Photo released by the Hong Kong police on Dec. 8, 2019 shows fire set by rioters outside the High Court and the Court of Final Appeal. (Credit: Hong Kong police)
HONG KONG (Xinhua) — Violent acts were seen during a demonstration in Hong Kong on Sunday as rioters set fire outside two Hong Kong courts and vandalized shops.
The police said in a statement that rioters threw petrol bombs outside the High Court and the Court of Final Appeal adjacent to the finishing point of the procession in the evening. The exterior walls of the High Court were also spray-painted.
The cases were classified as “arson” and will be investigated by the Central District Investigation Team, the police said.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will not condone any acts of sabotage against the Judiciary or damage to the rule of law, the Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement, adding that arson is a serious offence and the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
The arson not only disrupted social peace but also undermined Hong Kong’s reputation of being governed by the rule of law, the DoJ said.
Besides, a group of violent protesters vandalized shops and a bank in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai. The police warned them not to do any illegal acts posing threat to public order and safety.
A public gathering was held at the Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon, followed by a procession expected to finish at Chater Road in the Central district. Some participants deviated from the approved route and occupied part of Gloucester Road and Des Voeux Road Central.
The police also asked all participants not to deviate from the approved route and advised them to disperse after the assembly.
In this combo of 6 images, yellow vest protesters take part of their 56th round demonstration in Paris, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
PARIS (AP) — France’s prime minister is holding special meetings Sunday about the government’s divisive redesign of the national retirement system, amid warnings that strike-related transport troubles will get even worse in the coming days.
Travel tangles continued Sunday as the strikes entered their fourth day, with most French trains at a standstill. Fourteen of Paris’ subway lines were closed, with only two lines — using automated trains with no drivers — functioning. International routes also suffered disruptions.
Monday will be a bigger test of the strike movement’s strength, and of travelers’ patience. Unions are calling for even more people to walk off the job Monday, when commuters go back to work. Many people worked from home or took a day off when the strike began last week, but that’s not sustainable if the strikes drag on.
Warning of safety risks, the SNCF national train network and Paris transit authority RATP warned travelers to stay away Monday instead of packing platforms for the few functioning trains. “On December 9, stay home or find another means of locomotion,” SNCF said in a message to travelers.
Yellow vests protesters holding a French flag march in Paris, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
Looking ahead to a challenging week, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is holding meetings Sunday afternoon and evening with government ministers involved in the reform — and with President Emmanuel Macron, according to government officials.
Macron, a centrist former investment banker, argues that the retirement overhaul will make a convoluted, out-dated system more fair and financially sustainable. Unions however see the reform as an attack on fundamental worker rights, and fear people will have to work longer for smaller pensions.
The government says it won’t change the official retirement age of 62, but the plan is expected to include financial conditions to encourage people to work longer, as life spans lengthen.
New nationwide protests are scheduled Tuesday, and the prime minister is scheduled to release details of the plan Wednesday.
Yellow vest activists joined in the anger Saturday, as they added the retirement reform to their list of economic grievances in protests around the country. Police fired tear gas on rowdy protesters at largely peaceful marches through Paris and the western city of Nantes.
A masked couple walk by pro-democracy protesters who wave US and British flags as they gather on a street in Hong Kong, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
HONG KONG (AP) — Almost hidden among the throngs of demonstrators who marched in Hong Kong on Sunday was one woman who crawled, literally on hands and knees on the rough road surface — an apt metaphor for the arduous path traveled by Hong Kong’s protest movement in the past six months.
Dragging bricks and empty soda cans on pieces of string behind her, the young woman elicited shouts of encouragement from fellow protesters. “Go for it!” they yelled.
“Her performance art is about the difficulty, or the repetitiveness, of demonstrations,” said one of her friends, who walked alongside and identified herself by her surname, Chan. “This is really a long-term struggle.”
And one that shows few, if any, signs of flagging.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators crammed into Hong Kong’s streets, their chants echoing off high-rises, in a mass show of support for the protest movement entering its seventh month.
Chanting “Fight for freedom” and “Stand with Hong Kong,” the sea of protesters formed a huge human snake winding for blocks on Hong Kong Island, from the Causeway Bay shopping district to the Central business zone, a distance of more than 2 kilometers (1 1/4 miles). It was one of the biggest rallies in months, and remarkably peaceful.
