‘tactical nuclear strikes’ on South Korea | CNN

    North Korea says missile tests are practice for ‘tactical nuclear strikes’ on South Korea | CNN

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    Seoul, South Korea
    CNN
     — 

    North Korean state media has broken its silence over the country’s recent spate of missile tests, claiming they were part of a series of simulated procedures intended to demonstrate its readiness to fire tactical nuclear warheads at potential targets in South Korea.

    The Kim regime has tested ballistic missiles seven times since September 25, the latest of 25 launch events of ballistic and cruise missiles this year, according to a CNN count, raising tensions to their highest level since 2017.

    Quoting leader Kim Jong Un, who oversaw the drills, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the tests, which coincided with nearby military drills between the United States, South Korea and Japan, showed Pyongyang was ready to respond to regional tensions with by involving its “huge armed forces.”

    KCNA said the series of seven drills of North Korea’s “tactical nuclear operation units” showed that its “nuclear combat forces” are “fully ready to hit and wipe out the set objects at the intended places in the set time.”

    Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said North Korea’s announcements Monday indicated potential progress in its missile program.

    “What I find notable is that these launches are not framed as tests of the missiles themselves, but rather of the units that launch them. That suggests these systems are deployed,” Lewis said on Twitter.

    KCNA said on September 25, North Korea workers took part in exercises within a silo under a reservoir to practice what it described as loading tactical nuclear warheads to check the swift and safe transportation of nuclear weapons.

    Three days later, they simulated the loading of a tactical nuclear warhead on a missile that in the event of war that would be used in “neutralizing airports in South Korea’s operation zones.”

    On October 6, North Korea practiced procedures that could initiate a tactical nuclear strike on “the enemies’ main military command facilities” and, on Sunday, enemy ports, Pyongyang’s state media said.

    Among the key military installations in South Korea is the US Army’s Camp Humphreys, the largest US military installation outside of the United States with a population of more than 36,000 US servicemembers, civilian workers, contractors and family members.

    A North Korean missile launch is seen in a photo released by state media on Monday.

    Experts say that North Korea has likely manufactured some nuclear warheads – “20 to 30 warheads for delivery primarily by medium-range ballistic missiles,” Hans Kristensen and Matt Korda of Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, wrote in September.

    But its ability to detonate them accurately on the battlefield is unproven.

    A photo from North Korean state media released Monday shows a missile launch.

    Analysts noted that with Monday’s reports, North Korea broke six months of silence on its testing program. Before that, an announcement and images of the tests were usually made available the next day.

    Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said Pyongyang had “multiple motivations” for making an announcement Monday.

    Besides providing a “patriotic headline” for domestic consumption on the 77th anniversary of its ruling party, “it is making explicit the nuclear threat behind its recent missile launches,” Easley said.

    “The KCNA report may also be harbinger of a forthcoming nuclear test for the kind of tactical warhead that would arm the units Kim visited in the field,” he said.

    South Korean and US officials have been warning since May that North Korea may be preparing for its first nuclear test since 2017, with satellite imagery showing activity at its underground nuclear test site.

    The KCNA report said the recent drills, from September 25 to October 9, were designed to send a “strong military reaction warning to the enemies” and to verify and improve the country’s fighting capabilities.

    Kim Jong Un watches a missile launch in a photo released by North Korean state media on Monday.

    In the report, Kim called South Korea and the United States “the enemies” and said North Korea doesn’t need to hold talks with them.

    Kim further emphasized that Pyongyang will thoroughly monitor enemies’ military movements and “strongly take all military countermeasures” if needed, KCNA stated.

    The United States, South Korea and Japan have all been active with military exercises during the North’s recent wave of drills.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observes a military drill on October 8 in photo from North Korean state media.

    A US Navy aircraft carrier strike group participated in several days of bilateral and trilateral exercises with South Korean and Japanese units that ended Saturday, a statement from the US Navy’s Task Force 70 said.

    “Our commitment to regional security and the defense of our allies and partners is demonstrated by our flexibility and adaptability to move this strike group to where it is needed,” said Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, commander of Task Force 70/Carrier Strike Group 5.

    South Korea’s National Security Council on Sunday “strongly condemned” North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches, and it said the South Korean military will further bolster its combined defense posture and deterrence through joint military drills with the US and trilateral security cooperation involving Japan.

    Japan’s Joint Staff said the security environment around Japan was becoming “increasingly severe” and that drills with the US Navy were strengthening the alliance’s capability to respond to threats.

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  • Elon Musk may want a WeChat for the world. It won’t be easy to build | CNN Business

    Elon Musk may want a WeChat for the world. It won’t be easy to build | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong
    CNN Business
     — 

    Elon Musk is taking inspiration from China’s top social media platform, WeChat, while planning a future for Twitter. And while he has shared very few details of his ambition for an app for everything, experts say it won’t be easy to achieve.

    The Tesla

    (TSLA)     CEO said late Tuesday that he wanted to create a new app called “X” after buying Twitter.

