World
‘I missed my family’: Tears and smiles as Thai captives come home
Bangkok, Thailand – Three words in English gave Thai migrant worker Khomkrit Chombua the first signal in 50 days that his captors in Gaza were about to release him: “You go Thailand.”
Khomkrit was among 17 Thai captives who arrived in Bangkok on Thursday, tired and visibly thin but appearing in good spirits.
The returnees were mobbed at the airport by tearful relatives overwhelmed with relief that their loved ones, who had left home to earn money for their families back home, had returned alive after being caught up in someone else’s war.
Khomkrit Chombua, 28, a shy man of few words from Surin province near the Cambodia border, was smothered with hugs by three of his cousins after he arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport dressed in a T-shirt with Thai and Israeli flags printed on it.
“I felt so happy,” he told Al Jazeera, recalling the moment his captors told him he would be freed.
“I missed my family, I was worried about them … I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to make it out.”
Like the other freed captives, Khomkrit thanked everyone involved in his rescue but declined to speak about the conditions of his captivity.
Thailand has been among the countries most affected by the war between Israel and Hamas. At least 39 Thais were killed during Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, all poor rural migrant labourers working on Israeli farms close to Gaza, and 32 others were taken captive.
Nine Thai nationals still remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip, according to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has pledged to spare no effort to get them back. Six other freed captives are in Israel waiting to return home.
“Our mission to rescue our Thai workers … is not yet complete,” Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said at Suvarnabhumi Airport, explaining his emotion at seeing his compatriots freed after weeks of painstaking diplomacy.
“For the nine Thais who are still being held, we will do our very best and chase every avenue we have to bring them home.”
Khomkrit had been working in Israel for over four years when he was kidnapped, about one year short of the maximum period Thai migrant workers are allowed to work in Israel without renewing their visa.
Like most of the roughly 30,000 Thais working in Israel, he was employed in agriculture, drawing on skills and experience of outdoor work learned in the rice basket region of Isan, where his home province of Surin is located.
Under a since-lapsed labour agreement signed between Israel and Thailand in 2011, Thai migrant workers were guaranteed a minimum wage of 5,300 shekels a month ($2,000), several times more than most can expect to earn back home cultivating rice, rubber or sugar.
The agreement also called for increased scrutiny of the recruitment process, while Israeli officials said it would reduce by up to 80 percent the $10,000 in broker fees paid by Thai workers.
For many Thais, whose average daily wage is about 300 baht (around $10), working in Israel has been seen as a shortcut to home ownership or buying land for their family.
While Khomkrit’s sojourn was brutally cut short, he said he was still grateful to be able to work overseas and build his family a home.
“I was a delivery driver at Tesco Lotus in Bangkok before I went to Israel. I was living hand-to-mouth pretty much, a decade of savings still wouldn’t have been enough to do it,” he said of his aspirations to buy a home.
The World Bank said this week that Thailand remains the country in East Asia and the Pacific with the highest “income-based inequality”, with the richest 10 percent earning nearly 50 percent of total income.
Thailand’s household debt stands at 90 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin this week promised to crack down on loan sharks, which have ensnared numerous communities in debt traps.
For most young people in farming communities like Khomkrit’s, moving to the city or working overseas feels like the only option, even if that means accepting risks to their safety.
“It’s always about the money, right?” Khomkrit’s cousin Piyanus Phujuttu, 27, told Al Jazeera.
“In Thailand, with this low minimum wage, you can’t achieve more than putting food in your mouth.”
Amid the scenes of joy on Thursday, the realities of life for Thailand’s poorest were not far from view.
Waiting for her husband Wichian Temthong to enter the arrivals area at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Malai Is-sara said he had been taken hostage shortly after starting work.
“He went there to follow his dreams: building his parents a house, paying for school for our two young boys,” she told Al Jazeera.
“I still think he’ll go back out to chase his dreams.”
World
Memes, Jokes and Cats: South Koreans Use Parody for Political Protest
As South Koreans took to the streets this month demanding the ousting of their president, some found an unexpected outlet to express their fury: jokes and satire.
They hoisted banners and flags with whimsical messages about cats, sea otters and food. They waved signs joking that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law had forced them to leave the comfort of their beds. Pictures of the flags spread widely on social media.
The idea was to use humor to build solidarity against Mr. Yoon, who has vowed to fight his impeachment over his ill-fated martial law decree on Dec. 3. Some waved flags for nonexistent groups like the so-called Dumpling Association, a parody of real groups like labor unions, churches or student clubs.
“I just wanted to show that we were here as part of the people even if we aren’t actually a part of a civic group,” said Kim Sae-rim, 28, who waved the flag of the dumpling group at a recent protest she went to with friends. Some groups referred to other local favorites like pizza and red bean pastries.
Kwon Oh-hyouck, a veteran protester, said that he had first seen such flags emerge during demonstrations in 2016 and 2017 that ultimately resulted in the removal of President Park Geun-hye. Mr. Kwon said that satire was part of the Korean spirit of protest.
“People satirize serious situations, even when those in power come out with guns and knives,” he said. “They are not intimidated.”
