Thai Phakdee founder Warong Dechgitvigrom gestures to reporters on July 7, 2020.
BANGKOK — A hardline royalist network on Wednesday urged its supporters to file royal defamation complaints against critics of the monarchy and offered legal support to anyone who chooses to do so.
The Thai Phakdee group, led by pro-establishment activist Warong Dechgitvigrom, called his campaign “Operation Breaking Viet Cong’s Neck,” a response to recent statements issued by anti-government activists that appear to promote communism.
“Right now they have internal conflicts and want to use Communism in Thailand, which led to a lot of backlashes, with 99 percent of people disagreeing with it,” Warong said. “They have no clear goal.”
He doubled down on the widespread crackdown of dissidents under Article 112 of the Criminal Codes, or lese majeste, in recent weeks. Warong, a former Democrat Party executive, said the law should be used more, not less.
“We have lawyers available to collect all the evidence, write the case file, and send it back to you so you can file it at the police station near your home,” Warong said. “This will make those trying to destroy Article 112 quit their efforts.”
At least 25 people have been charged with lese majeste in the past month, the highest number in years. Those charged this week include a transgender woman accused of mocking the Royal Family by wearing a traditional Thai dress, a 16-year-old minor, a protest volunteer guard, and an actress who fundraised donations for the protests.
Human Rights Watch representative Sunai Phasuk said he’s concerned that an increasingly indiscriminate use of Article 112 could lead to viligilate actions by overzealous monarchy supporters.
“Police will also have to take up the cases out of fear that they, too, may be seen as disloyal,” Sunai said.
Speaking at yesterday’s news conference, Warong repeated a popular claim among the royalists that Thailand’s lese majeste law, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail, is not out of step with the rest of the world.
“Every country in the entire world has Article 112,” he said, referencing the United Kingdom and Netherlands.
In fact, the United Kingdom’s lese majeste offense was abolished in 2010. The last prosecution under that law took place in 1715.
And while the Netherlands does retain lese majeste in its laws, the charge has a maximum punishment of four months – equivalent to insulting police officers, ambulance drivers, emergency room workers, and social workers.
The offense was last invoked in July 2016, when a man was jailed for 30 days for insulting King Willem-Alexander.
The Thai Phakdee group said it will also file a complaint to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society on Thursday to call for tougher regulation of social media, where discussions about the monarchy are rarely restricted.
“Social media is a threat to national security and the monarchy institution,” Warong said.
Health workers talk to a group of returnees from Myanmar who just completed a stay at a state-run quarantine in Chiang Rai province on Dec. 17, 2020.
BANGKOK (Xinhua) — Thailand’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on Wednesday health investigators had discovered COVID-19 virus substances on door knobs at an alternative state quarantine (ASQ) facilities which may be the source of the cluster of infections among Thai frontline healthcare workers working there.
The CCSA had already instructed all ASQ facilities to not only clean floors but should also sanitize door knobs, said CCSA spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin.
Six nurses in Bangkok last week tested positive for COVID-19, with health investigators questioning whether these nurses had worn proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) gear when interacting with air passenger arrivals undergoing the 14 day quarantine period.
The CCSA on Wednesday reported 15 new COVID-19 cases among arrivals from abroad in state quarantine.
Cumulative infections in Thailand, to date, are 4,261, with 3,977 recoveries, and 224 others are still being treated in hospitals.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, recovery crews look at the capsule of the Chang'e 5 probe after its successful landing at the main landing site in Siziwang district, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. (Peng Yuan/Xinhua via AP)
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese lunar capsule returned to Earth on Thursday with the first fresh rock samples from the moon in more than 40 years, offering the possibility of new insights into the history of the solar system and marking a new landmark for China’s rapidly advancing space program.
The capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe landed just before 2 a.m. (1800 GMT Wednesday) in the Siziwang district of the Inner Mongolia region, the China National Space Administration reported.
The capsule had earlier separated from its orbiter module and performed a bounce off Earth’s atmosphere to reduce its speed before passing through and floating to the ground on parachutes. Following recovery, the capsule and its cargo of samples were flown to the space program’s campus in Beijing to begin the process of disassembly and analysis, the space administration said.
The mission achieved new firsts for the lunar exploration program in collecting samples, launching a vehicle from the moon’s surface and docking it with the capsule to return the samples to Earth, the administration said.
