Six In The Morning Wednesday August 19

Asia

Bangkok bomb: Erawan shrine attacker was 'part of network', police say

The bomb attack that killed 20 people at Bangkok's Erawan shrine on Monday was carried out by a "network", Thailand's chief of police has said.

Police have released a sketch of the main suspect, a man in a yellow T-shirt who was filmed by security cameras leaving a backpack at the shrine.

The Hindu shrine, popular with tourists and Buddhists, reopened on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has described the incident as the worst-ever attack on Thailand.

Thai police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday that the shrine attack was the work of more than one person.

"He didn't do it alone for sure," he said, referring to the main suspect. "It's a network," he added, without giving further information.

Isis executes Palmyra antiquities chief and hangs him from ruins he spent a lifetime restoring

Khaled Asaad, 82, is beheaded by militants outside the museum where he worked for more than 50 years looking after the city's ancient artefacts

ADAM WITHNALL 

 

 

Wednesday 19 August 2015

Isis militants have tortured and executed the antiquities chief of the ancient city of Palmyra, according to Syrian officials and activists.

A graphic image posted online by Isis-affiliated social media accounts purported to show the decapitated body of 82-year-old Khaled Asaad, his distinctive glasses still placed on his head on the ground.

The head of Syria's department of antiquities said that militants later took Mr Asaad's body from the square where he was executed and hung it from a Roman column in one of the ruins he had dedicated more than 50 years of his life to restoring.

YEMEN/FRANCE 18/08/2015

Total workers sacked by text in war-torn Yemen

Ahmed Alramah

"Today is your last day at work”. In June, over a hundred Yemenis working for French petroleum giant Total learnt that they had been sacked when they received this text message. As Yemen descends into war and the economy falls apart, these workers are fighting to receive much-needed severance pay.

Yemen has been enveloped by war and chaos since last spring when the Arab Coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, intervened to stop the advance of the Houthi rebellion against the forces loyal to the former president.

The French group Total is the only foreign petroleum company still present in the country. The company employs about a thousand people and is involved in the exploitation of two hydrocarbon fields. After a rapid deterioration of the security situation in Yemen at the end of March, the company closed its offices in the capital, Sanaa. In April, Total announced that it would also halt the majority of gas liquefaction operations in the Yemen LNG factory, of which it is a 40% shareholder. The company decided to only produce enough gas to continue providing electrical power to the local population, according to a Total spokesperson.

Is Eritrea the North Korea of Africa?

Should Eritrea's track record on human rights crimes and religious freedom warrant a referral to the International Criminal Court at The Hague? 

By Robert P. George and Thomas J. Reese, Guest bloggers

Is Eritrea guilty of crimes against humanity?

The question evidently matters to the UN Human Rights Council, which last month extended for another year the mandate of its Commission of Inquiry (COI) on human rights in the Horn of Africa nation. This extension followed the COI’s release in June of a 500-page report detailing its abuses.

The question should also matter to the rest of the world, given Eritrea’s serious contribution to the global refugee crisis, as seen through the continued flight of 5,000 Eritreans monthly from their homeland, many of whom are heading north to Europe. 

Asia's 'infrastructure gap' threatens to hamper growth

  

By TERESA CEROJANO and JOE McDONALD

Looking out at bumper-to-bumper Monday morning traffic crawling along the Philippine capital's main avenue, taxi driver Ranilo Banez shook his head in frustration.

Congestion has gotten so bad as the economy grew, he said, that a 10-kilometer (six-mile) trip that once took 30 minutes can stretch to two hours.

"We lose so much," said Banez, 64. "We waste a lot of gasoline and time."

The Philippines is far from alone. The outpouring of support for a Chinese-led bank to finance infrastructure highlights a gap in Asia's success story: From power-starved India to Thailand's overburdened railways, developing economies face a shortage of basic facilities so severe that it threatens to hold back growth and living standards.

Manila and other cities are choked with construction sites for office and apartment towers. But spending on roads, railways and other unglamorous but essential infrastructure collapsed after the 1997 financial crisis and has yet to recover.

Figures show record influx of migrants into Europe

Border agency says over 100,000 crossed EU borders in July, signalling sharp rise in arrivals amid humanitarian crisis.

19 Aug 2015 03:34 GMT

A record 107,500 migrants crossed the European Union's borders last month, according to new figures, showing they are arriving in dramatically increasing numbers and creating a humanitarian crisis for the 28-nation bloc.

Frontex, the EU border agency, reported on Tuesday that its latest figures far outstripped the previous monthly record in June of 70,000.

During the first seven months of the year, there were nearly 340,000 migrants, up from 123,500 during the same period last year, Frontex said.

"This is an emergency situation for Europe that requires all EU member states to step in to support the national authorities who are taking on a massive number of migrants at its borders," Fabrice Leggeri, Frontex director, said in a statement.