    “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” he tweeted.

    Musk’s comment came on the heels of news that he had once again reversed course and decided to follow through with his bid to buy Twitter for $44 billion, a price originally agreed back in April.

    The acquisition would put the world’s richest man in charge of one of the most influential social networks around, after months of acrimony and bitter U-turns.

    Now, Musk’s intention to build out what’s assumed to be a multipurpose platform has drawn comparisons to “super-apps” in Asia, essentially one-stop shops that do it all for users.

    Several tech companies in the region have already succeeded with their own versions of such applications. Chief among them is WeChat, the platform that is owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent

    (TCEHY)     and sometimes described as Facebook

    (FB)    , Twitter

    (TWTR)    , Snapchat

    (SNAP)     and PayPal

    (PYPL)     all rolled into one.

    More than a billion users, primarily in mainland China, rely on the social network to do virtually everything — from ordering groceries to booking a yoga class to paying bills — without leaving the app.

    Elsewhere in Asia, people have also flocked to apps such as Grab (GRAB) in Singapore and Malaysia, or Line in Japan. Grab was initially best known as a ride-hailing service provider, while Line gained popularity as a messaging app, and both have since branched out significantly to offer other features.

    Musk has not been shy about his desire to emulate the success of WeChat. In June, at a town hall with Twitter employees, he compared the American company’s potential to that of Tencent’s ubiquitous service in China.

    “I think an important goal for Twitter would be to try to include as much of the country, as much of the world, as possible,” said the billionaire businessman. “You basically live on WeChat in China because it’s so usable and helpful to daily life, and I think if we can achieve that, or even get close to that at Twitter, it would be an immense success.”

    Musk isn’t the only prominent US tech leader taking cues from China: Previously, Facebook

    (FB)     CEO Mark Zuckerberg also suggested that WeChat should be a case study for his company.

    For now, Musk has yet to outline his plans for X. But analysts say he would face numerous challenges.

    First: the fiercely competitive landscape. To some extent, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and practically “everything” are trying “to become super-apps as well,” said Ivan Lam, a senior research analyst at Counterpoint Research based in Hong Kong.

    “To try to become a super-app, it’s actually very hard,” he said in an interview.

    Xiaofeng Wang, a principal analyst at Forrester who focuses on digital marketing and engagement strategies in Asia Pacific, echoed that view, noting that the industry had only become more saturated in recent years.

    “When WeChat first launched extended services beyond social, there weren’t that many established competitors in related businesses yet,” she told CNN Business.

    “For example, when WeChat Pay was first launched, there [weren’t] any well-established mobile payment services in China yet … While in the US, there are already PayWave, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo.”

    Companies trying to branch out in the sector could also face considerable pushback from policymakers, according to Wang.

    “The more flexible regulatory environment in China at the time gave internet companies like Tencent and Alibaba more room to extend to a wide range of businesses. WeChat benefited from that and grew into a super-app,” she said.

    “It would be a lot harder now, given the stricter anti-monopoly regulations in China and it would be certainly harder for Twitter or the future X to do that in the US,” she added.

    Perhaps the core challenge, however, is simply trying to be everything for everyone.

    Lam noted that many successful “super-apps” have typically targeted specific audiences, making it easier to tailor a suite of services to their needs. That would be tough to replicate globally — and could mean that Twitter or X would need to also focus on certain regions to get off the ground, he said.

    Musk has acknowledged the uphill battle. On Tuesday, a Twitter user posited that “it would have been easier to just start X from scratch,” prompting the billionaire to respond that Twitter was an important part of the plan.

    “Twitter probably accelerates X by 3 to 5 years, but I could be wrong,” Musk wrote.

    Wang said that Forrester’s research had shown there were fundamental differences in how Western and Chinese users viewed social media, making it harder for Western companies “to build the same level of trust.”

    “Putting the ambitions aside, it may be a lot more difficult to create a super-app like WeChat in the West,” she concluded.

    — Clare Duffy contributed to this report.

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  • Families leave offerings for children slain at Thai day care

    Families leave offerings for children slain at Thai day care

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    UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand — Families offered flowers and dolls, popcorn and juice boxes to children massacred at a day care center in Thailand, part of a Buddhist ceremony held Sunday just paces from where the slaughter began that was meant to guide the young souls back to their bodies.

    “Come back home” and “come back with us,” the relatives called into the empty day care center, many with tears in their eyes.

    The gun and knife attack on the Young Children’s Development Center in Uthai Sawan was Thailand’s deadliest mass killing, and it robbed the small farming community of much of its youngest generation. The former police officer who stormed the building killed two dozen people at the day care before taking more lives as he fled, including his wife and child, police said. He then killed himself.

    Ceremonies were held Sunday at three temples, where the bodies of the 36 victims — mostly preschoolers — were taken ahead of funeral rites and cremation on Tuesday.

