In this file photo from Wednesday, June 15, 2016, an F/A-18 Hornet takes off the deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS John C. Stennis during joint military exercise between the United States, Japan and India off the coast 180 miles east of Japan's southernmost island of Okinawa. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)
TOKYO (Kyodo) — The U.S. government said Thursday that it is taking further actions to preserve a “free and open” South China Sea such as by adding major oil company China National Offshore Oil Corp. to its economic blacklist.
The measure, which came just days before the end of the administration of President Donald Trump, was taken against the company in light of its role in Beijing’s campaign of “coercion against other claimants of an estimated $2.5 trillion in South China Sea oil and gas resources,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
In this Oct. 23, 2020, file photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers his speech at the commemorating conference on the 70th anniversary of the Chinese army entering North Korea to resist the U.S. army, at the Great Hall fo the People in Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
BEIJING (AP) — President Xi Jinping is asking former CEO Howard Schultz of Starbucks to help repair U.S.-Chinese relations that have plunged to their lowest level in decades amid a tariff war and tension over technology and security.
A letter from Xi to Schultz reported Friday by the official Xinhua News Agency was a rare direct communication from China’s paramount leader to a foreign business figure. Schultz opened Starbucks’ first China outlet in 1999 and is a frequent visitor.
Xi wrote to Schultz “to encourage him and Starbucks to continue to play an active role in promoting Chinese-U.S. economic and trade cooperation and the development of bilateral relations,” Xinhua reported. No text of the letter was released.
In this Jan. 31, 2019, file photo, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz speaks at an event to promote his book, “From the Ground Up,” in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Xinhua gave no indication whether the letter reflected an initiative to ask American corporate leaders to help change policy after President-elect Joe Biden takes office next week.
Economists and political analysts say Biden is likely to try to revive cooperation with Beijing over North Korea and other political issues. But few changes on trade are expected due to widespread frustration in Washington over China’s human rights record and accusations of technology theft.
The Cabinet press office didn’t immediately respond to questions about what Xi wanted Schultz to do and whether he contacted other American business leaders.
Schultz, who was Starbucks CEO until 2017 and chairman until 2018, led an aggressive expansion that made China its biggest market outside the United States. Starbucks says it has more than 4,700 stores and 58,000 employees in almost 190 Chinese cities.
Schultz said in 2019 that he was considering running for president as an independent but later dropped that.
Xinhua said Xi was responding to a letter from Schultz that congratulated the Chinese leader on “the completion of a well-off society” under his leadership, Xinhua said.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is tracking an “extensive amount of concerning online chatter,” including calls for armed protests leading up to next week’s presidential inauguration, Director Chris Wray said Thursday.
Wray, in his first public appearance since the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, said in a security briefing for Vice President Mike Pence that the FBI remains concerned about the potential for violence at protests and rallies in Washington and in state capitols around the country.
Those events could bring armed individuals near government buildings and elected officials, Wray warned, while also noting, “One of the real challenges in this space is trying to distinguish what’s aspirational versus what’s intentional.”
Wray said the FBI was receiving a “significant” amount of information that it was pushing out to other law enforcement agencies ahead of the inauguration. Information-sharing is critical before any significant public event like the inauguration, but the issue is receiving particular scrutiny because of signs law enforcement was unprepared for the violent, deadly surge at the Capitol by loyalists of President Donald Trump.
Federal officials have warned local law enforcement agencies that the riot at the Capitol is likely to inspire others with violent intentions.
“We’re looking at individuals who may have an eye towards repeating that same kind of violence that we saw last week,” Wray said, adding that since January 6, the FBI has identified over 200 suspects.
“We know who you are. If you’re out there, an FBI agent is coming to find you,” he added.
States nationwide have already been stepping up security in preparation for possible armed protests and violence this weekend, particularly at statehouses amid legislative sessions and inaugural ceremonies. Officials are reassessing their security plans for high-risk targets and police in major cities are preparing to be put on tactical alert if necessary. An FBI bulletin earlier this week warned of potential armed protests in all 50 states.
To monitor threats, share intelligence and decide how to allocate resources, the FBI during the inauguration will operate a round-the-clock command post at headquarters and at each of its 56 field offices, Wray said.
