Phuc Dat Bich admits hoax in Facebook name battle

Image copyright'Phuc Dat Bich'

Image captionPhuc Dat Bich later thanked people who were supportive of "certain names that populate in different cultures"

An Australian calling himself Phuc Dat Bich, who made global headlines after saying he was fighting to use his real name on Facebook, admits it was hoax.

"Mr Bich" said on Facebook his real name was "Joe Carr" (or perhaps joker).

He said what had started as a joke between friends "became a prank that made a fool out of the media".

But he said it also brought out the best in people and gave encouragement to people with "truly interesting and idiosyncratic names".

The hoaxer is of Vietnamese origin. His name when properly pronounced in Vietnamese, which is a tonal language, sounds like "Phoo Da Bi".

Facebook have not responded to BBC requests for comment.

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Phooled by a Joe Carr - Nga Pham, BBC Vietnamese

I have to admit I fell for the prank by Mr Bich Phuc Joe, or whoever he is.

In the newsroom, dealing day-in-day-out with news that's often about disasters, both natural and man-made, the story of an unfortunately named person who thanked the community for their support seemed appealing.

Being Vietnamese, I knew that Bich was not a common surname (but not impossible) in Vietnam, but many immigrants change their names or get them in the wrong order when registering in their new countries. Vietnamese names are highly confusing to say the least.

After the story came out on the BBC News website, I received many emails from readers saying it had made them laugh - I hope they are still laughing now, even though we've all been hoaxed.

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Media captionThe BBC's Nga Pham explains how to pronounce the Vietnamese name Phuc Dat Bich

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The Facebook user, whose profile still shows him as Phuc Dat Bich, had said back in January that he found it "highly irritating the fact that nobody seems to believe me when I say that my full legal name is how you see it".

He posted a picture of his passport showing his name, and said he had had his Facebook account "shut down multiple times". Posts under that name date back to at least 2014.

'Levity and humanity'

The story was picked up last week - first by social media then by the world's media, including by the BBC.

Earlier this week, he even went as far as thanking his supporters, saying he hoped he had "played a part in brightening your days".

But in a surprise on Wednesday he said: "Do you remember the story; The boy who cried wolf?

"Imagine that boy grew up into a mischievous man with 21st Century technology at his finger tips.

"What started as a joke between friends, became a prank that made a fool out of the media.

Image copyrightFacebook

Image captionMr Phuc received thousands of new followers over the weekend

But he also said Facebook "needs to understand that it is utterly impossible to legitimise a place where there will always be pranksters and tricksters".

Mr Bich/Carr said his "ordeal" had taught him "not to trust the credibility of the media" and that it "goes to show that an average joe like myself can con the biggest news sources with ease".

But he also praised the response to his prank saying it "didn't bring out the anger and darkness that we often see on the internet, but it brought a levity and humanity in a time we need it most."

It is not clear if he photoshopped his passport. Physically altering a valid passport would be illegal.

[SOURCE]

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Ash cloud from Indonesia's Mt Rinjani grounds Bali-bound flights

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image captionMount Rinjani is east of Bali on the nearby island of Lombok. The 3,726m active volcano is the third highest in Indonesia

Some flights to and from Bali have been cancelled for a second day due to a drifting ash cloud from Mt Rinjani, east of the Indonesian holiday island.

Denpasar Airport was closed on Tuesday, grounding all flights as officials reassessed the risk posed by the plume.

All Virgin Australia and Jetstar flights were cancelled on Wednesday, whilst Air Asia said at least 13 of its flights had been affected.

Travellers are urged to check their flights online.

The Bali hashtag continues to trend in Australia.

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image captionPersistent eruptions from Indonesia's Mount Raung to the west of Bali brought bad news for travellers earlier this year

Thousands of people were stranded on Bali for several days during the peak July holiday period due to ash from a different active volcano, east of Denpasar.

At the time, Chris Davies from the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin in Australia's north told the BBC it does not take much ash to interfere with flights.

"The most dangerous aspect for aviation is that modern jet engines pull in so much air and the ash concentrates in engines and turns into a kind of molten glass," Mr Davies said.

"The ash melts, coats inside of the engine and affects fuel flow, so in the worst case scenario it can cause engines to shut off."

