Amnesty International urged the Indian authorities to release two teens who were detained in India-held Kashmir under the controversial Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), read a report issued by the organisation on Thursday.
The human rights watchdog has pleaded for either the release or the usage of appropriate laws and provision of fair trials of the teens.
"Release both Rayees Ahmad Mir and Waheed Ahmed Gojree or charge them with an internationally recognisable criminal offence and give them fair trials in accordance with international juvenile justice standards, using detention only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period, and ensuring that any detention be in a separate facility for children, as close as possible to their families in order to facilitate family contact," said the appeal issued.
The appeal also called for a detailed investigation of the detention of the two boys, and all other cases of detention of children under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.
Amnesty International in its appeal urged the authorities to repeal the controversial Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act and other administrative detention laws in India.
Rayees and Waheed were detained in prison under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, which expressly prohibits the detention of anyone under 18 years of age.
Rayees Ahmad Mir, aged 16 , was arrested on September 16 in Baramulla district under ordinary criminal procedure for allegedly throwing stones at Indian security forces.
Two days later, to prevent his release on bail, an executive official passed an order to detain him under the PSA. The order incorrectly stated that Rayees Mir was 18 years old and he was transferred to the Kot Bhalwal central jail in Jammu, about 300 kilometres from his home.
Rayees Mir’s family challenged the order before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, producing documents that proved he was only 16 years old.
On October 7, the court stated that Rayees Mir should be treated according to juvenile justice rules, as there was prima facie evidence that he was a minor, and ordered his transfer to a juvenile home.
An official at the Kot Bhalwal jail said on October 19: "The prison authorities had not yet transferred Rayees Mir, as they had not received a copy of the court order."
Waheed Ahmed Gojree, also 16 years old, was arrested in Kupwara district on August 18, and detained at a police station.
According to his family, the police initially told them that Gojree would be released the next day, however, they then said that he had been detained under the PSA.
Gojree was first taken to a jail in Baramulla, and then to the Kot Bhalwal central jail in Jammu, about 380 kilometres away.
The family has not yet received a copy of the detention order, or been formally informed about the grounds of Waheed Gojree’s detention, however an official at the central jail confirmed that he had been detained under the PSA.
The authorities appear to have not taken age of the boys into account before issuing the detention order.
Republican candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested he might reject the outcome of the Nov 8 US presidential election if he loses, a possibility his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called “horrifying”.
In their third and final presidential debate, Trump said he would wait to decide whether the outcome was legitimate.
“I will tell you at the time, I will keep you in suspense,” Trump said. Clinton said she was “appalled” by Trump's stance.
“Let's be clear about what he is saying and what that means: He is denigrating, he is talking down our democracy and I for one am appalled that someone who is the nominee for one of our two major parties would take that position,” she said.
She said Trump, a former reality TV star, had in the past also complained that his show was unjustly denied a US television Emmy award.
“I should have gotten it,” Trump retorted.
In a fiery debate that centered more on policy than the earlier showdowns, Trump accused Clinton's campaign of orchestrating a series of accusations by women who said the businessman made unwanted sexual advances against them.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton finish their third and final 2016 presidential campaign debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada.— Reuters
Trump said all of the stories were “totally false” and suggested Clinton was behind the charges. He called her campaign “sleazy”.
“I think they either want fame or her campaign did it, and I think it's her campaign,” Trump said.
Clinton said the women came forward after Trump said in the last debate he had never made unwanted advances on women. In a 2005 video, Trump was recorded bragging about groping women against their will.
“Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. He goes after their dignity, their self-worth and I don't think there is a woman anywhere who doesn't know what that feels like,” Clinton said. She cited other minorities she said Trump had maligned.
“This is a pattern. A pattern of divisiveness, of a very dark and in many ways dangerous vision of our country where he incites violence, where he applauds people who are pushing and pulling and punching at his rallies. That is not who America is,” she said.
Trump seeks to reverse his fading momentum in an election that opinion polls show is tilting away from him. The New York businessman has raised concerns by claiming the election will be rigged against him. He has urged supporters to patrol polling places in inner cities to prevent voter fraud.
The two presidential rivals had tough but issues-based exchanges on abortion, gun rights and immigration during the 90-minute showdown.
Putin's puppet?
