The Private Sector Trade delegations from the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire attended the THAIFEX ANUGA ASIA 2024.

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10 June 2024, 11:40

Miss Patcharapimol Youngprapakorn, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire in Thailand, welcomed the Private Sector trade delegations from the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) attended the THAIFEX ANUGA ASIA 2024 at Impact Muang Thong Thani Exhibition Center in Nonthaburi, Thailand, during 28 May – 1 June 2024.

The 11 participants from the Private Sector trade delegations from the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, were comprised of the representatives from various trade federations, which were from the Small and Medium Enterprises Association; Bread and Bakery Entrepreneurs’ Federation, National Federation of Hotel Industry of Ivory Coast, Association of Travel Professionals of Ivory Coast, Tourism Owners Association, Tourism Development Fund, and Advisory organizations including expert for development.

During the event, the CI group visited various Thai food products’ booths such as Mama, Farmhouse, Sea Value, etc., as well as meeting Thai businessmen/businesswomen who were interested in exporting various types of products to the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and West Africa. CI Group were interested especially in food and beverage products, technology equipment in food and agricultural sector, and hotel industry.

Moreover, they are interested in having cooperation with Thailand in tourism, hotels and small & medium enterprises (SMEs). They are also inviting interested Thai investors to invest in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and in West Africa.

Next year, the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire will organize the West Africa Economic Forum and invite Thailand to participate as well. On this occasion, the CI delegation met with the Thai Trade Representative, Dr. Nalinee Taveesin, and discussed and asked for advice on how to strengthen the economic relations between CI and Thailand in both the public and private sectors.

Miss Patcharapimol Youngprapakorn, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in Thailand, also arranged CI Group to visit Buono (Thailand) Co., Ltd. – food, bakery, and ice-cream factory; visited Navavej Hospital to see how they applied the innovative solar cell system with their business, the solar cells were located in the parking lot beside the entrance and on the roof of the hospital.

They also visit the Diagnostic Radiology Learning Center in collaboration between Philips and Navavej Hospital, Heart and Thoracic Center, and various types of hospital rooms that are modern and comfortable. In addition, the group also visited the Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm & Zoo (Thailand), which has been a popular tourist destination for both Thais and foreigners for more than 50 years.

Their last visit was the Maison Hotel Bangkok, a new hotel in the heart of the Bangkok, which perfectly combines modernness and Thai traditional identity with style. The CI group also tasted Thai food specially prepared at the hotel restaurant.

If you are interesting to invest, to contact business person, or to find out more information about Cote d’Ivoire, please contact the Consulate of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire in Thailand at our email: [email protected]

Phuket Lifeguards Save Toddler, American Father Swept Away

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Khaosod English

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9 June 2024, 23:47

american drown2 — A lifeguard goes out to rescue the 3-and-a-half-year-old son back to shore.

PHUKET — An American man took his Thai wife and their 3-and-a-half-year-old child to go swimming in the sea in Phuket province on Sunday afternoon, which should have been a happy holiday. However, they encountered a tragedy when a wave swept him away.

Officers from Chalong Police Station in Phuket received a report of a drowning incident at Nai Han Beach, Rawai Subdistrict. They went to investigate and notified the diving team from the Phuket Kusoldham Foundation and Rawai Municipality officials to inspect and conduct a search.

Arun Solos, the mayor of Rawai Subdistrict, said that at 4:45 p.m., while the three were in the sea about 10 meters from the shore, they were pulled by the current into deeper waters. The Thai wife managed to bring herself back to shore. Then, lifeguards went out to rescue the 3-and-a-half-year-old son back to shore, but the American man was swept away by the waves and disappeared.

The diving team from the Phuket Kusoldham Foundation tried to search for Mr. James Everett Du Bois, 49 years old, with great difficulty due to the rising tide and strong winds. Until 8:30 p.m., when it was dark, the foundation’s underwater operation team had to suspend the dive for safety reasons and will resume the search on the morning of Monday, June 10.

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A World War II Veteran Just Married His Bride Near Normandy’s D-Day Beaches. He’s 100, She’s 96

By

Associated Press

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9 June 2024, 20:05

CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France (AP) — Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But World War II veteran Harold Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France.