    Maneerat Tanonethong — whose 3-year-old Chaiyot Kijareon was killed at the day care center — said the rituals were helping her with her grief.

    “I am trying not think about horrible images and focus on how lovely he was. … But I don’t know what I will do with myself once this is all over,” she said. “I am determined that I will try let go of this, that I won’t hold any grudge against the perpetrator and understand that all of these will end in this life.”

    At Rat Samakee temple, family members sat in front of the tiny coffins while Buddhist monks chanted prayers. They placed trays of food, toys and milk along the outside of the temple walls as offerings to the spirits of their slain children.

    Later, they headed to the day care center and gathered in front of a makeshift memorial there to receive the slain children’s belongings. They made offerings of their kids’ favorite foods and lit incense and candles as they implored the children’s souls to return to their bodies.

    Many Buddhists in Thailand believe that in cases of unnatural death, the soul becomes stranded in the place where the person perished and must be reunited with the body before eventual rebirth.

    Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and members of his Cabinet attended evening prayers at the three temples on Sunday. Prayuth divided the duty with two deputy prime ministers, Prawit Wongsuwan and Anutin Charnvirakul.

    Police identified the attacker as Panya Kamrap, 34, a police sergeant fired earlier this year after being charged with a drug offense.

    An employee at the day care told Thai media that Panya’s son had attended the center but hadn’t been there for about a month. Police have said they believe Panya was under stress from tensions between him and his wife, and money problems.

    The attack has left no one in the small community untouched, and brought international media attention to the remote, rural area. Thai authorities on Sunday fined two CNN journalists for working in the country on tourist visas but cleared them of wrongdoing for entering the day care center, saying they had filmed inside believing they had obtained permission.

    Deputy national police chief Surachate Hakparn said the journalists were waved into the building by a volunteer or a health officer and did not know the person was not authorized to allow them inside.

    The journalists involved apologized in a recorded video.

    In a statement, Mike McCarthy, CNN International’s executive vice president and general manager, said the team sought permission to enter the building but “now understands that these officials were not authorized to grant this permission.”

    Mass killings in Thailand are rare but not unheard of.

    In 2020, a disgruntled soldier opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, killing 29 people and holding off security forces for some 16 hours before being killed by them.

    Prior to that, a 2015 bombing at a shrine in Bangkok left 20 people dead. It was allegedly carried out by human traffickers in retaliation for a crackdown on their network.

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  • Photos: How frequent river flooding impacts migrants in Delhi

    Photos: How frequent river flooding impacts migrants in Delhi

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    For Bhagwan Devi, 38, and Shivakumar, 40, and their four children, a flood follows unseasonal rain so often now that they have less and less time to pick up the pieces and start over again.

    Devi and Shivakumar had to flee their hut on the banks of the Yamuna River, which passes through Delhi, earlier this month as water levels rose without warning.

    “This is how deep the water was,” said Devi, pointing to her chin.

    The family, like thousands of others, has taken refuge on the roadside kerb, 100 meters (328 feet) from their now-flooded hut.

    Their story is similar to that of millions of others in South Asia who are on the front line of climate change. According to the World Bank, climate change could force 216 million people to migrate within their own countries by 2050. In South Asia alone, 40.5 million people are expected to be displaced.

    “The extreme rains in India’s Himalayan states are just the latest in a series of events in South Asia that are exacerbated by climate change,” said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at the Climate Action Network International.

    “We saw unprecedented and devastating floods in Pakistan earlier this year. We are facing melting glaciers in Nepal and Pakistan, rising seas in India and Bangladesh, and cyclones and inhospitable temperatures across the region. Climate change is increasingly forcing millions of people to flee their homes in search of safety and new means to provide for their families,” he added.

    For Devi and others who live in Yamuna Khadar, on the floodplains of the Yamuna River, being dislocated by floods has become a way of life. The latest displacement was a consequence of extreme rainfall in upstream states that resulted in the swelling of rivers and the opening of many dams that were unable to hold the excess water.

    Devi and Shivakumar are originally from the Budayun region in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about five hours by road from Delhi. In Budayun, their homestead, which was 2km (1.24 miles) from the Ganges River, also repeatedly flooded. Unable to farm successfully because of unseasonal extreme weather, they decided to escape to Delhi to create a better life for themselves some 15 years ago.

    In Delhi, they grow vegetables on a small patch of land in the Yamuna River’s floodplains to make ends meet. But as in Budayun, flooding and other extreme weather in Delhi are taking away the little they possess.

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  • Roof collapse kills 9 members of family in northern Pakistan

    Roof collapse kills 9 members of family in northern Pakistan

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    Police say the roof of a home made of mud and wood in northern Pakistan caved in, killing nine family members, including eight siblings

    PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The roof of a home made of mud and wood in northern Pakistan caved in early Sunday killing nine family members, including eight siblings, police said.