“Our posture is aggressive, and it’s going to stay that way through the inauguration,” he said.
Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen attended a separate briefing Thursday at the FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center, where he was briefed on specifics of the inauguration security plan and met with FBI leaders for an update on the investigations.
Separately, Pence returned to the Capitol on Thursday for the first time since the attempted insurrection forced security to whisk him to a secure location after rioters interrupted his work overseeing the congressional count of Electoral College votes.
The vice president visited with guard troops keeping watch outside the Capitol, telling them he’s familiar with the National Guard because he used to be a governor.
“Thank you for stepping forward for your country,” Pence said. He told the troops they would be get to witness the transfer of power and thanked them for their service.
“It’s been my great honor to serve as your vice president,” Pence added, before ending with another round of thanks and wishing the troops a “safe inauguration and a swearing-in of a new president and vice president.”
In response, the guardsmen yelled, “Hooah.”
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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Michael Balsamo and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
Protesters gather and write slogans denouncing the arrest of Sirichai “New” Nathuang in front of Klong Luang Police Station, Pathum Thani, on Jan. 13, 2020.
BANGKOK — A university student was taken from his dorm in the middle of the night, charged with royal defamation, and then slapped with a cybercrime charge less than 24 hours later for refusing to give up his computer password.
Police accused Thammasat University student Sirichai “New” Nathuang of defaming His Majesty the King by spray painting political slogans on the portraits of three Royal Family members on Sunday, according to his lawyer Poonsuk Poonsukcharoen.
The 21-year-old was arrested at his home on Wednesday night and held incommunicado for several hours, Poonsuk said. It was the first time police made an arrest over royal defamation charges, or lese majeste, since the crackdown started in November. At least 40 people have been charged with lese majeste so far.
Poonsuk said police also searched Sirichai’s apartment, and refused to inform his family and lawyers where he was being held until some hours later.
“He has the right to a lawyer the moment he was arrested,” Poonsuk, who works for the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group, said by phone. But for a considerable period, he was not allowed to call any lawyer.”
Poonsuk added that she only gained access to her client at about 1.15am on Thursday morning, and said police’s behavior could have been interpreted as an abduction.
Police Lt. Yotsawat Nitiratpattakul of Klong Luang Police station, which has jurisdiction over the case, refused to answer questions about the manner of Sirichai’s arrest.
When asked to comment on the allegation that Sirichai was not given an opportunity to consult his attorney, as given to him by the law, Lt. Yotsawat replied, “I cannot give details about that either.”
Sirichai was later charged with Computer Crime Act on Thursday evening for refusing to give up his computer password as demanded by the investigators, the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.
He stands accused of insulting His Majesty the King by spray painting slogans calling for abolition of lese majeste offense over large portraits of the late King Bhumbol, the Queen Mother, and Princess Sirivannavari that were displayed in public areas close to his university on Sunday.
Poonsuk the attorney cast doubt on whether the lese majeste law is applicable in Sirichai’s case, since the letter of the law only covers the King, Queen, Heir Apparent, and Regent.
But the lese majeste offense, enshrined under Article 112 of the Criminal Codes, has been routinely used by the police to silence any discussions about the monarchy. The offense took a hiatus for several years – PM Prayut Chan-o-cha said it was due to His Majesty the King’s clemency – only to make a return in November.
Chaitawat Tulathon, sec-gen of the opposition Move Forward Party, said on the phone Thursday that the latest arrest under lese majeste was “disproportionate,” since the student was apprehended in the dark of the night, and had no access to lawyers for hours.
Chaitawat also said his party is preparing a proposal to amend all defamation laws, including lese majeste, which could be submitted to the Parliament as early as next Wednesday, if the House reconvenes for a meeting amid the pandemic.
On the other hand, pro-government Phalang Pracharath Party deputy leader Paiboon Nititawan said he supports the ongoing crackdown on those accused of defaming the monarchy.
“It’s a justice process,” Paiboon said by phone. “Since the law stated that it’s a violation. Even if it’s 40 people, they must be arrested. Everything is under the due process of law. I personally support the arrests. The latest case wasn’t a minor and he must fight through the justice system.”
Democrat Party spokesman Ramet Rattanachaweng said he would not comment on lese majeste cases, including the latest arrest.