Trump, 70, and Clinton, 68, battled sharply over the influence of Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, with Clinton calling Trump the Russian president's puppet and Trump charging Putin had repeatedly outsmarted Clinton.
Trump is cheered by his wife Melania Trump (C) and daughter Ivanka Trump (L) at the end of the final presidential debate.— AFP
Clinton said Trump had refused to condemn Putin and Russia for recent cyber attacks.
“He'd rather believe Vladimir Putin than the military and civilian intelligence officials that are sworn to protect us,” Clinton said.
US intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security have said the Russian leadership was responsible for recent cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee and the leaking of stolen emails.
Trump rejected the idea that he was close with Putin, but suggested he would have a better relationship with Russia's leader than Clinton.
“He said nice things about me,” Trump said. “He has no respect for her, he has no respect for our president and I'll tell you what, we're in very serious trouble.”
Clinton responded: “Well that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”
“No, you're the puppet,” Trump retorted. “Putin has outsmarted her and Obama every single step of the way,” he said in a reference to US President Barack Obama, a Democrat like Clinton.
Clinton also said Trump had been “cavalier” about nuclear weapons and should not be trusted with the nuclear codes.
Supreme Court
Clinton promised to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would uphold a woman's right to abortion laid out in the court's 1973 Roe vs Wade decision, while Trump promised to appoint what he called “pro-life” justices who would overturn the decision.
Under existing law, Trump said, “You can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby.”
“Honestly, nobody has business doing what I just said, doing that as late as one or two or three or four days prior to birth,” Trump said.
Clinton said Trump's “scare rhetoric is just terribly unfortunate”. “This is one of the worst possible choices that any woman and her family has to make and I do not believe the government should be making it,” Clinton said.
Trump said he would appoint a Supreme Court justice who would protect American gun rights. He has said in the past that Clinton wants to “essentially abolish” the Second Amendment of the US Constitution guaranteeing a right to bear arms.
Clinton said she supports gun rights, but wants additional regulations on guns, citing examples of children being hurt or killed in gun accidents. “I see no conflict between saving people's lives and defending the Second Amendment.”
No handshake
Clinton and Trump walked straight to their podiums when they were introduced at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, once again forgoing the traditional handshake as they did at the second debate last week in St. Louis, Missouri.
The debate gave Trump, making his first run for elected office, perhaps his best remaining chance to sway the dwindling number of Americans who are still undecided about their vote.
Clinton, a former secretary of state, US senator and first lady, leads in national polls and in most of the battleground states where the election will likely be decided. The debate was her opportunity to make a closing argument on why she is best suited to succeed Obama.
Clinton has struggled to get past concerns about transparency raised over her use of a private email server for work communication while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
Exchange of accusations
The two candidates clashed over accusations that Clinton as US secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 did favours for high-dollar donors to her family's Clinton Foundation. Asked about a potential conflict of interest, she said she acted “in furtherance of our country's values and interests”.
She and Trump talked over each other, Clinton defending her ties to the foundation, saying “there is no evidence” of a conflict, while Trump said the foundation should return millions of dollars to countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar who treat gay people harshly.
“It's a criminal enterprise,” Trump said.
Clinton said she would be happy to compare the Clinton Foundation to Trump's charitable Trump Foundation, which among its activities was to buy “a six-foot statue of Donald”.
MUZAFFARABAD: United Jihad Council (UJC) chairman Syed Salahuddin on Thursday asked Pakistan to extend “military support” to Kashmiri freedom fighters to help them accomplish their long-cherished goal of freedom from India.
“The festering (Kashmir) issue is not going to resolve through talks or resolutions… Pakistan should militarily support Kashmiris by providing resources to the mujahideen,” he said at a press conference here.
“If the mujahideen get military support, not only Kashmir will clinch freedom but the map of the subcontinent will also undergo a change,” he added.
He, however, declined to elaborate the kind of military support required by the freedom fighters.
“India invaded and occupied Kashmir at the strength of its military might and military occupation can hardly be brought to end through politics or diplomacy,” he maintained.
The UJC chief said that since the killing of Burhan Wani, the mass movement in Kashmir had been on the rise.
Over the past 105 days, the Indian government exercised each and every measure to suppress the unarmed freedom-seeking people, but, ironically, neither did the international community appeared upset over the atrocities nor the world powers tried to rein in the oppressor.