Pro-democracy protesters march on a street in Hong Kong, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Crowds were so large and dense that the march ground to a standstill at times. Protesters spilled into narrow side streets, crying “Revolution in our times.” Organizers said 800,000 people participated, while police had no immediate estimate.
The demonstrator who crawled part of the route wouldn’t give her name. But her protest turned heads, gave pause for thought and raised the question: How much longer can Hong Kong keep up its push to preserve its freedoms that make it unique among China’s cities?
She offered this cryptic response.
“We have too much burden, but perhaps we have enough hope to make us go further,” she said.
Many marchers held up five fingers to press the movement’s five demands. They include democratic elections for Hong Kong’s leader and legislature and a demand for a probe of police behavior during the months of sustained protests.
Marchers said they hoped the huge turnout might help win concessions from the government of Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Protesters spanned generations. One man’s young son marched in his Spiderman suit.
“So many people are still supporting this movement. You can see how determined Hong Kong people are,” said demonstrator Justin Ng, a 20-year-old student.
“I heard a small kid yelling slogans — 4, 5 years old,” Ng said. “That really encouraged me because it’s not just this generation but future generations, too.”
Marchers said protesting has become part of the fabric of their lives since mass demonstrations erupted in June against a now-withdrawn government measure that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts in mainland China.
The protests have since snowballed into a broad anti-government campaign, presenting the communist leadership in Beijing with a major headache and battering Hong Kong’s economy.
Police in riot gear deployed in numbers on the edges of the march. Earlier in the day, they arrested 11 people and seized a cache of weapons, including a firearm with more than 100 bullets. Police said the suspects apparently planned to use the weapons during the protest to frame police, who have been accused of using excessive force against the protesters.
Pro-democracy protesters march on a street in Hong Kong, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Violence was limited, with a bank vandalized and police reporting that gasoline bombs were thrown outside Hong Kong’s High Court.
Rally organizer Eric Lai had called for police restraint and for no use of tear gas.
“We hope this will be a signature for our movement after six months to show to Carrie Lam as well as to the world that people are not giving up. People will still fight for our freedom and democracy,” Lai said.
Authorities, who have liberally used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets at previous demonstrations, say force has been necessary to disperse hard-core protesters who have battled riot officers, vandalized shops and thrown gasoline bombs. Police banned mass marches as protests turned increasingly violent, but relented and allowed Sunday’s march after a few weeks of relative peace.
The rally was called by the Civil Human Rights Front, a group that has organized some of the biggest demonstrations since hundreds of thousands of protesters first marched on June 9 against the extradition bill.
Chief among the protesters’ complaints Sunday was that police have been overly heavy-handed, making thousands of arrests since June.
“They are out of control,” said Ernest Yau, a 28-year-old consultant. He said the movement has brought Hong Kong together.
“We understand our common enemy,” he said. “We understand that we have to be united to fight against China, to fight against a government that doesn’t listen to its people.”
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Associated Press videojournalist Katie Tam contributed to this report.
Q: Please tell us about the background of the Marriott International Liquid Master 2019 competition?
A: The Liquid Master Competition is really focusing on Southeast Asian countries specifically Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Beyond just doing the competition, it is important to us that they won the competition with fun. But most importantly, it is a forum, a platform for our associates to learn new things, to develop their skills, to travel and to make friends which is very important to the core of our company, Marriott International, as a quality family. The competition started with teamwork and creativity and then they flew to one destination which is Bangkok, then we have the learnings, the workshops, the challenges and then the competition.
Q: What do you think about the cocktail industry in Asia?
A: We have two eras of the cocktails, when the classic cocktails were born decades ago. Then the cocktails changed and we had the perception that cocktails were too sweet, there was lots of sugar and lots of juice in it. And people were not interested in cocktails. Today it is the second golden age of cocktails when we have much more knowledge of the drinks. The cocktails are very well-balanced. In Asia we have seen a lot coming up. First of all the ingredients that we have, when we look at Thailand – the use of kaffir lime and lemongrass, the use of Shiso in Japan and the Chinese tea are actually coming and going all around the world. We have a lot more crafted spirit being created in Asia. We have a lot of crafted beer and crafted gin. The understanding and appreciation of cocktails is certainly very strong and keeps on growing.
Q: What do you expect from this competition?
