Flame it on the sunshine: Thai solar chicken a hot hit

Phetchaburi: -Not many chefs don a welding mask before they enter the kitchen, but Sila Sutharat prefers to cook his chicken sunny side up.
Two hours south of Bangkok this 60-year-old roadside vendor has found an ingenious way to offer his customers something a little different by harnessing the power of the sun.
Using a large wall of nearly 1,000 moveable mirrors -- a device he designed and built himself -- he focuses the sun´s rays onto a row of marinated chickens, sizzling away under the intense heat.
His unusual culinary methods raised a few eyebrows when he first hit upon the idea.
"They said that I´d gone mad, that cooking chicken like this was impossible," he told AFP next to his stall, the row of sun-drenched chickens behind him too bright to look at for any length of time.
"After a long time passed by, they´d say: ´Actually, you could do it´," he added.
That´s because the solar reflector generates intense heat, easily enough to match an oven, with a sunshine-baked chicken taking just twelve minutes to cook through.
For much of the last 20 years Sila grilled in relative obscurity for a fairly local crowd.
But after videos of his solar-cooker went viral online, people from across Thailand have flocked to his stall in Phetchaburi province.

Daylight saving

Sila says the idea came to him in 1997 when he was struck by the heat reflecting off a passing bus.
"I thought, with this heat reflecting from the window from the sun, I could possibly change it into energy," he said.
Sila says that compared to a traditional charcoal grill -- which he used before his solar epiphany -- his meat is more tender and evenly-cooked.
And given Thailand´s sweltering tropical climate, the sun is a free, clean and totally sustainable energy source.
"At the time, energy such as petrol and gas was becoming more expensive and suppliers were also running out of wood to sell," he recalled.
"I thought if I used solar energy, I could save a lot. And it also decreases pollution."
Sila and his wife Pansri now cook around 40 chickens -- as well as several sides of pork -- each day.
"We´ve been eating here for a long time," said regular patron Thanyarat Kaewpaleuk, who was tucking into lunch with her husband.
"It´s delicious. His chicken is fatty, it´s not burned and doesn´t smell like a charcoal grill, which you can smell on the meat."

WORLD: Earthquake kills eight in western China: report

BEIJING: An earthquake rocked China´s western Xinjiang region on Thursday, killing eight people and injuring another 11, state media reported.
The shallow 5.4-magnitude quake struck at 5:58 am (2158 GMT Wednesday) 213 kilometres (133 miles) south-southwest of the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar, the US Geological Survey said.
Xinhua news agency said eight people had been confirmed dead and 11 others were injured. An unspecified number were sent to hospital.
The People´s Daily posted a photo on Twitter of a building in complete ruins.
Other photos, all from the official earthquake monitoring centre, show ceiling panels on the ground in one building and products on the ground in a store.
The remote and sparsely populated area is close to the border with Tajikistan.
China is regularly hit by earthquakes, especially its mountainous western and southwestern regions.
In February 2003 a powerful 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Xinjiang and caused significant damage.

WORLD: Trump fires FBI director James Comey

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday made the shock decision to fire his FBI director James Comey, the man who leads the agency charged with investigating his campaign´s ties with Russia.
The surprise dismissal of Comey, who played a controversial role in the 2016 presidential election, is sure to send shockwaves through Washington.
"The president has accepted the recommendation of the attorney general and the deputy attorney general regarding the dismissal of the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters.
A search for a new FBI director was to begin "immediately," the White House said in a statement.
In a letter, Trump told Comey: "You are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately."
"While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau."
"It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission," Trump said.
FBI directors are appointed for a single 10-year term. The 56-year-old Comey, who is popular among rank-and-file agents, was appointed four years ago.
Democrat Hillary Clinton accused Comey of trashing her chances of becoming president by revealing a renewed investigation into her email use.
His dismissal will raise questions about Trump´s motives.
It will also prompt parallels with Richard Nixon´s decision to unceremoniously fire his attorney general, an event that plunged his presidency deeper into crisis.

