A Japan Airlines plane is on fire on the runway of Haneda airport on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024 in Tokyo, (Kyodo News via AP)
TOKYO (AP) — A passenger plane and a Japanese coast guard aircraft collided on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday and burst into flames.
Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito confirmed that all 379 occupants of Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 got out safely before the plane was entirely engulfed in flames. The pilot of the coast guard plane also escaped, but five crewmembers died, Saito said.
Local TV video showed a large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it taxied after landing. The area around the wing then caught fire. Footage an hour later showed the plane fully on fire.
The passenger plane collided with a Japanese coast guard aircraft and burst into flames on the runway of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday, officials said. (Kyodo News via AP)
The JAL plane was an Airbus A-350 that had flown from Shin Chitose airport, near the city of Sapporo, to Haneda, the transport minister said.
Coast Guard spokesperson Yoshinori Yanagishima said its plane was MA-722, a Bombardier Dash-8. The plane, which is based at Haneda, had been due to head to Niigata to deliver relief goods to residents affected by a deadly earthquake in the region on Monday that killed at least 48 people.
Swede Anton Deibe, 17, who was a passenger on the Japan Airlines plane, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that “the entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes. We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them.
“The smoke in the cabin stung like hell. It was a hell. We have no idea where we are going so we just run out into the field. It was chaos,” added Deibe, who was traveling with his parents and sister.
A Japan Airlines plane is on fire on the runway of Haneda airport on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Kyodo News via AP)
Saito said Haneda is currently closed while the collision is under investigation by aviation safety investigators and police, but that they are doing their best to reopen the airport Wednesday or even sooner.
He added that said officials are doing their utmost to prevent any delays in the relief goods delivery and other operations for the disaster-hit region.
Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.
Myanmar detainees staged a protest inside the 5-story building of the Ranong Provincial Immigration Office on January 2, 2024, demanding that Thai officials release them to celebrate the New Year in Myanmar.
RANONG – Myanmar detainees staged a protest inside the 5-story building of the Ranong Provincial Immigration Office at noon on January 2, demanding that Thai officials release them to celebrate the New Year in Myanmar. A male worker was carrying a cardboard sheet with the Thai words, “Let us go, please.”
The building is used to house Myanmar people awaiting repatriation. There were two sets of blocked iron doors on the lowest floor, each closed from the inside. There was also heavy baggage and the force of Burmese detainees pressing the doors shut, preventing officials from entering.
A male worker was carrying a cardboard sheet with the Thai words, “Let us go, please.”
Later, Pol. Col. Suparerk Pankoson, Director of the Ranong Immigration Bureau, requested assistance from the Ranong Provincial Police Headquarters and the Military Department Special Unit to maintain peace and order. There were 60 officers encircling the building’s front. They used a megaphone and an interpreter to persuade the people of Myanmar to remain calm.
One Myanmar detainee talked to the officer through the second-floor window: “We just want to go home.” The officials then offered to have the leader open the door to talk, while promising that no one would be hurt and that the soldiers would not enter the building.
After an hour, the first set of three leaders opened the quarantine room door and emerged. The Ranong Immigration authorities led them to the investigation room while a plastic strap was wrapped around their wrists. The officers then proceeded up to the second and fifth levels to let 258 detainees—210 men and 48 women—enter the quarantine room and control three other protest leaders to negotiate.
Since the end of last year, the majority of these Burmese detainees have been prosecuted for illegal entry into several provinces in the southern area and main provinces. Their cases were closed before they were taken to Ranong Immigration to await deportation back to the country.
The building is used to house Myanmar people awaiting repatriation in Ranong Province on January 2, 2024.
To get their approval, the names must first be submitted to Myanmar government officials through an unusual procedure. 100–200 people can be sent back twice in a month.
The officials clarified the repatriation regulations and cooperated with the Assistant Attache of the Myanmar Labour Department, Ranong Province, to speed up the process of bringing all of them home. It is expected that they will be gradually returned to the country during the next week.
The Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection’s van arrived to pick up the 14-year-old gunman for further treatment at a mental health institution on January 1, 2024.
BANGKOK – The parents of the 14-year-old Paragon gunman who killed three people in one of Thailand’s most terrifying incidents of 2023 agreed to have their son held in a mental institute on January 1, 2024.