A: I don’t think I came here with an expectation. I came here with a sense that I am very proud of the team. It all started with them submitting the cocktails and then there are 19 of them who won. To me they are winners already. So they have got selected for their creativity, for their cocktails, for their videos and them came here. Now they are here, my expectation for them is to continue have fun, to grow, to learn, to make friends and to learn from each other. And if they go back to their countries having learnt one thing, that is it. And to continue doing challenge what they are doing in their hotels and make our bars more fun, more cool, and really make our guests happier.
Q: Are you part of the judging panel?
A: I decided not to this year because I have got so emotionally attached to the people from their videos and the competition. So Daniel (Daniel Ayes, Senior Manager – Beverage Asia Pacific) is sitting in the judging panels. I actually like it because I don’t need to make the tough decisions. I spent time with them, I saw what they were creating, what they were coming up with. I tried it and I was more about cheering them up.
Q: As you were part of the judging panels last year, what was the most difficult thing to judge?
A: We need to look at what makes the cocktails successful. We need to understand why you are doing the cocktail this way. We look at the appearance, the flavor, the balance and I think the personality of the bartender is very important. When you go to a bar, the personality of the bartender is going to give such an important character, the art of communicating and sharing things. I compare, I look after restaurants and bars, the restaurant you have to go. You are going to eat, you are travelling, you want to go out you go to the restaurant. The bar, you make a decision to go to the bar. And the bar, the goal of us, our bartenders, is the moment you enter the bars and when you leave, we need to make sure you leave happier. If you come to the bar because you have a hard day, we are going to make sure your day is better after a few drinks. If you come to the bar because you want to have a good time, we will make sure you really have a good time and you leave happier. That is our mission.
Q: From your title, you oversee Asia, the guests from which country drinks the most?
A: Let’s put it this way, there are multiple factors. The cocktails scene is changing. We’ve seen cocktail on tap. Before we only saw beer on tap. Everywhere the traction is going up, it’s super exciting.
Q: And what about Thailand?
A: We all knew Thai food, Thai cuisine and it is fantastic. The flavor and the authenticity are brilliant, but I think what we see is the bar scene as well which has opened up. So, the bartender competition, every night we go out to visit a couple of bars an we can see the quality of the drinks, the passion into the drinks, the new techniques as well that are being used. It’s exciting. The bars are busy, people appreciate it, people are going out. Certainly it is continue to grow and I am very excited to be a part of it. Bangkok is a very important market for us.
Q: Have you been to Thailand before?
A: Yes. I have had a chance to travel to Thailand multiple times, a few times for vacation. I really like Bangkok, I have to say. I am passionate about restaurants and bars and you have amazing restaurants and bars in Bangkok. I’ve been to Phuket a couple of times. I started diving actually here in Thailand at PP Island. That was fantastic. For Bangkok, the food, the culture and the beverage scene, the weather. It is one of my favorite cities in Asia. We are going to open more hotels as well in Thailand. Hua-Hin we are going to open quite a few hotels. We have more hotels coming up in Pattaya. We will continue to grow and Thailand is a very important market for us. And definitely as we continue to grow and extend our portfolio, I look forward as well to the opportunities to continue to discover the culture and the country.
Q: Lastly, would you like to add anything about the competition?
A: The competition is close to my heart. What make me very happy is spending three days with amazing bartenders, to see how passionate they are. Some of them left their countries for the first time. So, giving the opportunities for people to see things which they would not do on their own is something that makes us very proud as a company. We feel like we have impacted somebody’s life journey.
The recently released docudrama film “The Cave” – about the 2018 rescue of 12 youngsters and their coach from a cave – attracted much debate of the wrong kind.
Instead of a discussion over the merit of the film as a cinematography, which was directed by Thai-Irish film maker Tom Waller, it descended into a nationalistic debate over the portrayal of the Thai bureaucracy.
The film presented Thai bureaucracy as not just inefficient but out of touch with the pressing need of the trapped teenagers inside the flooded cave in Chiang Rai province.
In one scene, a Thai official simply told expert Western volunteer diver that he can’t show the map of Tham Luang cave to him simply because it was classified, a state secret, despite the fact that the lives of the 13 “wild boars” were at stake and the world’s media was watching live.
Then in another scene, a volunteer carrying large water pump was turned away because he has to go to an arduous bureaucratic process of applying for a proper pass to enter the site.