“We don’t know what the facts are,” Ramet said. “This is the police duty, to find out whether someone committed a crime or not.”
Medical staff at Thammasat University Field Hospital gesture to reporters on Jan. 11, 2021.
BANGKOK — There is about a 50.4 percent chance you’ve seen reports by Thai media asserting that the Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine to be used in Thailand’s first round of vaccination is “only 50.4 percent effective.”
But a closer look beyond the deluge of those news articles, which mostly rely on translation without consulting expert opinions, shows that the truth about the COVID-19 vaccine made by Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech is more nuanced than what the media suggests.
For a start, the widely reported figure of “50.4 percent” came from Western media articles reporting a trial data of Sinovac’s vaccines released by researchers in Brazil, but left out another important part of the same story, which stated that the efficacy is as high as 78 percent among coronavirus patients who display mild symptoms.
“There are many figures of percentage that need to be considered in detail,” Health ministry deputy perm-sec Supakit Sirilak said at today’s news conference.
The efficacy rate of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccines was put at 50.4 percent by researchers at the Butantan Institute in Brazil, who included data from a group of “very mild infections” among those who received the vaccine that did not require clinical assistance.
However, Butantan Institute also said the vaccine is 78 percent effective in preventing mild cases that needed treatment, and 100 percent effective in staving off moderate to serious cases – an important part of the story that didn’t make it to many articles translated and published by Thai media.
It Can Save Lives
Even with the general efficacy of 50.4 percent, the Sinovac products will still be sufficient in achieving Thailand’s goal of immunizing residents in the high-risk areas from the coronavirus, and lessening their chance of falling ill, said Supaporn Phumiamorn, Director of Institute of Biological Products at the Department of Medical Science.
“Don’t forget we’re talking about a worldwide pandemic,” Supaporn said. “At least, the vaccine will decrease the severity of the symptoms, as well as transmission of the disease among the public.”
Supaporn said the vaccine met the standards of passing the threshold of 50 percent efficacy set by both the World Health Organization and the United States Food and Drug Administration.
The efficacy rate is similar to that of flu shots in the United States, which range from 29 percent to 55 percent – yet still played a significant role in reducing deaths and illnesses from the disease.
In this photo released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace, President Joko Widodo prepares to receive a shot of COVID-19 vaccine at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. (Agus Suparto・Indonesian Presidential Palace via AP)
And if enough people were immunized, a COVID-19 vaccine wouldn’t need to be near-perfect to have a substantial impact in the community, Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group told NBC News back in November.
“If you had a 60 or 70 percent effective vaccine and everybody took it, you might actually be reaching toward herd immunity and potentially then dampen down this pandemic,” Poland was quoted as saying.
The U.S. National Public Radio also explained in September that a vaccine with an efficacy of 50 percent would be immensely helpful in decreasing severe symptoms for those who did get sick and push the population closer to herd immunity.
“When we talk ‘vaccine effectiveness,’ what we’re talking about is, ‘How effective was the vaccine at preventing actual disease?’” L.J. Tan, chief strategist of the nonprofit Immunization Action Coalition, told the NPR. “If you vaccinate 100 people, 50 people will not get disease.”
Setting Priorities
A report by the BBCstressed that it’s too soon to pinpoint which vaccine is more effective than others based on early clinical test data available at this moment.
“On the face of it, the 50% effectiveness figure isn’t as good as Oxford’s 70% or Pfizer and Moderna’s 95%,” BBC health reporter Philippa Roxby wrote. “But trials are run very differently in different countries – the numbers of volunteers enrolled varies wildly, as do the criteria used to test how much protection the vaccines offer.”
She also wrote, “In the long term, many vaccines against Covid are needed to vaccinate the world and, inevitably, some will perform better than others – but giving as many people as possible some protection is the priority.”
The Thai government said it has ordered 2 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine, which would be first distributed to “vulnerable populations” in the five provinces hardest hit by the coronavirus. The campaign is expected to start in February.
The rest of the Thai population will receive the vaccine developed jointly by Oxford University and British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca. Thailand said it has secured over 60 million doses from AstraZeneca.