    Police officer Imtiaz Khan said the incident in the town of Chilas in the Gilgit Baltistan region claimed the lives of four daughters and four sons of a restaurant waiter and his wife. Khan said the father was at work when it happened.

    Neighbors who heard the crashing sound of the house coming down rushed to the home but efforts to rescue the family were unsuccessful. Police said the siblings killed were ages 2 to 12.

    Such incidents are not uncommon in Pakistan, where implementation of safety standards is lacking and many people live in poorly constructed structures for lack of financial resources.

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  • Russian draft dodgers pour into Kazakhstan to escape Putin’s war | CNN

    Russian draft dodgers pour into Kazakhstan to escape Putin’s war | CNN

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    Almaty, Kazakhstan
    CNN
     — 

    Vadim says he plunged into depression last month after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military draft to send hundreds of thousands of conscripts to fight in Ukraine.

    “I was silent,” the 28-year-old engineer says, explaining that he simply stopped talking while at work. “I was angry and afraid.”

    When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February, Vadim says he took to the streets of Moscow to protest – but Putin’s September 21 order to draft at least 300,000 men to fight felt like a point of no return.

    “We don’t want this war,” Vadim says. “We can’t change something in our country, though we have tried.”

    He decided he had only one option left. Several days after Putin’s draft order, he bid his grandmother a tearful farewell and left his home in Moscow – potentially forever.

    Vadim and his friend Alexei traveled as fast as they could to Russia’s border with the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, where they waited in line for three days to cross.

    “We ran away from Russia because we want to live,” Alexei says. “We are afraid that we can be sent to Ukraine.”

    Both men asked not to be identified, to protect loved ones left behind in Russia.

    Last week, in Kazakhstan’s commercial capital Almaty, they stood in line with more than 150 other recently-arrived Russians outside a government registration center – part of an exodus of draft dodgers.

    Russian arrivals queuing at a registration center in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

    More than 200,000 Russians have streamed into Kazakhstan following Putin’s conscription announcement, according to the Kazakh government.

    And it isn’t hard to spot the new Russian arrivals at the main railway station in Almaty. Every hour, it seems, young Slavic men emerge from the train wearing backpacks, looking slightly dazed while consulting their phones for directions.

    They arrive from cities across Russia: Yaroslavl, Togliati, St. Petersburg, Kazan. When asked why they have left they all say the same thing: mobilization.

    “It’s not something I want to participate in,” says a 30-year old computer programmer named Sergei. He sat on a bench outside the train station with his wife, Irina. The couple, clutching backpacks and rolled up sleeping pads, said they hoped to travel on to Turkey and hopefully apply for Schengen visas to Europe.

    Sergei, and his wife, Irina, outside the Almaty train station in Kazakhstan.

    Most of the new Russian exiles spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity.

    Giorgi, a writer in his late 30s from Ekaterinburg, says he fled to Kazakhstan last week after suffering panic attacks at the thought he could be dragged into the military.

    “How can I take part in a war without a wish to win this war?” he asks.

    He is now trying to find an apartment in Almaty and hopes that his wife and young son can visit him in the winter.

    Faced with the challenge of trying to make a living in a foreign city, Giorgi recognizes that his hardships pale in comparison to Ukrainians, who were forced to flee by the millions after Russia attacked their cities and towns.

    Unlike Ukrainians, who fight bravely for their homeland, Giorgi says Russian draft dodgers like himself can be viewed as both “a refugee and an aggressor” by virtue of their citizenship.

    “I did not support his war, I never did,” Giorgi says. “But somehow I’m still connected with the state because of my passport.”

    Giorgi, a writer in his late 30s from Ekaterinburg in Russia, left his wife and young child to set up a new life in Almaty.

    The new Russian exiles are not technically refugees, in part because the Russian government still isn’t officially at war with Ukraine. According to the Kremlin, Russia is conducting a “special military operation” against its Ukrainian neighbor.

    Russian citizens are currently able to enter Kazakhstan for short periods with their national ID cards – and the Central Asian country’s President has urged his compatriots to welcome the new arrivals.

    “Most of them are forced to leave because of the hopeless situation. We must take care of them and ensure their safety,” said President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in late September.

    An informal grassroots effort has sprung up across Kazakhstan to help temporarily feed and house the Russians.

    “They are running, they are afraid,” says Ekaterina Korotkaya, an Almaty-based journalist who helped coordinate assistance to newly-arrived Russians.

    Almira Orlova, a nutritionist based in Almaty, says she has helped find housing for at least 26 Russians.

    “They would arrive to my apartment, stay for a while, then stay in the apartments of my friends,” she says.

    But she points out that she did not receive the same hospitality when she moved with her Russian husband to Moscow several years ago.

    Then, Russian landlords repeatedly refused to rent her apartments because she was “Asian,” she said.

    “When I told them that I’m Kazakh, they said ‘I’m sorry I really cannot.’ And we weren’t able to find an apartment for two months,” Orlova says.

