The explanation of the Move Forward Party (MFP) about cannabis policy has come after the weed entrepreneurs showed their oppressiveness for the new government.
Sirikanya Tansakul, the soon-to-be Move Forward Party list leader MP and Deputy chief, said on May 25 that there will be lawsuits following the Health Ministry’s announcement to classify weed as an illegal drug. She, however, stressed that entrepreneurs who have been operating their businesses legally will be protected and will be able to continue their businesses.
Sirikanya Tansakul
During the protection period, the government will move forward with drafting legislation and regulations for the use of cannabis under the Cannabis Act. The law will also protect and compensate for any damages that may arise from future changes. She added that some of the harms were caused by the loopholes of the previous government.
Previously, Prasitchai Nhoonuan, chairman of Write Future of Thai Weed, posted attacking messages to the Move Forward Party after Pita Limjaroenrat, the party leader, and leaders of seven parties signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bring weed back under the illegal drug law.
He said that the Move Forward Party did not value weed as a fact, but chose to make it a political movement and harm the people. He added that the party agreed with the people to bring the Weed Bill from the people to Parliament. Prasitchai said that the network will stop its protests if Move Forward can answer 2 questions without bias.
First, Move Forward must comparatively present the benefits and dangers of alcohol, cigarettes and pot. The party must produce research that will be presented to the public. If it turns out that smoking pot is more dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes, the network will support the party in reclassifying pot as an illegal drug.
Secondly, Move Forward must provide an answer to the implications of the Free Liquor Act. Why does the party support the empowerment of free alcohol but bring back weed as an illegal drug, only allowing small producers to produce weed and people have to scramble for money to buy it, contrary to people’s longstanding traditional knowledge of weed? Weed then becomes like beer, which people can consume but have to find the money themselves to buy.
Preda Chaiyo, an owner of Nud Kun@Pattaya, said entrepreneurs do not support the MOU as weed is an industrial crop. He added that weed has boosted the economy since he opened his shop and that weed has more benefits than dangers depending on how it is used. He said it was not a good idea to make weed an illegal drug again.
Shops that have permission to both grow and sale, they can continue their business without much clarity until the new government is formed. After that, it will depend on the designated authority to reform weed shops.
Preda said he wished Move Forward MPs from each district knew that they were also from tourist areas and knew very well that weed had boosted the economy in these areas such as Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Finally, he wished that there could be a compromise.
Royal Paragon Hall in partnership with Maximage arehosting one a spectacular concert of the year “THONBURI PHANICH GROUP PROUDLY PRESENTS HITMAN DAVID FOSTER AND FRIENDS BANGKOK 2023.”
David Foster–the acclaimed “Hitman,’ is the legendary musician, composer and producer of our time. He has also played a key role in the success of numerous world-renowned artists and the creator of all-time hit songs such as I Will Always Love You, I Have Nothing and Never Enough from the movie The Greatest Showman.
David Foster is bringing his hits to Bangkok, performed by award-winning artists Michael Bolton, Loren Allred,Katharine McPhee and Peabo Bryson. YoungThai talent Putthipong ‘Billkin’ Assaratanakul will also join David Foster on stage for the first time. The world-class concert is sponsored by Thonburi Phanich Group, Singha Drinking Water, Air Asia, Plan B Media and MET 107.
The concert “THONBURI PHANICH GROUP PROUDLY PRESENTS HITMAN DAVID FOSTER AND FRIENDS BANGKOK 2023” will be performed on 5 August 2023 at 19.00 hrs at Royal Paragon Hall, Siam Paragon.
Tickets are available from 3 June 2023 at all ThaiTicketMajor or online at www.thaiticketmajor.com at THB10,000 / 5,500 / 4,500 / 3,500 and 2,500.
For more ticket information, please call 02-262-3456. VIZ members can enjoy pre-booking privilege on 2 June 2023 at ONESIAM SuperApp. For more event information, visit Facebook : Royal Paragon Hall, MET 107 or www.met107.fm
CPHI South East Asia 2023 aims to build awareness of pharmaceutical standards in Thailand to broader public and to promote drug security with OLIC, a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer that is set to announce its plan for environmental , community and its business sustainability with a goal to promote access to medicines sources and comprehensive solutions at CPHI South East Asia 2023, Hall 1-3, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC), during 12-14 July 2023.