Office of the Attorney General (AOG) spokesman Prayut Petchkhun said on Monday that the 14-year-old Siam Paragon shooter has been sent to a mental institute, GalyaRajanagarindra Institute, after the AOG no longer has the power to hold him after police failed to submit a comprehensive case for an indictment.
He added that psychiatrists conclude that the boy is mentally ill and needs to be treated and kept there so as not to harm others.
The 14-year-old gunman was arrested on the third floor of the Kempinski Hotel.
On December 28, the AOG sent back the police’s prosecution details against the young shooter. The prosecutor said that the written material was incomplete as it didn’t include the results of his psychiatric examination.
The incident occurred on October 3, when a 14-year-old gunman carried out a horrific attack by using a mock handgun to fire individuals inside the Siam Paragon in the Siam Square neighbourhood, killing three people: a Chinese female tourist, a Burmese woman who worked there, and a Thai woman, and injuring four others.
The father of the 14-year-old gunman apologizes to the mother of the Myanmar worker who was shot and killed by his son on October 7, 2023.
The parents of the shooter later issued a statement expressing deep regret and a profound apology regarding the incident. They are deeply saddened and shocked by this incident and accept responsibility as fully as they can.
“We would also like to promise that we will cooperate with the police, government officials and every agency necessary regarding these legal proceedings as well as support any mitigation and efforts to remedy the effects of this event as best as possible,” they stated.
On Tuesday, December 2, 2024, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said that the government is not buying time for the 14-year-old Paragon gunman. The boy is mentally ill so it’s right that he’s under the care of psychiatrists at Galya Rajanagarindra Institute, which is a government agency.
“We’re definitely not buying time. The 14-year-old boy has mental abnormalities and needs to be well treated, ” he told reporters.
South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is seen after he was injured in Busan, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. (Sohn Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was attacked and injured by an unidentified man during a visit Tuesday to the southeastern city of Busan, emergency officials said.
Busan’s emergency office said Lee was attacked as he visited the construction site of a new airport in the city.
It said Lee, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, was conscious but his exact condition was unknown.
South Korean media cited witnesses as saying the man used a knife-like weapon to stab Lee’s neck. TV video showed Lee lying on the ground with a person pressing a handkerchief to his neck to stop the bleeding.
South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on a stretcher, is carried by rescue team in Busan, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. (Ha Kyung-min/Newsis via AP)
The reports said police arrested the man on the spot. They said the attacker was wearing something that looked like a crown on his head. During questioning, he refused to identify himself or say why he attacked Lee, according to Yonhap news agency.
Lee lost the 2022 presidential election to President Yoon Suk Yeol by a narrow margin.
Lee, a liberal former provincial governor, is known for his outspoken style. His supporters see him as an anti-elitist hero who could reform establishment politics, eradicate corruption and solve growing economic inequality. Critics view him as a dangerous populist who relies on stoking divisions and demonizing his conservative opponents.
Lee’s Democratic Party called the incident “a terrorist attack on Lee and a serious threat to democracy.” It called on police to make a through, swift investigation of the incident.
President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed deep concern about Lee’s health and ordered authorities to investigate the attack, saying such violence would not be tolerated, according to Yoon’s office.
A tsunami warning is shown on TV in Yokohama, near Tokyo Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
TOKYO — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 rocked a wide area on the Sea of Japan coast Monday, disrupting the festive mood of New Year celebrations, with a large tsunami warning issued for the central prefecture of Ishikawa.
BREAKING NEWS: Max-intensity quakes could hit central Japan over next week: agency
BREAKING NEWS: Large-scale fire breaks out in quake-hit Wajima, central Japan
The quake, which also shook buildings in central Tokyo, occurred around 4:10 p.m., registering a maximum of 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. A 1.2-meter tsunami reached Wajima Port in the region.
Large cracks are seen on the ground in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 1, 2024, after a strong earthquake rocked a wide area on the Sea of Japan coast in central Japan. (Kyodo)
The quake was felt in a wide area from Aomori Prefecture in northeastern Japan to the Kyushu southwestern region. Tsunami warnings were also issued for the coastal areas of Yamagata, Niigata, Toyama, Fukui, and Hyogo prefectures.