The Thai Food and Drug Administration has yet to formally approve any vaccine for domestic use. FDA deputy sec-gen Surachoke Tangwiwat said the agency is still studying the documents filed by both companies.
Left: Dokkoon Kapueak. Photo: Fred de Brock / Courtesy of Dokkoon Kapueak. Right: Dishes from Boo Raan. Photo: Boo Raan / Facebook
Knokke-Heist, BELGIUM — Five women from the northeastern region of Thailand won a global recognition earlier this week for their commitment to serving authentic Thai cuisine in Belgium.
Their restaurant, Boo Raan, in the town of Knokke-Heist was awarded a Michelin Star on Monday, an achievement head chef Dokkoon Kapueak attributed to the team’s dedication to stay true to the recipes she learned during her childhood in rural Ubon Ratchathani – and the refusal to dial down the spice level.
“Honestly, I came from a poor family. While my parents worked, I lived with relatives. They taught us how to cook kaeng curries, jaew sauce, and omelettes to feed everyone, so my food is 100 percent Thai,” Dokkoon, 38, said by phone Wednesday.
“There’s absolutely no making the taste abbeaw for farang,” she said using a term that means to “make cute” or “dumb down.”
The Michelin Guide announced their new stars for Belgium on Monday. Boo Raan was one of 10 new one-star additions, with the Guide calling it “the best Thai restaurant in Benelux.”
“Dokkoon Kapueak prepares authentic dishes in the open kitchen to order,” the guide reads. “A festival of fresh ingredients, spices, unctuosity and manifold flavours explain why Boo Raan is such a benchmark locally and nationally.”
Dokkoon’s all-female, all-Isaan-born team consists of Nittaya Yokma, 37, from Kalasin; Somporn Roobroeck, 30, from Si Saket; Yuwadee Spriet, 36, from Buriram; and Nognoot Nakinchart, 39, from Nakhon Ratchasima.
Their head chef, Dokkoon, has lived in Belgium for 12 years.
Boo Raan (the name means “ancient” or “traditional” in Thai – nothing to do with the one-star Bo.lan in Bangkok) was founded in Nov. 2016 at the urging of business partner Patrick Eigenaar, even though Dokkoon insisted that she didn’t know how to run a restaurant.
What she did know – was how to cook.
The star dishes of Boo Raan are ones that Thailand’s residents would find ubiquitous and normal: chicken satay, kaeng kai chicken curry, beef larb naamtok, som tum, and so on. The ingredients are imported from Thailand every week.
“They’re very basic dishes, but with classic taste. Normally Thais think farangs will be interested in tom yum, but it’s actually super normal dishes like these that are interesting too,” Dokkoon said.
“At first, 20 percent of the feedback was about the food being too spicy. But we stood firm and wanted to present the real taste.”
Soon enough, foreign tongues got used to the heat, and regulars kept coming back. Eight months after the restaurant opened, they won the Gault & Millau restaurant guide’s “Asian Restaurant of the Year” in 2017. The prestigious guide awarded the Boo Raan a 13.5 out of 20 on their rating scale.
The restaurant now requires a reservation one or two weeks in advance, Dokkoon said.
Boo Raan is located in Knokke-Heist, a municipality of Belgium along the North Sea known as a seaside resort. The restaurant is located about 10 kilometers away from the border with the Netherlands, and is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 6:30 to midnight.
Passengers arriving on the flight from Singapore are processed by staff in protective clothings and directed towards a covered walkway to a separate exit from the Airport terminal in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
WUHAN, China (AP) — A global team of researchers arrived Thursday in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty about whether Beijing might try to prevent embarrassing discoveries.
The 10-member team sent to Wuhan by the World Health Organization was approved by President Xi Jinping’s government after months of diplomatic wrangling that prompted an unusual public complaint by the head of the WHO.
Scientists suspect the virus that has killed 1.9 million people since late 2019 jumped to humans from bats or other animals, most likely in China’s southwest. The ruling Communist Party, stung by complaints it allowed the disease to spread, says the virus came from abroad, possibly on imported seafood, but scientists reject that.
CGTN, the English-language channel of state broadcaster CCTV, reported the WHO team’s arrival. The members include virus and other experts from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar and Vietnam.