“As our nation’s mostly complex and technically groundbreaking space mission, Chang’e 5 has achieved multiple technical breakthroughs … and represents a landmark achievement,” it said.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, recovery crew members check on the capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe after its successful landed in Siziwang district, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. (Ren Junchuan/Xinhua via AP)
Two of the Chang’e 5’s four modules set down on the moon on Dec. 1 and collected about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of samples by scooping them from the surface and drilling 2 meters (about 6 feet) into the moon’s crust. The samples were deposited in a sealed container that was carried back to the return module by an ascent vehicle.
Much to the amusement of viewers, footage run by state broadcaster CCTV showed a furry white animal, possibly a fox or rodent, running in front of the capsule as it lay on the ground, stopping briefly as if to inquire into the unfamiliar object.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a statement read out at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, called it a major achievement that marked a great step forward for China’s space industry. Xi expressed hope that mission participants would continue to contribute toward building China into a major space power and national rejuvenation, state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
Recovery crews had prepared helicopters and off-road vehicles to home in on signals emitted by the lunar spacecraft and locate it in the darkness shrouding the vast snow-covered region in China’s far north, long used as a landing site for China’s Shenzhou crewed spaceships.
The spacecraft’s return marked the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since the former Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robot probe in 1976.
The newly collected rocks are thought to be billions of years younger than those obtained earlier by the U.S. and former Soviet Union, offering new insights into the history of the moon and other bodies in the solar system. They come from a part of the moon known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called the Mons Rumker that was believed to have been volcanic in ancient times.
As with the 382 kilograms (842 pounds) of lunar samples brought back by U.S. astronauts from 1969 to 1972, they will be analyzed for age and composition and are expected to be shared with other countries.
The age of the samples will help fill in a gap in knowledge about the history of the moon between roughly 1 billion and three billion years ago, Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in the U.S. city of St. Louis, wrote in an email. They may also yield clues as to the availability of economically useful resources on the moon such as concentrated hydrogen and oxygen, Jolliff said.
“These samples will be a treasure trove!” Jolliff wrote. “My hat is off to our Chinese colleagues for pulling off a very difficult mission; the science that will flow from analysis of the returned samples will be a legacy that will last for many, many years, and hopefully will involve the international community of scientists.”
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, recovery crew members film the capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe after its successful landed in Siziwang district, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. (Ren Junchuan/Xinhua via AP)
Chang’e 5 blasted off from a launch base in China’s southern island province of Hainan on Nov. 24 and appeared to have completed its highly technically sophisticated mission without a hitch.
It marked China’s third successful lunar landing but the only one to lift off again from the moon. Its predecessor, Chang’e 4, became the first probe to land on the moon’s little-explored far side and continues to send back data on conditions that could affect a future extended stay by humans on the moon.
The moon has been a particular focus of the Chinese space program, which says it plans to land humans there and possibly construct a permanent base. No timeline or other details have been announced.
China also has joined the effort to explore Mars. In July, it launched the Tianwen 1 probe, which was carrying a lander and a robot rover to search for water.
In 2003, China became the third country to send an astronaut into orbit on its own after the Soviet Union and the United States and its space program has proceeded more cautiously than the U.S.-Soviet space race of the 1960s, which was marked by fatalities and launch failures. By taking incremental steps, China appears on the path toward building a program that can sustain steady progress.
The latest flight includes collaboration with the European Space Agency, which is helping to monitor the mission. Amid concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and close military connections, the U.S. forbids cooperation between NASA and the CNSA unless Congress gives its approval. That has prevented China from taking part in the International Space Station, something it has sought to compensate for with the launching of an experimental space station and plans to complete a permanent orbiting outpost within the next two years.
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This report corrects the date of the Chang’e 5 mission’s launch.
President Donald Trump stands on stage after speaking at a campaign rally at Smith Reynolds Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in Winston-Salem, N.C.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert Reed says he will always believe the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump. The retired police officer-turned-construction worker believes fraud marred the vote, no matter how many courts rejected that claim.
Still, a day after the Electoral College made Joe Biden’s win official, the ardent Trump supporter from the suburbs of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was ready to move on.
“I think it’s pretty much over,” Reed said of Trump’s ongoing quest to overturn the results of the election. ”I trust the Electoral College.”