The epicenter was in the Noto region, and its depth was very shallow, according to the weather agency.
Many houses collapsed in parts of Ishikawa, according to local governments and fire departments. Approximately 32,500 homes in the prefecture lost power.
A damaged house is seen in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 1, 2024, after a strong earthquake rocked a wide area on the Sea of Japan coast in central Japan. (Kyodo)
A woman in her 80s in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, fell while evacuating and suffered a head injury.
Tsunamis were also observed in Toyama and Niigata prefectures, the meteorological agency said.
No abnormalities were reported at nuclear plants in the country after the earthquake, said the Japanese government, which set up an emergency response office at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo.
East Japan Railway Co. temporarily suspended operations of all Tohoku, Joetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen lines due to the earthquake.
According to Associated Press report, the Japanese government has set up a special emergency center to gather information on the quakes and tsunami and relay them speedily to residents to ensure safety, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.
He reiterated the warning for immediate evacuation in affected areas.
Japan is an extremely quake-prone nation. In March 2011, a major quake and tsunami caused meltdowns at a nuclear plant.
NHK TV footage showed a room shaken by the quake, with hanging laundry swaying from side to side and a computer on a desk rattling. Reports of major damage were not immediately available. NHK reported that some electric poles were toppled and roads were cracked.
PHUKET – The Phuket Regional Harbour Office received a report of a marine accident at 3:30 p.m. on December 31 from the Andaman Marine Traffic and Safety Control Centre, stating that a speedboat carrying 7 passengers—the captain and one crew member—totaling 9 people had crashed into the rocks on the shore of Mai Thon Island, Chalong Subdistrict, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket Province.
All of the individuals on the boat, aged 3 to 63, were injured, and two of them were critically injured: Mr. Natthaphong Kongwilai, 42, the boat driver, and a 5-year-old Russian girl who lost consciousness. Sadly, she died later in the Chalong hospital.
Staff of the Rescue Tourist Assistance Centre and Chalong Hospital vehicles transported the four injured people to Dibuk Hospital, three to Vachira Phuket Hospital, and two to Chalong Hospital.
The Apirak 89 speedboat was hired for a group of Russian visitors. They set out at 7:30 a.m. from Chalong Pier beachfront in Mueang Phuket District towards the Phi Phi Islands in Krabi Province. When the boat was returning to Chalong Bay Pier in Phuket Province, it hit the rocks hard as it passed Mai Thon Island.
Mr. Preecha Soisan, 49, the boat’s crew, stated that he was standing and talking with passengers at the time of the accident. He was conscious when his body hit with the boat.
Phuket Regional Harbour Office officials And the police are examining the cause of the collision and taking additional action against those involved.
Deputy Public Health chief of Phuket province Somsuk Samphanprateep said on Monday, January 1, the captain of a speedboat tested positive for meth amphetamine in his blood. Three remain in hospital as of press time Monday.
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and on the Harbour Bridge as part if New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
Sydney and Auckland were among the world’s first major cities to ring in 2024, with revelers cheering spectacular fireworks displays that lit up the skies over Sydney Harbor and New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower.
As the clock struck midnight in Australia, tons of explosives erupted in a 12-minute display that focused on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. More than 1 million people — a number equivalent to one in five of the city’s residents — watched from the shore and from boats in the harbor.
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and on the Harbour Bridge as part of New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge as New Year celebrations begin in Sydney, Australia, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
“It’s total madness,” said German tourist Janna Thomas, who had waited in line since 7:30 a.m. to secure a prime waterfront location in the Sydney Botanic Garden. “It’s not so easy to find a good place to sit, but the view is incredible.”
In Auckland, the light rain that fell all day had cleared as forecast by midnight over the city of 1.7 million people before the countdown began on an illuminated digital display near the top of the 328-meter (1,076-foot) communications and observation tower.
Fireworks burst from the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand, to celebrate the New Year on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (Hayden Woodward/New Zealand Herald via AP)
The ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and heightened tensions in parts of the world, are affecting this year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations in a myriad of ways. Many cities were deploying extra security, and some places canceled New Year’s Eve events altogether.