While this writer covered the saga up in Chiang Rai last year as a reporter, I honestly do not know the fact on the two issues. Whatever the truth, it shows that Thais who got upset believe Waller distorted the event and made a mockery of the Thai bureaucracy.
Do not seek to find a definitive answer on the matter in this article as both sides continue to argue as to what exactly transpired. I think only a few people really know what really happened.
Be that as it may, I am more interested in how, in the film, the spotlight shines on few of the key foreign expert diver volunteers.
As Waller said during the premier of the film last month in Bangkok, these foreign volunteer divers as well as Thai volunteers are the “unsung heroes,” and the film was meant to be a tribute to them.
Fair or not, those who followed the 18-day saga live last year will not see governor Narongsak Osatanakorn playing a significant role in the film, even though the Thai press have made him to be during the real rescued attempt. Also downplayed was the Thai Navy SEAL unit, except former SEAL member Saman Kunan, who died trying to rescue the 13 lives. He is definitely a hero.
If anything, the film reminds us that history is often selective by nature as we accord importance to different historical figures.
In this case, the Thai side was largely played down whereas the foreign side was the focus.
Pro-democracy camp regards the prince as an enemy of popular rule because he tried, but failed, to restore absolute monarchy in a 1933 revolt, a year after the Ancien Régime was overthrown.
For pro-monarchy Thais and the current government, the prince is apparently a hero who remained loyal to King Rama VII and the old order. To these people, Pridi Banomyong, the man who led the revolt that ended the absolute monarchy in 1932, is a villain.
What is a hero then? A hero from whose point of view? These are subjective questions.
In the end, there can be several versions of what transpired at the cave, depending on who directed the film and which angle one looks at. In this sense, history is no different, we direct the history of our society depending on our own political disposition.
Forest officials put up sign announcing the confiscation of a 46-rai (7.36 hectare) portion of the farm on Nov. 5, 2019.
BANGKOK — Land officials on Friday said they will give a deadline for a coalition politician to hand over her poultry farm after it was found to encroach on public lands reserved for impoverished farmers.
Vinaroj Sapsongsuk, secretary-general of the Agricultural Land Reform Office, said Phalang Pracharath MP Parina Kraikup will be given seven days to hand over her 682 rai (109 hectare) land plot in Ratchaburi province, since investigators confirmed that she had no right to own it.
“The 682 rai land plot was used to apply for the agricultural land reform program,” Vinaroj said. “According to the law and regulations, she has to hand it over because she’s not a farmer.”
The deadline is on Dec. 15. Vinaroj warned that the land reform office is authorized to seize the land and prosecute legal action against her by using the junta-granted power under Section 44 of the interim charter.
Parina will only face up to a thousand baht fine if she refuses to return the land to the reform office since there’s no punishment for intruding on public lands allocated for farmers under the Agricultural Land Reform Act.
Parina’s entire chicken farm plot is 1,700-rai (272 hectare), with different government offices taking action on different portions of the land. The Agricultural Land Reform Office is asking for 682 rai, while the Forest Department on Thursday put up a notice announcing the confiscation of a 46-rai (7.36 hectare) portion of the total farm, saying it is intruding on protected forest land.
The forestry department also filed a legal complaint for forest encroachment on Monday.If found guilty, Parina faces up to 15 years in jail under forest preservation law, tougher than agricultural land reform law.
While government critics express doubt whether she will face any legal repercussions for her alleged wrongdoing, Phalang Pracharath Party executive Puttipong Punnakan said Friday that there will be no special exception for her.
Parina has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying that she did not violate any laws and possessed the land openly for many years.
A lunch set at Medici Kitchen and Bar that includes a salad, pizza, and tiramisu for 490 baht.
BANGKOK — Dining on fine Italian in Bangkok can be pricey, as one orders a 1,500-baht plus osso bucco for bragging purposes while palms sweat from the hole burned in one’s wallet.
But the lunch deal offered at a posh downtown Italian place may let you snag some gnocchi for less.
Open since 2011 on Langsuan Road, Medici Kitchen & Bar only won in November the Ospitalita Italiana award, an accolade from Italy’s tourism branch that certifies authentic Italian restaurants.
The win came after Chef Giuliano Berta, native of Brescia (“near Verona, famous for Romeo and Julietta”) came on board.