A government spokesman said this week they will “exchange views” with Chinese scientists but gave no indication whether they would be allowed to gather evidence.
They will undergo a two-week quarantine as well as a throat swab test and an antibody test for COVID-19, according to a post on CGTN’s official Weibo account. They are to start working with Chinese experts via video conference while in quarantine.
China rejected demands for an international investigation after the Trump administration blamed Beijing for the virus’s spread, which plunged the global economy into its deepest slump since the 1930s.
After Australia called in April for an independent inquiry, Beijing retaliated by blocking imports of Australian beef, wine and other goods.
One possibility is that a wildlife poacher might have passed the virus to traders who carried it to Wuhan, one of the WHO team members, zoologist Peter Daszak of the U.S. group EcoHealth Alliance, told the Associated Press in November.
A single visit by scientists is unlikely to confirm the virus’s origins; pinning down an outbreak’s animal reservoir is typically an exhaustive endeavor that takes years of research including taking animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies.
“The government should be very transparent and collaborative,” said Shin-Ru Shih, director at the Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections at Taiwan’s Chang Gung University.
The Chinese government has tried to stir confusion about the virus’s origin. It has promoted theories, with little evidence, that the outbreak might have started with imports of tainted seafood, a notion rejected by international scientists and agencies.
“The WHO will need to conduct similar investigations in other places,” an official of the National Health Commission, Mi Feng, said Wednesday.
Some of the WHO team were en route to China a week ago but had to turn back after Beijing announced they hadn’t received valid visas.
That might have been a “bureaucratic bungle,” but the incident “raises the question if the Chinese authorities were trying to interfere,” said Adam Kamradt-Scott, a health expert at the University of Sydney.
A possible focus for investigators is the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the city where the outbreak began. One of China’s top virus research labs, it built an archive of genetic information about bat coronaviruses after the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
According to WHO’s published agendafor its origins research, there are no plans to assess whether there might have been an accidental release of the coronavirus at the Wuhan lab, as some American politicians, including President Donald Trump, have claimed.
A “scientific audit” of Institute records and safety measures would be a “routine activity,” said Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh. He said that depends on how willing Chinese authorities are to share information.
“There’s a big element of trust here,” Woolhouse said.
An AP investigation found the government imposed controls on research into the outbreak and bars scientists from speaking to reporters.
The coronavirus’s exact origin may never be traced because viruses change quickly, said Woolhouse.
Although it may be challenging to find precisely the same COVID-19 virus in animals as in humans, discovering closely related viruses might help explain how the disease first jumped from animals and clarify what preventive measures are needed to avoid future epidemics.
Scientists should focus instead on making a “comprehensive picture” of the virus to help respond to future outbreaks, Woolhouse said.
“Now is not the time to blame anyone,” Shih said. “We shouldn’t say, it’s your fault.”
President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House for a historic second time Wednesday, charged with “incitement of insurrection” over the deadly mob siege of the Capitol in a swift and stunning collapse of his final days in office.
Ten Republicans fled Trump, joining Democrats who said he needed to be held accountable and warned ominously of a “clear and present danger” if Congress should leave him unchecked before Democrat Joe Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20.
Trump is the only U.S. president to be twice impeached. It was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in modern times, more so than against Bill Clinton in 1998.
The Capitol insurrection stunned and angered lawmakers, who were sent scrambling for safety as the mob descended, and it revealed the fragility of the nation’s history of peaceful transfers of power. The riot also forced a reckoning among some Republicans, who have stood by Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invoked Abraham Lincoln and the Bible, imploring lawmakers to uphold their oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign “and domestic.”
She said of Trump: “He must go, he is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.”
Holed up at the White House, watching the proceedings on TV, Trump later released a video statement in which he made no mention at all of the impeachment but appealed to his supporters to refrain from any further violence or disruption of Biden’s inauguration.
“Like all of you, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the calamity at the Capitol last week,” he said, his first condemnation of the attack. He appealed for unity “to move forward” and said, “Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for. … No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement.”
Trump was first impeached by the House in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine, but the Senate voted in 2020 acquit. He is the first president to be impeached twice. None has been convicted by the Senate, but Republicans said Wednesday that could change in the rapidly shifting political environment as officeholders, donors, big business and others peel away from the defeated president.
