Thailand says F-16 jet deployed against Cambodian forces, civilians wounded in border clashes
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South China Morning Post
12 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Fourth landmine blast in 4 weeks threatens Thai-Cambodian peace deal, 12 injured so far
Thai soldier was injured by a landmine near the Cambodian border on Tuesday, the Thai army said, days after the Southeast Asian neighbours agreed to a ceasefire following last month's deadly five-day conflict. The soldier's left ankle was severely injured when he stepped on the mine while patrolling along a routine border route about 1km (0.62 miles) from Ta Moan Thom temple in Thailand's Surin province, the army said in a statement. The soldier is being treated at a hospital, it said. The incident is clear evidence that Cambodia had violated the ceasefire as well as international agreements like the Ottawa Convention against landmines, Thai army spokesman Major-General Winthai Suvaree said in the statement. It was the fourth time in less than a month that Thai soldiers have been injured by mines during patrols along the border. So far, 12 have been injured and four, including the ranger on Tuesday morning, have lost their legs, the Bangkok Post reported. On Saturday, three soldiers were injured by a landmine in an area between Thailand's Sisaket and Cambodia's Preah Vihear provinces. The blast pointed to covert use of weapons by the Cambodian troops, Winthai said, according to Bloomberg. Two earlier incidents led to the downgrading of diplomatic relations and triggered the clashes.
HKFP
3 days ago
- HKFP
‘Hanger war': Italy's fast fashion hub becomes Chinese mafia battlefield
When Zhang Dayong lay in a pool of blood on a sidewalk in Rome after being shot six times, few suspected a link to Italy's storied textile hub of Prato. But a 'hanger war' is raging in the city near Florence — turning Europe's largest apparel manufacturing centre and a pillar of Made in Italy production into a battleground for warring Chinese mafia groups. The situation has become so urgent that Prato's prosecutor, Luca Tescaroli, has appealed to Rome for help, calling for an anti-mafia division and reinforcements for judges and police. Tescaroli has warned that the escalation in crime has become a huge business operation and moved beyond Italy, particularly to France and Spain. The gangs are battling to control the production of hundreds of millions of clothes hangers each year — the market is estimated to be worth 100 million euros (US$115 million) — and the bigger prize of transporting apparel. The Chinese mafia also 'promotes the illegal immigration of workers of various nationalities' for Prato, Tescaroli told AFP. The veteran anti-mafia prosecutor said the 'phenomenon has been underestimated', allowing the mafia to expand its reach. With one of Europe's largest Chinese communities, the city of nearly 200,000 people has seen Chinese business owners and factory workers beaten or threatened in recent months, with cars and warehouses burned. The ex-head of Prato's police investigative unit, Francesco Nannucci, said the Chinese mafia run betting dens, prostitution and drugs — and provide their Italian counterparts with under-the-radar money transfers. For mafia leaders, 'to be able to command in Prato means being able to lead in much of Europe,' Nannucci told AFP. 'Well-oiled system' Chinese groups in the district thrive on the so-called 'Prato system', long rife with corruption and irregularities, particularly in the fast-fashion sector, such as labour and safety violations plus tax and customs fraud. Prato's 5,000-odd apparel and knitwear businesses, mostly small, Chinese-run subcontractors, churn out low-priced items that end up in shops across Europe. They pop up quickly and shut down just as fast, playing a cat-and-mouse game with authorities to avoid taxes or fines. Fabric is smuggled from China, evading customs duties and taxes, while profits are returned to China via illegal money transfers. To stay competitive, the sector relies on cheap, around-the-clock labour, mostly from China and Pakistan, which Tescaroli told a Senate committee in January was 'essential for its proper functioning'. 'It's not just one or two bad apples, but a well-oiled system they use, and do very well — closing, reopening, not paying taxes,' said Riccardo Tamborrino, a Sudd Cobas union organiser leading strikes on behalf of immigrants. Investigators say the immigrants work seven days a week, 13 hours a day for about three euros (US$3.40) an hour. Tamborrino said Prato's apparel industry was 'free from laws, from contracts'. 'It's no secret,' he said. 'All this is well known.' 'Miss Fashion' Trucks lumber day and night through the streets of Prato's industrial zone, an endless sprawl of asphalt lined with warehouses and apparel showrooms with names like 'Miss Fashion' and 'Ohlala Pronto Moda'. Open metal doors reveal loaded garment racks, rolls of fabric and stacks of boxes awaiting shipment — the final step controlled by Zhang Naizhong, whom prosecutors dub the 'boss of bosses' within Italy's Chinese mafia. A 2017 court document described Zhang as the 'leading figure in the unscrupulous circles of the Chinese community' in Europe, with a monopoly on the transport sector and operations in France, Spain, Portugal and Germany. Zhang Dayong, the man killed in Rome alongside his girlfriend in April, was Zhang Naizhong's deputy. The shootings followed three massive fires set at his warehouses outside Paris and Madrid in previous months. Nannucci believes Naizhong could be in China, after his 2022 acquittal for usury in a huge ongoing Chinese mafia trial plagued by problems — including a lack of translators and missing files. On a recent weekday, a handful of Pakistani men picketed outside the company that had employed them, after it shut down overnight having just agreed to give workers a contract under Italian law. Muhammed Akram, 44, saw his boss quietly emptying the factory of sewing machines, irons and other equipment. 'Sneaky boss,' he said, in broken Italian. Chinese garment workers, who are in the majority in Prato and often brought to Italy by the mafia, never picket, union activists say — they are too frightened to protest. Trading favours Changes in apparel manufacturing, globalisation and migration have all contributed to the so-called 'Prato system'. So has corruption. In May 2024, the second-in-command within Prato's Carabinieri police was accused of giving Italian and Chinese entrepreneurs — among them a chamber of commerce businessman — access to the police database for information, including on workers. Police complaints from attacked workers 'ended up in a drawer, never reaching the court', Sudd Cobas organiser Francesca Ciuffi told AFP. Prato's mayor resigned in June in a corruption investigation, accused of trading favours with the businessman for votes. In recent months, the union has secured regular contracts under national law for workers at over 70 companies. That will not help those caught in Prato's mafia war, however, where 'bombs have exploded and warehouses have been burned down', said Ciuffi. 'People who wake up in the morning, quietly going to work, risk getting seriously injured, if not worse, because of a war that doesn't concern them.'
RTHK
3 days ago
- RTHK
UK arrests hundreds backing banned pro-Palestine group
UK arrests hundreds backing banned pro-Palestine group Police in London arrested hundreds for supporting Palestine Action, at the latest protest backing the group since it was banned last month under anti-terror laws. Photo: AFP London's Metropolitan Police arrested more than 365 people at a protest against Britain's decision to ban the group Palestine Action, the force said. Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves and waving Palestinian flags, chanted "hands off Gaza", and held placards with the message "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action", video taken by Reuters at the scene showed. Israel denies allegations of being responsible for genocide in Gaza. The Reuters video showed demonstrators who had gathered in Parliament Square by the Houses of Parliament being carried away by police. The crowd chanted "shame on you" at the police. In a post on X, the police force said it had arrested 365 people for supporting a proscribed organisation. It also arrested seven people for other offences including five for assaults on officers, adding none was seriously injured. In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain's support for Israel. The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban. (Reuters)