Their respective ages — he’s 100, she’s a youngster of just 96 — made their nuptials an almost double-century celebration.

Terens called it ″the best day of my life.″

On her way into the nuptials, the bubbly bride-to-be said: “It’s not just for young people, love, you know? We get butterflies. And we get a little action, also.″

AP24160424834484 — US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

The location was the elegant stone-worked town hall of Carentan, a key initial D-Day objective that saw ferocious fighting after the June 6, 1944, Allied landings that helped rid Europe of Adolf Hitler’s tyranny.

Like other towns and villages across the Normandy coast where nearly 160,000 Allied troops came ashore under fire on five code-named beaches, it’s an effervescent hub of remembrance and celebration on the 80th anniversary of the deeds and sacrifices of young men and women that day, festooned with flags and bunting and with veterans feted like rockstars.

As the swing of Glenn Miller and other period tunes rang out on the streets, well-wishers — some in WWII-period clothes — were already lined up a good hour before the wedding, behind barriers outside the town hall, with a rousing pipe and drum band also on hand to serenade the happy couple.

After both declaring “oui” to vows read by Carentan’s mayor in English, the couple exchanged rings.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” Terens said.

She giggled and gasped, “Really?”

With Champagne flutes in hand, they waved through an open window to the adoring crowds outside.

AP24160424396064 — US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, center left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

“To everybody’s good health. And to peace in the world and the preservation of democracy all over the world and the end of the war in Ukraine and Gaza,” Terens said as he and his bride then clinked glasses and drank.

The crowd yelled “la mariée!” – the bride! — to Swerlin, who wore a long flowing dress of vibrant pink. Terens looked dapper in a light blue suit and matching pink kerchief in his breast pocket.

And they enjoyed a very special wedding-night party: They were invited to the state dinner at the Elysee Palace on Saturday night with President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden.

“Congratulations to the newlyweds,” Macron said, prompting cheers and a standing ovation from other guests during the toast praising French-American friendship. “(The town of) Carentan was happy to host your wedding, and us, your wedding dinner,” he told the couple.

The wedding was symbolic, not binding in law. Mayor Jean-Pierre Lhonneur’s office said he wasn’t empowered to wed foreigners who aren’t residents of Carentan, and that the couple, who are both American, hadn’t requested legally binding vows. However, they could always complete those formalities back in Florida if they wished.

Lhonneur likes to say that Normandy is practically the 51st state of the USA, given its reverence and gratitude for Allied soldiers and the sacrifices of tens of thousands who never made it home from the Battle of Normandy.

“Love is eternal, yes, maybe,” the mayor said, referring to the newlyweds, although his comments also fittingly describe the feelings of many Normans for veterans.

“I hope for them the best happiness together.”

AP24160424872157 — US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, kiss from a window after celebrating their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

Dressed in a 1940s dress that belonged to her mother, Louise, and a red beret, 73-year-old Jane Ollier was among spectators who waited for a glimpse of the lovebirds. The couple, both widowed, grew up in New York City: she in Brooklyn, he in the Bronx.

“It’s so touching to get married at that age,” Ollier said. “If it can bring them happiness in the last years of their lives, that’s fantastic.”

The WWII veteran first visited France as a 20-year-old U.S. Army Air Forces corporal shortly after D-Day. Terens enlisted in 1942 and, after shipping to Britain, was attached to a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter unit as their radio repair technician.

On D-Day, Terens helped repair planes returning from France so they could rejoin the battle. He said half his company’s pilots died that day. Terens himself went to France 12 days later, helping transport freshly captured Germans and just-freed American POWs to England. Following the Nazi surrender in May 1945, Terens again helped transport freed Allied prisoners to England before he shipped back to the U.S. a month later.

Swerlin made it abundantly clear that her new centenarian husband doesn’t lack for rizz.

“He’s the greatest kisser ever, you know?” she proudly declared before they embraced enthusiastically for TV cameras.

“All right ! That’s it for now !” Terens said as he came up for air.

To which she quickly quipped: “You mean there’s more later?”