Biden said in a statement after the vote that it was his hope the Senate leadership “will find a way to deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.”
The soonest Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell would start an impeachment trial is next Tuesday, the day before Trump is already set to leave the White House, McConnell’s office said. The legislation is also intended to prevent Trump from ever running again.
McConnell believes Trump committed impeachable offenses and considers the Democrats’ impeachment drive an opportunity to reduce the divisive, chaotic president’s hold on the GOP, a Republican strategist told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
McConnell told major donors over the weekend that he was through with Trump, said the strategist, who demanded anonymity to describe McConnell’s conversations.
In a note to colleagues Wednesday, McConnell said he had “not made a final decision on how I will vote.”
Unlike his first time, Trump faces this impeachment as a weakened leader, having lost his own reelection as well as the Senate Republican majority.
Even Trump ally Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, shifted his position and said Wednesday the president bears responsibility for the horrifying day at the Capitol.
In making a case for the “high crimes and misdemeanors” demanded in the Constitution, the four-page impeachment resolution approved Wednesday relies on Trump’s own incendiary rhetoric and the falsehoods he spread about Biden’s election victory, including at a rally near the White House on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
A Capitol Police officer died from injuries suffered in the riot, and police shot and killed a woman during the siege. Three other people died in what authorities said were medical emergencies. The riot delayed the tally of Electoral College votes that was the last step in finalizing Biden’s victory.
Ten Republican lawmakers, including third-ranking House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming, voted to impeach Trump, cleaving the Republican leadership, and the party itself.
Cheney, whose father is the former Republican vice president, said of Trump’s actions summoning the mob that “there has never been a greater betrayal by a President” of his office.
Trump was said to be livid with perceived disloyalty from McConnell and Cheney.
With the team around Trump hollowed out and his Twitter account silenced by the social media company, the president was deeply frustrated that he could not hit back, according to White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing who weren’t authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
From the White House, Trump leaned on Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to push Republican senators to resist, while chief of staff Mark Meadows called some of his former colleagues on Capitol Hill.
The president’s sturdy popularity with the GOP lawmakers’ constituents still had some sway, and most House Republicans voted not to impeach.
Security was exceptionally tight at the Capitol, with tall fences around the complex. Metal-detector screenings were required for lawmakers entering the House chamber, where a week earlier lawmakers huddled inside as police, guns drawn, barricaded the door from rioters.
“We are debating this historic measure at a crime scene,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
During the debate, some Republicans repeated the falsehoods spread by Trump about the election and argued that the president has been treated unfairly by Democrats from the day he took office.
Other Republicans argued the impeachment was a rushed sham and complained about a double standard applied to his supporters but not to the liberal left. Some simply appealed for the nation to move on.
Rep. Tom McClintock of California said, “Every movement has a lunatic fringe.”
Yet Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. and others recounted the harrowing day as rioters pounded on the chamber door trying to break in. Some called it a “coup” attempt.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., contended that Trump was “capable of starting a civil war.”
Conviction and removal of Trump would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, which will be evenly divided. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska over the weekend in calling for Trump to “go away as soon as possible.”
Fending off concerns that an impeachment trial would bog down his first days in office, Biden is encouraging senators to divide their time between taking taking up his priorities of confirming his nominees and approving COVID-19 relief while also conducting the trial.
The impeachment bill draws from Trump’s own false statements about his election defeat to Biden. Judges across the country, including some nominated by Trump, have repeatedly dismissed cases challenging the election results, and former Attorney General William Barr, a Trump ally, has said there was no sign of widespread fraud.
The House had first tried to persuade Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke their authority under the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Pence declined to do so, but the House passed the resolution anyway.
The impeachment bill also details Trump’s pressure on state officials in Georgia to “find” him more votes.
While some have questioned impeaching the president so close to the end of his term, there is precedent. In 1876, during the Ulysses Grant administration, War Secretary William Belknap was impeached by the House the day he resigned, and the Senate convened a trial months later. He was acquitted.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Andrew Taylor and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Bangkok is now a full-fledged ageing society. Most importantly, the city becomes the area where there is the highest number of aged populations in Thailand. Therefore, it is essential that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) be prepared in terms of economics, medical services development, and the elderly care to be able to provide more inclusive and effective services.