More police than ever were deployed throughout Sydney. The waterfront has been the scene of heated pro-Palestinian protests after the sails of the Sydney Opera House were illuminated in the colors of the Israeli flag in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas that triggered the war.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis recalled 2023 as a year marked by wartime suffering. During his traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, he offered prayers for “the tormented Ukrainian people and the Palestinian and Israeli populations, the Sudanese people and many others.”
“At the end of the year, we will have the courage to ask ourselves how many human lives have been shattered by armed conflict, how many dead and how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty,” the pontiff said. “Whoever has interest in these conflicts, listen to the voice of conscience.”
In Japan, temple bells rang out across the nation as people gathered at shrines and temples to welcome in the new year. At the Tsukiji Temple in Tokyo, visitors were given free hot milk and corn soup as they stood in line to strike a big bell, and a pipe-organ concert was held before a majestic altar.
People gather at the Zojoji Buddhist temple in Tokyo to celebrate the New Year, early Monday, Jan. 1, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)Fireworks explode over the Chao Phraya River during New Year celebrations in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)Fireworks explode over the Chao Phraya River during New Year celebrations in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
New Year’s Day arrived to cheers from tens of thousands of beaming people in New York’s Times Square who were showered with confetti and hugs and kisses after watching the descent of the colorful ball marking the birth of 2024 with hope for some, even as the world’s ongoing conflicts subdued celebrations and raised security concerns across the globe.
“It’s beautiful,” Corin Christian of Charlotte, North Carolina, said seconds past midnight as Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared from speakers in the square known as the Crossroads of the World.
“It’s going very well so far,” said Jacob Eriksson of Salt Lake City, Utah, with the earliest assessment of the New Year.
Times Square Alliance volunteers throw confetti during a confetti test as seen from the New York Marriott Marquis during the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
The march of midnight from time zone to time zone brought the new year first to places like Australia, where more than 1 million people watched a pyrotechnic display centered around Sydney’s famous Opera House and harbor bridge — a number of spectators equivalent to 1 in 5 of the city’s residents. It would be another 16 hours before New York reached 2024.
There were snapshots of joy from country to country as the new year was welcomed with optimism that its days will bring more joy than sorrow.
Before midnight arrived in Times Square, December Lee, 26, and Shadayah Lawrence, 25, of Columbus, Ohio, said their New York visit highlighted four years of traveling the globe.
“It is a good way to bring in the new year,” Lee said.
Sabrina Carpenter performs during the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Also in Times Square, Tyrell Jacobs, 27, and Sarah Crayton, 26, arrived from New Orleans 15 hours before midnight and got engaged in streets packed with tens of thousands of people counting first the hours and then the minutes until midnight.
“It’s definitely a must-see,” Crayton said of the colorful cast of strangers nearby in tall hats and blowing noisemakers even before the ball dropped. “At least go once, you know, just to experience the magic.”
A small army of thousands of police officers worked to keep New York City safe, just as heightened security had done in the cities midnight hit first. New York has seen near-daily protests sparked by the Israel-Hamas war.
Some 90,000 police and security officers were deployed around France including along Champs-Elysees Avenue, where large crowds took in a multidimensional light show projected onto the Arc de Triomphe showcasing the history of Paris and sports on the menu for next year’s Summer Olympics in the city.
People watch a light show projected on the Arc de Triomphe as they celebrate New Year’s on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
FIREWORKS LIGHT UP THE NIGHT
Stunning fireworks displays bloomed at iconic locations like the Acropolis in Athens, Greece; reflected in the sleek glass walls of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; and accompanied a collective cheer filling the air in Nairobi, Kenya.
China celebrated relatively quietly, with most major cities banning fireworks over safety and pollution concerns. Still, people gathered and performers danced in colorful costumes in Beijing, while a crowd released wish balloons in Chongqing. During his New Year address, President Xi Jinping said the country would focus on building momentum for economic recovery in 2024 and pledged China would “surely be reunified” with Taiwan.
Revelers ring in the new year after a countdown to 2024 in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, the mood was upbeat as revelers gathered for a fireworks show at the bamboo-shaped Taipei 101 skyscraper and at concerts and other events citywide.
In India, thousands of revelers from the financial hub of Mumbai watched the sun set over the Arabian Sea. Fireworks in New Delhi raised concerns that the capital — already infamous for its poor air quality — would be blanketed by a toxic haze on the first morning of the new year.