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Move Forward Party Braces for Court Case that Might Dissolve It

By

Associated Press

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9 June 2024, 13:58

Thailand Politics — Former leader of Move Forward party Pita Limjaroenrat, center, talks to reporters during a news conference at the party's office in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, June 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Jintamas Saksornchai)

BANGKOK (AP) — The former leader of Thailand’s progressive opposition Move Forward party vowed on Sunday to keep fighting as the party faces a court case that could result in its dissolution.

The Constitutional Court has agreed to rule on whether the party violated the constitution by proposing to amend a law that forbids defaming the country’s royal family. The petition requested the party’s dissolution and a 10-year ban on political activity by its executives. The court has not said when it will rule on this case.

Pita Limjaroenrat, the former leader of Move Forward, laid out the details of the party’s legal defenses that have been submitted to the court at a news conference on Sunday.

“If there is a rule of law in Thailand, I’m extremely confident” the party’s arguments will prevail, he said.

Pita said the Constitutional Court does not have jurisdiction to rule on this case and that the petition filed by the Election Commission did not follow due process because Move Forward was not given an opportunity to defend itself before the case was submitted to the court.

The petition was filed after the same court ruled in January that the party must stop advocating changes to the law, known as Article 112 in Thailand’s criminal codes, which protects the monarchy from criticism by imposing penalties of three to 15 years in jail per offense.

That ruling did not set any punishment for the party.

Move Forward shook up Thai politics by winning the most seats in the general election last year but was blocked from taking power and has since been fighting several legal battles to keep its positions in Parliament. These legal cases are seen as part of a yearslong attack against the country’s progressive movement by conservative forces trying to keep their grip on power.

Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward party, was dissolved by the Constitutional Court in 2020 for violating election laws on donations to political parties.

Move Forward has insisted that it wants to keep the monarchy above politics and not be exploited as a political tool.

AP24161135343108 — Former leader of Move Forward party Pita Limjaroenrat, right, talks to reporters during a news conference at the party’s office in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, June 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Jintamas Saksornchai)

Thailand’s monarchy is considered untouchable but student-led pro-democracy protests, triggered by the dissolution of Future Forward in 2020, began to challenge that sentiment by openly criticizing the monarchy. That led to vigorous prosecutions under the law, which critics say is often used as a tool to quash political dissent.

The advocacy group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights says that since early 2020, more than 270 people have been charged with violating Article 112. Some of those are Move Forward’s own lawmakers.

Thailand’s courts, especially the Constitutional Court, are considered a bulwark of the country’s traditional royalist establishment, which has used them and nominally independent state agencies such as the Election Commission to issue rulings to cripple or sink political opponents.

Pita warned that getting rid of the country’s largest opposition party would mean “an attack on democracy” as it would weaken the mechanism of checks and balances on the government.

“The strength of democracy is not about how robust the government is, but how fair and active the opposition is,” he said.

The Move Forward party finished first in the 2023 general election after campaigning to amend Article 112 and introduce other democratic reforms. The victory indicated that many Thai voters were ready for change after nearly a decade of military-controlled government.

But the military-installed Senate blocked the party from taking power by refusing to confirm Pita, who was the party’s candidate for prime minister. Senators said they opposed Pita because of his intention to enact reforms to the monarchy.

Opinion: Thai Society: A Perpetual Hostage to the Deep State

By

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

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9 June 2024, 13:01

PM Srettha Thavisin paints an elephant ceramic figurine during a visit to a ceramic factory in Lamphun province on June 8, 2024.

The Thai people are perpetually held hostage by the deep state which cannot accept the will of the people whenever the people’s will go against their conservative and self-serving ideology. Over the past few weeks, we hear of concerns, and rumors, expressed regarding both a possible military coup (again) as well as a judicial coup (again).

It reflects a sense of uncertainty and insecurity among many Thais who are convinced that the deep state, including the military, and part of the judiciary, are not willing to accept the will of the people when it goes against their interests. Their rules may be read like this: “Do not do what we don’t approve of as you are our perpetual hostage.”

The concerns and rumors are serious enough that co-leader of Progressive Movement Pannikar Wanich told Khaosod on Friday in an interview that these conservative groups seek to overthrow not just the Pheu Thai government, but also to dissolve Move Forward Party and nullify the indirect elections of the senate which is about to replace the junta-appointed senate.