WORLD: Top Republican challenges Trump to prove wiretapping claim

WASHINGTON: A senior Republican lawmaker on Sunday challenged President Donald Trump to prove his claim that his phone was tapped by predecessor Barack Obama during last year´s campaign -- or else retract the unsubstantiated allegation.
Senator John McCain, a frequent Trump critic, issued his demand in an interview with CNN.
"The president has one of two choices, either retract, or to provide the information that the American people deserve," McCain said.
"I have no reason to believe this is true, but I also believe that the president of the United States could clear this up in a minute," he continued.
"All he has to do is pick up the phone, call the director of the CIA, the director of national intelligence and say, ´OK, what happened?´ Because they certainly should know whether the former president of the United States was wiretapping Trump Tower."
Obama, through a spokesman, has denied Trump´s claim, which the billionaire-turned-politician made in a series of tweets earlier this month.
Obama´s director of national intelligence James Clapper also said in an interview that there was no wiretap of Trump or his campaign.
But Trump has not walked back his allegation, and the White House asked a congressional committee that is examining Russian interference in last year´s US presidential election to investigate the wiretapping claim as well.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, part of a group of eight top lawmakers who receive classified intelligence briefings, was asked Sunday during an interview with CBS News if he has seen anything to suggest there´s truth to Trump´s claim.
He responded simply: "No."
But Ryan added, "I don´t want to get ahead of the intelligence committees and their thorough investigation."

WORLD: Death toll from Damascus bombing climbs to 74

The death toll from a double bomb attack targeting visiting a pilgrimage site in Damascus has climbed to 74, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday.
Most of the dead in Saturday's attack were Iraqi who were going to visit a cemetery near the Old City of Damascus.
There has been no claim of responsibility. The Hezbollah-run al-Manar TV station said it was carried out by two suicide bombers.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been supported in the country's war by militias from countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

WORLD: Daesh says it beheads Russian officer in Syria-SITE

DUBAI: Daesh has issued a video showing the beheading of what it described as a Russian intelligence officer captured in Syria, the U.S. -based SITE monitoring website reported on Tuesday.
The Russian Defence Ministry and the FSB security service were not immediately available for comment.
The 12-minute Russian-language video, released on the day Russia celebrates the anniversary of the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany with military parades, showed the man dressed in a black jump suit kneeling in a desert scene and urging other Russian agents to surrender.
"This idiot believed the promises of his state not to abandon him if he was captured," he said before a bearded man beheaded him with a knife.
The authenticity of the recording and the identity of the man could not immediately be verified, nor was it clear when the killing occurred.
Russian forces are backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his war with rebels and militants seeking to oust him.
The video showed scenes of what it described as the aftermath of Russian bombing raids in Syria.
The Russian defence ministry says about 30 Russian servicemen have been killed since the start of the Kremlin´s operation there in September 2015.

WORLD: Kidnapped Indian priest in Yemen pleads for help in video

ADEN: An Indian priest kidnapped after an attack on a care home in Yemen's southern port city of Aden last year has appealed for help in a video recording carried by a Yemeni news website.
Father Tom Uzhunnalil was abducted in March 2016 when four gunmen posing as relatives of one of the residents at the home burst inside, killing four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the motive for the incident was unclear, but President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has called it an act of terrorism.
"They are treating me well to the extent they are able," the white-bearded Uzhunnalil said, speaking slowly in English.
"My health condition is deteriorating quickly and I require hospitalization as early as possible," he added in the recording carried by Aden Time (www.aden-tm.net) news website.
The date April 15, 2017 was written on a cardboard pasted on his body.
Uzhunnalil said his kidnappers had contacted the Indian government and the Catholic bishop in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates with their demands, but the response was "not encouraging".
"My dear family people, do what you can to help me be released. Please, please do what you can to help to get me released. May God bless you for that," he pleaded.
The authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified.
Aden's minority Christian community have largely fled what used to be a cosmopolitan seaport before it became a conflict zone.
During an all-out civil war in March 2015 Iran-aligned Houthis advanced on Aden, forcing the government forces to flee.
A Saudi-led Arab coalition has since helped local fighters expel the Houthis, but security in Aden has not been fully restored.

WORLD: China wants its anthem sung, but maybe not at parties

BEIJING: China is fine-tuning legislation on the proper way and place to sing its national anthem, tightening rules that already bar people from belting it out at parties, weddings and funerals.
A draft bill is being prepared out of concern that the patriotic ballad is "not universally respected and cherished", state media reported Tuesday.
"Due to a lack of legal constraints, the national anthem is casually used and sung in an unsolemn manner," said the Xinhua news agency.
China already has laws covering the use of its national flag and national emblem but none for its anthem, "March of the Volunteers," aside from a ban on use in advertisements.
Adopted in 1937, the buoyant, military-minded score calls on the Chinese people to "arise" and "march on" toward the establishment of a new nation.
The drafted legislation will stipulate the tempo at which the song should be played, in which circumstances and moods, and the legal consequences of placing the anthem in a "damaging situation".
It follows regulations on national anthem etiquette that were announced in 2014 to "enhance the song´s role in cultivating socialist core values".
The regulations allow the song to be used only during formal diplomatic occasions, major sporting events and international gatherings -- making the anthem off-limits at weddings, funerals and various forms of "private entertainment".
Xinhua noted the historic roots of "March of the Volunteers," originally a battle song encouraging the nation´s children to fight courageously against invaders.
In recent years, the use of the anthem has fallen into "chaos," Xinhua said, with some people laughing or making a ruckus during the song.
The bill is expected to be submitted for its first reading in June.