About 2 million people gathered at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach under light drizzle to watch 12 minutes of fireworks in one of the world’s most popular locations for New Year’s Eve.
People celebrate New Year’s at a promenade in Mumbai, India, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)Fireworks light up the sky over Munich, Germany, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (Lennart Preiss/dpa via AP)
POPE HIGHLIGHTS THE HUMAN COST OF WAR
At the Vatican, Pope Francis recalled 2023 as a year marked by wartime suffering. During his traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, he offered prayers for “the tormented Ukrainian people and the Palestinian and Israeli populations, the Sudanese people and many others.”
“At the end of the year, we will have the courage to ask ourselves how many human lives have been shattered by armed conflict, how many dead and how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty,” the pontiff said.
Fireworks light-up the sky over the London Eye in central London to celebrate the New Year on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)People gather near Red Square with the St. Basil’s Cathedral, right, and the Spasskaya Tower, left, in the background, to celebrate the new year after midnight in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Marina Lystseva)
GAZA AND UKRAINE WARS GRIND ON
In Russia, the country’s military actions in Ukraine overshadowed end-of-year celebrations, with the usual fireworks and concert on Moscow’s Red Square canceled, as they were last year. Even without the festivities, people gathered in the square, and some cheered and pointed their phones at a clock counting down the year’s final seconds.
After shelling in the Russian border city of Belgorod Saturday killed 24 people, some local authorities across the country also canceled their firework displays, including in Vladivostok. Millions were expected to tune in to President Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s prerecorded address, in which he said no force could divide Russians and stop the country’s development.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, an apartment building hit by a Russian missile is seen in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 35 people Sunday, hospital officials said, as fighting raged across the tiny enclave a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, resisting international calls for a cease-fire, said the war will continue for “many more months.”
Skyscrapers in Tel Aviv were lit up in yellow to call for the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza for more than 80 days.
“While you are counting down until the new year, our time and our lives stopped,” said Moran Betzer Tayar, the aunt of Yagev Buchshtab, a 34-year-old hostage.
In the Gaza Strip, displaced Palestinians huddled around fires in a makeshift refugee camp.
“From the intensity of the pain we live, we do not feel that there is a new year,” said Kamal al-Zeinaty, who has lost multiple family members in the conflict. “All the days are the same.”
A Palestinian child looks at the graves of people killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and buried inside the Shifa Hospital grounds in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar)
In Iraq, a Christmas tree was decorated with Palestinian flags and symbolic bodies in funeral shrouds, placed beside a liberty monument in central Baghdad. Many Christians in Iraq have cancelled this year’s festivities in solidarity with Gaza, and have chosen to limit their celebrations to prayers and rituals.
“We hope that the new year, 2024, will be a year of goodness, prosperity and joy,” said Ahmed Ali, a Baghdad resident.
In Muslim-majority Pakistan, the government banned all New Year’s Eve celebrations in solidarity with the Palestinians.
GLOBAL TENSIONS SPUR SECURITY VIGILANCE
New York Mayor Eric Adams said there were “no specific threats” to his city’s annual bash. Nevertheless, police said they would expand the security perimeter around the party, creating a “buffer zone” that would allow them to head off potential demonstrations. On New Year’s Eve 2022, a machete-wielding man attacked three police officers a few blocks from Times Square.
German authorities said they detained three more people in connection with a reported threat of a New Year’s Eve attack by Islamic extremists on the world-famous Cologne Cathedral.
In Berlin, some 4,500 police officers worked to keep order and avoid riots like those seen a year ago. They also banned a pro-Palestinian protest in the Neukoelln neighborhood of the German capital, which has seen several pro-Palestinian riots.
Queen Margrethe II gives a New Year's speech and announces her abdication from Christian IX's Palace, Amalienborg Castle, in Copenhagen, Sunday, Dec. 31 2023. (Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II announced Sunday that she plans to abdicate after 52 years and hand over the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik.
The queen, who is Europe’s longest-reigning living monarch, announced during her New Year’s speech that she would step down on Jan. 14th, which is the anniversary of her own accession to the throne at age 31 following the death of her father, King Frederik IX.
