Narcs seize drug-mafia suspect's private airplane at Hua Hin

FASTER, PLEASE: Arthur C. Clarke’s Prelude to Space (Written in 1947) envisioned we’d be on Mars by now.
https://reason.com/2022/11/15/prelude-to-space/

NOTICE
We have rules here... or, rather, just one hand-and-fast rule.
Rule No.1 - No Running with sharp objects. Apart from that, all yours.

THAILAND DRUGS MAFIA CHINA
Prayut's Office of Narcotics Control Board seized a private jet at the military's private airfield at Hua Hin.
The ONCB gave the Chinese business that supposedly owns the aeroplane until Friday to verify its ownership of the Cessna 550 Citation Bravo, with all the papers.
The jet was used to bring suspecte drug-mafia bigwig Chaiyanat "Tuhao" Kornchayanant from China.
"That's not all. Wait and see. We will confiscate more assets."
Tuhao is a Thai citizen, naturalised by marriage. He is also, apparently a dollar-billionaire. He remains innocent until proved otherwise. He is currently being held without bail.
https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/40022453
https://www.radarbox.com/data/registration/HS-PSL

TRIVIA
"Tuhao", notes Wikipedia, is a Chinese term referring to people of wealth.
PHOTO: Chaiyanat (centre) before he surrendered to police.

SPORTS THAILAND WORLD CUP PRISON
Thailand's junta ruled yesterday that prison inmates - all of them, across the country - can watch the World Cup of soccer.
Aryut Sinthopphan, head man at the Department of Corrections, said what watching live broadcasts of the World Cup will "improve inmate behaviour".
But, sensibly:
"Quarrelling and betting among inmates must not happen during the matches."

SOCCER WORLD CUP QATAR
Argentina is alive! It's true. They beat Mexico, but c'mon man, if your team had Messi, you'd be alive, too. Germany doesn't have Messi, and Germany is halfway out the door.
And Canada... CANADA! Canada defeat Italy. Oh wait, that was in tennis.
In soccer, the Croats whipped the Canuckistanians 2-1 in the official Buh-Bye Canada Relegation game. That was official authorisation for Canadian media to begin the "How will Canada perform in the next World Cup?*" campaign.
*ANSWER: Not very well. Canadian kids don't get soccer cleats when they're 2 years old; they get skates.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/worldcup/opinion/2022/11/26/this-is-canadas-world-cup-moment-fear-croatia-not-any-more.html

THE MOST SOCCER THING EVER! U.S., England tie World Cup match in Qatar, 0-0.
The highlight reel from the game is really something:
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139220807/usmnt-england-world-cup-tie-qatar
'highlights': https://ggle.io/5ORj

True story
It could be worse, he could be carrying a copy of The Times:
 The New York Times Has Ideas on How to Handle a Guest Who Wants to Carry a Gun to Thanksgiving Dinner.
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/new-york-times-what-to-do-if-a-guest-wants-to-bring-a-gun-to-thanksgiving-dinner/

This is how easy it is to fake out the U.S. media.
Greedy cynic laughs at the world. Especially all media.
Future jailbird Sam Bankman-Fried DROPS THE MASK: FTX CEO Mocked Gullible Media for Hyping His ‘Effective Altruism’ Shtick.
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2022/11/25/ftx-ceo-mocked-gullible-media-hyping-his-effective-altruism-shtick

TROUBLE IN XINJIANG... and all across China.
STEP DOWN XI JINPING
Protesters tired of Chinese control set fires in Urumqi and some made public demands that Xi Jinping resign.
Groups in Shanghai held vigils and tributes for Xinjiang victims.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63771109
https://bityl.co/FsVl

From the Asahi newspaper
Shanghai hit by COVID protests as anger spreads across China.
Are there hard-core CCP fans who still think such protests are unfustified and should be put down like Tiananmen Square?
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14778572
MORE: Good. Protests break out in China against COVID-19 lockdowns after deadly fire kills 10.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/foreign/protests-lockdowns-china-fire
AND MORE: Angry Protests Spread Across China as Xi Jinping Faces 'Step Down' Chants.
NEWSWEEK: https://bityl.co/Fsxd
PHOTO: Shanghai demonstrators shouting slogans as police hold their positions, in Shanghai demonstrators shout for President4Life Xi Jinping to step down.

PHOTO: The blank sheets of paper shown

by crowds in Shanghai and Beijing are protest symbols against censorship. This Shanghai crowd chanted, "Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping."