Rungphech Chitanuwat, Regional Portfolio Director – ASEAN Informa Markets Thailand, revealed as an organizer of CPHI South East Asia 2023 that important goals are to build awareness about the pharmaceutical production standards in Thailand and to understand opportunities in the industry which will be how to support in building drug security in region. The organizer also wanted to create a trust and wider understanding that pharmaceutical production in Thailand complies with the international standard (GPM PIC/S), that the industry manufactures quality medicine and has the potential in being an exporter to the world market.
The challenge that Thailand is facing is that pharmaceutical production in this region still depends on more than 90% of the importation of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). Together with the high production costs, Thailand has less than 200 local manufacturers in the industry.
Another important issue is that consumers are still unaware of the standards of pharmaceutical production in Thailand. Therefore, the organizer would like to promote and encourage both manufacturers and consumers in Thailand to trust the international production standard which will increase the use of domestically manufactured medicine.
At CPHI South East Asia 2023, there will be answers to these issues. The event will also create areas for discussion and opportunities accessible to both Thai and foreign investors.
Mr. Yoshihiro Takada, Managing Director of OLIC Thailand Limited, one of the most comprehensive Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMO) in Southeast Asia, revealed that the pharmaceutical industry in Thailand still has a lot of room to grow. Most of them depend on importation and still need money to cover the renovation of factories to meet the GMP-PIC/S standards, while OLIC positions itself to be more than a pharmaceutical manufacturer – it has been operating with modern production technologies to reach its goal of creating a society with sustainable health where everyone lives happily and healthily.
“As a provider who offers comprehensive services from pharmaceutical formulation development and analytical method development and validation, to production and packaging, product registration, product logistics and deliveries.
With the use of modern technology and machines, our factory manufactures various types of medicine such as sterile medicines, pills, liquid medicines, gels, soft gels, and many more. Our products are exported to over 30 countries worldwide and also available in Thailand and across Southeast Asia, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Europe, the USA, and Australia.”
Thitima Thongkam, B.Sc.(Pharmacy), Quality and Compliance Director,OLIC Thailand Limited, said OLIC has always paid attention to product innovation development. Recently, OLIC has added a new production line that manufactures effervescent medicine which is a medicine that dissolves and releases carbon dioxide as soon as it is in contact with water. The benefit of effervescent tablets is that they are useful to formulate for medicines that are difficult to make in tablets, they are fast to absorb, and they are absorbed better.
“The production of effervescent tablets requires additional quality control as it has a more complicated formula and production process, especially when it comes to temperature and humidity control. We pay close attention to the packaging to ensure that our customers receive our products in the best quality.”
Additionally, the company uses the latest real-time track and trace technology such as the use of GS1-standard barcodes and serialization and aggregation in compliance with regulatory requirements in our clients’ markets. The track and trace technology not only tracks each product in their production chains from beginning to end but also helps increase security and performance.
Angsana Wanasathian, B.Sc.(Pharmacy), Operations Director,OLIC Thailand Limited, added that OLIC realized the importance and paid attention to sustainable growth. Since 2019, the company has directed the source of energy for its production processes to recycled or clean energy. It has also changed its lighting system, the fuel source in the factory, which reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 23.9% in 2021.
In 2022, OLIC installed a 0.99-Megawatt Solar Cell System (first phase) at the factory. In 2023, the system started to generate electricity with an estimated generation of 1,254 Megawatt per year, equivalent to the reduction of carbon monoxide by approximately 650 tons per year. Currently, the company is planning an additional investment plan for a 0.80-Megawatt Solar Cell System (second phase).
“The Solar Cell System not only cuts the cost of energy consumption, but also creates positive impacts on our environment, enabling OLIC to sustainably grow our business for the long run under an approach with the environment, society, and good governance in mind. We are determined to always stand by our clients, partners, employees, and communities.”
CPHI South East Asia 2023, Southeast Asia’s comprehensive technology showcase and convention in the pharmaceutical industry, will take place at Hall 1-3, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC), during 12-14 July 2023. For those who are interested, registration is now open at www.CPHI.com/sea
Many areas in Isan or northeastern Thailand are experiencing extreme weather, including storms, torrential rain, thunder, and lightning, as the rainy season begins.
At Ban Non-Sang in Nong Bua Lam Phu province was hit by heavy storms and rain as well as several lightning strikes on 23 May, it was found that 6 cows were dead. The corpses were lying side by side on the ground of the paddy field.