For weeks, Trump has been on a mission to convince his loyal base that his victory was stolen and the contest was rigged. With help from conservative media, polls show he’s had considerable success. But now that the Electoral College has formalized Biden’s win and Republican officials, including Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, are finally acknowledging Biden as president-elect, many Trump voters across the country seem to be doing the same.
Interviews with voters, along with fresh surveys of Republicans, suggest their unfounded doubts about the integrity of the vote remain. But there is far less consensus on what should be done about it and whether to carry that resentment forward.
For some, like Reed, the Electoral College vote was the clear end of a process. Others have vowed to continue to protest with demonstrations like the one that turned violent in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. And some said they hoped GOP leaders would press for more investigations to put the doubts Trump sowed to rest.
In this Oct. 26, 2020, photo, Robert Reed, stands in line to attend a campaign rally with President Donald Trump at Lancaster Airport in Lititz, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)
They are people like Scott Adams, a retiree and Trump voter living in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, who said he accepts Biden’s victory — but “with reservations.”
Adams said he’s heard too much discussion about irregularities in the vote count on Fox News Channel and conservative talk radio to trust the election’s outcome and doesn’t feel he’ll ever know the true margin of victory. (Biden won the Electoral College by a vote of 306 to 232.)
But Adams doesn’t think the election was rigged enough to change the outcome, even if he believes it was “rigged enough that it should be questioned more.” He’d like to see more investigations.
Republicans across the country — from local officials to governors to Attorney General William Barr — have said repeatedly there is no evidence mass voter fraud affected the outcome. Trump and his allies brought a flurry of lawsuits, but nearly all have been dismissed by judges. The Supreme Court, which includes three Trump-nominated justices, denied requests to hear a pair of cases aimed at invalidating the outcome of the election in key battleground states.
Still, coming to terms with this pile of evidence has been difficult for many Trump voters. They expressed disbelief that Trump could have lost, given the huge crowds he drew to his rallies. Some said their suspicions were heightened by the mainstream media’s reluctance to air Trump’s baseless claims. And they repeatedly pointed to the slower-than-usual vote count as evidence something had gone awry.
“Something’s not right here,” said Reed, 61, who lives in East Lampeter Township.
The explanation is well known — in many states, an influx of mail-in ballots, overwhelmingly cast by Democrats, were tallied later than ballots cast in person. Still, Reed said he thought the courts should have spent more time investigating.
“I’ll always believe that it was stolen from him. I’ll really never be able to have peace of mind that it wasn’t,” he said.
Others were less willing to go along.
“I don’t trust that result. I think that the election was a fraud. I think the election was stolen. I don’t know how anybody could not think that. All you have to do is look at the results,” said Katherine Negrete, 55, a teacher living in Peoria, Arizona.
Negrete is among those who holds out hope that Trump can win if the Supreme Court intervenes (there is no indication that will happen) or Congress chooses to accept an “alternative slate” of Trump electors from several states. Election experts have said that scheme has no legal pathway and Republican Senate leaders have discouraged it.
Matt Vereline, left, and other members of “Long Island Loud Majority” at a pre-election Trump rally in Lititz, Pa., on Oct. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Jill Colvin)
Still, Negrete said, “hopefully Congress will do the right thing” and she expressed frustration with dwindling options.
“I don’t know what we can do about that. If we don’t have the courts that stand up for us,” she said. “If we don’t have an attorney general that will stand up and say, ‘This was wrong and we need to investigate it.’ What are we supposed to do? Do we need to fight brother against brother? It’s crazy.”
Biden has vowed to bring Americans together and work across the aisle. His success on both fronts may depend on how many Republicans hold on to their election grievances. A Quinnipiac University poll from earlier this month found that 38% of registered voters, including 77% of Republicans, said they believe there was widespread fraud in the presidential election.
And a recent Fox News poll found 36% of voters, including 77% of Trump voters, believe the election was stolen from Trump. However, the same poll also found that about 8 in 10 voters overall, and about half of Trump voters, said they will at least give Biden a chance as president.
Matt Vereline, 52, a member of the pro-Trump group “Long Island Loud Majority” is not in the mood for reconciliation.