WORLD: Strong quake hits remote area in Alaska, no injuries

LOS ANGELES: A strong 6.4 earthquake struck off the remote Andreanof Islands in Alaska on Monday but there was no immediate risk of a tsunami, authorities said.
The temblor followed a series of quakes that shook the area early Monday, including one measuring 5.9 and another measuring 5.7, according to the US Geological Survey.
The Andreanof Islands are part of the Aleutian Islands chain in southwestern Alaska.
The area suffered a major 8.6 earthquake in 1957.
The latest quake struck 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) southwest of the Tanaga volcano.
The National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no immediate danger of a tsunami.

WORLD:Trump administration insists travel ban not anti-Muslim

WASHINGTON:  Did Donald Trump´s contested travel ban deliberately single out Muslims? The US administration fiercely denied it during an appeals court hearing Monday -- despite the president´s campaign call for a blanket Muslim ban.
The hearing came as Trump seeks to bounce back from a series of stinging judicial defeats over his controversial effort to bar travelers from half a dozen mainly Muslim countries.
The question of intention is key since the US Constitution forbids religious discrimination. Trump´s detractors say it is beyond doubt that Muslims were the ban´s intended target, but the administration says it is motivated strictly by national security concerns, an area where US presidents have wide powers.
Trump "never intended for that to discriminate on the basis of any particular religion," Jeffrey Wall, the US acting solicitor general, told judges of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond during an intensely argued afternoon hearing.
"He made clear he was not talking about Muslims all over the world," said Wall. "That´s why it´s not a Muslim ban."
But a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, Omar Jadwat, whose side is supported by several Democratic-led states, argued that Trump the candidate made clear he wanted to ban all Muslims for a time while studying enhanced immigration vetting.
A lower judge´s ruling dealt Trump a blow by freezing his second attempt to close US borders to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.
Given the public importance of the case, the full appeals court in Richmond heard the arguments -- bypassing the usual initial three-judge panel -- for the first time in a quarter-century.
Thirteen of the court´s 15 active judges took part. Two recused themselves over potential conflicts of interest, including the conservative J. Harvie Wilkinson, Wall´s father-in-law.
The court, once considered the most conservative appeals court in the country, now has nine judges named by Democratic presidents including Barack Obama, according to Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law.
The judges aggressively questioned both Wall and Jadwat, making it unclear which way they might be leaning.
They pressed Wall over whether Trump had acted in "bad faith," disguising an order targeting Muslims as one intended to prevent terrorism.
They said Trump´s comment, while signing his second order, that "you know what I mean" by the order was a "wink and a nod" to let supporters know he was really aiming at Muslims.
Judge Barbara Keenan suggested that Trump´s country-based order was bound to be sweeping and indiscriminate. "You´re talking about 82 million people aren´t you? It seems to me there has to be some linkage to show that there is a detrimental interest to the United States posed by 82 million people."
The judges also pressed Jadwat over whether an identical order issued by a president who had not made remarks against Muslims might be acceptable -- and whether a president should not be granted some deference on security matters.

WORLD: Pakistan shows strong growth, reduction in fiscal deficits: Moody’s report