At present, the BMA has run one elderly home called Ban Bang Khae II home, located in Bang Khae District. It can accommodate only 140 elderly persons, while the number of the elderly in Bangkok at present is more than 1 million. Pol.Gen. Aswin Kwanmuang, Governor of Bangkok, has assigned related BMA organizations to work together in finding the place to build additional elderly homes to cover every corner of Bangkok. It is fortunate that the BMA received support from charitable persons who donated 32-rai land located at Bueng Sakae Ngam, Khlong Sam Wa District. This is the most suitable location for building a new elderly home. Hence, the Governor of Bangkok assigned the BMA Public Works Department to design the Bueng Sakae Ngam Elderly Home Project in which, presently, the initial design has been completed.
As for the conceptual idea for the design and planning of project, the project area is divided into 3 zones. Firstly, public zone comprises Public Health Center building and parking lot. Secondly, semi-public zone comprises administrative building, vocational training building, food center building, health park, physical therapy and aquatic therapy building. Thirdly, accommodation zone comprises houses, service and residence buildings for officers, and activity building. Houses in accommodation zone has been designed and categorized into 2 types. Type A house can accommodate up to 8 people. Each house has 2 large bedrooms (4 persons per one bedroom with one toilet). Type B house can accommodate up to 14 people. Each house is divided into 7 large bedrooms (2 persons per one bedroom with one toilet). Both types of houses will be equipped with beds, wardrobes, tables, chairs, air conditioners, and handrails for the elderly bathrooms.
Construction plan for the 1st phase starts from overall landscaping works; construction of food center building to be used temporarily as canteen and administrative and vocational training buildings, construction of Type A houses; construction of dykes and moats around the project area as well as pool digging; construction of road that lead to the project area; planting of trees to use as a project area fence; and installation of lighting and sanitary system.
Construction plan for the 2nd phase starts from the construction of additional Type A houses, Type B houses, activity building, service and residence buildings for officers, administrative building, vocational training building, physical therapy and aquatic therapy building, and Public Health Center building. Lastly, it will be landscape improvement and construction of parking lot.
It is expected that the 1st phase of this project will be completed in 2022. After that the BMA will accelerate the construction of the 2nd phase. Budget for the implementation of this project includes BMA budget and donations in which the BMA will ask the charitable persons to donate for this project. The BMA believes that it will receive supports from both the general public and private sector to take part in and contribute to the success of this project as it has always been supported by all sectors in moving forwards various social service projects.
A parliamentary session is held on Dec. 4, 2019, at the new parliament building in Bangkok. The wall remains bare due to delays in decorating the interior.
Story by Teeranai Charuvastra and Pravit Rojanaphruk
BANGKOK — Lawmakers said they will ask the government to consider fining a prominent construction contractor 12 million baht per day for its failure to complete the new parliament building on time – nearly six years after the deadline.
The project was initially budgeted at 14 billion baht but has since ballooned to nearly 22 billion baht amid a series of delays. The fate of the contractor, the Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, will be decided by the Comptroller General’s Department, a government agency that manages the national treasury, Parliament sec-gen Satit Prasertsak said on Wednesday.
The lawmakers, whose current office building remains under construction, proposed slapping a daily fine of 12 million baht on Sino-Thai Engineering, starting from Jan. 1, until work is fully completed, Satit said, though he stressed that the government will have the final say on the matter.
Other options that the Comptroller General’s Department may take include forcing the contractor – who has close ties to the government – to give the government a discount, or even exempt it from any penalties altogether, Satit said.
But a senior member of the Democrat Party urged the government to drop any chance of leniency for Sino-Thai Engineering, as the company has repeatedly missed its promised deadlines for years, and there is little evidence that its latest pledge to finish the project by April is credible.
“I must ask them, are we talking about April in what year?” said former Democrat Party MP Vilas Chanpitaksa, a staunch critic of the construction project that began during his tenure in 2012.
Politicians and lawmakers tour the new parliament building in Bangkok on May 30, 2019.