Vereline, who lives in Bohemia, New York, is convinced “there was a lot more voter fraud than we know about,” though he’s not sure whether it changed the outcome. But that won’t keep him from rallying around what he thinks was an injustice. After all, that’s what Democrats did to Trump, he says.
“Did they not cry for four years about Russian collusion, which wasn’t proven? So now I’m going to to cry about voter fraud for four years,” he said. “They didn’t accept it. Why should I accept Biden? I know I can’t do nothing about it. I know a rally is not going to change the course of who gets elected president. It’s whatever will be will be. But if my friends want to get together and complain about it in a peaceful way and voice our opinions, I’m going.”
Others believe Biden won fair and square. Steve Volkman, a Republican who works in construction in Mesa, Arizona, said he made peace with Trump’s loss weeks ago.
“I voted for Trump, but people gotta get over it,” Volkman said, while leaning against his pickup truck. “For sure, he (Biden) won the majority vote — landslide. To me, it’s already over.”
Catherine Templeton, a South Carolina Republican who served in former Gov. Nikki Haley’s administration, said that, despite the level of support for Trump in red states like her own, she felt sure voters would be willing to accept Biden as president.
“Obviously, South Carolina supports President Trump, but I think you’ll see when Republicans don’t get their way, they move on,” said Templeton, who lives in Charleston. “It’s time to move on.”
It remains to be seen, for now, how lingering concerns over the integrity of the vote will affect turnout in future elections. Both parties have been focused on Georgia, where a pair of runoff elections will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
Denise Adams, 50, said she has her doubts about “questionable activity” in the general election. But she turned out to vote early on Monday in Kennesaw, a suburb northwest of Atlanta.
“I don’t want to lose our freedoms,” she said, repeating misleading GOP claims that the Democrats would usher in “socialism.” “We’re losing our rights and freedoms in our country.”
“I’ve never had a problem before now trusting it, but now I feel like there may be something going on that I don’t trust,” echoed Melissa McJunkin, 40, who remains concerned about the integrity of her vote after hearing stories of voter fraud in the general election, but turned out anyway.
“I think it’s important for what’s going to happen next,” she said.
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Cooper reported from Mesa, Arizona. Associated Press writers Emily Swanson in Washington, Nicholas Riccardi in Atlanta, Sophia Tulp in Rome, Georgia, and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
AIS Fibre was named 2020 Asia-Pacific Fixed Broadband Service Provider of the year by Frost & Sullivan, a consultant on business and business research with over 50 years of experience. Also, AIS Fibre is the first ever broadband internet service provider in Thailand to have received this award, as well as maximum points compared to other service providers in eight other countries of the United States and the Asia Pacific.
The criteria of the Frost and Sullivan Best Practices Awards 2020, which AIS Fibre was able to win, are as follows.
1. The Financial Performance of AIS Fibre has been outstanding. Throughout 2019, AIS Fibre’s revenues increased by 29% and it was able to increase the customer user base by 42.1% year on year, giving AIS Fibre increased market share of 10%, despite getting into the market much later than other providers. It was able to increase market share a great, deal compared to other service providers in the Asia Pacific region.
2. Implementation of Best Practice is being the top-ranked leader of innovation in the Thai industry. AIS Fibre has pioneered the rollout of 100% fiber optic technology to cover all 77 provinces, with over 1.04 million service users in 2019. The company has also issued the SuperMESH WiFi package which enhances efficiency of signal transmission, to be fast, strong and covering all installed areas. There is no need to install a LAN cable, with up to eight device connections available. There is cooperation with Huawei to level up SuperMESH WiFi and routers to the next level, enabling maximum bandwidth of 1 Gbps on Wi-Fi in the Thai market for the first time.
3. Visionary through Mega Trends: This is the vision that is consistent with global trends. AIS, the parent company of AIS Fibre, is rolling out products, and has a plan to launch 5G fixed wireless access to service users, to underline leadership in 5G innovation. AIS is among 24 service providers in the Asia Pacific region which have already launched 5G.