And then
Anti-lockdown protests spread across China amid growing anger at Xi's 'Zero-Covid' nonsense.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-14/xi-moves-to-stop-shanghai-covid-rage-from-sweeping-across-china

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen quit as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DDP)  head
Her political strategy to frame local elections as showing defiance to China's rising bellicosity failed to pay off and win public support.
Possibly her greatest party loss was in the Taipei mayor's race - won by the great grandson of Chiang Kai-shek of the Kuomintang.
Reuters: https://bityl.co/FsMu

NORTH KOREA KIM JONG-UN NUCLEAR
Ask a simple question, get a simple answer
Simple question, said Kim "Li'l Kim" Jong Un.
North only wants to be the strongest nuclear force in the world.
He called the Hwasong-17 the "world's strongest strategic weapon" and said it demonstrated North Korea's resolve and ability to eventually build the world's strongest army.
https://news.yahoo.com/kim-jong-un-says-north-213047456.html

All of these cars are electric, and made in Vietnam. They are called Vinfast, the same name as the company that makes them in in Haiphong. Exactly 999 were loaded aboard a chartered Panamanian transport, which arrive at the western U.S.A. before New Year's Eve.
999 is the luckiest number.
VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy [in blue áo dài] said Vinfast will send another shipload of the EVs to the U.S. around January. If she is not arrested for corruption before then.
The company is currently building an EV factory in North Carolina, expected to start opeeration soon.
Vinfast is getting a large tax break from the 'Inflations Reduction Act' by Biden and Democrats.
"As soon as we start manufacturing cars in the U.S., our customers will be eligible (for) the tax incentive," said Thuy.
https://bityl.co/FsUU

Brief video:

LIFE IN 2022
 Papers please, comrade.
Is this the beginning of the end? Or the end of the beginning?
Now we know why Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab were at the air-conditioned ballrooms of the G20 summit in Bali, and exactly what they were up to.
https://the-pipeline.org/your-papers-please-comrade/

Thailand's 'government' has told Austria that one of the oldest brand names in the country is not for sale.
An Austrian business has pushed to buy the Thai-Danish brand from its owner, the Thai government. 'Negotiations' continue.
As of now, the token deputy minister of agriculture has agreed to sell part of the brand name for use only on a milk powder for infants.
The junta has been forced to admit that talks with Austria on the potentially lucrative deal began in 2011.
https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40022448

Death behind bars
MPs arrested army private Kajornsak for the alleged theft of 500 baht from another soldier. He was sentenced to 13 months and locked into a stockade cell. Then 11 soldiers beat him to death.
That's the current state of the case, and the private's mom has demanded a proper investigation and justice.
It's unlikely she will achieve either of her goals, and she held a funeral for Kajornsak
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2446930/

Couple arrested with 3.7 million yaa ba tablets - 3,670,000
Police arrested Witthaya Suksathian, 24, and his wife, Waranya Panthong, 21, at their home in Wang Noi district.
Narcs now believe they are key members of a meth distribution gang.
The anti-narcotics undercover cops had followed a suspected street-corner drug dealer - and he is also locked up.
The couple was arrested at the village where they stored the meth.

IMPORTANT HEALTH NOTE
These young scofflaws are not wearing anti-Covid masks!

Rare dolphins, whales spotted in the upper Gulf
Specifically, a finless porpoise and a Bryde's whale.
A pod of Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) was found at the Tha Chin River delta in Samut Sakhon as well as off the coast of Ban Laem district in the northeastern part of Phetchaburi.
A pod of finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) was also spotted close to the shore of Samut Sakhon.
The research team from the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources also spotted 12 Bryde's whales [Balaenoptera edeni] just off the coast of Samut Sakhon province coast, southeast of Bangkok.

Well-known Vietnam mountain wears a UFO?
No, that is not a flying saucer atop the well-known Nui (Mountain) Ba Den in Tay Ninh province of the late South Vietnam.
According to the Hanoi Amateur Astronomy Group, this is a 'lenticular cloud', a type that often forms near hills and mountains, especially during the rainy season.
Tay Ninh resident Do Vinh Quan said he snapped the photo last Thursday as he was driving to work, at 6 a.m.
According to Quan:
 I was surprised to see the clouds on top of the Ba Den Mountain with such a unique and beautiful shape. The clouds had been there since around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, but did not fully take shape then.
 These types of clouds can be seen quite often in the area.
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/flying-saucer-clouds-seen-on-southern-vietnam-mountaintop-4540084.html

Vietnam is host to a rapidly growing number of expatriate residents, especially Americans. But according to a major newspaper:
 Expats struggle to find affordable housing amid soaring rentals
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/trend/expats-struggle-to-find-affordable-housing-amid-soaring-rentals-4538036.html

Welcome to another work-week at the nearly world famous world headquarters of the Fishwrap here in the eastern suburb of Nong Bon.
Something you see in Vietnam but never see in Thailand
 Black Friday frenzy returns after Covid downer
 Malls and shops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were packed on Friday with people looking for discounts in contrast to the last two years amid Covid-19.
PHOTO: Prices so cheap you could fill 10 shopping bags.
https://bityl.co/FsKo