She warns: “If that’s the case, they will go for broke, but the people won’t accept it any longer.”

It is sad to hear that not a year has passed since the new government came to power before we are already talking about a serious attempt by the deep state to “reset” Thai politics simply because they no longer feel in control.

I must admit it is not just saddening to have to write yet another column about Thailand being trapped in this vicious cycle of illegitimate political interference from unelected groups, but that I am sick of hearing about it too.

I also feel sorry for Thailand, for her posterity, for its future – as not enough people were willing to resist and oppose one military coup after another. Too many Thais who say they care about Thailand and politics were more than willing to be expedient, lie low, and swallow the blatant illegitimate seizure of power by the military repeatedly.

Some high-profile figures fled abroad in the immediate aftermath of the 2014 coup instead of doing what they can in the first few days in hope of defeating the rogue generals like Prayut Chan-o-cha, who ended up staying on in power for nine years in power and reinforcing a poisonous legacy of possible future military intervention and cementing the status of the military as a state within a state for another generation.

It will be even harder for some Thais to resist a judicial coup as it is not in your face like rolling tanks onto the streets of Bangkok. PM Srettha Thavisin is now facing a possible removal by the Constitutional Court for having appointed Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer of Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, as a Cabinet member during the Cabinet reshuffle because Pichit was charged, but not indicted, for attempted bribery of a judge.

Then you have the opposition Move Forward Party, hugely popular among the young and educated middle class, facing possible dissolution by the same court for pledging to amend the lese majeste law. (The royal defamation law is now regarded almost like a God’s commandment despite the fact that there is no god in Buddhism, the religion majority of Thais claim to adhere to.)

Then there is this convoluted indirect election of the new senate (rules written by junta-appointed people), in which stage one starts today, also facing the very same court’s possible ruling as to whether it’s “constitutional”.

I really hope the nine judges of the Charter Court, and the deep state, consider the big picture of Thailand – that the country needs to be able to proceed without an interference, and interruption, every now and then because there will be no stability or continuity otherwise and the people who suffer most are the mass, the ordinary folks, who are feeling the pressure from economic hardship, itself partly a result of political instability and uncertainty.

Perhaps it is time for the hostage to say, enough is enough like Pannikar. But am I expecting too much?

Israel Rescues 4 Hostages Taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 Attack. At Least 94 Palestinians Are Killed

By

Associated Press

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8 June 2024, 23:32

Israel Palestinians — Andrey Kozlov, 27, left, and Almog Meir Jan, 21, kidnapped from Israel in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 react after arriving by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel on Saturday carried out its largest hostage rescue operation since the latest war with Hamas began, taking four to safety out of central Gaza amid the military’s heavy air and ground assault. At least 94 dead Palestinians, including children, were brought to local hospitals, a health official said.

Israelis were jubilant as the army said it freed Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in a daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat, raiding two locations at once while under fire. All were well, the military said. They were taken by helicopter for medical checks and tearful reunions with loved ones after 246 days held.

Argamani had been one of the most widely recognized hostages after being taken, like the three others, from a music festival.

The video of her abduction, among the first to surface, showed her seated between two men on a motorcycle as she screamed, “Don’t kill me!”

AP24160429507909 — Almog Meir Jan, 21, kidnapped from Israel in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, raises his hands after arriving by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)

Her mother, Liora, has stage four brain cancer and in April released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies.

In a video message released by the government, an elated Argamani tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone she is “very excited,” saying she hasn’t heard Hebrew in so long.

Netanyahu in a statement said, “Israel does not surrender to terrorism and acts with creativity and boldness that knows no bounds to bring home our abductees.” He vowed to continue the fighting until all are freed.

The operation was “daring in nature, planned brilliantly, and executed in an extraordinary fashion,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

Israeli aircraft hummed overhead as the bodies of nearly 100 Palestinians killed were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital, where spokesperson Khalil Degran told The Associated Press more than 100 wounded also arrived. AP reporters saw dozens of bodies brought from the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas, as smoke rose in the distance and armored vehicles rolled by.

A baby was among the dead. Small children wailed, covered in blood. Bodies were placed on the ground outside, their feet bare, as more wounded were rushed in.