Margrethe, 83, said the back surgery she underwent in early 2023 led to “thoughts about the future” and when to pass on the responsibilities of the crown to her son. “I have decided that now is the right time,” she said in her speech.
FILE – Danish Queen Margrethe gives her son Crown Prince Frederik a hug after his speech at the gala banquet at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, on Sept. 11, 2022. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen paid tribute to her in a statement, offering a “heartfelt thank you to Her Majesty the Queen for her lifelong dedication and tireless efforts for the Kingdom.”
Margrethe is the “epitome of Denmark” Frederiksen’s statement read, and “throughout the years has put words and feelings into who we are as a people and as a nation.”
The 6-foot-tall (1.82-meters-tall), chain-smoking Margrethe has been one of the most popular public figures in Denmark, where the monarch’s role is largely ceremonial. She often walked the streets of Copenhagen virtually unescorted and won the admiration of Danes for her warm manners and for her talents as a linguist and designer.
A keen skier, she was a member of a Danish women’s air force unit as a princess, taking part in judo courses and endurance tests in the snow. Margrethe remained tough even as she grew older. In 2011, at age 70, she visited Danish troops in southern Afghanistan wearing a military jumpsuit.
FILE – Denmark’s Queen Margrethe and Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen attend a memorial ceremony in Gilleleje Church, in Gilleleje, Denmark, on Oct. 9 2023. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
As monarch, she crisscrossed the country and regularly visited Greenland and the Faeroe Islands, the two semi-independent territories which are part of the Danish Realm, and was met everywhere by cheering crowds.
Denmark has Europe’s oldest ruling monarchy, which traces its line back to the Viking king Gorm the Old, who died in 958. Although Magrethe is head of state, the Danish Constitution strictly ruled out her involvement in party politics.
Yet the queen was clearly well-versed in law and knew the contents of the legislation she was called upon to sign.
She received training in French and English from her earliest years, as well as Swedish from her mother. In addition to archaeology, she studied philosophy, political science and economics at universities in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Cambridge along with the London School of Economics and the Sorbonne in Paris.
FILE – Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik, left, and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark stand outside of the Metropolitan Cathedral during the funeral of former king of Greece Constantine II in Athens, on Jan. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Ever since his birth on May 26, 1968, Frederik André Henrik Christian has been the heir to the Danish throne.
He is the oldest son of Queen Margrethe and her late French-born husband, Prince Henrik, who died February 2018. Frederik, 55, has a younger brother, Prince Joachim.
Since the age of 18, he has served as regent whenever his mother was outside the kingdom and carried out official duties, shaking hands with thousands and receiving foreign dignitaries.
The queen’s announcement made up only a few sentences at the end of her wide-ranging New Year’s speech which reflected on the “turbulence and upheaval in the world” amid the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the climate crisis.
But she also thanked her nation’s people for “the warmth and hospitality I meet with everywhere in Denmark.”
While lavishing accolades on the queen, the prime minister also looked to the future.
“In the new year, Crown Prince Frederik will be proclaimed king. Crown Princess Mary will become queen. The kingdom will have a new regent and a new royal couple,” he said in his statement. “We can look forward to all of this in the knowledge that they are ready for the responsibility and the task.”
Miss Peng, 52, of Liaoning Province, China, was discovered dead in the Pam Bok Waterfall tourist attraction area of Pai District, Mae Hong Son Province, on December 31, 2023.
MAE HONG SON – On the last day of 2023, a Chinese female visitor died after falling down a cliff near a waterfall in Pai District. Mae Hong Son Province.
Miss Peng, 52, of Liaoning Province, China, was discovered dead in the Pam Bok Waterfall tourist attraction area, Village No. 6, Thung Yao Subdistrict, Pai District, by other tourists. They later informed the forest officers.
The forest officer and Pai police officers then inspected the scene. There were no traces of wounds from the battle, according to the doctor’s examination, or been in any way injured.
They suspected the woman had climbed up to the waterfall area, slipped, lost control, and dropped from the cliff, which was approximately 6–10 metres high, resulting in her death.
The deceased’s sister had no suspicion of Miss Peng’s death. The rescue workers then transported her remains to Pai Hospital for an autopsy.
