Amnesty International: Indonesian Security Forces to Blame for Unlawful Killings

Amnesty International says Indonesian security forces are responsible for unlawfully killing as many as 95 people in the Papua territory since 2010.

According to the report issued Monday by the human rights advocacy group, many of the victims were political activists who took part in raising the "Morning Star" flag, which symbolizes the territory's independence movement; others were killed while taking part in peaceful, non-political demonstrations. Many of the killings were the result of unnecessary or excessive use of force.

Amnesty says none of the unlawful killings has been subject to an independent criminal investigation. The report slammed President Joko Widodo for failing to live up to his promise to improve the human rights situation on Papua when he took office in 2014.

The report is the culmination of two years of interviews with victims' families, witnesses and political activists.

"The culture of impunity within the security forces must change, and those responsible for past deaths held to account," said Usman Hamid, Amnesty Indonesia executive director.

Jakarta has ruled Papua, located on the western half of New Guinea island, since annexing it in the late 1960s after decades under Dutch rule.

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Divers with Extra Supplies Advance in Thai Cave Passageway

MAE SAI, THAILAND — 

Rescue divers on Monday were making progress through a key passageway inside the flooded mountain cave in northern Thailand where 12 boys and their soccer coach have been missing for more than a week.

Thai navy SEALs said in a Facebook post early Monday that divers since Sunday night had reached a bend where the kilometer- (half-mile-) long passage splits in two directions. The divers are aiming for a sandy chamber on higher ground in the cave, where they believe the group would be safe.

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach entered Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province on June 23. Heavy rains that flooded key passages are believed to have trapped the soccer players and have thwarted the search for them.

Divers have been stymied again and again by muddy water rising filing sections of the cave and forcing them to withdraw for safety reasons. When water levels dropped Sunday, the divers went forward with a more methodical approach, deploying a rope line and extra oxygen supplies along the way.

"I hope that today we will continue to have another good day. It will be even better if everything else could run smoothly,'' Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn told reporters Monday.

He said the passageway the divers are making their way through goes upward in some places and downward in others and is extremely narrow. It is difficult for divers with all their gear to fit through.

In addition to the divers, teams have been working to pump out water as well as divert groundwater. Other efforts have focused on finding shafts on the mountainside that might serve as a back door to the blocked-off areas where the missing may be sheltering.

Teams have been combing the mountainside looking for fissure that might lead to such shafts. Several have been found and explorers have been able to descend into some, but so far it is not clear whether they lead to anywhere useful.

Narongsak said they were focusing Sunday on two of the shafts.

Experts in cave rescues from around the world continued to gather at the site. An official Australian group has now followed a U.S. military team, British cave experts, Chinese lifesaving responders and several other volunteer groups from various countries.

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Thailand's Political Tough-Guy Back in the Fray to Support Military as Vote Nears

BANGKOK — 

The last time most Thais saw politician Suthep Thaugsuban was in 2015 when he entered the Buddhist monkhood and announced his retirement after spearheading protests that culminated in a military coup against a government he detested.

The military, after taking power, clamped a tight lid on politics, and the rivalry between the military-royalist establishment and new upstart political forces that had roiled the country for a decade was stifled.

But now a long-promised general election is on the horizon - due sometime between February and May - and old animosities are stirring and veteran political brawler Suthep, 68, is back.

Suthep, a one-time deputy prime minister in a pro-establishment government, has said he will contest the election under the banner of a new party he set up to sustain the work of the military government and to campaign for its leader, Prayuth Chan-ocha, to be prime minister of a civilian administration.

The return of Suthep, who has a record of mobilizing crowds on the streets in support of the establishment, could be a big asset for the military which has made no secret of its aim to retain a grip over politics after the election.

The military and Suthep have common cause in their burning desire to rid the country of the influence of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his family, whose supporters have been biding their time and pinning their hopes on the election.

Suthep makes no secret of his support for former army chief Prayuth and his wish to see him return as prime minister after the vote, but says he must defer to his new party, the Action Coalition for Thailand, which has yet to spell out its position.

"He's a good guy, not corrupt, determined, and he has the trust of his people and is loyal to the monarchy," Suthep told Reuters in a recent interview.

"So I cheer him on, the more he can succeed, the better for the country," Suthep said, while adding he had no desire to take on any leadership role in a new government.

Suthep, for years known as a pugnacious deal-maker, has been a central figure in well over a decade of turmoil that began in 2000, when former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin became prime minister for the first time

Thaksin fired up support in the provinces with pro-poor policies, and shook up politics with his brash, election-winning ways.

In the process, he made enemies in the Bangkok-based, military-dominated establishment, which accused him of corruption and buying election victories.

Suthep, a former shrimp and palm-oil magnate from Thailand's south, served as deputy prime minister in a pro-establishment government after Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup, and which oversaw a bloody crackdown on Thaksin's "red-shirt" supporters occupying Bangkok streets in 2010.

Suthep expects his party's support to come from Thaksin's main enemies, the Bangkok middle class, and he's keen to see that the party sets an example with transparent funding and the inclusion of women, to bolster that support.

'Leaders gone'

Suthep lead protests against a government formed in 2011 by Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, rallying pro-establishment crowds who tried to march on the government's offices to shut it down.

The turmoil eventually triggered the coup by then army chief Prayuth. Suthep and his allies celebrated the fall of another government loyal to their enemy, Thaksin.

Suthep said he expected Thaksin's party to see its support whittled down in its northern and northeastern heartlands in the next election, though the Shinawatras still commanded a significant block of votes.

But the people were slowly seeing the truth about them, he said.