AP24160486077228 — Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

“My two cousins were killed, and two other cousins were seriously injured. They did not commit any sin. They were sitting at home,” one relative said in the chaos. As Palestinians explored the newly destroyed buildings, a small child sat on a collapsed metal door, overwhelmed.

Israel’s military said it had attacked “threats to our forces in the area,” adding that one commando died from his wounds.

A U.S. hostage cell provided advice and support throughout the process of locating and rescuing the hostages, according to a Biden administration official. The official, who was not authorized to comment and requested anonymity, declined to offer further detail on the American involvement. The hostage cells are multi-agency teams.

“We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a cease-fire is reached,” U.S. President Joe Biden said.

Hamas took some 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November. About 120 hostages remain, with 43 pronounced dead.

AP24160409429391 — Israeli armored vehicles drive through Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Survivors include about 15 women, two children under 5 and two men in their 80s.

Saturday’s hostage recovery operation brought the total number of rescued captives to seven. Two were freed in February and one was freed in the aftermath of the October attack. Israeli troops have recovered the bodies of at least 16 hostages, according to the government.

The latest rescue was expected to lift spirits in Israel as the war drags on and divisions are deepening over the best way to bring hostages home.

It was unclear what effect it might have on apparently stalled cease-fire efforts. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week, seeking a breakthrough.

“The hostage release and cease-fire deal that is now on the table would secure the release of all the remaining hostages together with security assurances for Israel and relief for the innocent civilians in Gaza,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

AP24160520884931 — Palestinians look at the aftermath of the Israeli bombing in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Many Israelis urged Netanyahu to embrace a cease-fire deal Biden announced last month, but far-right allies threaten to collapse his government if he does.

International pressure is mounting on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday with more than 36,700 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

Palestinians also face widespread hunger because fighting and Israeli restrictions have largely cut off the flow of aid.

Israel is intensifying operations across central Gaza, where the hostages were rescued. On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit a U.N.-run school compound in Nuseirat, killing over 33 people inside the school, including three women and nine children.

Israel said some 30 militants were inside and on Friday released the names of 17 it said were killed. However, only nine of those matched records from the hospital morgue. One of the alleged militants was an 8-year-old boy, according to hospital records.

Israel’s military on Saturday asserted that “Hamas is a terror organization that often uses fake documents disguising terrorists as women or children.”

Thaksin Signals Fight the 112 Case During Red Shirt Stronghold Visit

By

Khaosod English

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8 June 2024, 22:24

PATHUM THANI — Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra once again attended an event with his supporters on Saturday after recovering from a recent bout of COVID-19 the previous week. He was accompanied by his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the leader of the Pheu Thai Party, to attend an event of a politician supported by the party.

The event on June 8 was the ordination ceremony of Smithiphat Leenawarat, the younger brother of a Pheu Thai Party MP and the son of Mr. Kritsada Leenawarat, the mayor of Thanyaburi Subdistrict, Pathum Thani Province.

The event was grand, with over 3,000 Chinese-style banquet tables. Most of the attendees wore red shirts to the event and flocked to greet the former Prime Minister Thaksin with tears of joy.

The presence of Thaksin and Paetongtarn at this event sends a clear signal that the Pheu Thai Party wants to regain popularity in Pathum Thani, known as a stronghold of the Red Shirts. In the 2023 election, the Move Forward Party won 6 of 7 seats, leaving Manassanan Leenawarat as the only one Pheu Thai MP in the province.

The Pheu Thai Party lost to the Move Forward Party in the 2023 election by a margin of less than 10 MP seats after being criticized for failing to prevent coups due to repeatedly yielding to elite groups.

thaksin pathum4 — The event was grand, with over 3,000 Chinese-style banquet tables.

This was particularly the case after the election in which the Pheu Thai Party led the formation of a coalition government with other political parties that had previously been part of military governments. This move was attacked as being done to allow Thaksin to return to Thailand.

Most recently, Thaksin has been facing lèse-majesté charges, while Prime Minister Settha Thavisin is being challenged by 40 senators who have petitioned the Constitutional Court to rule on whether he has lost his position as prime minister or not, due to the appointment of Mr. Pichit Chuenban as a minister despite potentially having prohibited qualifications.