Thongwan Jitchoti, Chief Executive of the Non-Sang Subdistrict Administrative Organization, said that after an investigation in the area, that the sight was pitiful.
All the cows belong to Suban Tuna, 75, a local man from the Non-Sang sub-district. Suban and his family went to the scene to see their dead cows with sadness because all the cows were adults and if he sold the cows, he would receive a total of 200,000 baht.
Thongwan added that he felt sorry for the local people because according to government rules, the locals cannot be helped with money from these lightning damages. He only gave away his personal money by buying 3 cow carcasses for 10,000 baht each, 30,000 baht in total, to help Suban. Suban distributed the rest of the cow carcasses to his relatives and the locals.
in Mukdahan Province
On May 24, a summer storm in Mukdahan Province damaged more than 20 houses in Chanot sub-district and Bang Sai Noi sub-district, Wan Yai district.
On the same night in Chaiyaphum Province, a massive tree branch was also thrown along both sides of the road by the storm, blocking vehicles from crossing. Two cars sank into a road under construction. Fortunately, no one was injured.
in Chaiyaphum Province
Thai Meteorological Department stated that during 25 – 26 and 30 May, scattered thundershowers. During 27 – 29 May, scattered to fairly widespread thundershowers with isolated heavy to very heavy rain. southwesterly winds 10 – 25 km/hr. Minimum temperature 22 – 26 °C. Maximum temperature 31 – 36 °C.
FILE - Flags of South Korea and the United States flutter outside of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in Seoul, South Korea, on April 25, 2023. Photo: Lee Jin-man / AP File
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries were set to begin massive live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls such a hostile invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.
Thursday’s drills, the first of the allies’ five rounds of firing exercises until mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea has typically reacted to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests.
Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in mid-April. North Korea has argued its torrid pace of tests was meant to respond to the expanded military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, but observers say the North aims to advance its weapons development then wrest greater concessions from its rivals in eventual diplomacy.
The U.S.-South Korean firing exercises, called “the combined annihilation firepower drills,” would be the biggest of their kind. The drills have been held 11 times since they began in 1977, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.
Ministry officials said this year’s drills are to involve advanced stealth fighter jets, attack helicopters, multiple rocket launch systems and other weapons from South Korea and the United States. It wasn’t immediately known how many troops would take part in the drills, but previous exercises in 2017 drew about 2,000 soldiers and 250 weapons assets from both countries.
An earlier Defense Ministry statement said the drills are meant to enhance the allies’ combined operational performance capabilities. It said South Korea and the United States will seek to establish “the overwhelming deterrence and response capabilities” to cope with North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
Last Friday, North Korea’s state media called the drills “a typical North Korea-targeted war rehearsal.” It said North Korea “cannot but take a more serious note of the fact that” that the drills would be held in an area a few kilometers (miles) from its frontier.
KCNA said the U.S. and South Korea will face unspecified “corresponding responses” over their series of large-scale, provocative drills.
Earlier this year, the South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted their biggest field exercises in five years. The U.S. also sent the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bombers for joint exercises with South Korea.
In their summit last month, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced steps to reinforce their deterrence capabilities such as the periodic docking U.S. nuclear-armed submarines in South Korea; bolstering joint training exercises; and the establishment of a new nuclear consultative group. Biden also issued a blunt warning that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, later said the Biden-Yoon summit agreement revealed the two countries’ “most hostile and aggressive will of action” against the North. She threatened to further bolster her country’s escalatory nuclear doctrine, saying “The pipe dream of the U.S. and South Korea will henceforth be faced with the entity of more powerful strength.”
Worries about North Korea’s nuclear program grew after the North last year legislated a law that authorizes the preemptive use of nuclear weapons. Many foreign experts say North Korea has yet to possess functioning nuclear missiles.
The entrance to the aged care facility Yallambee Lodge in Cooma, Australia is photographed on Friday, May 19, 2023. Photo: Lukas Coch / AAP Image via AP
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A 95-year-old Australian woman died Wednesday, a week after a police officer shot her with a stun gun in a nursing home as she moved toward him using a walker and carrying a steak knife, in a tragedy that has outraged many Australians.
Clare Nowland, who had dementia, had been hospitalized in Cooma in New South Wales state since her skull was fractured when she fell on May 17 after Constable Kristian White shocked her with a stun gun.