ISLAMABAD:  Strong growth performance, fiscal deficit reduction and improved inflation dynamics underpin the Government of Pakistan’s B3 rating with a stable outlook, says Moody’s Investors Service.
In a statement issued on Monday, the credit rating agency Moody’s maintained that, the government’s very narrow revenue base weighs on debt affordability.
Meanwhile, the Moody further cliamed that exports and remittance inflows have slowed and capital goods imports have risen, resulting in renewed pressure on the external account.
Moody’s conclusions are contained in its annual credit analysis of Pakistan, “Government of Pakistan—B3 Stable”. The analytical factors that are used in its Sovereign Bond Rating Methodology are: economic strength, which is assessed as “moderate”; institutional strength “very low (+)”—-etc”.
Moody’s noted that prospects for growth have improved following Pakistan’s successful completion of its three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September 2016 and the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in 2015.
It further noted that the implementation of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project has the potential to transform the Pakistani economy by relieving infrastructure bottlenecks, and stimulating both foreign and domestic investment.
“Since 2013, implementation of economic reforms and increased foreign investment flows have contributed to macroeconomic stability and higher GDP growth.
However, government debt remains elevated and pressure on the external account continues. “ said William Foster, a Vice President and Senior Credit Officer at Moody’s.
The stable outlook represents balanced upside and downside risks to the sovereign credit profile. Support from multilateral and bilateral lenders has bolstered Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves and fostered progress on economic reforms.
Meanwhile, implementation of the CPEC project has the potential to transform the Pakistani economy by relieving infrastructure bottlenecks, and stimulating both foreign and domestic investment.
Upward triggers to the rating would stem from sustained progress in structural reforms that would significantly reduce infrastructure impediments and supply-side bottlenecks.
This would improve Pakistan’s investment environment and eventually aid a shift to a sustained higher growth trajectory. A fundamental strengthening in the external liquidity position and meaningful reduction in the government deficit and debt burden would also be credit positive.

WORLD: Trump travel ban: Appeals court takes first look at revised order

President Trump's revision of his controversial executive order imposing a travel and refugee ban on certain countries will get an important legal test on Monday, when a federal appeals court in Virginia weighs whether the administration overstepped its authority.
At issue is whether the ban violates the Religion Clause of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and 14th Amendments, and the ban on nationality discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas contained in a 65-year-old congressional law.
The case will be a major test of presidential power, especially in the area of immigration.
The White House frames the issue as a temporary move involving national security. A coalition of groups in opposition call the order blatant religious discrimination, since the six countries involved have mostly Muslim populations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
Nearly all of the 15 full-time judges on the Richmond-based 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals are expected to hear the case in a public oral argument, a move to expedite the issue eventually to the Supreme Court in coming months for final review. Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a conservative on bench, is expected to recuse since his son-in-law will be arguing the case for the Trump Justice Department. A majority of the active bench were nominated by Democratic presidents.
The Monday hearing will be the first of two appeals heard this month. The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit will review similar claims. Split rulings by these courts would mean an almost certain review by the Supreme Court. A nationwide injunction on enforcement of the "Executive Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," ordered by federal judges in Maryland and Hawaii, remains in effect.
The International Refugee Assistance Project, one of the groups filing lawsuits against the Trump administration, ripped the order for its impact on refugees.
"The president's discriminatory executive order has trapped these vulnerable people in life-threatening conditions," said Rebecca Heller, IRAP's director whose group represents hundreds of “displaced families from Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere."
But the Justice Department in a filing with the appeals court called the president's action "a temporary suspension of entry that was done to protect national security and makes no mention of religion."
"Although plaintiffs and others may believe that the national-security risk is insufficient to warrant [the order's] entry suspension," said the government, "the President is entitled and obligated by the Constitution and Acts of Congress to weigh those risks himself and to strike a different balance than his predecessors if he deems it appropriate to protect national security."
This is the White House's second effort to impose a travel ban. An order issued a week after Trump took office was also quickly blocked from taking effect. Nationwide protests were held in many cities and airports.
The administration issued its revised order March 6, which included removing Iraq from the original list of banned countries. It also lifted an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees, many fleeing a years-long civil war there.
Officials say the new executive order only applied to foreign nationals outside the U.S. without a valid visa.
"Unregulated, unvetted travel is not a universal privilege, especially when national security is at stake," Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said at the time.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the latest version was no better than the original, calling the order "mean spirited and un-American."
A major sticking point for the judicial panel will be navigating how much discretion the president really has over immigration. Courts have historically been deferential in this area, and recent presidents including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama have used it to deny entry to certain refugees and diplomats, including nations such as Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.
A 1952 federal law -- the Immigration and Nationality Act, passed in the midst of a Cold War fear over Communist influence -- gives the chief executive broad authority.
"Whenever the president finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may, may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, " says Section 212 (f) of the law, "suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."
The administration strongly denies this is a "Muslim ban," but federal judges cited statements by then-presidential candidate Trump and his advisers, including a December 2015 campaign press release calling for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
And challengers to the law say Trump has taken this power to extremes by banning nearly entire populations from multiple countries.
The case is International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump (17-1351). There was no timetable on how quickly the judges would issue a ruling, or when it could be appealed to the Supreme Court.