This makes it appear that the Pheu Thai Party is still being pressured by the elite and old power groups. Therefore, it seems difficult for the Pheu Thai Party to make progress in reclaiming justice for the Red Shirts who were suppressed by military forces in the capital city in 2010.

Speaking on stage at the ordination ceremony, Thaksin thanked the mayor of Thanyaburi for the invitation, which allowed him to attend an ordination ceremony for the first time and meet with Red Shirt members. He was deeply touched by this, as many people would hug him and cry, not expecting him to return. Sometimes, he himself didn’t expect to be able to return.

thaksin pathum5 — Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra speaks on stage at the ordination ceremony in Pathum Thani Province on June 8, 2024

“Today, I’m back. I want the Red Shirt brothers and sisters to come back together. This return is a matter of gratitude to many people, especially those who have never forgotten me and have never forgotten me no matter how many elections there are,” Thaksin said.

Thaksin also offered advice to Kritsada, who was being ordained, by using his own life struggles as an example. He relied on Buddhism as a refuge and a guiding principle in life.

“I lived abroad for 17 years, faced all kinds of charges and every form of attack. If I didn’t have the teachings of the Buddha, I would have been depressed or committed suicide. For one person, I don’t think anyone has faced as much as I have,” he said.

“And most recently, there are still repercussions, but I can handle it very easily because the Buddha has taught many things. The more you read, the more profound it becomes, giving you a good foundation for life and the ability to fight whatever comes your way,” he added.

thaksin pathum1 — Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gives an interview to a group of reporters at the ordination ceremony in Pathum Thani Province on June 8, 2024

Afterwards, Thaksin also gave an interview to a group of reporters again about his absence from the Attorney General’s Office to hear the lèse-majesté charges under Section 112 on May 29. He said he was genuinely ill, and although his symptoms were not severe, he didn’t want to risk infecting others. As for the arraignment scheduled for June 18, he will attend if summoned.

“This case will serve as an example of how I was charged during the coup. This case has absolutely no basis, but they try to interpret it to make it seem like it does. And once one person has ordered the prosecution, others are afraid not to prosecute, which is not a legal principle. In reality, there’s nothing to it,” he said.

When asked about rumors that he had already fled the country, Thaksin said it was too much of an imagination and that he hadn’t made a deal with anyone except the leader of the Pheu Thai Party.

Regarding observations that the political tension might be related to Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, the leader of the Palang Pracharath Party, Thaksin said he didn’t know, but he felt that it was time for the country to find peace.

He also suggested that the media should try to tone down the political game so that the country can move forward, as the country’s problems are now more difficult than when he was prime minister because things have been in disarray for a long time. He urged all parties to adhere to constructive political rules.

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Former Astronaut William Anders, Who Took Iconic Earthrise Photo, Killed in Washington Plane Crash

By

Associated Press

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8 June 2024, 14:32

SEATTLE (AP) — William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic “Earthrise” photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.

His son, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Anders, confirmed the death to The Associated Press.

“The family is devastated,” he said. “He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly.”

William Anders, a retired major general, has said the photo was his most significant contribution to the space program along with making sure the Apollo 8 command module and service module worked.

The photograph, the first color image of Earth from space, is one of the most important photos in modern history for the way it changed how humans viewed the planet. The photo is credited with sparking the global environmental movement for showing how delicate and isolated Earth appeared from space.

NASA Administrator and former Sen. Bill Nelson said Anders embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration.

“He traveled to the threshold of the Moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves,” Nelson wrote on the social platform X.

Anders snapped the photo during the crew’s fourth orbit of the moon, frantically switching from black-and-white to color film.

“Oh my God, look at that picture over there!” Anders said. “There’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!”

The Apollo 8 mission in December 1968 was the first human spaceflight to leave low-Earth orbit and travel to the moon and back. It was NASA’s boldest and perhaps most dangerous voyage yet and one that set the stage for the Apollo moon landing seven months later.

“Bill Anders forever changed our perspective of our planet and ourselves with his famous Earthrise photo on Apollo 8,” Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who is also a retired NASA astronaut, wrote on X. “He inspired me and generations of astronauts and explorers. My thoughts are with his family and friends.”