Police announced Nowland’s death hours after reporting that White has been ordered to appear in court on July 5 on charges of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault. The charges are likely to be upgraded following her death.
White and another police officer had gone to Yallambee Lodge, a nursing home in Cooma that specializes in residents with higher care needs including dementia, after staff reported that Nowland had taken a serrated steak knife from the kitchen.
The violence against an elderly and incapacitated woman has sparked a national debate about the police use of stun guns in such circumstances and the competence of aged care staff. Police are allowed to use stun guns when lives are in danger.
A coroner will determine the cause of death. Police say her injuries resulted from falling to the floor, not from the electric charge from the Taser-brand stun gun.
White has been under police internal investigation since the incident and has been suspended from duty with pay since Tuesday.
White and his police partner on the day have images of the incident from their body cameras, but police have declined to release them.
The government elected a year ago is increasing resources for aged care.
FILE - Tina Turner performs in a concert in Cologne, Germany on Jan. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Hermann J. Knippertz, file)
NEW YORK (AP) — Tina Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and ’70s and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” has died at 83.
Turner died Tuesday, after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, according to her manager. She became a Swiss citizen a decade ago.
FILE – Tina Turner performs her current hit song “What’s Love Got to Do With It” in Los Angeles on Sept. 2, 1984. (AP Photo/Phil Ramey, File)
Few stars traveled so far — she was born Anna Mae Bullock in a segregated Tennessee hospital and spent her latter years on a 260,000 square foot estate on Lake Zurich — and overcame so much. Physically battered, emotionally devastated and financially ruined by her 20-year relationship with Ike Turner, she became a superstar on her own in her 40s, at a time when most of her peers were on their way down, and remained a top concert draw for years after.
“How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?” Angela Bassett, who played Turner in the 1993 biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” said in a statement.
FILE – Singer Tina Turner, left, and Mick Jagger perform together during Live-Aid concert on July 14, 1985, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy, File)
“Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like.
With admirers ranging from Mick Jagger to Beyoncé to Mariah Carey, the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” was one of the world’s most popular entertainers, known for a core of pop, rock and rhythm and blues favorites: “Proud Mary,” “Nutbush City Limits,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” and the hits she had in the ’80s, among them “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” “We Don’t Need Another Hero” and a cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”
FILE – Beyonce, left, and Tina Turner perform at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)
Her trademarks included a growling contralto that might smolder or explode, her bold smile and strong cheekbones, her palette of wigs and the muscular, quick-stepping legs she did not shy from showing off. She sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammys, was voted along with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 (and on her own in 2021 ) and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2005, with Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey among those praising her. Her life became the basis for a film, a Broadway musical and an HBO documentary in 2021 that she called her public farewell.
Until she left her husband and revealed their back story, she was known as the voracious on-stage foil of the steady-going Ike, the leading lady of the “Ike and Tina Turner Revue.” Ike was billed first and ran the show, choosing the material, the arrangements, the backing singers. They toured constantly for years, in part because Ike was often short on money and unwilling to miss a concert. Tina Turner was forced to go on with bronchitis, with pneumonia, with a collapsed right lung.
Other times, the cause of her misfortunes was Ike himself.
FILE – Singer Tina Turner, center, takes a bow during the curtain call with actors Daniel J. Watts, left, and Adrienne Warren on the opening night of “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” on Nov. 7, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
As she recounted in her memoir, “I, Tina,” Ike began hitting her not long after they met, in the mid-1950s, and only grew more vicious. Provoked by anything and anyone, he would throw hot coffee in her face, choke her, or beat her until her eyes were swollen shut, then rape her. Before one show, he broke her jaw and she went on stage with her mouth full of blood.
Terrified both of being with Ike and of lasting without him, she credited her emerging Buddhist faith in the mid-1970s with giving her a sense of strength and self-worth and she finally left in early July 1976. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue was scheduled to open a tour marking the country’s bicentennial when Tina snuck out of their Dallas hotel room, with just a Mobil credit card and 36 cents, while Ike slept. She hurried across a nearby highway, narrowly avoiding a speeding truck, and found another hotel.
“I looked at him (Ike) and thought, ‘You just beat me for the last time, you sucker,'” she recalled in her memoir.
Turner was among the first celebrities to speak candidly about domestic abuse, becoming a heroine to battered women and a symbol of resilience to all. Ike Turner did not deny mistreating her, although he tried to blame Tina for their troubles. When he died, in 2007, a representative for his ex-wife said simply: “Tina is aware that Ike passed away.”