4. Customer Service Experience is the determination to deliver the best possible experience to customers. AIS Fibre has given priority to the behavior of service users, and is determined to develop services to meet the needs of customers. For instance, Speed Toggle is the first service in Thailand enabling customers to adjust the speeds of download and upload as they need to increase efficiency. Dual Bandwidth separates internet pipelines for home use and for gaming with full speed for both pipes despite them being used at the same time, for the best experience for gamers. Meanwhile, AIS has cooperated with SK Telecom, a service provider from South Korea, and Singtel in Singapore, to launch a game platform in a joint venture with a user base of gamers of about 800 million people worldwide. This shows the company’s capabilities in improving the user experience through partnerships and the development of innovation to meet the needs of each customer group.
5. Expressing Unmet Needs with the 5G network, is helping provide us to deliver 5G fixed wireless access solutions at locations which AIS Fibre does not reach. In the Asia Pacific region in particular, there are a great many rural and remote areas. AISs is ready to launch 5G fixed wireless access for Enterprise customers, and to upgrade the wireless network experience by using 5G technology.
6. Brand Equity or Creating Continuous Brand Value: AIS Fibre has retained its customer base with the intention to create a good image alongside the development of quality products and services. Quality and standards have been guaranteed with a global level award such as that of Ookla® Speedtest®, one of the top internet speed benchmarking service providers in the world. AIS also won the title of Thailand’s fastest ISP in 2019.
Mr.Kitti Ngarmchatetanarom, Head of Fixed Broadband Department at AIS, said that “on behalf of AIS Fibre, we are delighted to represent Thai corporations in creating a reputation for the country, because this award is a contest with various Asia Pacific countries. The company maintains its position to deliver a service which is Better, Forward and simpler, as a Digital Life Service Provider supporting the future progress of the country’s digital economy.”
BANGKOK — A celebrity actress who organized donation drives for the pro-democracy rallies said Wednesday she was charged with royal defamation, a harsh law that could land her in prison for 15 years.
Intira “Sai” Charoenpura announced the news on her Facebook, where she posted a police summons accusing her of breaching Article 112 of the Criminal Codes, also known as lese majeste. She was the latest person to be ensnared in the widening crackdown that saw over 20 people charged under the same offense in recent days.
It is unclear why lese majeste was brought against Intira. She has been donating food, mobile toilets, and other equipment to the anti-government protests since July, as well as fundraising donations on behalf of the activists, but Intira never made any speeches onstage.
The warrant did not specify the nature of her alleged crimes, but simply instructed her to report to Bang Khen Police Station on Dec. 21.
At least 25 people involved in the protest movement have been charged over the past month under the lese majeste law, though details of those cases grow increasingly vague each day.
Just yesterday, news broke that police filed lese majeste against a woman for donning a traditional Thai silk dress at a parody fashion show held by pro-democracy activists in October.
Sombat Thongyoi, one of the volunteers who provided security at the protests, also said on Monday that police have pressed royal defamation against him – without informing him why.
“This is the harshest legal case that any democracy fighter can face. No one wants it,” Sombat wrote online upon learning the news. “But Article 112 has made its way to me anyway. I never expected it. I’ve been sitting here and wondering what I could have done to deserve it.”
Article 112 of the Criminal Codes outlaws any remarks that threaten or insult key members of the Royal Family, though in practice the offense is routinely interpreted to include any gesture deemed critical of the monarchy.
The offense has been on a hiatus for several years – PM Prayut Chan-o-cha said in June that His Majesty the King had requested the authorities not to use it – but made an abrupt return in November.
Abolishing Article 112 is one of the demands put forth by the ongoing protests. The activists insisted on their goal during a rally in front of the United Nations office in Bangkok on Dec. 10, which coincides with International Human Rights Day.
“Article 112 is an outdated law that no other countries have endorsed,” campaigner Somyot Prueksakasemsuk said at the rally. “It prevents people from expressing their opinion freely and the government has used it to destroy its opponents.”
Jimmy Ophorst, a chef at Pru restaurant on Phuket island, selects ingredients from a farm. Image: PRU Restaurant / Facebook.
BANGKOK — A fine dining restaurant on a tourist island wrecked by the coronavirus pandemic was recognized on Wednesday by Michelin for its eco-friendly practices.
The 2021 edition of the Thailand Michelin’s Guide awarded their first “Green Star” to Pru, known for its European modern cuisine and locally sourced seafood, in a ceremony held at a hotel in Bangkok. Three more restaurants also made it to the prestigious list of Michelin Stars this year.