“If you go to a Japanese restaurant, you would expect sushi and miso soup. At an Italian restaurant, you would expect both pizza and pasta,” Berta said.
Medici, located on the underground floor at Hotel Muse, is one of the 52 awarded for the 2020 edition, out of the approximately 1,000 self-claiming Italian restaurants in the country.
Although much of the full menu consists of mains costing 500 baht and 1,500 baht-and-up prices, some of those dishes are offered on the more affordable lunch set. The lunch set costs 390 baht net price for a two-course meal, and 490 baht net for three courses. The portions are quite large per person, especially if one gets one of the eight-inch pizzas as a course option.
Insalata di Spinaci.
Pictured above is an example of one of the possible three-course sets you can order, which includes the the Insalata di Spinaci, a baby spinach salad layered with savory grilled fennel, with zesty pink grapefruit, figs, and goat’s cheese to add body.
Diavola.
The second course is a Diavola pizza topped with spicy salami and black olives, was fragrant with olive oil and tang from the sourdough bread. Finally, the tiramisu was proportionately small but heavy on the coffee rather than sugar.
Tiramisu.
Here’s another possible lunch set. The starter here is a Fritto Misto, or deep fried squid and crab served with a lemon and tartare sauce as well as fried pasta sticks – a surefire crowd pleaser. The Pesce E Crostacei is a lobster bisque soup with a shellfish or two, but the soup itself was overpowering in its marine flavor.
Here’s another possible lunch set. The starter here is a Fritto Misto, or deep fried squid and crab served with a lemon and tartare sauce as well as fried pasta sticks – a surefire crowd pleaser. The Pesce E Crostacei is a lobster bisque soup with a shellfish or two, but the soup itself was overpowering in its marine flavor.
Fritto Misto.Pesce E Crostacei.
Finally, the pasta is Aglio Olio E Pancetta, a classic of garlic, chili, and pork belly. It’s best ordered for those who already love creamy pastas rather than those who would call it lian – a Thai word for overly buttery or greasy dishes.
Aglio Olio E Pancetta.
Dishes outside of the lunch set menu, while delicious, are still Chidlom prices – the Ravioli Foie Gras, is six pieces of foie gras tucked in ravioli layered with a rich truffle cream for 650 baht.
Ravioli Foie Gras (650 baht).
The Spaghettoni di Mare, ripe with large prawns, squid, clams, and mussels, is 690 baht, and people can pick their level of spices from one to three (“Italians pick one, Thais pick two or three,” Berta said).
Spaghettoni di Mare (690 baht).
The Tartufata pizza is topped with black truffles and mascarpone cheese, eight pieces for 680 baht – slightly steep for pizza, but way too steep is the Filetto Rossini (1,550 baht), a tenderloin steak with a hat of seared foie gras. Seriously, go for lunch rather than dinner.
Tartufata (680 baht).
“I want to make dishes enjoyable by all crowds, to combine their preferences. It’s all about picking the right food to propose,” Berta said. “I don’t really have to adapt. I’m not going to make ingredients that don’t belong in Italian food, like ginger or lime. But in my experience, Thai people prefer dishes made from seafood sauces or bisques rather than heavy cream bases.”
Perhaps unlike the stereotype of the fiery, adamant Italian, Berta is mellowed-out from working all over Asia, including Bali, and not as incensedas other Italian chefs in Bangkok are when durian pizza is mentioned. Still, he won’t make “strange mixes” that Italian people won’t make, such as chicken on pizza, which he was often requested to make while working in Dubai.
Berta, 39, said the Ospitalita Italiana inspectors checked his menu, wine list, and whether there was an Italian speaker in the restaurant. In Medici’s case, it was Berta, but in other restaurants, it can be the manager as well.
The menu also has ample vegetarian options, even in the set lunch, where one can get one of the salads or a tomato soup with the gnocchi or margherita pizza, followed by any of the desserts. Vegan options pepper the main menu, such as the Carpaccio di Anguria (290 baht), which Berta is especially proud of.
Carpaccio di Anguria (290 baht).
Modelled off of beef carpaccio, slices of watermelon are grilled for 40 minutes, then baked overnight, smoked, frozen, and sliced. The whole process takes almost two days, before it’s served with avocado salsa and crispy bean curd.
