There will be a charity concert at Central World on Wednesday to raise funds for those affected by the recent major earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
* Enjoy mini-concerts throughout the day, led by SpicyDisc The parkinson, Nap a lean, No one else from Move record, Naem-Rondet camp from High Cloud camp, Txrbo artist from What The Duck camp, De Flamingo from Kicks records camp, BENT artist from Wanner Music Thailand camp, Babepoom & drg, etc.
* Buy charity T-shirts designed by famous artists such as 2CHOEY, LINECENSOR and try2benice for 490 baht each or buy them at Good Goods, 1st floor, Central World. until the product runs out
* Participated in drawing activities by artists from the Bangkok illustration Fair.
Many artists will serenade you from 11 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. at Central Court. There will also be some activities. Please help and be generous if you can:
– Don-dee fundraising website: www.tham-dee.com/projects/turkey-syria (tax deductible)
– Tiang Chirathivat Foundation, Bank of Ayudhya, account number 511-1-39405-0 (tax deductible)
– Service points with the CENPAY sign (tax deductible)
– Donation boxes in shopping centers and stores under the Central Group nationwide (not tax deductible)
– Use The 1 points to convert into donations. *From 23 Feb. – 30 Apr. ’23 (non-tax deductible)
In this photo provided by the family, a young landmine victim learns to use his new prosthetic limbs at Hpa-An Orthopedic Rehabilitation Center in Hpa-An township, Karen State, Myanmar, on Dec. 7, 2022. (Family photo via AP)
By VICTORIA MILKO and DAVID RISING Associated Press
BANGKOK (AP) — The 3-year-old boy had taken only two steps from his mother’s lap when a deafening explosion rang out. The blast caught the woman in the face, blurring her vision. She forced her eyes open and searched for her son around the busy jetty where they’d been waiting for a ferry, near their small village in south-central Myanmar.
Through the smoke, she spotted him. His small body lay on the ground, his feet and legs mangled with flesh peeled away, shattered bones exposed.
“He was crying and telling me that it hurt so much,” she said. “He didn’t know what just happened.”
But she did.
The boy lost his legs in a landmine blast in July 2022. For months, the boy used a wheelchair. He would stare out the window of their small wooden home, watching friends play. “I just want my legs back,” he’d say. (Family photo via AP)
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The woman’s son had detonated a landmine, an explosive device designed to mutilate or destroy whatever comes into its path.
Landmines have been banned for decades by most countries, since the United Nations Mine Ban Treaty was adopted in 1997. But in Myanmar, which is not party to the treaty, the use of mines has soared since the military seized power from the democratically elected government in February 2021 and armed resistance has skyrocketed.
Landmines are planted by all sides of the bloody conflict in Myanmar, and they’re responsible for surging civilian casualties, including an alarming number of children as victims, according to an AP analysis based on data and reports from nonprofit and humanitarian organizations, interviews with civilian victims, families, local aid workers, military defectors and monitoring groups.
This photo provided by a militia operating in the region shows landmines which have been removed and collected by a local anti-military militia, in the Salingyi Township of Sagaing region of Myanmar. (Myauk Yamar People’s Defense Force via AP)
In 2022, figures from the U.N. show, civilian casualties from landmine and unexploded ordnance spiked by nearly 40%. Experts say this and other official tallies are vastly undercounted, largely due to difficulties monitoring and reporting during the conflict.
Despite incomplete numbers, experts agree that the increase in Myanmar is the largest ever recorded.
Virtually no area is immune to the threat. Over the past two years, mine contamination has spread to every state and region except for the capital city, Naypyitaw, according to Landmine Monitor, a group that tracks global landmine use.
Anti-government militia members perform an operation at the frontline in the Kayah state of Myanmar on April 22, 2022. (Karenni Nationalities Defense Force via AP)
The military also uses civilians as human shields, a practice widespread in the country for decades but raising alarms with increasing mine incidents. AP’s analysis found the military, known as the Tatmadaw, forced people to walk ahead of troops to detonate potential landmines in their path, protecting their own troops.