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Australian jockey Tim Bell falls to death in Singapore

Image copyrightAP

Image captionTim Bell tripped and fell from his apartment on Tuesday night

Australia's racing community is mourning the death of young jockey Tim Bell who fell to his death from his high-rise apartment block in Singapore.

Bell, 22, was a rising star, having won the 2013-14 Brisbane Jockey's Premiership in his first senior season.

How he fell is unclear. One report says he was locked out and was trying to climb up to his 12th-floor property.

Racing Queensland's Acting CEO Ian Hall said Bell would be remembered as a "brilliant rider".

"It is tragic when someone so young and with so much talent is taken away from us," Mr Hall said.

"Racing Queensland joins with the entire racing community in offering our sincerest condolences to Tim's family and his partner Heidi."

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the jockey tripped and fell from his apartment on Tuesday night.

Image copyrightWong Maye-E

Image captionTim Bell had an apartment on the 12th floor of the building

Image copyrightAP

Image captionHe was rushed from the apartment block to hospital on Tuesday evening

A Singapore Turf Club statement said: "From unconfirmed reports it appears [Bell] locked himself out from his unit, and fell to his death after attempting to climb up to the 12th-storey apartment to get his house keys."

Police say they were called to the property on Tuesday evening and found a man lying motionless at the foot of the building.

"He was conveyed unconscious to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries."

The jockey had only recently moved to Singapore to further his career.

Queensland Jockeys' Association president Glen Prentice told ABC that Mr Bell "wanted to reach the top" and took up a three-month contract in Singapore.

"He felt like he'd achieved a lot in Brisbane and wanted to expand his horizons, get some international experience, to achieve goals and win Melbourne Cups and be regarded in the top bracket of riders - not only in the country but all around the world."

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Indonesia haze: Child evacuation plan prepared

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionThe haze has reached such high levels in Palangkarays in Kalimantan that it has turned the air yellow

Indonesia is preparing warships and ferries in case it needs to evacuate children affected by haze caused by the country's illegal forest fires.

Co-ordinating Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said an evacuation was one contingency among several others.

South-East Asia has been particularly hit hard this year by the haze, an annual occurrence.

It has caused serious health issues, particularly among those living in the epicentres Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Mr Pandjaitan said authorities had identified at least six provinces where children and babies could be evacuated, local media say, but any evacuation would depend on approval from President Joko Widodo.

Other options include moving residents to government offices equipped with air purifiers, Reuters news agency reports.

Hazy issue

Image copyrightAFP

The haze is caused by farmers clearing land for plantations for the palm oil, pulp and paper industries, primarily in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan on Borneo and the island of Sumatra.

Residents in those areas have been living with hazardous levels of smoke in the past two months.

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionMilitary aircraft have been water-bombing affected areas

Indonesia has struggled to put out the fires, most of which are on peat land which burns for longer and produces more smoke than other fires.

US-based environmental research organisation World Resource Institute said earlier this week that the daily carbon emissions caused by the fires were surpassing the average emissions by the United States.

The haze has blanketed Singapore and Malaysia as well, straining diplomatic ties, and has recently drifted northwards to affect southern Thailand and the Philippines.

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China warns US against maritime challenge

Charles Clover in Beijing and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington 

©AP

Chinese reclamation at Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands

China’s military establishment has reacted angrily to a planned US naval mission to skirt artificial islands Beijing has constructed in the South China Sea, as the US gears up to challenge Chinese claims in the area.

In the latest escalation of rhetoric from China, a senior Chinese naval officer on Thursday warned the US that the PLA would deliver a “head-on blow” to any foreign forces “violating” China’s sovereignty. Writing in the Global Times, a newspaper with close links to the Communist party, Rear Admiral Yang Yi said: “Safeguarding maritime rights calls for force and power.”

A senior US official last week told the Financial Times that the US navy would soon start “freedom of navigation activities” — sailing or flying within 12 nautical miles of the islands to challenge Chinese claims — around the Spratly chain of islands in the South China Sea.

The US has refrained from conducting such operations in the area — through which 30 per cent of global trade passes — since 2012, which was before China significantly ramped up construction activities in the South China Sea.

Admiral John Richardson, the head of the US navy, on Thursday defended the planned operations during his first visit to Asia since assuming command.