Even after finishing the entire plate, it’s hard to pin down the exact texture of a watermelon carpaccio – juicy, yet smoked, yet not meat.
The watermelon, like most fresh produce used at Medici, is locally-sourced.
“You only need Italian ingredients where it makes a difference, such as olive oil, cheese, and cold cuts. For the rest, it’s good to support local businesses because Thailand has very good crops.”
The restaurant also boats opera performances by Fivera, Thailand’s only pop-opera band, on Tuesdays through Saturdays, rotatingbetween rock, Broadway, jazz, opera, and pop-opera. Yes, that means listening to Phantom of the Opera while munching on a slice of margherita.
Giuliano Berta.
Medici’s decor is of dark wood, wrought iron, and velvet seats, yet another Gatsby-themed restaurant. If one can get over the strong, musky perfume smell that permeates the entire hotel, and then a lunch at Medici is certainly a good deal to try authentic Italian food for a shabu-shabu buffet price. There is no end date set yet for the lunch set, which is available every day.
Medici Kitchen & Bar is open from 12pm to 2:30pm for lunch, and for dinner from 6pm to 11pm every day. Located on the LG floor at Hotel Muse, they’re a short walk down Langsuan Road from BTS Chit Lom.
This review is unsponsored and based on a hosted visit.
A now-deleted photo originally posted by Facebook user Laphatrada Waka showing draftees allegedly ordered to wash a car at a senior officer’s house.
BANGKOK — A transparency activist said he will petition Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha Friday to investigate the mistreatment of conscripts allegedly forced to perform various housework for a retired senior officer.
Srisuwan Janya said he will go to the government complaint center and file a petition to Prayuth, who doubles as Defense Minister, over viral posts on social media showing several conscripts reportedly being ordered to do personal chores at an unidentified retired senior officer’s house.
“This is a serious issue because it violates the dignity of draftees who may have voluntarily joined the army in hopes of serving their country,” Srisuwan said. “We can’t trust the army to probe into the issue by themselves.”
His move was ignited by now-deleted posts by Facebook user Laphatrada Waka, who claimed to be a daughter of a commander of a military base in Nakhon Ratchasima province, which showed soldiers doing household tasks for her, accompanied by derogatory captions.
One showed three men in army exercise uniforms washing a civilian car.
“The new soldiers are here,” she wrote. “They all got scolded. Hurry up because I’m going out.”
Apart from car-washing, the soldiers could also be seen in seperate posts allegedly ordered to clean the house, doing carpenter work, and even peeling off a durian for her. All were accompanied with belittling captions.
In one post, she looked down upon the soldiers, calling them “larb face,” a derogatory term for Isaan natives.
“Ugh, so sick of this. The soldiers at the house are always those with larb faces. Why doesn’t my father bring in the handsome ones?” Laphatrada wrote.
Playing down the alleged mistreatment, defense spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich said Thursday it is a personal matter which society should validate where the post came from.
He pointed out that the use of conscripts as “servant soldiers” is unacceptable and considered it as an insult to the army.
“We are probing into the matter,” Kongcheep said. “The defense ministry respects all men in every rank and it’s not our policy to use conscripts for household works. Although this could happen from time to time as they may voluntarily want to, but if anyone violate their dignity, we will pursue disciplinary and legal actions.”
Netizens stormed Laphatrada’s Facebook account when the posts broke to public attention yesterday, resulting it to be taken down.
According to Manager, a source at Second Army Area headquartered in Korat said the photos were taken in 2018, when the senior officer in question was posted at a military base in Nakhon Ratchasima. He was then moved to Bangkok, where he retired in the same year.
Every year, around 100,000 young Thai men are drafted by lottery into military service. Reports of exploitation periodically surface, including a draftee who complained in a viral video last year that he was abused by his senior officer to raise fighting cocks.
People purchase jackets Dec. 6, 2019 at a market in Bangkok.
BANGKOK — Bangkokians are shopping for jackets and making blanket rotis around themselves Friday morning, when temperatures dipped below 20C.
From Friday through Sunday, Bangkok should cuddle up and brace for lows of 16C to 17C, with highs at a mild 29C. However, the meteorological department said temperatures are expected to inch up by Tuesday.