At the same time, officers from the Pai Provincial Police Station gathered evidence and witnesses who were present at the incident, including Pai River Basin Wildlife Sanctuary officials, who determined from preliminary inspection results that the woman entered the waterfall area through an off-limits route.
The last sunset of 2023 at Wat Arun Ratchawararam (Temple of Dawn) in Bangkok on Dec. 31, 2023.
Since time is a continuum, there are issues from 2023 that will continue to be relevant to Thailand in 2024. Here are some:
The return of Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse, the estranged son of HM the King. Vicharaesorn, (AKA Than Ohn, or Khun Ohn) made two surprise visits to Thailand after being away for nearly three decades and performed numerous philanthropic activities in a private capacity as a Thai citizen.
His return, which was widely reported by the local press (which means there was no explicit instruction from the powers that be to self-censor), led to many speculations about his future role within the monarchy institution.
While this writer, like all in Thailand, is constrained by the draconian royal defamation law, which in effect makes truly critical assessment of the monarchy impossible without the risk of spending up to 15 years in prison, it is safe to say some Thais were delighted to see a down-to-earth (albeit estranged) member of the royal family who is accessible, and who “appears” to be almost just like “one of us.”
His two appearances in Thailand, the last time in earlier this month, December 2023, heightened the debate about what the Thai monarchy should look like, say two decades from now.
Inmate Thaksin Shinawatra will most likely be out of “prison,” or rather out of the Police General Hospital, before the mid of 2024 if not much earlier. Many Thais have stomached the fact that the ex-premier did not even spend a full night in a proper prison environment, while his supporters say he did not deserve to be sentenced to begin with since the prosecution were politically motivated.
The big question is whether what role will Thaksin play after he is done with “prison” time. Will he start becoming active on social media to the point where he overshadows PM Srettha Thavisin, who is widely regarded as his proxy?
Also, will fugitive former premier Yingluck Shinawatra return to Thailand in 2024 too and seek a royal pardon as this must be the best chance for her to do so since the Pheu Thai government is in power, and the old elites are (for the meantime) content to lead the Pheu Thai government continue to keep the more radical Move Forward Party at bay and in the opposition? The answer is it is highly likely.
The fates of Pita Limjaroenrat and the opposition Move Forward Party. This is arguably the thriller of next month of January 2024 as the Constitutional Court will rule of whether Pita acted unconstitutionally by owning shares of a long-defunct ITV media and whether Pita and the party he formerly led violated the constitution by having given an election pledge to reform the controversial lese majeste law.
Pita could be banned from politics for 10 years and the party disbanded. Thus, potentially sending a shock wave that could reignite a new round of massive street protests which could shake Thailand’s political landscape.
I do not think the nine constitutional judges can be ordered to vote one way or the other, but one must not forget that all were selected by the junta-appointed senate and majority of the nine are conservatives. The token liberal judges will probably make no difference as they will always be in the minority whenever they vote.
Political detainees and prisoners of conscience. The ruling Pheu Thai Party made it clear they would not support any proposed amnesty bill that includes granting amnesty to those who were charged or sentenced under the lese majeste law. The most prominent prisoner of conscience at present is monarchy-reform-movement co-leader Arnon Nampa. Should anything happen to him while in prison in 2024, the political situation could suddenly become volatile.
The initial process of drafting a new constitution is already facing a deadlock with coalition parties insisting the sections on the monarchy and national security must not be touched. Also, how all the charter drafters will be selected or elected will be another subject of fierce contention.
The economy is not doing well after nearly ten years of Prayut’s inept dictatorial and semi-dictatorial rule, and in 2024, the Srettha administration’s grace period (or honeymoon period as Thais call) is over. Poor people are hardest hit, and the government has already failed to deliver a decent minimum wage hike as promised during the election.
Srettha in 2024 will have to deliver on the economic front or at least make people believe he is doing so. Also, what will happen to the election’s pledge to push for 10,000-baht digital wallet handouts? What will its impact be if succeeded, both positive and negative? What if he failed to secure the loan for the project. Probably a snap election.
There are probably more issues. Do let me know. For the meantime. I and my colleagues at Khaosod English would like to wish you all a peaceful and happy 2024! Wishing the killings in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, and elsewhere to end as well.