“It should not be a surprise to anybody that we would exercise freedom of navigation through wherever international law will allow,” Adm Richardson said in Tokyo. “I don’t see how this can be interpreted as provocative or anything. They are just steaming in international waters . . . we would see these as part of our normal business as a global navy.”

In the past two years, China has dredged about 2,000 acres out of small coral atolls in the South China Sea, created about half a dozen islands — one of which, named Fiery Cross Reef, has a 3,000m runway apparently capable of handling military jets.

The island building appears to be part of China’s strategy to lay claim to virtually the entire South China Sea, a move that has infuriated China’s maritime neighbours and the US. President Barack Obama and Xi Jinping discussed the issue recently when the Chinese president visited Washington. But the two sides appeared to make little progress in resolving the tensions.

Adm Yang’s comments are the most incendiary to have come out of Beijing. But Wu Shicun, director of the Hainan Research Institute of the South China Sea, said the officer was not speaking on behalf of the Chinese government.

“To the public this may sound strongly of gunpowder, and it appeals to nationalistic emotions, but it is highly unlikely that the decision-making levels in either country will allow tensions to elevate to such a level,” he said.

In depth

Asia maritime tensions

News and comment on the disputes over islands and territorial waters between an increasingly assertive China and its neighbours

Further reading

Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, said China should take a constructive approach to the South China Sea.

“Reacting in ways that exacerbate tensions would substantially raise the risk of setting off a series of dynamics and security decisions by the US and its allies and partners that China would not see in its interests over the long term,” he said.

Mr Wu played down the risk of armed conflict, saying Beijing would probably react to any US activity by monitoring, intercepting and attempting to drive off foreign vessels or aircraft.

“It is highly likely that the US will enter the airspace and waters in the near future,” he said. “We are waiting for the shoe to drop, so to speak.”

However, Mr Wu warned that continued US challenges could force China to militarise the islands. “China has promised not to militarise the islands, but if the US continues to provoke and create hype over the topic, including using the military bases of the Philippines and Malaysia, and China feels threatened, it may be forced to arm itself through militarisation” he said.

US officials were surprised when Mr Xi said during his visit to Washington that China would not militarise the islands, since most non-Chinese experts have concluded that Beijing has been doing so for several years already.

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Churches attacked and one man killed in clashes in Aceh, Indonesia

 
• From the sectionAsia

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionTension has been building in Aceh province, where authorities have begun imposing Islamic law on religious minorities

Two churches have been burned down and at least one person has been killed in clashes in Indonesia's Aceh province on Tuesday, say officials.

Report say hundreds of Muslim men attacked a church in Aceh Singkil district, setting it on fire.

A human rights group said the attackers then burnt down a second Roman Catholic church.

They then went to a third church, where a man died in clashes with Christians defending the church and the police.

Tension in Aceh has been rising amid increasing Islamic conservatism in the province and Indonesia as a whole.

Responding to the violence, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo tweeted: "Stop the violence in Aceh Singkil. Any background of violence, especially religion and belief, destroys diversity."

Last week, protesters calling themselves Aceh Youth Concerned for Islam held a demonstration demanding that what they claimed were unlicensed churches be torn down by authorities.

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionPolice say the violence was brought under control and dozens of people were detained

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionThe attackers demanded that churches that they said lacked permits be torn down

The local government had agreed to act, but on Tuesday tensions boiled over and the group took matters into their own hands.

"After burning the church, the mob tried to attack another church, but it turned out Christians were already at the ready," Aceh police chief Husein Hamidi told the AFP news agency, referring only to the first and third churches attacked.

"A clash occurred, and one man was killed after being shot in the head with an air rifle," he said.

It is thought that the dead man was part of the attacking group. Four people were also reportedly injured, one of them a member of the security forces.

In between those attacks, another Roman Catholic church was also burned down, according to human rights group Alliance of United North Sumatra.

Religious violence

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, although it also has significant Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian minorities.

Aceh is the only province to have officially introduced Sharia law, which is increasingly being applied to non-Muslims too.

The district where Tuesday's attacks took place is a Christian enclave, though correspondents say some Christians have already left, fearing religious violence.

Another church was also burnt down in Aceh in August. And in July, a mosque was destroyed in the Christian-majority province of Papua, in eastern Indonesia, on the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Fitr.

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image captionIn 2013, police warned Christians of possible Islamic attacks during Christmas and New Year

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