Even colder weather is felt in the Northern provinces, with a low of 9C and highs of 29C. The country’s highest Doi Inthanon’s mountain top recorded a drop to 2C Friday morning, while the lowest on-ground temperatures nationwide were in 7.8C for Loei province. Isaan should see lows drop to 6C and highs of 27 through the weekend.
Central and eastern provinces should see lows of 12C to 19C, and the South balmy lows of 20C.
#ColdWeather was the second most trending hashtag on Thai Twitter as of Friday morning, with netizens both praising and in awe of the chill. For about a week each year, Bangkok experiences a cold snap, often in December.
“Bangkok, you made it! This is how the real winter feels like. You eventually makes me put my jacket on,” @Sarissapeachy tweeted. “I hope the winter lasts for few months.”
@Msoshisskks evoked Thais’ inner Elsa in her tweet: “Me when I stepped on the floor this morning:”
In this Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, photo, fishing boats are moored in Mekong River, which has turned blue instead of its usual muddy color, in Nakhon Phanom province, northeastern Thailand. Experts say the aquamarine color the Mekong River has recently acquired may beguile tourists but it also indicates a problem caused by upstream dams. The water usually is a yellowish-brown shade due to the sediment it normally carries downstream. But lately it has been running clear, taking on a blue-green hue that is a reflection of the sky. The water levels have also become unusually low, exposing sandbanks in the middle of the river. Photo: Chessadaporn Buasai / AP
BANGKOK (AP) — The Mekong River has recently acquired an aquamarine color that may beguile tourists but also indicates a problem caused by upstream dams, experts in Thailand say.
The river usually has a yellowish-brown shade due to the sediment it normally carries downstream. But lately it has been running clear, taking on a blue-green hue that is a reflection of the sky. The water levels have also become unusually low, exposing sandbanks that allow the curious to stand in the middle of the river.
Low water levels pose an obvious problem for fishermen and farmers, but experts say the decline in sediment exposes a different danger that can result in greater erosion of the river’s banks and bed.
The experts and people living along the river blame a large hydroelectric dam upstream in Laos that began operating in October for contributing to both problems, though rainfall has also been sparse.
Around 70 million people depend on the Mekong River for water, food, commerce, irrigation and transportation. Critics charge that large-scale development projects such as the Xayaburi dam dangerously disrupt the region’s ecology.
The dam blocks much sediment from moving further downstream, which accounts for the water becoming clear, said Pravit Kanthaduang, chief of the fishery office at Bueng Khong Long, a district in Thailand’s Bueng Kan province. Less sediment means less nutrition for plants and fish in the river, threatening the ecological balance, he said.
With less sediment, the water also has more stream power, a phenomenon known as “hungry water,” said Chainarong Setthachau of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science at Mahasarakham University in Thailand’s northeast who has studied changes in the Mekong’s ecology for the past two decades.
In this Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, photo, sightseers plays on a sandbar in the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom province, northeastern Thailand. Photo: Chessadaporn Buasai / AP
“The current has less sediment, which unleashes energy onto the river banks downstream. This so-called ‘hungry water’ will cause much more erosion to the banks, uprooting trees and damaging engineering structures in the river,” Chainarong said.
The dam’s developers have denied that they were responsible for low water levels that some critics tied to trial runs of the generators that began in March. In October, the Xayaburi Power Co. Ltd. said the project has spent more than 19.4 billion baht ($640 million) to mitigate negative impacts on the environment, including the building of outlets for sediment passage and flow and facilities to allow the passage of fish. The plant’s total cost was $4.47 billion.
Daeng Pongpim, from a farming family that used to fish in Ta Mui village in Ubon Ratchathani province, lives 800 kilometers (500 miles) downstream from the Xayaburi dam, but said she still believes it is responsible for the river’s recent unusual condition.
“I am 67 years old and have never seen anything like it before. What makes me concerned the most is the low level of the water. Now, we are in early winter, the water level should not be this low. I can’t imagine how hard it could be for us at the height of the dry season, in March and April.”
Chaiwat Parakun, who lives 200 kilometers (125 miles) downstream from the dam, said he abandoned his fishing gear several years ago because of the declining amount of fish available to catch. He now has a tourism business.
“The Mekong has gradually lost its abundance. People who depend on the river like us could sense it many years ago. But that was nothing like the effects from Xayaburi. We cannot figure out how we can live with this degraded environment,” he said.