“When the world is paying no heed to us, the only option left with us is the armed struggle,” he said.
Along with brutal killings, the India government had also resorted to economic terrorism in Kashmir in a bid to pressure Kashmiris into surrendering their legitimate struggle, he said.
According to him, Indian intelligence agencies and their “touts” were trying to create disunity among the Hurriyat leadership as well as Kashmiri public. He was of the view that the base camp of the freedom movement — a reference to Azad Kashmir — should not only send a strong message of solidarity across the divide, but also adopt a forceful, rather aggressive, role in this regard.
Mr Salahuddin asked police in held Kashmir to stand by the unarmed public instead of being in the vanguard of the Indian army.
“Otherwise they [policemen] will have to face the wrath of Kashmiri people,” he warned.
He also drew attention towards the plight of Jammu-based Muslims, saying that they were being terrorised by the official machinery and radical Hindu organisation RSS alike into migrating from their native areas like in 1947.
“The governments in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad should also raise the problems of Jammu-based Muslims at national and international forums,” he said.
Mocking India’s “surgical strikes” claims, the UJC chairman said Indian troops did not have the courage or capability to cross the Line of Control (LoC) to conduct any such operation.
“The propaganda has made India a laughing stock in the comity of nations,” he said. In response to a question, he said in the prevailing circumstances all political and religious parties in AJK should give a unanimous call to trample the LoC.
WASHINGTON: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that if elected, he’d like to mediate between India and Pakistan because the region was a “very, very hot tinderbox”.
But like the Obama administration, Mr Trump also said that he would only mediate if both countries asked him to do so.
In a meeting with the Indian community in New Jersey this weekend, the Republican candidate promised that if voted to power, he would make the United States and India “the best of friends” and they would have a “phenomenal future” together.
“There isn’t going to be any relationship more important to us,” he added.
Later, in an interview to The Hindustan Times, Mr Trump expressed his desire to play a role in reducing India-Pakistan tensions.
“Well, I would love to see Pakistan and India get along, because that’s a very, very hot tinderbox,” he said. “That would be a very great thing. I hope they can do it.”
Mr Trump also referred to “the recent problem” in held Kashmir where Indian forces have killed more than 100 demonstrators since July and a terrorist attack in Uri brought the two countries close to yet another armed conflict.
Asked if he would like to play a role, he said, “If it was necessary I would do that. If we could get India and Pakistan getting along, I would be honoured to do that.”
He said that reducing tensions between South Asia’s two nuclear-armed nations would “be a tremendous achievement” and “if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator”.
NEW DELHI: Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday that Pakistan should close down what he termed a “factory of terrorism”, while offering India’s help to Islamabad in fighting terrorists.
He told a regional editors’ conference in Chandigarh that India had nothing against the people of Pakistan, but it was the state that had adopted terrorism as its policy.
“That is the reason it has been isolated not only in South Asia, but also in the world. India is ready to help Pakistan in taking action against terrorists in Pakistan. But for that Islamabad should close down ‘factory of terrorism’. This will open vistas of development and help in ensuring peace in South Asia,” Mr Singh said.
Referring to India’s claim of carrying out surgical strikes along the Line of Control against alleged terrorist launch pads, Mr Singh said it was a pre-emptive action and “India does not harbour any ill-will against the people of Pakistan”.
Mr Singh again said his government had decided to seal the border with Pakistan with physical and non-physical barriers by December 2018.
There is about 181.85km stretch in which construction of physical barriers is not feasible due to geographic constraints like riverine, low-lying, creek and marshy areas. In this stretch, advance technology solutions, including cameras, sensors, radars and lasers, will be deployed.
The Indian Border Security Force was testing the available technologies through pilot projects in Jammu, Punjab and Gujarat, the minister said.
“Pakistan’s entire establishment is engaged in fuelling terrorism in India and that’s why the management of areas along the Indo-Pak border has become a challenging task... But those who rear snakes should know they would bite them,” he said.
“If its intentions remain clear, India can help Pakistan carry out an anti-terror campaign, including (in Azad Kashmir). If Pakistan wishes it can seek our help and India is ready to help it... But its intentions are not clear,” Mr Singh said.