A report came in around 11:40 a.m. that an older-model plane crashed into the water and sank near the north end of Jones Island, San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter said. Greg Anders confirmed to KING-TV that his father’s body was recovered Friday afternoon.

Only the pilot was on board the Beech A45 airplane at the time, according to the Federal Aviation Association.

The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating the crash.

William Anders said in an 1997 NASA oral history interview that he didn’t think the Apollo 8 mission was risk-free but there were important national, patriotic and exploration reasons for going ahead. He estimated there was about a one in three chance that the crew wouldn’t make it back and the same chance the mission would be a success and the same chance that the mission wouldn’t start to begin with. He said he suspected Christopher Columbus sailed with worse odds.

AP24159853627118 — FILE – Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders talks about astronaut Neil Armstrong following private services for Armstrong, Aug. 31, 2012, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)

He recounted how Earth looked fragile and seemingly physically insignificant, yet was home.

“We’d been going backwards and upside down, didn’t really see the Earth or the Sun, and when we rolled around and came around and saw the first Earthrise,” he said. “That certainly was, by far, the most impressive thing. To see this very delicate, colorful orb which to me looked like a Christmas tree ornament coming up over this very stark, ugly lunar landscape really contrasted.”

Anders said in retrospect he wished he had taken more photos but mission Commander Frank Borman was concerned about whether everyone was rested and forced Anders and Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell, Jr. to sleep, “which probably made sense.”

Chip Fletcher, a University of Hawaii professor who has conducted extensive research on coastal erosion and climate change, recalls seeing the photo as a child.

“It just opened up my brain to realize that we are alone but we are together,” he said, adding that it still influences him today.

“It’s one of those images that never leaves my mind,” he said. “And I think that’s true of many, many people in many professions.”

Anders served as backup crew for Apollo 11 and for Gemini XI in 1966, but the Apollo 8 mission was the only time he flew to space.

Anders was born on October 17, 1933, in Hong Kong. At the time, his father was a Navy lieutenant aboard the USS Panay, which was a U.S. gunboat in China’s Yangtze River.

Anders and his wife, Valerie, founded the Heritage Flight Museum in Washington state in 1996. It is now based at a regional airport in Burlington, and features 15 aircrafts, several antique military vehicles, a library and many artifacts donated by veterans, according to the museum’s website. Two of his sons helped him run it.

The couple moved to Orcas Island, in the San Juan archipelago, in 1993, and kept a second home in their hometown of San Diego, according to a biography on the museum’s website. They had six children and 13 grandchildren. Their current Washington home was in Anacortes.

Anders graduated from the Naval Academy in 1955 and served as a fighter pilot in the Air Force.

He later served on the Atomic Energy Commission, as the U.S. chairman of the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. technology exchange program for nuclear fission and fusion power, and as ambassador to Norway. He later worked for General Electric and General Dynamics, according to his NASA biography.

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McAvoy reported from Honolulu. Associated Press writer Lisa Baumann contributed to this report.

Thai Man Arrested for Deceiving Foreigners of Millions in Fake Thai Passport Scheme

By

Khaosod English

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8 June 2024, 14:20

scam passport2 — A police officer arrests Thanitphong, 48, a suspect on charges of "jointly committing fraud," at a parking lot of a luxury condominium in the Ramkhamhaeng area, Bangkok, on June 8, 2024.

BANGKOK — Police have arrested a Thai man for deceiving foreigners by offering to produce Thai passports for them. He used his father’s bank account to receive the nearly 2 million baht he fraudulently obtained from one foreigner.

On June 8, Bangkok Metropolitan police officers arrested Thanitphong, 48, a suspect under an arrest warrant issued by the Southern Bangkok District Cour, dated May 24, 2024, on charges of “jointly committing fraud.” The arrest took place at a parking lot of a luxury condominium in the Ramkhamhaeng area, Hua Mak Subdistrict, Bang Kapi District.

In this case, the police received a complaint from a victim of fraud residing in Bangkok. The victim stated that he was advised that Mr. Thanitphong could provide him with a Thai passport for a processing fee of 600,000 baht. He then transferred the money to a bank account named TENGYONG on October 6, 2023.