“Everybody knows with the COVID-19 situation it’s very difficult for everyone,” Jimmy Ophorst, a chef at Pru, said. “Phuket is very empty; the only tourists we get are from Bangkok on the weekends. We try to survive; it’s not easy,”
Ophorst, who hailed from the Netherlands, added, “I hope that by getting this star we can do something for Phuket.”
The newly inaugurated “Green Star” looks for restaurants with sustainable practices such as recycling, sourcing local ingredients, and reducing food waste.
Today’s trophy is also a symbolic comeback for Pru, which had to close down for three months earlier this year due to the virus outbreak. Ophorst said he advised local farmers and fishermen on sustainable farming and fishing practices as well.
“Of course we buy the ingredients from them,” he said. “If it’s not up to our standard we advise them on how to grow it better next time so that they can get a higher price and they can get more money to develop their families.”
The Michelin Guide says Pru only uses seasonal local ingredients, line-caught seafood, and free-range animals. Their ingredients are sourced from Phang Nga and Nakhon Phanom as well as their own 600 rai (96 hectares) farm.
Michelin’s Green Star winner Jimmy Ophorst, Youg Chef awardee Sujira Pongmorn, and Service Award recipient Guillaume Barray.
A dinner set menu at Pru costs about 4,500 to 5,000 baht, and includes Phuket lobster.
Manuel Montana, President of Michelin East Asia and Australia said that it was the “right thing to do” to highlight “food for a better tomorrow.”
“We want people to travel, explore, and experience,” Montana said. “During the COVID pandemic, local tourism can and should be key. So don’t forget to bring your copy along!”
At today’s news conference, the guide also unveiled the winners for its coveted ‘stars.’ Like the year prior, the chosen restaurants were in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Phang Nga.
Two stars
Chef’s Table was promoted from one star to two.
R-Haan and Sorn, the first Thai restaurants to get two stars in 2020, both retained their stars. Le Normandie, Mezzaluna, and Suhring all continued to retain their 2019 stars.
One star
Sushi Masato, Blue by Alain Ducasse, and Cadence by Dan Bark were the three new restaurants to receive a one-star rating.
The three “worked very hard to shine and impress diners during this difficult time,” Tippawan Nitijessadawong, Michelin Guide Thailand director said.
The following 24 restaurants all retained their one star: 80/20, Bo.lan, Canvas, Chim by Siam Wisdom, Elements, Ginza Sushi Ichi, J’aime by Jean-Michel Loran, Jay Fai, Khao (Ekkamai branch), Le Du, Methavalai Sorndaeng, Nahm, Paste, Pru, Saawaan, Saneh Jaan, Savelberg, Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin, and Suanthip.
“Presentation may look plain, but dishes deliver blasts of flavors and refined complexity,” the guide said of Methavalai Sorndaeng.
Pru continued to be the only restaurant outside of Bangkok to have a star rating.
Gaa, Ruean Panya, Table 38, and Upstairs by Mikkeller did not retain their star – Upstairs closed, while Table 38 and Gaa moved locations. Ruean Panya got a Bib Gourmand instead.
Bib Gourmand:
The Michelin Guide announced on Dec. 9 their 17 new picks for the Bib Gourmand award for eateries .. A total of 106 eateries in Thailand have the award, which demands that a starter, main, and dessert be under 1,000 baht.
Greater Bangkok: Bunloet, Grim Nguan Noodle, Burapa, Khanom Bueng Wan Phueng Noi (Chok Chai 4), Chang-Wang-Imm, Nai Ngeab (Phuttamonthon Sai 4), Pae Jok 38 Years, Phed Phed Bistro, and Somyos
Phed Phed Bistro at The Circle Ratchapruk is known for their Isaan somtum dishes.
Chiang Mai: Aunt Aoy Kitchen, Go Neng (Wichayanon), Rotee Pa Day
Phuket and Phang-Nga: Hok Kee Lao, Khok Kloi Bami Tom Yam Khai, Khanom Chin Pa Son, Salaloy, and Takola
Other New Awards
The guide also handed out the Young Chef award for the first time in Thailand. The honor went to Sujira Pongmorn, 34, of one-star Saawaan. She was picked among candidates of chefs under 36 of starred restaurants.
Another first for Thailand is the Michelin Guide Service Award, which recognizes outstanding service. General manager Guillaume Barray of Chef’s Table was named as the winner.