Ike and Tina fans knew little of this during the couple’s prime. The Turners were a hot act for much of the 1960s and into the ’70s, evolving from bluesy ballads such as “A Fool in Love” and “It’s Going to Work Out Fine” to flashy covers of “Proud Mary” and “Come Together” and other rock songs that brought them crossover success.
FILE – Tina Turner performs at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Aug. 1, 1985. Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer, died Tuesday, after a long illness at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, according to her manager. She was 83. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine, File)
They opened for the Rolling Stones in 1966 and 1969, and were seen performing a lustful version of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” in the 1970 Stones documentary “Gimme Shelter.” Bassett and Laurence Fishburne gave Oscar-nominated performances in “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” based on “I, Tina,” but she would say that reliving her years with Ike was so painful she couldn’t bring herself to watch the movie.
Ike and Tina’s reworking of “Proud Mary,” originally a tight, mid-tempo hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival, helped define their sexual aura. Against a background of funky guitar and Ike’s crooning baritone, Tina began with a few spoken words about how some people wanted to hear songs that were “nice and easy.”
“But there’s this one thing,” she warned, “you see, we never ever do nothing nice and easy.
“We always do it nice — and rough.”
But by the end of the 1970s, Turner’s career seemed finished. She was 40 years old, her first solo album had flopped and her live shows were mostly confined to the cabaret circuit. Desperate for work, and money, she even agreed to tour in South Africa when the country was widely boycotted because of its racist apartheid regime.
Rock stars helped bring her back. Rod Stewart convinced her to sing “Hot Legs” with him on “Saturday Night Live” and Jagger, who had openly borrowed some of Turner’s on-stage moves, sang “Honky Tonk Women” with her during the Stones’ 1981-82 tour. At a listening party for his 1983 album “Let’s Dance,” David Bowie told guests that Turner was his favorite singer.
“She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous,” Jagger tweeted Wednesday. “She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”
More popular in England at the time than in the U.S., she recorded a raspy version of “Let’s Stay Together” at EMI’s Abbey Road studios in London. By the end of 1983, “Let’s Stay Together” was a hit throughout Europe and on the verge of breaking in the states. An A&R man at Capitol Records, John Carter, urged the label to sign her up and make an album. Among the material presented was a reflective pop-reggae ballad co-written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle and initially dismissed by Tina as “wimpy.”
“I just thought it was some old pop song, and I didn’t like it,” she later said of “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”
Turner’s “Private Dancer” album came out in May 1984, sold more than eight million copies and featured several hit singles, including the title song and “Better Be Good To Me.” It won four Grammys, among them record of the year for “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” the song that came to define the clear-eyed image of her post-Ike years.
“People look at me now and think what a hot life I must have lived — ha!” she wrote in her memoir.
Even with Ike, it was hard to mistake her for a romantic. Her voice was never “pretty,” and love songs were never her specialty, in part because she had little experience to draw from. She was born in Nutbush, Tennessee in 1939 and would say she received “no love” from either her mother or father. After her parents separated, she moved often around Tennessee and Missouri, living with various relatives. She was outgoing, loved to sing and as a teenager would check out the blues clubs in St. Louis, where one of the top draws was Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. Tina didn’t care much for his looks the first time she saw him, at the Club Manhattan.
“Then he got up onstage and picked up his guitar,” she wrote in her memoir. “He hit one note, and I thought, ‘Jesus, listen to this guy play.'”
Tina soon made her move. During intermission at an Ike Turner show at the nearby Club D’Lisa, Ike was alone on stage, playing a blues melody on the keyboards. Tina recognized the song, B.B. King’s “You Know I Love You,” grabbed a microphone and sang along. As Tina remembered, a stunned Ike called out “Giirrlll!!” and demanded to know what else she could perform. Over her mother’s objections, she agreed to join his group. He changed her first name to Tina, inspired by the comic book heroine Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and changed her last name by marrying her, in 1962.
In rare moments of leniency from Ike, Tina did enjoy success on her own. She added a roaring lead vocal to Phil Spector’s titanic production of “River Deep, Mountain High,” a flop in the U.S. when released in 1966, but a hit overseas and eventually a standard. She was also featured as the Acid Queen in the 1975 film version of the Who’s rock opera “Tommy.” More recent film work included “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” and a cameo in “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”
Turner had two sons: Craig, with saxophonist Raymond Hill; and Ronald, with Ike Turner. (Craig Turner was found dead in 2018 of an apparent suicide). In a memoir published later in 2018, “Tina Turner: My Love Story,” she revealed that she had received a kidney transplant from her second husband, former EMI record executive Erwin Bach.