    “Citizens of Central Asia who went to Russia for labor migration purposes face some serious discrimination in Russia,” says Kadyr Toktogulov, former ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the United States and Canada.

    The former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan has also seen a large “reverse migration” of Russians fleeing the draft.

    “I don’t think that Russians coming to Central Asia that are fleeing the draft will be having the same kind of problems or facing the kind of discrimination that citizens of Central Asian republics have been facing for years in Russia,” says Toktogulov.

    Toktogulov’s says his own family recently rented out an apartment in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek to a newly-arrived Russian man.

    Real estate experts say the flood of Russian exiles have already sent rents skyrocketing in Almaty, the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek and other cities in the region.

    The impact is also being felt in commercial real estate, as many Russians seek to work remotely.

    “It’s not only individuals coming, the big [Russian] companies and corporate business, they are moving their companies to Kazakhstan,” says Madina Abilpanova, a managing partner at DM Associates, a real estate firm based in Almaty.

    Madina Abilpanova, managing partner at DM Associates in Almaty.

    She says Russian companies have approached her, looking to relocate hundreds of their employees in an effort to protect them from military conscription.

    “They are ready to move immediately, to pay whatever we want, but we don’t have spaces,” Abilpanova says.

    She speaks to CNN at City Hub, a co-working space in central Almaty, where the desks are filled with young Russians laboring silently on their laptops.

    Recent Russian arrivals work at a co-working space in Almaty.

    Abilpanova says all of these clients had arrived in Kazakhstan within the past two weeks. As she spoke, another young Russian man carrying a giant backpack walked in the door. The business owners had to turn him away because there was no room.

    “It’s something like a tsunami for us,” Abilpanova says. “Every day they come in like this.”

    Vadim, the engineer from Moscow who recently arrived in Kazakhstan, says his company is sponsoring him and 15 other employees to transfer to the firm’s Almaty office.

    “My boss is against the [Russian] government,” Vadim says.

    Unlike many other Russians who suddenly fled into exile, Vadim can count on earning a salary for the time being.

    But he does not know when – or if – he will ever see his grandmother in Moscow.

    “I very much hope to see her again,” Vadim says, his eyes welling up with tears.

    “But I don’t know how much time she has left. I hope that I can return one day at least to bury her.”

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  • Thailand’s day care massacre unites families and a country in grief | CNN

    Thailand’s day care massacre unites families and a country in grief | CNN

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    Uthai Sawan, Thailand
    CNN
     — 

    Smears of dried blood still stained the wooden floor of a classroom in northeastern Thailand on Friday, a day after the country’s worst massacre unfolded in perhaps one of the most unlikely places.

    At the Child Development Center Uthai Sawan, school bags sat uncollected on colored shelves, and photos of children smiled from the wall, clipped into place with pegs near cardboard cut-outs of ladybirds.

    Outside, sobbing parents sat on blue plastic chairs in a makeshift shed, nursing their grief and clinging to each other and their children’s blankets and bottles, any reminder of life, as officials finalized plans for a visit from the country’s top leaders.

    More than 20 young children ages 2-5 lost their lives in this classroom during nap time on Thursday when a former policeman armed with a knife and handgun forced his way inside and slashed them in their sleep.

    In a strange mix of grief and grandeur, at the center’s front door, a red carpet had been rolled out for the delivery of a floral wreath, a gift from the Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, the King’s youngest daughter.

    Later Friday, the King and Queen visited the injured survivors and their families at Nong Bua Lam Phu Hospital in a rare appearance, a source with direct knowledge of the king’s schedule told CNN.

    Their visit followed that of the country’s prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, who earlier met with families at the relief center set up by the government, visited hospitalized victims and laid flowers outside the day care.

    Thailand is accustomed to the underlying tensions that come in a nation governed by leaders of a military coup, but violence of the type perpetrated on Thursday is rare. The last mass death in the southeast Asian country was two years ago, when a former soldier went on a rampage at a military site before targeting shoppers at a mall in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, known as Korat, further south.

    In that case, the shooter was said to have erupted after an argument with another soldier over a land-selling commission fee. In this case, the motive is unclear but after terrorizing the childcare center, Panya Kamrab, a 34-year-old former policeman drove home and shot his wife and child, before taking his own life.

    The total death toll was 36, including Panya’s wife and two-year-old stepson, who normally attended that day care center, but who wasn’t there when the officer came searching for him. The toddler’s death takes the number of children killed to 24.

    Drugs don’t seem to have played a direct role – a forensic examination conducted by Udon Hospital found no evidence Panya used drugs in the 72 hours before the massacre.

    National police chief Pol. Gen. Damrongsak Kittiprapas said authorities believe Panya thought his wife would leave him, and she reported having a fight with him and phoning his mother for help.

    Nopparat Phewdam sat outside the day care center on Friday with other parents, though she lost her brother in the attack. Unlike others there, Nopparat knew the killer. She said he was a frequent customer to her convenience store and often came in with his stepson. “He seemed polite and spoke softly,” she said.