The Michelin Guide Thailand 2021 will be available in bookstores for 650 baht starting Dec. 23.
Police officers destroy unauthorized marijuana plants in Sakon Nakhon province on Dec. 9, 2020.
BANGKOK (Xinhua) — Two Thai ministries on Tuesday said they have laid grounds in launching the first medical marijuana tour in Southeast Asia next year as they finalised a draft programme for plantations across Thailand.
Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Tourism and Sports both said the purpose of the tour is to increase awareness of marijuana for medical purposes and to draw interests from those who might be interested in growing the plant as long as they abide by the Thai law.
Eight provinces have plantations that could be part of the tour, comprising Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Samut Songkhram, Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Phatthalung and Chon Buri, said Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the tourism and sports minister.
“In the early stages, the tour program will aim to educate locals who would like to form a community enterprise and bid to become authorized cannabis growers. This program will pave the way for a basic understanding of marijuana and its economic benefits,” said Phiphat.
The Tourism Department will work with the Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine Department in promoting medical tourism, including herbs and marijuana for traditional medicine, the minister said.
The minister said that the tour program is designed to help locals create new revenue sources with better skills and knowledge of marijuana and herbal tourism.
Earlier in August, the Thai Cabinet had approved a proposal to amend the Narcotics Act to allow private medical practitioners, including some traditional healers, and farmers to grow the plant for medical treatment.
This development followed the controlled legalization of marijuana in 2018, which saw Thailand become the first country in Southeast Asia to allow state agencies or those who sought permission to grow cannabis, following the regulations of government agencies.
Thai police however, had warned that marijuana use for recreational purposes is still forbidden in Thailand.
The Thai government is set to host a cannabis expo in Thailand’s North-Eastern province of Buri Ram in October 2021.
President-elect Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding a plane at New Castle Airport in New Castle, Del., Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a month after the election, top Republicans finally acknowledged Joe Biden as the next U.S. president on Tuesday, a collapse in GOP resistance to the millions of voters who decisively chose the Democrat. Foreign leaders joined the parade, too, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Speaking from the floor of the U.S. Senate where Biden spent 36 years of his career, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated his former colleague as president-elect. The two men spoke later in the day.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, was to meet with his likely successor in the new administration, Antony Blinken. And GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies, said he’d spoken with some of Biden’s Cabinet picks.
A similar shift unfolded in capitals across the world, where leaders including Russia’s Putin and Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledged Biden’s win.
The moves come a day after electors nationwide formally cast votes affirming Biden’s victory in last month’s presidential election. And while that clears a more stable path for Biden to assume the presidency, it does little to stop Trump from continuing to try to undermine confidence in the results with baseless allegations that have been rejected by judges across political spectrum.
As Republicans began discussing a Biden presidency more openly on Tuesday, Trump still pledged to press forward with almost nonexistent legal options.
“Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud. There has never been anything like this in our Country!” Trump tweeted just as members of his party were publicly recognizing Biden’s victory.
The growing acknowledgement of reality in Washington was triggered by the Electoral College formally voting on Monday to seal Biden’s win with 306 votes to Trump’s 232, the same margin that Trump pulled together four years ago. The normally humdrum political ceremony didn’t change the facts of the election, but was nonetheless used as political cover by leading Republicans.
“Many of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result,” McConnell said. “But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The Electoral College has spoken.”
The bureaucratic transition from Trump’s government to Biden’s actually began weeks ago, despite the president’s legal challenges. Still, the suddenly conciliatory stance from many Republicans could thaw the political deep freeze that has gripped Washington lately.
Biden has been trying to build momentum as he prepares to assume the presidency while facing the historic challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions of Americans against the coronavirus. In some of his most forceful remarks since the election, Biden is calling for unity but also calling Trump’s attacks on the voting process “unconscionable” and insisting it is time to “turn the page.′
“We need to work together, give each other a chance, and lower the temperature,” Biden said in a speech Monday.
Still, the shift coming so late in the tone from Republicans has left the president-elect with barely a month to finish building out key parts his new government. Some say the GOP about-face won’t mean much at this point.
President-elect Joe Biden speaks at a drive-in rally for Georgia Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
“Even them doing this now, the damage has been done because they’ve blocked, they’ve interrupted,” said Anthony Robinson, a former Obama administration appointee who served several national security policy roles including during the transition to the Trump administration in 2016.