According to local and international human rights groups, the Tatmadaw has mined homes, villages, walking paths, church compounds, farms, cellphone towers and a Chinese-backed oil and gas pipeline and copper mine.
The Myanmar military, which has acknowledged mine use in the past, did not respond to a list of questions AP sent to their official spokesperson’s email.
Even when the fighting moves on, the landmines don’t. The mines left behind can indiscriminately maim or kill those who happen upon them for years after hostilities have ended.
It raises the specter of casualties for years to come. In countries including Egypt and Cambodia, people continue to die from millions of mines left behind long after conflicts has ended.
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An anti-government militia member removes a landmine from the ground near the Letpadaung copper mine area in the Salingyi Township of the Sagaing region of Myanmar on Aug. 19, 2022. (Myauk Yamar People’s Defense Force via AP)
“Leaving an activated mine like this is the same as releasing a monster,” said a 26-year-old military defector who worked as a combat engineer platoon commander in Myanmar. “Mines don’t have friends or enemies. Even a gun only shoots in the direction it’s pointed.”
Like most who were interviewed by AP, the defector spoke on condition of anonymity to protect himself and his family from military retaliation. Many in Myanmar who speak with reporters can face detainment or violence.
Landmines and unexploded ordnance have been a persistent issue in Myanmar for more than four decades. The problem has grown exponentially since the military takeover, with heavier use of landmines in more parts of the country, said Kim Warren, a U.N. landmine specialist who’s monitored issues in Myanmar.
In 2022, 390 people were victims of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Myanmar, more than a 37% increase from 2021, according to figures compiled by UNICEF. Overall, 102 people were killed and 288 were wounded, with children making up some 34% of the victims, compared with 26% in 2021.
Still, Warren said, incidents are underreported. She cited the lack of a robust information management system, the sensitivities around reporting conflict-related data, and difficulties getting care for victims.
Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, Landmine Monitor’s Myanmar expert, said his group counts only casualties it can confirm with confidence.
“We’ve always been undercounting,” he said. “How many more? Double? Almost certainly. Triple? Could be.”
Experts concede the total number of casualties may seem small, with Myanmar’s population of about 56 million, but say the rapid increase is distressing nonetheless, given the underreported cases, the destructive nature of mines and their use amid the decades-long conflict.
Experts are particularly concerned about children victims, like the boy who triggered the mine at the jetty. Many are unaware of how lethal landmines and unexploded munitions are; some pick them up and play with them.
Most children are no longer in school amid the conflict, leading to more unsupervised time. Violence has also forced more than 1.2 million people from their homes, according to the U.N., so children and others frequently move around in unfamiliar areas.
Many civilian victims encounter landmines during daily routines — just going about their days until life changes forever.
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A member of the anti-government militia Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) deactivates a stake mine on April 22, 2022, which they say was planted by the Myanmar military at the frontline in the Kayah state of Myanmar. (Karenni Nationalities Defense Force via AP)
In March 2021, two teenage cousins were working on a small family-run plot in Shan state. They had just left to dig for sweet potatoes when the father of one of the boys heard a blast from his home. He rushed to help, but he was too late. They’d been killed instantly. They’d triggered a mine.
The father, 47, tears up when he returns to the fields, where he found tattered clothes and mangled bodies.
“But it’s my family’s business, so I have to come to the farm to make a living,” said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect himself and his relatives.
On the other side of the country, in western Chin state, a 20-year-old farmer was returning home from weeding a rice paddy field on a sunny May day when he triggered a mine buried on a path he’d walked many times before.
“The explosion engulfed me, and my entire surroundings were clouded in smoke. I thought I was dying,” he told AP on condition of anonymity, out of fear for his safety. “I could see bones. The right leg was completely destroyed up to the ankle. My whole body was hot as if it was on fire and my skin was black.”
During his 18-day stay in the hospital, his right leg was amputated about four inches below the knee.
Many victims and families won’t know who was responsible for the blasts — the Tatmadaw or anti-military groups — as all sides of the conflict use mines.