    Noppart Phewdam told CNN she lost her brother in the massacre.

    Details of the massacre have been slow to emerge, but the accounts given so far describe a man armed to kill, who didn’t hesitate to attack innocent children, and even shot dead a pregnant staff member who was a month away from giving birth.

    One staff member said Panya entered the center around noon, while two other staff members were having lunch. They heard sounds “like fire crackers” and saw two colleagues collapse on the floor. “Then he pulled another gun from his waist…I didn’t expect he would also kill the kids,” they said.

    Pol. Gen. Damrongsak said the suspect went to the day care center when he couldn’t find his wife and stepson at home. He crashed his vehicle on the way and shot three teachers before entering the building.

    Most of the deaths were the result of “stabbing wounds,” local police chief Major General Paisan Luesomboon told CNN. First responders told CNN of the grim scene that awaited them – most injuries were to the head, they said.

    In the any community, the loss of 36 people in one atrocity would be keenly felt, but the deaths of so many young children in a small rural area has shaken the village of around 6,300 people.

    Distraught families sat side by side outside the center, united in grief, as they waited Friday for details of government support.

    This couple lost their four-year-old son in the massacre.

    They included the heavily pregnant mother of four-year-old Thawatchai Siphu, also known as Dan, who was too distraught to speak. Dan’s grandmother, Oy Yodkhao, told CNN the family had been excited to welcome a new baby brother.

    Now their joy is drowned in loss and disbelief that someone could murder innocent children.

    “I couldn’t imagine there would be this kind of people,” said Oy. “I could not imagine he was this cruel to children.”

    Also sitting in numb grief were Pimpa Thana and Chalermsilp Kraosai, the parents of talkative twin boys, Weerapat and Worapon, who were yet to celebrate their fourth birthday – with two children, their family had been complete.

    Pimpa said her mother had phoned her to tell her there’d been a shooting at the day care center. “At that time I was not aware that my children were dead, my husband kept the news from me. I know it after I returned home.”

    Rows of small toddler-sized coffins in white and pale pink were laid on the ground as police retrieved the bodies from the classroom Thursday.

    Across the country on Friday, people wore black and flags flew at half-staff at government buildings, as thoughts turned to what lessons could be learned from a massacre within the walls of a classroom.

    A Thai officer lays a wreath of flowers from the royal family to mourn those killed at a child care center in the country's north.

    Gregory Raymond from Australian National University says he sees parallels between the mass shooting in 2020 and what happened Thursday at the day care center. Both perpetrators had served as officers in a country with a strong policing and military presence.

    “These are young men. They appear to have become alienated in some way. And they had access to weapons,” he said.

    It’s not known what mental issues Panya had been suffering, though it was believed he had a long-term drug problem – a perennial issue in the country, especially near its northern borders and the Golden Triangle, a global hub for illicit drugs.

    Last year, officials seized a record amount of methamphetamine – nearly 172 tons – in East and Southeast Asia in 2021, including the first haul of over 1 billion methamphetamine tablets.

    “There’s a lot of manufacturing going on in the Mekong sub region, and there’s also a lot of trafficking through Thailand,” said Raymond. “So all of that means that there’s more people who are developing problems with methamphetamine, and I think that has to be seen as a pretty significant cause of what’s happened here.”

    The mix of drugs and mental health issues among the forces is a problem Thailand needs to address, he added.

    “Thailand might have to start to think more about how it manages mental health amongst professionals, particularly those who have access to guns, or who have become used to having used to having violence as a kind of tool for their occupation.”

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  • NKorea launches 2 missiles toward sea after US-SKorea drills

    NKorea launches 2 missiles toward sea after US-SKorea drills

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Sunday, the latest of its recent barrage of weapons tests, a day after the North warned the redeployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula was inflaming regional tensions.

    South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it detected two missile launches Sunday between 1:48 a.m. and 1:58 a.m. from the North’s eastern coastal city of Munchon. It added that South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a readiness in close coordination with the United States.

    Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino also confirmed the launches, saying the North’s testing activities are “absolutely unacceptable” as they threaten regional and international peace and security.

    Ino said the weapons could be submarine-launched ballistic missiles. “We are continuing to analyze details of the missiles, including a possibility that they might have been launched from the sea,” Ino said.

    North Korea’s pursuit of an ability to fire missiles from a submarine would constitute an alarming development for its rivals because it’s harder to detect such launches in advance. North Korea was believed to have last tested a missile launch from a submarine in May.

    Ino said both missiles launched Sunday flew about 350 kilometers (217 miles) at a maximum attitude of 100 kilometers (60 miles) before they fell into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

    Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida separately instructed officials to gather and analyze all information they could and expedite any updates about the tests to the public. His office said it also was seeking to ensure the safety of all aircraft and ships in waters around Japan while preparing for any contingencies.