Later, Mr. Thanitphong informed the victim that if he wanted to expedite the process, he would need to pay an additional amount. The victim then transferred 1,300,000 baht to the TENGYONG bank account on October 19, 2023, totaling 1,900,000 baht. However, after that, he could not contact Mr. Thanitphong and believed he had been deceived. He then filed a complaint with the investigating officers to pursue legal action.

scam passport1 — A police officer arrests Thanitphong, 48, a suspect on charges of “jointly committing fraud,” at a parking lot of a luxury condominium in the Ramkhamhaeng area, Bangkok, on June 8, 2024.

Mr. Thanitphong confessed to all the charges, claiming that before the COVID-19 pandemic, he had been involved in producing passports and changing nationalities for foreigners who wanted to obtain Thai citizenship, even though they could not sing the Thai national anthem, write in Thai, or have a Thai spouse. He would charge a processing fee of 2.5 million baht per person.

Subsequently, the Thai government cracked down on groups of foreigners who falsified Thai nationality to conduct illegal businesses, known as the “Grey Chinese” group. This made it impossible for him to continue his previous operations. Additionally, he was facing bankruptcy, so he resorted to deceiving people who thought he could still carry out the illegal business as before.

After being arrested, Mr. Thanitphong learned that his father had also been issued an arrest warrant. He pleaded with the police officers to take sole responsibility because he had used his father’s bank account without his father’s knowledge. The reason he used his father’s account was that he had been sued for bankruptcy and feared that the money obtained through fraud would be seized.

Police Major General Teeradej Thammasuthi, commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s Investigation Division, stated that criminals are constantly evolving and developing new methods. He urged the public and foreigners to live cautiously and not fall for scams involving obtaining Thai citizenship.

Normally, the Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior, has announced the criteria and procedures for applying for Thai nationality and verifying the qualifications of applicants. Therefore, applications for Thai nationality must comply with this announcement.

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Thailand and Indonesia Work Together to Unravel Drugs Trafficking

By

Khaosod English

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8 June 2024, 13:32

Thai fugitive Chaowalit Thongduang, center, is escorted by police officers as he leaves the National Police Headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

BANGKOK — Thai and Indonesian authorities are continuing working on investigation of drugs trafficking, regarding the arrest and extradition of Chaowalit Thongduang, also known as Paeng Na-nhoad from Indonesia to Thailand.

police drugs — Pol. Lt. Gen. Panurat Lakbun, Secretary-General of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB)

Pol. Lt. Gen. Panurat Lakbun, Secretary-General of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) stated that the ONCB had invited the Indonesian counterparts on June 7 to an information exchange at the ONCB office (Din Daeng) to gather crucial details, particularly on Mr. Chaowalit’s drug network.

The aim was to identify the middlemen in this network who receive drugs from the northern region and send them to the south before they are shipped to Indonesia. It was also to identify those who obtain drugs from Laos and then send them to the south and on to Indonesia.

“After reviewing financial flows and other testimony, and if links are established, we may ask the court to issue arrest warrants for the suspects accused of conspiracy to traffic drugs. There are nearly 100 people who have been identified in Mr. Chaowalit’s drug network,” he said.

Thailand currently has a list of the network’s target groups, which it received from Indonesia. Extensive checks of financial channels, communication records, witness statements and asset verification will be required. However, there is as yet no evidence directly linking Chaowalit to the drug smuggling operations into Indonesia; only his network has demonstrated such involvement.

drug lord — Freddy Pratama – Chaowalit Thongduang

Chaowalit is a well-known and popular figure among the locals. Some financial transactions may have been in support of education or other aid to the community, which needs to be further verified. His network appears to consist exclusively of Thai individuals, while the Indonesian side consists only of Indonesians, with no involvement of individuals of other nationalities.

In connection with the investigation and prosecution of Freddy Pratama, a major drug trafficker wanted by the Indonesian authorities, Police Lieutenant General Panu Rattanklubun stated that he had never mentioned this name before. The name had surfaced through media reports and Indonesia had recently provided details to the ONCB to help in the prosecution, he said. He added that sharing too much information could alert the suspects.

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