A member of a militia that operates in Sagaing said his group has removed nearly 100 mines thought to be planted by the military and plans to reuse them to augment its arsenal of homemade devices.
“A mine is an indispensable weapon to attack the enemy,” said the member, who spoke by phone on condition of anonymity over the sensitive information and fear the military would retaliate against his family.
It’s a common practice: Militias and armed groups announcing they’ve demined areas where they operate, only to reuse the weapons.
“They just move the mines to a new location,” Moser-Puangsuwan said. “And that is not what we call demining.”
The militia member said villagers are warned of mine locations and civilians are rarely harmed. But Moser-Puangsuwan and other experts said it’s just not possible to prevent civilian casualties.
“They’re using an indiscriminate weapon,” Moser-Puangsuwan said. “Once it’s out there, it will kill or injure the next person who comes across it, whether they’re the enemy, whether they’re one of the soldiers on your side, or whether they are civilians.”
One man in Myanmar’s western Chin state described how soldiers took him, his pregnant wife and their 5-year-old daughter captive, making them and 10 other civilians to walk ahead, beating them with rifles if they refused.
The civilians moved slowly ahead through the suspected minefield, expecting with each step to trigger a blast, while a firefight between an anti-government militia and the soldiers broke out, he said.
“I thought: ‘Today is the day I die,'” said the man, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. They later escaped, with no mines detonated during their march.
Landmine Monitor documented similar incidents in other states, calling it a “grave violation of international humanitarian and human rights law” in its most recent report.
Myanmar and Russia were the only states with documented new use of mines in 2022, according to Landmine Monitor, though Human Rights Watch in January alleged Ukraine also used antipersonnel mines when Russian forces occupied the city of Izium. Non-state armed groups have also been confirmed to be using them in at least five countries in 2022, including anti-government forces in Myanmar.
Myanmar and Russia are among countries that aren’t signatories to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, along with China, North and South Korea, and the United States.
Landmine Monitor also confirmed the military has been increasingly mining infrastructure such as mobile phone towers and power lines to deter attacks. Military-planted mines also are protecting at least two major Chinese-backed projects — a copper mine in Sagaing and a pipeline pumping station in northeastern Shan state that is part of China’s Belt and Road initiative, Moser-Puangsuwan said.
“We are not aware of the situation you mentioned,” a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a fax to AP. “The cooperation project between China and Myanmar is in line with the common interests of both sides and has brought tangible benefits to the people of Myanmar.”
It made no reference to any of those who had been maimed.
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This photo provided by a militia operating in the region shows landmines which have been removed and collected by a local anti-military militia. (Myauk Yamar People’s Defense Force via AP)
For those who survive a blast, health care is difficult to access. Many areas are remote, with limited road infrastructure or access to medical facilities. Staffing is low; health workers are often forced to go into hiding or leave Myanmar over participation in anti-military protests. Few victims can afford prosthetics and rehabilitation.
At the jetty, the explosion that maimed the 3-year-old boy set off a frantic search for help, with his mother traveling dozens of kilometers across rural countryside by motorbike and boat.
A small clinic on the other side of the river gave basic first aid and morphine for pain. A larger rural clinic bandaged wounds and provided a blood transfusion. It wasn’t until the pair got to the main hospital in the regional capital that doctors were able to amputate both of the boy’s legs — the right below the knee and the left just below his hip.
The hospital bill was more than six times the family’s monthly income of 400,000 Myanmar Kyat ($190).
For months, the boy used a wheelchair. He would stare out the window of their small wooden home, watching friends play. “I just want my legs back,” he’d say.
In November, he was admitted to an orthopedic rehabilitation center. The Red Cross paid for quality prosthetic limbs and taught him to use them.
Now 4, the boy is back home and can move around on his own, allowing his mother to go back to work in the bean fields.
He speaks frequently about the blast, but his mother isn’t sure he’ll ever process what happened. And the family will never be the same.
“Maybe he still doesn’t understand,” she said. “He is still young.”