    The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the launches didn’t pose any immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to its allies. But it said the launches highlight “the destabilizing impact” of North Korea’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. It said the U.S. commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan remain “ironclad.”

    The launch, the North’s seventh round of weapons tests in two weeks, came hours after the United States and South Korea wrapped up a new round of two-day naval drills off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.

    The drills involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group, which returned to the area after North Korea fired a powerful missile over Japan last week to protest the carrier group’s previous training with South Korea.

    On Saturday, North Korea’s Defense Ministry warned that the Reagan’s redeployment was causing a “considerably huge negative splash” in regional security. The North’s Defense Ministry called its recent missile tests a “righteous reaction” to intimidating military drills between South Korea and the United States.

    North Korea regards U.S.-South Korean military exercises as an invasion rehearsal and is especially sensitive if such drills involve U.S. strategic assets such as an aircraft carrier. North Korea has argued it was forced to pursue a nuclear weapons program to cope with U.S. nuclear threats. U.S. and South Korean officials have repeatedly said they have no intentions of attacking the North.

    North Korea’s latest launches added to its record-breaking pace of weapons tests this year. The recent weapons tests included a nuclear-capable missile that flew over Japan for the first time in five years. It was estimated to have traveled about 4,500-4,600 kilometers (2,800-2,860 miles), a distance sufficient to reach the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and beyond.

    Sunday’s launches came on the eve of the 77th foundation anniversary of the North Korean ruling Workers’ Party.

    Earlier this year, North Korea tested other nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that place the U.S. mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan within striking distance.

    North Korea’s testing spree indicates its leader, Kim Jong Un, has no intention of resuming diplomacy with the U.S. and wants to focus on expanding his weapons arsenal. But some experts say Kim would eventually aim to use his advanced nuclear program to wrest greater outside concessions, such as the recognition of North Korea as a legitimate nuclear state, which Kim thinks is essential in getting crippling U.N. sanctions on his country lifted.

    South Korean officials recently said North Korea was also prepared to test a new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile and a submarine-launched ballistic missile while maintaining readiness to perform its first underground nuclear test since 2017.

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  • North Korea fires two ballistic missiles, South Korea and Japan say | CNN

    North Korea fires two ballistic missiles, South Korea and Japan say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the Munchon area of Kangwon Province to the waters off the peninsula’s eastern coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters on Sunday.

    The missiles were launched between 1:47 a.m. and 1:53 a.m. local time Sunday, according to Japan’s State Minister of Defense Toshiro Ino.

    Both missiles fell outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone, Ino added.

    The first missile is estimated to have flown about 350 kilometers, or 217 miles, at a maximum altitude of approximately 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, according to Ino. The second traveled about the same distance.

    Ino noted there were no reports of damages to vessels at sea, but the defense ministry is still analyzing the details and investigating what kind of missiles were launched, including the possibility they were submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

    South Korea’s military has strengthened its surveillance and vigilance and maintaining a full readiness posture while closely cooperating with the US, the country’s joint chiefs of staff said.

    This is the 25th missile launch this year, according to CNN’s count, which includes both ballistic and cruise missiles. The last launch occurred Thursday when North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles, the latest in a spate of launches in the past two weeks.

    Japan’s Coast Guard instructed vessels to pay attention to information and to not approach any objects which have fallen in the sea. It also asked vessels to report any relevant information.

    On Tuesday, North Korea fired another missile, without warning, which flew over and past Japan, causing Japan to warn its citizens to take shelter.

    The missile Tuesday traveled over northern Japan early in the morning, and is believed to have landed in the Pacific Ocean. The last time North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan was in 2017.

    US Indo-Pacific Command said Saturday the latest launches do “not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies.”

    “We are aware of the two ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with our allies and partners,” the command said in a statement. “The missile launch highlights the destabilizing impact of the DPRK’s unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs. The US commitments to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad.”

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned if North Korea continues “down this road” of provocation following its ballistic missile launch Tuesday, “it will only increase the condemnation, increase the isolation and increase the steps that are taken in response to their actions.”

    The US imposed new sanctions Friday, following North Korean recent ballistic missile tests, the US Treasury and State Department said.

    North Korea usually fires its missiles into waters off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, making Tuesday’s flight over Japan considerably more provocative.

    The aggressive acceleration in weapons testing has sparked alarm in the region, with the US, South Korea and Japan responding with missile launches and joint military exercises. The US has also redeployed an aircraft carrier into waters near the peninsula, a move South Korean authorities called “very unusual.”

    Japan issued a strong protest against North Korea through its embassy in Beijing, Ino said.

    On Thursday, US, South Korean and Japanese warships performed a missile defense exercise in the Sea of Japan, the US-Indo Pacific Command said in a statement.

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  • FIFA won’t sanction Indonesia over fatal crush, Widodo says

    FIFA won’t sanction Indonesia over fatal crush, Widodo says

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    JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s president said the country will not face sanctions from soccer’s world governing body after the firing of tear gas inside a half-locked stadium caused a crush at the exits, killing 131 people, including 17 children.