“This country shelters not just terrorists. It nurtures a mindset... that loudly proclaims that terrorism is justified for political gains.”
ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers from the upper house on Monday expressed the fear that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could turn into another East India Company if the country’s interests were not actively protected.
“Another East India Company is in the offing; national interests are not being protected. We are proud of the friendship between Pakistan and China, but the interests of the state should come first,” Senator Tahir Mashhadi, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development, said when some committee members raised the concern that the government was not protecting the rights and interests of the people.
The East India Company was the British trading mission sent to India, which became the precursor to the British colonial presence in the subcontinent, eventually gaining power and overthrowing the Mughals who ruled India at the time.
Following a briefing by Planning Commission Secretary Yousuf Nadeem Khokhar, a number of committee members voiced their fears over what they perceived as the utilisation of local financing for CPEC projects, instead of funding from the Chinese or any other foreign investment. They also expressed concern over the fixing of power tariff for CPEC-related power projects by the Chinese.
Senators question why most corridor projects are being funded locally, not through foreign investment
Since only one of three Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members of the committee was present at the meeting, most of this criticism went unanswered. Even Senator Saeedul Hassan Mandokhail, the lone PML-N senator in attendance, endorsed the committee chairman’s complaints.
The meeting was informed that a major portion of the CPEC depended on local finances rather than Chinese investment.
“It will be very harmful for us if we have to bear the entire burden; will this [project] be a national development or a national calamity? Whatever loans taken from China will have to be paid by the poor people of Pakistan,” Mr Mashhadi observed.
Highlighting the status of CPEC-related power projects, the Planning Commission secretary said that the Matiari-Lahore transmission line project had “not been scrapped” and was being pursued by its Chinese sponsors.
Recently, the National Energy Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) had approved tariff for the project, while the government’s Private Power Infrastructure Board had filed a review petition on the tariff in order to address the sponsors’ concerns.
At this, Senator Usman Khan Kakar pointed out that Nepra had fixed the power tariff for the project at 71 paisas/unit, while Chinese investors were demanding 95 paisas/unit.
“The government has filed an appeal before Nepra, seeking the increase despite the fact that the burden will be borne by poor consumers,” he said.
The secretary also informed the committee that the Gadani power plant complex had been shelved due to the lack of a dedicated jetty.
He also said that the 6,000MW project was not part of the CPEC.
Senator Kakar immediately reacted, saying that despite the fact that the project was not part of the CPEC, Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong had recently claimed that the Gadani power plant had not been scrapped and was indeed a part of the corridor. “Why is this project, which does not even exist, being counted in our account?” he asked.
He said that the infrastructure being established in Gwadar would only benefit the Chinese and Punjab governments, not the local community. “The people of Balochistan will only get one benefit from this project, which is the water supply,” he said, adding that no electricity or railway projects had been planned for Balochistan under the CPEC.
Senator Mandokhail said that a sense of deprivation was being instilled in smaller provinces. “We do not want the CPEC at the cost of the federation,” he added.
Since Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal was not present in the meeting, the senator urged the secretary to advise him to ensure the integrity of the federation.
Senator Mandokhail also accused the Planning Commission of prioritising Balochistan very low on its list, given that it has not representation in the commission itself.
Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Senator Sirajul Haq said that like certain other parts of the country, Fata and AJK were also being neglected in the CPEC. “There is nothing for both areas in the CPEC,” he said and suggested that a 35km road was built to link Muzaffarabad to the CPEC so that the people of AJK could also reap its benefits.
The UN General Assembly on Thursday formally appointed Antonio Guterres as the new secretary-general of the United Nations, replacing Ban Ki-moon.
The 193 member states adopted by acclamation a resolution appointing the former prime minister of Portugal for a five-year term beginning January 1.
Guterres won unanimous support from the UN Security Council during a vote last week that capped the most transparent campaign ever held at the United Nations for the top post.
The 67-year-old polyglot campaigned on a pledge to promote human rights and enact reforms within the UN system, seen as clunky and too slow to respond to unfolding disasters.
The socialist politician, who also served as UN refugee chief for a decade, is expected to play a more prominent role as the world's diplomat-in-chief than Ban, the South Korean former foreign minister who will step down after two five-year terms.
Guterres repeatedly warned that millions of refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere would turn to Europe if nations such as Turkey and Jordan did not receive more help to cope with their refugee populations.