A joint rescue group encompassing members of China Search and Rescue Team and a search and rescue team from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) carry out rescue operation among earthquake debris in Antakya, southern province of Hatay, Türkiye, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)
(Xinhua) – Turkish rescuers pulled out three people alive from rubble early Saturday, 12 days after a devastating earthquake that has claimed more than 40,000 lives in southern Türkiye, but the child later died, the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.
The man, his wife, and their child had spent 296 hours under the rubble of an apartment block in Antakya, the capital of the southern Turkish province of Hatay, before their rescue. The two adults were taken to the hospital, but the 12-year-old died despite on-scene intervention.
The bodies of two other quake victims were also recovered during the international rescue mission, said the report, citing Rysbek Coldoshbayev, captain of the search and rescue team of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kyrgyzstan.
People rest by earthquake debris in Antakya in the southern province of Hatay, Türkiye, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)
Meanwhile, Christian Atsu, a Ghanaian footballer was also found dead under apartment debris in southern Hatay, his manager Murat Uzunmehmet told DHA news agency on Saturday.
The former Chelsea and Newcastle winger scored his last goal for Hatayspor in Türkiye’s Super Lig on Feb. 5, hours before the massive quakes.
Only a handful number of people were pulled out alive from the rubble in the past few days and the Turkish authorities announced that they would complete the rescue operations soon and focus on relief work.
The death toll from two major earthquakes that struck southeastern Türkiye on Feb. 6 has risen to 40,642, the country’s disaster agency said Saturday.
Excavators are seen in rescue operation on earthquake debris in Antakya in the southern province of Hatay, Türkiye, Feb. 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)
The figure is likely to increase further as search teams pull out more bodies. Still, 21,859 people are under medical treatment in the hospitals, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Saturday.
Search and rescue efforts will be “largely completed” by Sunday evening, Yunus Sezer, head of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, told a press conference.
The emergency work was concentrated in Hatay Province which was hit hardest in the quakes, Sezer said, adding the disaster agency had nearly 13,000 personnel working in the area.
A total of 430,000 people were evacuated from the earthquake area, Sezer said.
This aerial photo taken on Feb. 11, 2023 shows tents for people affected by earthquakes in Antakya of Hatay Province, Türkiye. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
Turkish authorities have set up more than 172,000 tents for quake survivors and work is underway to provide more than 200,000 others, while nearly 6,000 containers were provided for their accommodation.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Türkiye will receive 222,000 tents, 120,000 of them promised by other countries or international organizations.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay called on property owners to allow free accommodation or rental of vacant property through the “Let my home be your home” website, a state-run campaign that will match quake survivors and donators.
The houses registered in the system will be made available to the quake survivor families for a certain time through district governorships, he said, adding in case of trouble at home, the insurance system will come into play.
On Feb. 6, a magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck Türkiye’s southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4:17 a.m. local time (0117 GMT), followed by a magnitude-7.6 one at 1:24 p.m. local time (1024 GMT) in the province. ■
This photo provided by the North Korean government, shows what it says a test launch of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Sunday its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test was meant to further bolster its “fatal” nuclear attack capacity against its rivals, as it threatened additional powerful steps in response to the upcoming military training between the United States and South Korea.
The United States responded by flying long-range supersonic bombers later Sunday for a joint exercise with South Korean warplanes in a demonstration of strength against North Korea.
Saturday’s ICBM test, the North’s first missile test since Jan. 1, signals its leader Kim Jong Un is using his rivals’ drills as a chance to expand his country’s nuclear arsenal to get the upper hand in future dealings with the United States. An expert says North Korea may seek to hold regular operational exercises involving its ICBMs.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said its launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM was organized “suddenly” without prior notice at Kim’s direct order.
KCNA said the launch was designed to verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. It said the missile was fired at a high angle and reached a maximum altitude of about 5,770 kilometers (3,585 miles), flying a distance of about 990 kilometers (615 miles) for 67 minutes before accurately hitting a pre-set area in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The steep-angle launch was apparently to avoid neighboring countries. The flight details reported by North Korea, which roughly matched the launch information previously assessed by its neighbors, show the weapon is theoretically capable of reaching the mainland U.S. if fired at a standard trajectory.