"All their leaders are gone," Suthep said of the voters who have loyally stuck with Thaksin's parties.

"People can see that the brother and sister have fled, deserting those that served them, who are in jail, from cabinet ministers to ordinary folk," he said.

Thaksin has been living in exile since 2008 to avoid a graft conviction he said was politically motivated. Yingluck fled from the country last August during a criminal negligence trial that eventually sentenced her to five years in jail.

She also denied wrongdoing.

Suthep praised the military government for overseeing the introduction of a constitution that critics say enshrines the military's sway over civilian governments.

But he said the military government had not completed its work and he wanted his party to ensure the country would stay on the course the military had set, with no sliding back to what he described as the dangerous old ways.

A political rival said Suthep was making a fatal mistake by nailing his colors to the military's mast.

"This will be Suthep's last role," said Nattawut Saikua, a deputy prime minister in Yingluck's cabinet, who, like Suthep, is known as a fiery orator, though for the opposite side in Thailand's drawn-out political battle.

"Politicians who walk away from the democratic system and stand with a dictator have never been able to come back or be accepted by the people."

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UN Chief Marks 50 Years Since NPT Signing

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday hailed the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Marking the date, Guterres in a statement said, “The NPT is an essential pillar of international peace and security, and the heart of the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. Its unique status is based on its near universal membership, legally-binding obligations on disarmament, verifiable non-proliferation safeguards regime, and commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear energy."

What is the NPT?

The objective of the international treaty is to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons-making technology, allow its signatories to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and phase out the nuclear arsenal of the five original nuclear powers - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the U.S.

When did the NPT take effect?

The treaty was signed July 1, 1968. It came into force in 1970 and it was extended indefinitely in May of 1995.

Who are the treaty’s signatories?

Most of the world, as 191 countries have signed the NPT. The holdouts are India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan. North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 2003. North Korea, India and Pakistan have publicly disclosed their weapons program and Israel has long maintained a policy of deliberate ambiguity.

How does it work?

The treaty establishes a safeguards system that is overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The agency uses inspections as a means to verify compliance of the treaty by member states.

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US: North Korea Could Dismantle Nuclear Program within a Year

WASHINGTON — 

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday he believes that most of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs can be dismantled within a year.

Bolton told CBS News that if Pyongyang has already made the "strategic decision" to end its weapons development program and "they're cooperative, we can move very quickly. Physically we would be able to dismantle the overwhelming bulk of their programs within a year."

But Bolton declined to comment on a Washington Post report that North Korea is trying to obscure and hide its nuclear program even after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed at last month's Singapore summit with U.S. President Donald Trump to "work toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

"We're very well aware of North Korea's patterns of behavior over decades of negotiating with the United States," Bolton said. " We know exactly what the risks are of them using negotiations to drag out the length of time they have to continue their nuclear, chemical, biological weapons programs and ballistic missiles. There's not any starry-eyed feeling among the group doing this."

There were no details in the Singapore pact that Kim and Trump signed on how and when Pyongyang might end its nuclear weapons program. Bolton said that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would soon begin discussions with North Korean officials on details of the disarmament.

Bolton expressed optimism that Kim would carry out his country's denuclearization.

"Kim Jong Un was very emphatic several times in Singapore he was different from prior regimes," Bolton said. " Now we'll let their actions speak for themselves."

In a separate interview, Trump told Fox News that he had "a very good chemistry" with Kim at the summit and believes that Kim will carry out his announced intention to end his nuclear weapons development.

"I made a deal with him," Trump said. "I shook hands with him. I really believes he means it."

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Anti-Slavery Laws Target Companies in Australia

SYDNEY — 

Australia has proposed new laws in parliament in a bid to become a world leader in fighting slavery. More than 3,000 Australian companies will be required to report what they are doing to avoid slavery in their supply chains.

The government says the proposed laws are a milestone in Australia’s fight against a “heinous crime.”

It is estimated there are 4,000 people in slaverylike conditions in Australian farms, mines, building sites, brothels and homes.

Many have been trafficked from Asia, particularly South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.

Modern slavery

Victims of modern slavery can be bullied into prostitution through coercion or threats to family members back home, or forced to work for low wages on construction sites or in factories. Slavery can include also the theft of wages.

Under the legislation, a Modern Slavery Business Engagement Unit will be set up to monitor the new regulations.

Alex Hawke, Australia’s assistant minister for Home Affairs, says the law will make a difference.

“For the first time, large businesses will be required to identify how their operations and supply chains may contribute to modern slavery and explain what they are doing to address these risks,” he said. “This bill will send a clear message that modern slavery is unacceptable in the supply chains of all of our goods and services.”

Law needs teeth

Campaigners believe the Australian legislation is an important step but say there should be penalties for companies that fail to comply or don’t do enough to eradicate slavery.

“A mandatory reporting scheme is not really mandatory if there are no consequences for companies that fail to comply,” said Keren Adams, the director of advocacy at the Human Rights Law Center. “So without financial penalties and with no independent commissioner to help enforce them, we think the new laws will lack the necessary teeth to make sure that the worst offenders lift their game. We think the government needs to urgently address the weaknesses in the bill and send a strong message to brands that profiting from abuse will not be tolerated.”

The anti-slavery law is expected to be approved by Australia’s parliament. If so, it will be reviewed in three years to see how it is working.

The results of a three-year investigation by Australia’s workplace watchdog found foreign workers and backpackers on farms are being treated like “slaves.”

The United Nations has estimated that 25 million people are exploited in international supply chains, including in the agriculture, construction and manufacturing industries.

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Rain Breaks, But Thai Divers Make Little Progress