“When people say they cannot receive Syrian refugees because they are Muslims, those that say it are supporting terrorist organisations and allowing them to be much more effective in recruiting people,” he said in December just before he stepped down as UN refugee chief.
Born in Lisbon on April 30, 1949, Guterres joined Portugal's Socialist Party following the country's 1974 “Carnation Revolution” which put an end to nearly five decades of dictatorship.
His appointment as secretary-general comes at a time of global anxiety over the ongoing war in Syria, the refugee crisis and raging conflicts in South Sudan and Yemen.
The Security Council is deadlocked over Syria after two draft resolutions were defeated in separate votes over the weekend, one of which was vetoed by Damascus ally Russia.
WASHINGTON: Two women told The New York Times that Donald Trump touched them inappropriately groping a woman in one instance and kissing a woman in another during separate encounters that took place as long as three decades ago, the newspaper reported Wednesday.
Trump told the Times there was no truth to either of the claims.
In a statement, Trump's campaign spokesman, Jason Miller, said “the entire article is fiction” and accused the newspaper of launching “a completely false, coordinated character assassination.”
Another newspaper, The Palm Beach Post in Florida, reported Wednesday night that a woman said Trump groped her at his Mar-a-Lago estate 13 years ago. Trump's campaign said her allegation “lacks any merit or veracity.”
And late Wednesday, a writer for People magazine reported a 2005 incident in which she said Trump kissed her against her will at Mar-a-Lago.
The Trump campaign said, “There is no merit or veracity to this fabricated story.”
The women's stories come less than a week after the publication of a 2005 recording in which the Republican nominee boasted of groping women. Trump apologised for his comments, but also dismissed them as “locker room talk” and a distraction from the campaign.
Both women who spoke to the Times said they were coming forward with their stories because of the recording and Trump's response to questions about it at Sunday's presidential debate.
The New York businessman said then he had never done the things he bragged about on the recording.
Jessica Leeds, 74, of New York, said she sat beside Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York more than three decades ago.
After less than an hour in the air, he lifted the armrest separating them and began to touch her, she said, and grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.
“It was an assault,” Leeds told the newspaper. She said she fled to the back of the plane and sat in the coach section.
A second woman, Rachel Crooks of Ohio, told the newspaper she met Trump as a 22-year-old in 2005 the same year he was recorded bragging in vulgar terms about grabbing women's genitals.
Crooks said she was a receptionist for a real estate investment and development company located at Trump Tower and met Trump outside an elevator in the building one morning. She introduced herself to the celebrity businessman, she said.
They shook hands but Trump would not let go, Crooks said, and he began kissing her cheeks and then kissed her on the mouth. “It was so inappropriate,” she told the newspaper.
“I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.”
Crooks said she recounted the incident that day to her sister by phone and to her boyfriend that night, both of whom spoke to the Times. In the case of Leeds, the Times reported it had interviewed four people who said she had told them more recently of her encounter with Trump.
Leeds said she did not complain to the airline at the time because such unwanted advances were common for businesswomen in the 1970s and early 1980s, the newspaper reported.
She said she encountered Trump at a charity event a few years later and said he had seemed to remember her and insulted her with a crude remark.
Both women told the paper they support Hillary Clinton's campaign for president.
In a statement, Miller rejected the women's accounts as “fiction.”
“It is absurd to think that one of the most recognisable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all,” Miller said.
The Palm Beach Post reported that Mindy McGillivray, 36, of Palm Springs, Florida, did not report to authorities her 2003 encounter with Trump at the time but had shared the story with close friends and family.
A man who had accompanied her to Mar-a-Lago that day, Ken Davidoff, told the newspaper he vividly remembers McGillivray telling him Trump had groped her.
Davidoff said he had brought McGillivray with him when he joined his father to shoot pictures during a concert by singer Ray Charles on Jan 24, 2003. After the show, as people were saying goodbye to Charles, McGillivray felt “a pretty good nudge, more of a grab” close to the centre of her bottom, she told the newspaper.
“I turn around and there's Donald. He sort of looked away quickly. I quickly turned back, facing Ray Charles, and I'm stunned,” she said.
McGillivray said she considered making a scene at the time but decided “to stay quiet.”