Turner’s life seemed an argument against marriage, but her life with Bach was a love story the younger Tina would not have believed possible. They met in the mid-1980s, when she flew to Germany for record promotion and he picked her up at the airport. He was more than a decade younger than her — “the prettiest face,” she said of him in the HBO documentary — and the attraction was mutual. She wed Bach in 2013, exchanging vows at a civil ceremony in Switzerland.
“It’s that happiness that people talk about,” Turner told the press at the time, “when you wish for nothing, when you can finally take a deep breath and say, ‘Everything is good.'”
___
HILLEL ITALIE reported from New York, Hilary Fox contributed to this report.
Photo taken in August 2022 shows an international departure lobby at Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture. (Kyodo)
TOKYO – The operator of Japan’s Narita airport plans to raise user charges for international passengers from September, including up to 330 yen ($2) for a facility fee, reflecting recent price and labor cost hikes, a source close to the matter said Wednesday.
Under the plan, the operator Narita International Airport Corp. will raise the passenger service facility charge by up to 330 yen, resulting in a maximum 2,460 yen, and the passenger security service fee by 20 yen, both effective for tickets issued from Sept. 1, the source said.
The envisaged increase of the charges to cover costs, including for maintaining and operating facilities and running security checks, come as demand for air travel has been rapidly recovering from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic.
While adult passengers aged 12 and above using Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the Narita airport near Tokyo for departures would see an increase of 330 yen in passenger service facility charge to 2,460 yen, those aged between 2 and 11 would be charged 1,240 yen, up 170 yen, the source said.
For such facility charge, adults departing Terminal 3 would pay 1,370 yen, up 330 yen, and children 690 yen, up 170 yen.
Passengers using the airport’s Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 for international transits will be charged 170 yen more to 1,230 yen in service facility charge.
The passenger security service charge, meanwhile, is planned to be increased by 20 yen to 550 yen for all passengers using terminals 1 to 3.
Passengers using the Narita airport nearly tripled to 15.41 million in 2022 from 2021, with those using international flights rising 4.8-fold to 9.03 million, according to the operator.
The Ministry of Commerce is urging Thai exporters to focus on the Chinese market for chicken feet because of insufficient supply on the mainland. China can currently produce 18 billion chicken feet, while annual demand is 30 billion feet, a gap of 12 billion feet.
The Qingdao Office of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, said chicken feet have long been the favourite food of the Chinese. The total consumption is huge every year. More than 80 per cent of the world’s chicken feet are consumed by the Chinese.
Some of the most popular dishes are braised chicken feet or chicken feet with pickled chilli. Chicken feet can also be prepared as a snack or crisp, which is popular with teenagers. Due to demand, China has to import more frozen chicken feet every year.
Chicken Feet Tomyum
China imported frozen chicken feet in 2022 with a year-on-year growth rate of 37.69 per cent. In the first quarter of 2023, China’s import rate of chicken feet increased by 26.78 per cent. Brazil is the leading player with a 62.82 per cent share of total imports, followed by Argentina and Chile.
For Thailand in 2022, it is reported that the export rate of chicken feet increased by 16.17 per cent. In the first quarter of this year, China imported chicken feet into Thailand at a year-on-year growth rate of 165.74 per cent, worth 79.56 million us dollars or 2.64 billion baht.
“Chicken feet is a growing market and still has some room for Thai exporters. Thai entrepreneurs must seize this opportunity to expand export markets for both frozen chicken feet and processed snacks. [We can import or offer special flavours of Thai food such as Tomyum, Green Curry, and Thai barbecue. [We can also produce a smaller, bite-sized one for people to carry and eat conveniently,” said the Ministry of Commerce official.
Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., answers questions from reporters after a Florida Republican gubernatorial primary debate at the Republican Sunshine Summit June 28, 2018, in Kissimmee, Fla. Photo: John Raoux / AP File
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an outspoken cultural conservative long seen as Donald Trump’s leading rival for the Republican nomination, is set to launch his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old Republican governor plans to announce his decision in an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the announcement publicly.