“I don’t want to say, ‘Who cares?,’ but it definitely doesn’t symbolize a smooth transition,” said Robinson, who is now political director of the National Democratic Training Committee, which trains candidates and campaign staffers all over the country.
Biden’s first priority will be the fair and efficient distribution of vaccines against the virus. The president-elect said Tuesday that he would follow the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, who says that getting the president-elect himself vaccinated as soon as possible is a matter of national security.
“Dr. Fauci recommends I get the vaccine sooner than later. I want to make sure we do it by the numbers,” Biden said, adding that he’d be immunized publicly, which could help build public trust in the vaccine.
Trump’s continued opposition to Biden, meanwhile, may still present roadblocks, especially in the U.S. House where Republicans as recently as last week were introducing legislation to punish members of their party who might be seen as urging Trump to “concede prematurely.” Other top Trump administration Cabinet officials haven’t yet followed the lead of Pompeo, who plans to meet Thursday with Blinken, Biden’s secretary of state nominee.
“The president is still involved in ongoing litigation related to the election,” said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, calling the Electoral College vote “one step in the constitutional process.”
Rick Tyler, a Republican operative and fierce Trump critic, said it seemed at first like “the Electoral College had broken the evil spell that Trump cast across the Republican Party.”
But he said the attacks on the electoral system that Trump is continuing to wage have many of his supporters now questioning American democracy itself— and that won’t quickly dissipate just because some Republicans and world leaders are now willing to say conciliatory things.
“There really are 50-plus million people who no longer have trust in our system, and that’s a dangerous thing,” said Tyler. He said Biden must “figure out a way to restore that trust. And it can’t just be a partisan attack on Republicans for, frankly, being stupid.”
Also looming large is the divided U.S. Senate, where majority control will depend on the outcome of two special elections in Georgia on Jan. 5. Unless Democrats win both those races, Senate Republicans will have the power to block many of Biden’s Cabinet nominations, not to mention thwart his policy initiatives.
Underscoring the urgency on that score, Biden traveled Tuesday to Georgia, his first trip beyond Delaware and southeast Pennsylvania since the election.
“I need two senators from this state who want to get something done, not just get in the way,” Biden told a drive-in rally in Atlanta.
An agent from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board inspects piles of sacks believed to be containing ketamine during a raid of a warehouse in Chachoengsao province on Nov. 12, 2020.
BANGKOK — When journalists and U.N. representatives were invited to witness a raid on a warehouse last month, they were told by the justice minister that Thailand had just intercepted 11 tonnes of ketamine intended for Taiwan – the largest amount confiscated ever on record.
But lab tests announced by officials on Tuesday said the operation yielded only a pinch of ketamine, or 1.2 gram to be precise. The rest was, well, something else disguised as drugs.
“We compared with the evidence seized by Taiwanese authorities and found that the smugglers switched the sacks at the warehouse before sending them abroad,” Narcotics Control Board chairman Wichai Chaimongkol said.
“That’s why only a trace of ketamine was found,” he continued. “However, we can still take legal action since it can be considered as a narcotic possession.”
Top: The Office of Narcotics Control Board announces what was billed as the ‘Biggest Ketamine Bust’ ever in Thailand on Nov. 12, 2020.
Under Thai law, those caught with over 0.5 gram of ketamine, a Category 2 drug, face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a 100,000 baht fine. Offenders face a more severe punishment if their possession is intended for exports.
A total of 493 sacks containing material suspected to be ketamine were confiscated by the law enforcement in November after a tip-off from law enforcement agents in Taiwan, who also confiscated 300-kilogram of ketamine hidden in similar sacks shipped from Thailand.
But once the camera flashes died down, officials announced that 66 of the 493 sacks taken in by the authorities turn out to be trisodium phosphate, a chemical compound used in pharmaceutical and food production as additives and cleaning agents.
Wichai said the rest of the shipment contained the same chemicals. The agency will take the incident as a lesson to improve narcotics detection techniques in the future, he added.
“We had never seen a case where narcotics were mixed up with other substances intended for exports,” Wichai said. “We only saw narcotics concealed in other articles in the past.”
Police said two suspects are under arrest in connection with the cargo, though few details about them are available.