In the past month, protesters have come up with a wide range of unorthodox groupings. Some were self-proclaimed homebodies. Still others came together as people who suffered from motion sickness.
Lee Kihoon, a professor of modern Korean history at Yonsei University in Seoul, said that he believed the flags at this month’s protests were an expression of the diversity of people galvanized by the president’s attempt to impose military rule.
“They’re trying to say: ‘Even for those of us who have nothing to do with political groups, this situation is unacceptable,’” he said. “‘I’m not a member of a party or anything, but this is outrageous.’”
Some held signs ridiculing Mr. Yoon, saying that he had separated them from their pets at home and disrupted their routine of watching Korean dramas. One group called itself a union of people running behind schedule, referring to the idea that the need to protest over martial law had forced them to reschedule their appointments.
And of course, there were animals, both real and fake.
South Koreans have shown that protests for serious causes — like the ousting of a president — can still have an inviting, optimistic and carnival-like atmosphere.
“I don’t know if the protesters realize it, but even though they’re angry, they haven’t gotten solemn, heavy or moralistic,” Mr. Lee said. “The flags have had an effect of softening and relaxing the tension.”
On the day that lawmakers voted to impeach Mr. Yoon, protesters who were K-pop fans brought lightsticks to rallies and danced to pop songs blasting from speakers. “Even though this is a serious day,” said Lee Jung-min, a 31-year-old fan of the band Big Bang, “we might as well enjoy it and keep spirits up.”
World
Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent 'friendly fire' incident: US military
Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in what appeared to be “friendly fire”, the U.S. military said.
The pilots were found alive after they ejected from their aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries.
The incident demonstrates the pervasive dangers in the Red Sea corridor amid ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis, even as U.S. and European military coalitions patrol the area.
The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, but U.S. Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was.
US NAVY SHIPS REPEL ATTACK FROM HOUTHIS IN GULF OF ADEN
The military said the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.
The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, according to Central Command. On Dec. 15, Central Command said the Truman had entered the Mideast, but did not specify that the carrier and its battle group were in the Red Sea.
“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.
It is unclear how the Gettysburg had mistaked an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly since ships in a battle group are linked by radar and radio communication.
US MILITARY CONDUCTS SUCCESSFUL AIRSTRIKES ON HOUTHI REBEL FORCES IN YEMEN
Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Fire from the Houthis has previously forced sailors to make decisions in seconds.
The U.S., since the Truman arrived, has ramped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. But an American warship group in the region may lead to additional attacks from the rebels.
On Saturday night and into Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, which the Houthis have held for a decade. Central Command said the strikes targeted a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility.”
Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, but did not disclose details on any casualties or damage.
The Houthis later acknowledged the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October of last year, the Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones.
The rebels say that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which began after Hamas’ surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, although many of the ships the rebels have attacked have little or no connection to the ongoing war, including some headed for Iran.
The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel with drones and missiles, leading to retaliatory airstrikes from Israeli forces.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
AfD party calls for big rally after Germany's Christmas market attack
Leading right-wing figures in Europe have also weighed in, criticising the German authorities for failing to take stronger preventative action.
German far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is calling for a major rally following the attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg which left several people dead and hundreds injured.
At a memorial site for the victims, AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla called on Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to take stronger action to ensure the safety of the German public.
“I am now demanding answers from the interior minister: What is actually going on here in this country? What is actually happening in this country? We put up with it week after week, we put up with attacks, we put up with murders of our own people. This has to be cleared up now, and these phrases from politicians that things can’t go on like this, which I’ve heard again today, are actually upsetting,” Chrupalla told the press at the site.
Experts are now raising concerns that far-right groups could exploit the tragedy to fuel their anti-immigration rhetoric after police identified the assailant as a doctor from Saudi Arabia.
“Magdeburg is in eastern Germany where the support for the AfD is quite high. So, in elections usually, they have in the region more than one-third of the votes. So about 30% of the votes in the city, not as much as in the rural areas around,” says Matthias Quent, Professor of Sociology at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences.
“The region in general, eastern Germany, is a hotspot of far-right mobilisations. And we are facing election campaigns until the federal elections in February. And so this is not just a critical time because of Christmas and the trust that gets destroyed by such an attack but, also, regarding questions of disinformation and polarisation and the spread of hate that will and could happen over these kinds of attacks now,” he added.
Leading right-wing figures in Europe have also weighed in, criticising the German authorities for failing to take stronger preventative action.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán drew a direct link between immigration and Friday’s deadly attack in Germany, telling a news conference on Saturday, “These phenomena have only existed in Europe since the start of the migration crisis. So there is no doubt that there is a link between the changed world in Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and terrorist acts.”
However, Quent explains that this particular case becomes more complex as further details emerge on the background of the attacker.
Investigators have found that the perpetrator had tried to build connections to far-right organisations in Germany and the UK, including Germany’s far-right AfD party as well as Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League.
“So it’s a very complicated case we are facing here. And it’s not an Islamist attack. It’s quite sure, a kind of anti-Islam. More like far-right attacks than any other, if you want to search a kind of context on the political radar,” Quent says.
Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he had been living in Germany for two decades.
Taleb’s alleged X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith.
He also described himself as a former Muslim.
He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”
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