Trump's remarks at the second debate in which he denied groping women changed her mind, she said. On People magazine's website Wednesday, reporter Natasha Stoynoff wrote of a 2005 incident she said happened when she travelled to Mar-a-Lago to write a feature about Donald and Melania Trump's first wedding anniversary.
Stoynoff wrote that while Donald Trump was giving her a tour of the mansion, he wanted to show her one room he described as “tremendous.”
“We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us,” Stoynoff wrote.
“I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.”
In response to the Times report, a Clinton adviser accused Trump of lying when he said he had not groped or kissed women without their consent.
The Times story “sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women” and shows that the “disgusting behaviour” he brags about in the 2005 video “is more than just words,” communications director Jennifer Palmieri said in a statement.
BANGKOK: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was the world's longest-reigning monarch, died in hospital on Thursday, the palace said in an announcement. He was 88.
King Bhumibol reigned for seven decades after ascending the throne in 1946.
His loss will be deeply mourned in Thailand, where he was regarded as a pillar of stability during decades of political upheaval and rapid development.
The palace did not give a reason for his death but he has been sick in hospital with various ailments for much of the past year.
"His Majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully," the palace said, adding he died at 3:52pm.
His son, the 63-year old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, is expected to become Thailand's new king.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha addressed the nation shortly after the announcement of the king's death to say an heir to the throne had been designated since 1972 and that the government would inform parliament of the choice.
Prayuth did not identify the heir but King Bhumibol designated prince Vajiralongkorn the heir apparent when he invested him as the crown prince in 1972.
"The government will inform the National Legislative Assembly that His Majesty the King has already designated his heir," said Prayuth, who wore a black suit and tie.
The assembly is due to hold a special session later on Thursday.
Prayuth urged Thais to love one another and protect "the father's land".
Anxiety about the king's health and the succession has formed the backdrop to over a decade of political upheaval in Thailand that has included two coups.
More than 1,000 people gathered at the hospital where the king had been staying. Many of them started to cry as the news of his death broke.
The king was seen as head of an institution central to Thai identity and as a father-figure to the nation. Most Thais have known no other monarch.
'Like our dad'
Parichart Kaewsin, 35, who works in a bank, stood at the edge of the hospital garden, gazing up at the top floor of the building where the king was treated.
"I knew he was sick but I still can't believe this day has come," she said, choking back tears.
"That's why I came here ─ to hear for myself."
She said it was like a member of her family has died, she said. "He was like our dad."
King Bhumibol was seen as a force for unity, and there have long been concerns that without him the country's divisions could worsen.
That seems unlikely under the military government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has kept a tight grip on power since toppling an elected government in 2014.
Prince Vajiralongkorn has yet to command the respect and adoration that his father drew after a lifetime on the throne.
He has kept a lower profile than King Bhumibol for most of his life but in the past two years he took on more of the public duties the king was no longer able to perform. The prince divorced his third wife in 2014.
Thailand's strict lese-majeste laws have left little room for public discussion about the succession. It has been so long since Thailand has had a succession, there is no modern precedent.
Prayuth said civil servants would observe mourning for a year. He also urged Thais to refrain from "festivities" for 30 days.
Flags would fly at half-mast at all government buildings and schools for 30 days, he said.
A royal cremation is expected to take months to prepare.
When the king's sister died in 2008, a 100-day mourning period was declared. She was cremated 10 months after her death.
The heir's coronation will not take place until the mourning period is over.
Russia tested a Sineva ballistic missile from a submarine, reported Russian news agency Sputnik on Thursday.
The missile was fired from a nuclear submarine and Russian authorities claimed the test was successful.
“Russia's Delta-IV class Novomoskovsk strategic nuclear submarine conducted on Wednesday a successful test launch of a R-29RM Sineva ballistic missile from the Barents Sea,” Sputnik quoted the Defence Ministry.
"The simulated warhead successfully hit the designated target…confirming the high level of combat readiness in the Northern Fleet's submarine force," the statement said.
The ministry said that the submarine “launched the Sineva (Nato reporting name SS-N-23) missile from a submerged position targeting a designated area at the Kura testing range” on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Amnesty International urged the Indian authorities to release two teens who were detained in India-held Kashmir under the controversial Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), read a report issued by the organisation on Thursday.
