Spiffy trains are coming to Thailand

Holy gee whiz, that went fast! It's Sunday yet again! The second of October.
As the inestimable 50-year columnist Roger Crutchley puts it, we are now in...
The soggy socks and sandbags month
The centre of the ex-super typhoon, now tropical rainstorm Noru has poured everything it had on Thailand, particularly on residents and farmers of Isan, aka the Northeast.
The storm is gone but the clean-up will still be under way in November. One man was killed. And the damage to towns, villages, homes, rice fields and other crops is being assessed - but it is in the billions of baht.

THAILAND POLITICS PRAYUT

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
 Robert Allen "Bob Dylan" Zimmerman, on the 34-day trial-hearing of Prayut Chan-o-cha.

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" 1965

Quick summary of the past 34 days:
Effective today, the 2014 coup leader Prayut Chan-o-cha is set to return to his old job of being the Prime Minister after the Constitutional Court votes 6:3 to allow him to return to the position at Government House.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2404410/

The online Thai Enquirer newspaper has probably the best 'instant analysis' of Prayut's court win and return to the office of 'prime minister'.
Opinion -- Prayut's victory could spell boon to the opposition come general elections
https://www.thaienquirer.com/44802/opinion-prayuts-victory-could-spell-boon-to-the-opposition-come-general-elections/

Prayut on Saturday said he would return to office, aggressively.
He vowed to press ahead with development projects.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2404410/

Spikers do it again

The Thai gals beat the living crap out of the supposedly top-ranked 'Queens of the Caribbean' Dominican Republic, and moved on to Round 2 of the Women's World Championship.
 It took five sets:
31-29, 16-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11
 New Local Heroes Ajcharaporn Kongyot and Pimpichaya Kokram scored 26 and 25 of the Thai points, respectively.
 The Thais are ranked Number 14 in the world, as they head into Round 2 in Poland and the Netherlands. The team goal is to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
 Coach Danai Wacharasrimaytakul:
 "We have met our target of reaching the second round, but more importantly our players have improved."
https://www.bangkokpost.com/sports/2404966/
VIDEO excerpt first set. Thais in dark blue (10 minutes):

HEALTH VIRUS POX
PHUKET: PHOTO: Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control announces two more monkeypox cases in Phuket, bringing the country's total cases to 10.

The infected patients are a Thai woman and a German man 54. The two had been "in close contact" for a while.
The 37-year-old Thai woman was working as a "service employee". She developed a fever, a sore throat and muscle pains on September 16.
She then developed a rash on her buttocks and blisters on other body parts.
Health experts traced and helped the infected man.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2404783/

So maybe China has the solution?
 China says no touching foreigners skin-to-skin after monkeypox case
 "To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that one, you do not have direct skin-to-skin contact with foreigners."
 -- Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the CCDC, in a post on Weibo.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2395270/

THAILAND TRANSPORTATION TOURISM
Very soon, promises the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) we all will be riding trains pulled by The Ultraman, photo below.
The new trains became known locally as the Ultraman because of its distinctive red-grey locomotive, which rail watchers said resembles the heroic manga character.
The locomotives are manufactured by CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Company of China, and imported by SFR Consortium. That combination won a contract worth 6.52 billion baht to procure 50 new trains back in August 2020 - US$173 million, 258.5 million loonies.

ECONOMY CURRENCY
China losing ground in currency war as new measures weaken yuan
Beijing tells state banks to prepare for a massive dollar dump and yuan buying spree as China's prior interventions have failed to stem the yuan's worst year since 1994

[BusinessInsider.com]
• Reuters reported that China told state-owned banks to get ready to sell dollars and buy yuan in an effort to prop up the local currency.
• The move could stem the yuan's fall, as it remains on track for its largest annual loss against the dollar since 1994.
• A hawkish U.S. Fed has pushed the dollar to 20-year highs this year, pressuring currencies around the world.
 The People's Bank of China has told major state-run banks to prepare to shed dollar holdings while snapping up offshore yuan, which has continued to fall despite prior interventions.

Left-ish Lawyer* Who Firebombed Cop Car for George Floyd doesn't want to be in jail anymore.
We've all been there: It's Friday night, you've had one too many vodka shots, a black guy in a city 13,330 kilometres (8,264 English miles) away just got killed by the cops, you're sad and angry about a bunch of other stuff, and...
 ... and that Molotov cocktail in your purse is suddenly 100 times more attractive than the hunk two tables away to your left.
But c'mon man, it was only one police cruiser. That's no reason to be sitting in stir.
https://freebeacon.com/courts/firebombing-attorney-begs-for-light-sentence-citing-inebriation-and-unprocessed-trauma/
*I hope they burn everything down. Need to burn all police stations down and probably the courts too. This sh** won't ever stop unless we f***in' take it all down. The only way they hear us is through violence."


A million hippies and crystal ladies look smug. And Anutin Charnvirakul.
 Case study: Remission of metastatic breast cancer may have been due to use of cannabis oil and magic mushrooms.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-09-case-remission-metastatic-breast-cancer.html

Simple question, simple answer
Q. Why is no one discussing the 25th Amendment option after "Where's Jackie?"
A. No one wants a President Kamala

https://hotair.com/headlines/2022/09/29/why-is-no-one-discussing-the-25th-amendment-option-after-wheres-jackie-n499916

In a tragic civil service error, employees of the American state of California including Governor Newsom mislaid the message from U.S. President Joe Biden that the prices of gasoline were falling, everywhere in the U.S.A.
Photos taken last week at the same station.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON READ
Parisa Hafezi of Reuters writes:
Iran leaders in 'disarray' and struggling to close their ranks over the continuing and growing protests.
  As the protests spread to 80 cities nationwide, Iran's rulers have accused a coalition of "anarchists, terrorists and foreign foes" of orchestrating the troubles -- a narrative few Iranians believe.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2172866/middle-east
or
https://tinyurl.com/5n9xxbbm

Related
Iraqis gather in Baghdad to mark anniversary of 2019 anti-government protest
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2173166

Euthanasia comes to Thailand. It won't come easily.
 National Health Commission says terminally ill patients should have the right to reject medical care.
 Called palliative care, this plan was discussed recently among various parties including 13 organisations from the public and social sectors.
 Dr Chanchai Sittipunt, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University, said the Advance Care Plan (ACP) can be improved by encouraging patients to make living wills to avoid unnecessary treatment to prolong their lives.
 "Even though we can prolong their lives with modern meditational tools, they will still have to suffer severe symptoms."
 Treatment does not guarantee recovery from cancer.

As God is my witness, I thought chickens could fly.