This photo provided by the North Korean government, shows what it says a test launch of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
The Hwasong-15 launch demonstrated the North’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” and its efforts to “turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces” into an extremely strong one that cannot be countered, KCNA said.
Whether North Korea has a functioning nuclear-tipped ICBM is still a source of outside debate, as some experts say the North hasn’t mastered a way to protect warheads from the severe conditions of atmospheric reentry. The North says it has acquired such a technology.
The Hwasong-15 is one of North Korea’s three existing ICBMs, all of which use liquid propellants that require pre-launch injections and cannot remain fueled for extended periods. The North is pushing to build a solid-fueled ICBM, which would be more mobile and harder to detect before its launch.
“Kim Jong Un has likely determined that the technical reliability of the country’s liquid propellant ICBM force has been sufficiently tested and evaluated to now allow for regular operational exercises of this kind,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea, said that North Korea appeared to have launched an upgraded version of the Hwasong-15 ICBM. Chang said the information provided by North Korea showed the missile will likely have a longer potential range than the standard Hwasong-15.
Later Sunday, the U.S. sent B-1B bombers streaking over the Korean Peninsula to train with South Korean and U.S. fighter jets, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It said Sunday’s training reaffirmed Washington’s “iron-clad” security commitment to South Korea.
North Korea is sensitive to the deployment of U.S. B-1B bombers, which are capable of carrying a huge payload of conventional weapons.
The North’s launch came a day after it vowed an “unprecedentedly” strong response over a series of military drills that Seoul and Washington plan in coming weeks.
In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, a U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber, top, flies in formation with U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets over the South Korea Peninsula during a joint air drill in South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)
In a statement Sunday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, accused South Korea and the U.S. of “openly showing their dangerous greed and attempt to gain the military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula.”
“I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she said.
In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers fly in formation with South Korea’s Air Force F-35A fighter jets and US Air Force F-16 fighter jets over the South Korea Peninsula during a joint air drill in South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)
North Korea has steadfastly slammed regular South Korea-U.S. military drills as an invasion rehearsal though the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature.
“By now, we know that any action taken by the U.S. and South Korea — however justified from the vantage point of defense and deterrence against (North Korea’s) reckless behavior — will be construed and protested as an act of hostility by North Korea,” said Soo Kim, a security analyst at the California-based RAND Corporation. “There will always be fodder for (Kim Jong Un’s) weapons provocations.”
“With nuclear weapons in tow and having mastered the art of coercion and bullying, Kim does not need ‘self-defense.’ But pitting the U.S. and South Korea as the aggressors allows Kim to justify his weapons development,” Soo Kim said.
Visitors look at the northern side towards North Korea at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the U.S. will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and South Korea and Japan. South Korea’s presidential National Security Council said it will seek to strengthen its “overwhelming response capacity” against potential North Korean aggression based on the military alliance with the United States.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries plan to hold a table-top exercise this week to hone a joint response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea. The allies are also to conduct another joint computer simulated exercise and field training in March.
The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, meeting on the sidelines of a security conference in Germany on Saturday, agreed to boost a trilateral cooperation involving the United States and exchanged in-depth views on the issue of Japan’s colonial-era mobilization of forced Korean laborers — a key sticking point in efforts to improve their ties, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.
South Korea and Japan are both key U.S. allies but often spat over issues stemming from Tokyo’s 1910-45 colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula. But North Korea’s recent missile testing spree is pushing the two countries to explore how to reinforce their security cooperation.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — On June 11, 2019 the Thailand women’s soccer team endured the biggest-ever loss at a women’s soccer World Cup, a 13-0 trouncing by the United States which cast an unwelcome spotlight on the state of the sport in the South East Asian nation.
FILE – Women’s World Cup Group F soccer match between the United States and Thailand at the Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, France, June 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Francois Mori,File)
On Saturday, a refurbished Thailand team under a new head coach and with the youngest playing group in its history played Cameroon in an inter-continental playoff match in New Zealand, hoping to qualify again for a World Cup and move beyond the shadow of that defeat.
