New Year's Eve in Bangkok is not canceled - Yet
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|| Â Â Â Â Â CHRISTMAS NOTICEÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ||
|| In keeping with a longtime Bangkok tradition,          ||
|| Fishwrap will not publish on Boxing Day [December 26]. ||
|| This will allow all employees and their kiddies to enjoy Christmas together. ||
|| And all the children of Fishwrap (floor sweepers, table bussers) thank you  ||
||      Merry Christmas to all.                                    ||
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Good Morning all kids. Danged rootin'-tootin' it's the eve of the Big Day.
Take your stockings, but for goodness sake, place them with care, not like Epstein who did not hang himself.
Front page. Above the fold.
 Bangkok-based media, newspapers and TV broadcasters alike, have been 'encouraged' by Thailand's ruling junta to support the coup makers and former good-army buddies as the only men capable of leading Thailand and crushing both the loyal opposition pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai Party and the progressives of the Move Forward Party.
 Front page, First paragraph:
The UTN, United Thai Nation Party, now headed by Prayut
must cooperate and work closely with
PPRP, Palang Pracharath, People's State Power Party, now headed by army 4-star general and political kingmaker Prawit Wongsuwon
in order to avoid internal rivalries and prevent Pheu Thai or the Move Forward Party from snatching votes away from them.
And that is the top news, without any bias.
Thailand has not cancelled New Year's Eve celebrations - yet.
Repeat: Not yet.
The head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) noted that Prayut has not yet spoken about all the threats of having a New Year's Eve cocktail while all that Covid-19 and security threats are all around.
The last cancellation of New Year's Eve, by the Royal Thai Army, was in 2006 when 19 bombs exploded in Bangkok, and a dozen others in up-country cities,
In Bangkok alone, the bombs killed four and wounded 34.
As always, including today, the military had no clue about the perps, and still doesn't.
But Pattaya? Yes, Pattaya has cancelled all New Year's Eve events. All of them.
No Countdown, no fireworks, all of it cancelled.
https://thepattayanews.com/2022/12/22/new-year-countdown-fireworks-canceled-in-pattaya/
PRINCESS PRAYER DIPLOMACY
All 7 million Thai Muslims, Sunni and Shi'ite received instructions at Friday prayers to pray for the recovery of Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendiradebyavati, aka Princess Paht, aka Ong Bai. Hundreds went to the King Chulalongkorn Hospital to sign the condolence book.
Moral support from Abroad
 So did Abdulmohsen Al Refa,  chargé d’affaires at the embassy of Kuwait. He carried written hope and prayer for 'Ong Bah's' recovery from AmirSheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwait's Prime Minister.
THAILAND TRAVEL RAILWAY
Yes indeed, it is good news. Quick work SRT!
BANGKOK POLLUTION PM2.5
But there also is bad news. That photo is the Bangkok skyline at mid-afternoon on Friday.
Full report:
Air quality in 24 (out of 50) districts in Bangkok exceeds standard safety level
https://bit.ly/3jeSyTV
CRYPTOCURRENCY FRAUD SCAM MORE FTX
Former American kajillionaire forced into penury, moves back into his parents' home.
Sam Bankman-Fried was released on a US$250 million bond -- 93.8 billion-with-a-"b" baht in real monty.
 The founder of collapsed cryptocurrency fraud FTX will be detained in his parents' home as he awaits trial.
[REUTERS]
Nigeria's government and central bank backed off their plan to force the country to use digital money only. "Backed off", not "backed down".
Citizens can now withdraw 500,000 naira (US$1,122), up from the previous limit of 100,000.
Nigerians whined and kvetched about the withdrawal limits.
CORONAVIRUS TRAVEL TOURISM INDIA
India will randomly test international visitors for Covid. The country's health minister said that 2% of arriving passengers will be screened at airports for the virus.
[REUTERS] https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-test-random-2-international-travellers-covid-2022-12-22/
House January 6 panel recommends criminal charges against Donald Trump.
The panel also called for a law to bar Trump from ever running from any public office, anywhere, forever.
ICYMI
Turns out that Trump's US$99 NFTs were plagiarised. [Gizmodo.com]
Most of the 'art' was taken from small clothing companies, and the apparent theft was indeed so poorly hidden that a quick reverse-image search was all that was needed to identify the apparent original.
https://gizmodo.com/donald-trump-nft-trading-cards-1849900531
GLOBAL WARMING
More than half the US population awaits Christmas weekend under wind chill alerts. The snowiest part of a perilous winter storm is yet to come
Blizzard Likely to Turn into Bomb Cyclone Thursday night into Friday
US winter storm will bring frostbite within minutes
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64061588
CNN
Nearly 177 million Americans – or more than half the US population – will await Christmas weekend under wind chill alerts
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/22/weather/christmas-arctic-winter-storm-thursday/index.html
TECHNOLOGY
Bottom of the least-surprising story of the day list [Bloomberg.com]
ByteDance said its employees breached TikTok user data.
 The Chinese owner of TikTok found in an investigation that two US journalists had their data inappropriately accessed.
https://www.t.ly/7QKF
Japan made a U-turn on its nuclear energy policy. [FT.com]
 Starting immediately, Tokyo will no longer phase out its reactors. Japan will use more atomic power amid a green energy push.
https://www.ft.com/content/721b66c6-fd73-432f-aef9-fe59befba2cf