    Joko Widodo said FIFA President Giani Infantino wrote in a letter to him about potential collaborations between Indonesia and FIFA and the country will remain the host of next year’s U-20 World Cup joined by 24 countries from five continents.

    “Based on the letter, thank God, Indonesian is not sanctioned by FIFA,” Widodo said in a video posted on the presidential office’s YouTube channel late Friday.

    In its security protocols, FIFA advises against the use of tear gas in or around stadiums and recommends exit gates be unlocked at all times during a game. While those rules are considered a safety standard, they don’t apply to domestic or national leagues and FIFA has no authority over how local governments and police control crowds.

    Widodo toured the Kanjuruhan soccer stadium in Malang city on Wednesday and said several locked gates had contributed to the disaster that followed a league game between host Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya on Oct. 1. The national police chief on Thursday said the stadium did not have a proper operating certificate and criminal charges would be brought against six people, including three police officers.

    Indonesia’s national soccer association, known locally as PSSI, has long struggled to manage the game domestically.

    Gaining the right to host next year’s Under-20 World Cup was a major milestone in Indonesia’s soccer development, raising hopes that a successful tournament would turn around longstanding problems that have blighted the sport in the nation, home to more than 277 million people.

    The deadly crush at is a tragic reminder, however, that Indonesia is one of the most dangerous countries in which to attend a game.

    Since last week, the domestic league has been suspended. Widodo has ordered the sports minister, the national police chief and the soccer federation to conduct a thorough investigation into the deadly stadium crush.

    He said on Friday that Indonesian government has agreed to take collaborative measures with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation to improve stadium safety to prevent another tragedy.

    “FIFA, together with the government will set a transformation team for Indonesian ,” Widodo said, adding that Infantino would also to visit Indonesia in the near future.

    He said that FIFA will be based in Indonesia during these processes to improve safety standards at all football stadiums across the country, formulate security procedures and protocols for the police based on international standards, take feedback from Indonesian football clubs and fans, regulate season calendar under risk-based considerations as well as to involve experts from various fields for advice.

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  • Japanese avant-garde pioneer composer Ichiyanagi dies at 89

    Japanese avant-garde pioneer composer Ichiyanagi dies at 89

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    TOKYO — Avant-garde pianist and composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, who studied with John Cage and went on to lead Japan’s advances in experimental modern music, has died. He was 89.

    Ichiyanagi, who was married to Yoko Ono before she married John Lennon, died Friday, according to the Kanagawa Arts Foundation, where Ichiyanagi had served as general artistic director. The cause of death was not given.

    “We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all those who loved him during his lifetime,” the foundation’s chairman, Kazumi Tamamura, said in a statement Saturday.

    Ichiyanagi studied at The Juilliard School in New York and emerged a pioneer, using free-spirited compositional techniques that left much to chance, incorporating not only traditional Japanese elements and instruments but also electronic music.

    He was known for collaborations that defied the boundaries of genres, working with Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham, as well as innovative Japanese artists like architect Kisho Kurokawa and poet-playwright Shuji Terayama, as well as with Ono, with whom he was married for several years starting in the mid-1950s.

    “In my creation, I have been trying to let various elements, which have often been considered separately as contrast and opposite in music, coexist and penetrate each other,” Ichiyanagi once said in an artist statement.

    Japanese traditional music inspired and emboldened him, he said, because it was not preoccupied with the usual definitions of music as “temporal art,” or what he called “divisions,” such as relative and absolute, or new and old.

    Modern music was more about “substantial space, in order to restore the spiritual richness that music provides,” he said.

    Among his well-known works for orchestra is his turbulently provocative “Berlin Renshi.” Renshi is a kind of Japanese collaborative poetry that is more open-ended free verse than older forms like “renku.”

    In 1989, Ichiyanagi formed the Tokyo International Music Ensemble — The New Tradition (TIME), an orchestral group focused on traditional instruments and “shomyo,” a style of Buddhist chanting.

    His music traveled freely across influences and cultures, transitioning seamlessly from minimalist avant-garde to Western opera.

    Ichiyanagi toured around the world, premiering his compositions at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris. The National Theater of Japan also commissioned him for several works.

    He remained prolific over the years, producing Concerto for marimba and orchestra in 2013, and Piano Concerto No. 6 in 2016, which Ichiyanagi performed solo at a Tokyo festival.

    Ichiyanagi received numerous awards, including the Alexander Gretchaninov Prize from Juilliard, L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette and the Medal of Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government.

    Born in Kobe to a musical family, Ichiyanagi showed promise as a composer at a young age. He won a major competition in Japan before moving to the U.S. as a teen, when such moves were still relatively rare in postwar Japan.

    A private funeral is being held with family. A public ceremony in his honor is in the works, being arranged by his son, Japanese media reports said.

    ———

    Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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