Thailand saw its hopes of World Cup redemption dashed as it conceded two late second-half goals to lose 2-0 to a physical Cameroon side and was eliminated from the playoffs.
FIFA
Despite not qualifying for the 2023 tournament, those in charge of the Thailand team have high hopes for the future.
Head coach Miyo Okamoto, a plain-speaking former Japan professional, has made waves with her innovative approach to tactics and selections. Okamoto likely would make more waves if she fully expresses her views on her team’s funding, development and its opportunities to play international matches.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Okamoto made clear that having taken up her current role in 2021 she personally is untouched by any hangover from the last World Cup.
Head coach Miyo Okamoto / photo by Khaosod
“We haven’t been the coaching staff for the full four years since the last World Cup,” Okamoto said, speaking with a translator. “It’s only been two years since we took over from a Thai male coach so we can only talk about the last two years we have been involved in the program.
“More than half of the players are brand new faces since the last World Cup. We’ve made it a really new, young team. Our average age is about 23 which is exceptionally low for our historical national teams.”
Okamoto’s first year in charge was dictated by COVID. With international matches all but impossible, the Thai players spent almost 10 months in training camps.
Last year at last brought some release and the Thailand team played around 18 matches in the calendar year beginning with the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India and including friendly matches against Australia and China-Taipei. At a training camp in Japan, the Thai team played informal matches against Japan club teams.
Thailand had the chance to qualify directly for the World during the Indian tournament but an outbreak of COVID among the squad damaged its chances.
FILE – Thailand women’s soccer team endured the biggest-ever loss at a women’s soccer World Cup, in June 2019, a 13-0 trouncing by the United States. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
Like most coaches, Okamoto always would prefer more matches and feels there is work still be done. Her approach in rebuilding the Thai team over the past two years has been from the ground up.
“Over the past two years we’ve been rebuilding the whole tactical system of play which we think was lacking for the Thai team in the past,” she said. “We started with the basics.
FIFA
“We created the rules for the teams (including the women’s under-20 team) and we’ve been working on that for the past two years, very basic tactical stuff.
“It’s going to be unrealistic for us to completely control the game and have dominance over other international teams. So we prioritize defending well and capitalizing on counter-attacking opportunities we may encounter.”
Irravadee Makris, the Alaska-born, Alabama raised midfielder exemplifies Okamoto’s influence on the Thai team. The now 31-year-old was a left-field selection who learned on Facebook of her call-up to the national squad.
Makris now wants to make the best of her late chance by being a member of a World Cup team.
“That’s an aspect of our game we’ve been focusing on lately, trying to get stronger and get used to the physicality we’re going to face by playing against bigger, faster players,” she said in a FIFA interview. “Miyo wants us to be positive. That confidence and aggression is definitely something she’s brought to my game and it’s improved me a lot.”
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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha addresses the Parliament during a debate on Feb. 16, 2023.
In a sane and democratic society, there is no way a former junta leader and his deputy could be running for the post of prime minister – not after they have committed treason by overthrowing an elected government.
In Thailand, former junta leader Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha is now trying to become PM again for the third consecutive term (if his first five years right after the 2014 coup with him being both junta leader and PM could be counted as his first term in the office as PM that is), competing with others, including his own former deputy junta leader, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also currently the first deputy PM.
These are not just logic defying situation, but it pushed Thailand toward a new level of tolerance for shamelessness and political absurdity.
It should thus come as no surprise that Prayut would attack the opposition Pheu Thai Party for past corruption convictions during this week’s House Debate by saying he is neither corrupt nor had ever flee from corruption conviction – a reference to the two ousted and fugitive former premiers, Yingluck and Thaksin Shinawatra.
In his mind, or at least in an attempt to convince the public, staging a coup is no corruption, appointing the senators so they could later vote for Prayut to become PM again, as they did back in 2019, and could do it again in the months ahead after the general elections is also no corruption.