The audio-only event will be streamed on Twitter Spaces beginning at 6 p.m. EDT. DeSantis will follow up with a round of prime-time appearances on conservative programs, including Fox News and Mark Levin’s radio show.
DeSantis gave no hint as to his plans during a meeting of the state clemency board in Tallahassee on Wednesday, where he granted several pardons to former prisoners charged mostly with drug-related crimes decades ago.
“You are what the country needs,” one man said after getting his pardon.
A smiling DeSantis chuckled and thanked him.
By day’s end, DeSantis planned to join the crowded Republican contest to decide whether the party will move on from Trump in 2024 as it works to take the White House from President Joe Biden.
Beyond Trump, those already in the GOP field include former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to announce his candidacy in the coming weeks.
Trump continued his months-long verbal assault against DeSantis on Wednesday, arguing in a social media post that “Ron DeSanctus” cannot win the general election or the GOP primary because of his previous votes in Congress on Social Security and Medicare.
“He was, and is, a disciple of horrible RINO Paul Ryan, and others too many to mention,” Trump wrote. “Also, he desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet. A disloyal person!”
In choosing Twitter to launch his candidacy, DeSantis is taking a page out of the playbook that helped turn businessman-TV celebrity Trump into a political star.
The timing of DeSantis’ long-expected announcement has been shrouded, with various iterations of plans being leaked over the past few days. Some close to him suspected that he was providing conflicting information about the timing and location to root out leakers. Others believe he changed his initial preparations after news reports came out about them.
Musk, speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit event in London on Tuesday, seemed to confirm the Wednesday event, saying DeSantis would be making “quite an announcement” on Twitter. “The first time something like this is happening on social media,” he said, with live questions and answers.
The news of DeSantis’ impending announcement came as Trump was making a video appearance in a New York courtroom as part of his criminal case. A judge tentatively scheduled Trump’s trial to begin March 25, which falls in the heart of the presidential primary season. Trump pleaded not guilty last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his family company, the Trump Organization.
DeSantis was expected to meet with donors Wednesday at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami before the evening Twitter conversation.
While it is common for campaigns to publicize their announcements in videos shared on social media, it is far more unusual — and perhaps unprecedented — to hold a campaign announcement in a live social media forum.
“Big if true …,” DeSantis’ wife, Casey, posted Tuesday on Twitter, linking to a Fox News story on the announcement and adding a smiley face.
DeSantis has emerged as a national star in Republican politics as an unapologetic leader on controversial cultural issues.
The governor sent dozens of immigrants from Texas — by way of Florida —to a small island off the Massachusetts coast to draw attention to the influx of Latin American immigrants trying to cross the Southern border. He signed and then expanded a Parental Rights in Education bill — known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law — which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues in Florida public schools for all grades.
More recently, he signed a law banning abortions at six weeks, which is before most women realize they’re pregnant. And he removed an elected prosecutor who vowed not to charge people under Florida’s new abortion restrictions or doctors who provide gender-affirming care.
“This is one of the most out-of-touch campaign launches in modern history. The only thing less relatable than a niche campaign launch on Twitter, is DeSantis’ after party at the uber elite Four Seasons resort in Miami,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump’s super PAC.
In choosing to announce with Musk, DeSantis is linking his presidential announcement to one of the world’s richest men, who has emerged as a conservative cult hero of sorts.
Since buying Twitter last October, Musk has reinstated the accounts of prominent Republicans, including Trump and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had been removed. Popular conservative broadcasters have flocked to Twitter, with ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the podcast hosts of The Daily Wire announcing they will start streaming on the platform.
Earlier this month, Musk’s tweets likening billionaire philanthropist George Soros to a Jewish supervillain were met with criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, which said they would embolden antisemitic extremists. Musk said he would “be more thoughtful in the future.”
Twitter was once Trump’s most important megaphone — one he used to dominate his rivals in the 2016 primary and to command the news cycle for years. Trump was barred from the platform after a mob of his supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with Twitter citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” Although his access was reinstated shortly after Musk took over, he has yet to tweet.
About 1 in 5 U.S. adults say they use Twitter, the Pew Research Center found last year.
Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans to say they have Twitter accounts, according to a Fox News poll from December. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say Musk buying Twitter was a good thing and to have a favorable view of him.
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Story: Steve Peoples and Anthony Izaguirre. Peoples reported from New York.