Speaking in a phone interview, Vilas said over 100 rooms were installed with a substandard material, which needed to be replaced at an extra cost. He also said 45 of the 46 types of lighting equipment in the exterior of the building turned out to be a wrong specification, and workers are removing them so the correct ones can be installed.
“The landscape is still a mess,” the six-time Bangkok MP said. “It’s dark now around the Parliament at night. It will be a time-consuming task to inspect all aspects of the construction [before April].”
Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction declined to comment on the looming possibility of a fine.
“The executives said they cannot answer any queries because there is no finality on the matter,” Sino-Thai’s public relations officer Banthita Songkram said by phone. “ The company is informed about the latest development but it’s not clear when we might make an announcement on the matter.”
Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction was founded in 1962 by Chaowarat tycoon Charnvirakul, the father of current public health minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Anutin himself sat on the executive board from 1995 to 2004. He also owned shares in the company until his appointment to the Cabinet in 2019.
A report in 2018 said the firm amassed at least 105 billion baht worth of construction contracts, most of them in government projects, including the new parliament building, new finance ministry headquarters, railways, and highways.
A Harmonous Assembly?
Construction of the new parliament building – known formally as Sappaya Sapasathan, or “A Place of Harmonious Assembly” – was first approved in 2008 when government officials argued that the 30-year-old parliament next to the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall was getting too crowded and shabby.
Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, who now reigns as king, placed the foundation stone at the chosen site in 2010, but construction could only begin in 2012. By that point, Thailand has seen four successive governments since the project was first greenlit.
Officials at the time estimated that the project would take about 900 days to complete. Nearly a decade and four deadline extensions later, construction is still underway, with an ever growing expense sheet.
A parliamentary session on Sept. 23, 2020.
Lawmakers elected in the 2019 poll were also forced to rent an auditorium in northern Bangkok to meet and debate on legislations for months, since the Sappaya Sapasathan complex wasn’t yet ready, and the old parliament venue was already returned to the Crown Property Bureau in late 2018.
Move Forward Party MP Surachet Pravinvongvuth said he’s been keeping a close eye on the repeated delays in the project, which was supposed to be completed by 2015. He said the riverside promenade remains unfinished, many utility wires uninstalled, and underground parking lots largely bare of any decorations.
“They keep on asking for an extension,” Surachet said of Sino-Thai Engineering. “There is no more justification.”
Although the company did ask the Parliament for yet another extension, the lawmakers shot down the request on Dec. 30.
Pro-democracy activists clash with police armed with tear gas and water cannons in front of the new parliament building in Bangkok on Nov. 17, 2020.
House of Representatives sec-gen Satit, who is also chief inspector of the construction project, said Sino-Thai Engineering has informed the Stock Exchanges of Thailand that the parliament will be fully built by April 30.
Satit said the construction is now over “95 percent completed” – areas that still need more work include the main lobby, offices for MPs, interior works, and some furnitures. The statue of King Rama VII, which has been moved from the old parliament building, has yet to be installed at Sappaya Sapasathan.
It’s the Virus, Boss
Sino-Thai cited the lockdown measures brought about by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 as the reasons for the delays, Satit said.
The company reportedly told the regulators at the Stock Exchanges of Thailand that travel restrictions severely affected the movement of 700 construction workers from Nonthaburi province to Bangkok, as well as the import of some materials from overseas.
Sino-Thai said these extenuating circumstances should qualify for waiving of any penalties over the delays.
In 2020, the company also pursued a lawsuit at the Administrative Court demanding 1.5 billion baht from the Parliament in compensation for delays in handing over the plot of land for construction.
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha takes photo of an opposition MP during the Parliament special session on Oct. 26, 2020.
Surachet, the Move Forward MP, said he accepts that some factors were beyond Sino-Thai’s control, such as the legal dispute over the land transfer, but he maintained that the company has been working at a very low pace, and they should bear some legal responsibility.
Vilas, the former Democrat lawmaker, urged the Parliament to study construction details and logbooks to see if the number of workers was truly affected by the coronavirus outbreak in 2020 as claimed by Sino-Thai Engineering.
The politician also said he finds the firm’s promise of completing Sappaya Sapasathan by April to be very unrealistic.
“Let’s say if it’s already 90 percent done,” Vilas said. “At this rate, they will definitely need another 4 months.”