In reality, it is a mockery of the notion of corruption, however. Clearly the definition of what constitutes corruption in Thailand is too narrowly defined to the point where a person like Prayut could get away with many things and claim to be incorruptible despite his obvious flaws. Earlier this week, Prayut even told the House of Representatives that he can be scrutinized despite the fact that due to his junta leader status, he is not bound to declare his assets like (other) politicians. So, till today we do not know whether he is unusually rich or has ill-gotten wealth or not.
Nevertheless, it would be unfair to simply solely blame Prayut. It takes two to tango and the partners of this unconstitutional military intervention into Thai politics and the usurpation of people’s political rights are some of the Thai people themselves.
These Thais have such a high tolerance threshold to what is illegitimate and wrong to the point where almost anything is permissible in Thai politics.
That is why last Sunday, a prominent junta-appointed senator dared to publicly threaten the main opposition Pheu Thai Party by saying many senators will likely not vote for Pheu Thai PM candidate Paetongtarn Shinawatra to become PM even if the party wins most seats in the upcoming general election. Unelected senator Wanchai Sornsiri said Paetongtarn is “immature” and could cause political rifts if she becomes the next PM.
Or consider these questions, for example.
Is a military coup acceptable? No problem. Junta leader making himself PM? Okay, been there done that. Junta leader appoints senators so they could vote for him to become PM again after elections? Why not? Been there. Done that and could do it again soon. Then another possible round for Prayut to become PM yet again? These people no longer see what is very wrong with that. And that is what is wrong with Thai society today.
Things have become so messed up to the point where there is no point for some to talk about legitimacy, decency, shame and what’s right or wrong anymore. Some Thais have hardly learned anything over the past eight years since the 2014 coup led by Prayuth and Prawit. We should not count on them to rectify the situation anytime soon.
If you think Thailand has sunk low enough over the past eight years, things could get even worse in the months and years ahead and some would not even notice it.
(Xinhua) – Chinese espionage thriller “Hidden Blade” opened on Friday in a limited theatrical release in North America.
The much-anticipated WWII spy drama released by Well Go USA Entertainment in Mandarin with English subtitles in over 60 selected theatres in 31 cities across the United States and Canada, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Honolulu, Toronto and Vancouver.
Directed by Cheng Er, the film stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Wang Yibo, Huang Lei and Zhou Xun among others.
“Hidden Blade” glorifies a group of courageous Chinese who have developed a top-secret underground espionage network right under the nose of the newly established puppet regime at the height of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945).
The film is a box office hit during the week-long Spring Festival holiday in China earlier this year. The film has grossed 887 million yuan (around 129 million U.S. dollars) to date since its release on Jan. 22, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, according to the box office data compiled by Maoyan, a Chinese movie-ticketing and film data platform.
The film currently boasts a rating of 9.1 points out of 10 on the Maoyan platform from over 390,000 viewers.
Live Nation is proudly presented that Westlife The Wild Dreams Tour in Bangkok will take place at Impact Arena on 28 February (Tuesday) 2023. General public tickets are available at Thaiticket Major.
The Wild Dreams Tour, which kicked off in the United Kingdom on July 1, 2022, saw the foursome serenading the audience with a string of classics, as well as latest hits. Westlife even surprised fans with an ABBA medley as a tribute to the Swedish supergroup.
Now Westlife is ready to hit the road and meet fans in Asia once again.
“We are always excited to return to Asia to see our many fans. After all that has happened in the world over the last few years, this tour means more to us than any that we have ever done before,” says the band.
“It will be a massive celebration and will bring us closer to our fans than before. We are planning some spectacular shows which will include all our greatest hits and some special surprises.”
More details can be found at westlife.com and www.livenation.co.th! For the health and safety of all attendees, this event will be held in compliance with the Ministry of Public Health’s Covid-19 protocols.
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Formed in Dublin, Ireland 1998, Westlife comprises Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne. The band has released 12 studio albums and sold over 55 million records to date.
Westlife is a success story from the get-go. The first five singles from its eponymous debut album all went to No.1, creating a chart record that remains unbroken to date.
Known for hit songs such as Swear It Again, Flying Without Wings, If I Let You Go, My Love and Uptown Girl, Westlife has amassed an incredible 14 No.1 singles, an achievement surpassed only by Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
Westlife disbanded in 2012 and reunited six years later stronger than ever. In 2019, the quartet staged The Twenty Tour to celebrate its 20th anniversary in the music scene.
The record-breaking reunion tour saw Westlife performing to over 600,000 fans in 27 cities.
Westlife’s latest tour is named after the band’s new studio album, Wild Dreams, which was released in November last year. The members describe the album as “uplifting” and say the songs are inspired by the challenges of the pandemic.
The Nintendo video game characters "Mario," right, and "Luigi" stand in the main plaza of the new Universal Studios Hollywood attraction Super Nintendo World during a preview day, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in Universal City, Calif. The attraction opens to the public Friday. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Saudi sovereign wealth fund now holds 8.26% of the stock in the video game maker Nintendo, making it the largest outside investor in the Japanese gaming outfit, a company filing said Friday.
The investment comes as part of efforts by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy away from oil, including billions already spent on video game firms. The fund has been a major component in the plans of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, himself said to be an avid gamer.
Shigeru Miyamoto, representative director and fellow at Nintendo Co., Ltd., is joined onstage by Nintendo video game character “Mario” as he addresses the crowd at the Super Nintendo World grand opening press event, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
The Public Investment Fund declined to comment Friday night about its increased stakes in Nintendo.
Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Saudi investment.
Nintendo-themed dolls and pillows are displayed inside the 1-UP Factory store at the new Universal Studios Hollywood. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
A filing to Japanese regulators on Friday revealed the Public Investment Fund’s holding in Kyoto-based Nintendo. Saudi Arabia has been steadily building its stake over recent months in the company, best known for its Super Mario Brothers franchise and its Nintendo Switch gaming console.
The Saudi fund remains behind Nintendo’s own holdings in the gaming company. Nintendo is valued at $52 billion.
“Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge” ride at the new Universal Studios Hollywood, in Universal City, Calif. The attraction opens to the public Friday. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Nintendo stock closed slight down Friday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at $40.50 a share.
The Public Investment Fund did not immediately acknowledge increasing its holdings in Nintendo. It runs the Savvy Games Group, which aims to establish 250 gaming companies in Saudi Arabia and create 39,000 jobs. Savvy Games plans to invest some $38 billion into the gaming industry over the coming years.
David Valenzuela, left, and Sulhee Jessica Woo of Las Vegas wear mushroom caps as they share a drink at the Toadstool Cafe in the new Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Already, the Saudi wealth fund holds stock worth $2.9 billion in Activision Blizzard, $1.7 billion in Electronic Arts, $1.2 billion stake in Take-Two Interactive, according to data from the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The Saudi expansion into gaming, however, has sparked criticism. Riot Games, which makes the popular online multiplayer game League of Legends, cancelled a partnership with Prince Mohammed’s planned futuristic city Neom in 2020 after an outcry from gamers.
Buddhist monks on February 17, 2023, performed a rite to invite the spirit of Duangpetch “Dom” Promthep, 17, the captain of rescued Wild Boars who became unconscious at his dormitory bed at Brooke House College in in Leicestershire and later died on Tuesday back home to Thailand.
Royal Thai Embassy, London UK
Some Thais, including Dom’s parents, believe without such rite the spirit may not to be able to find its way home.
New Thai Ambassador to the Court of St James Thani Thongphakdi was present and talked with Thai friends of Dom as well the college administrator.
Royal Thai Embassy, London UKRoyal Thai Embassy, London UK
One day before, in Thailand, families of “Dom” performed a merit-making ceremony for him.
The ceremony was held at Wat Phra That Doi Wao, Wiang Phang Kham Subdistrict, Mae Sai District, Chiang Rai Province. Relatives brought photographs, clothes, and shoes of Dom, performing the ceremony instead of the body that is still in England.
Many people expressed condolences to Dom’s family. The cause of his death is still unknown.
