THAI cabin crews win fourth place

Hello World, today is September 29, Thursday, aka day before Friday so we have that to look forward to.

Thai women did it again
It was a confident, second consecutive victory, this time over Croatia at the FIVB Women's World Championship.
 25-18, 25-13, 25-11
Next up, Thursday night Thailand time, they face South Korea.
Thailand now have five points in Pool B, one point behind the Dominican Republic and Poland.

VIDEO EXCERPTS

Xi's a go for APEC
China's foreign ministry said yesterday that President4Life Xi Jinping will "definitely" show up in Bangkok for the planned APEC summit on November 19.
Prayut might even be prime minister (again) by then.
As soon as China confirmed Xi's trip, a new unconfirmed rumour started up about Joe:
 He is considering cancelling or delaying the White House wedding reception for his beloved granddaughter Naomi (out of Hunter) in order to make a quick trip to Bangkok to please Prayut and the junta's token ministry of foreign affairs.
Verbal, positive RSVPs to Thailand came from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

On the day before the junta changes everything about coronavirus treatment, reporting...
CORONAVIRUS
Free medical care to remain for severely ill Covid patients

The gals [and guys] of the cabin crews of Thai Aiways International have just been voted the 4th best at their jobs in the entire world.
That was at the Skytrax 2022 World Airline Awards, which just wrapped up in London.
In the whole entire world, THAI also got
• Number 8th best airport services
• Number 8th best catering in Economy Class
• Number 10th best first-class airport  lounges

Little Known FACT: Thai Airways still calls them "stewardesses". To be one, you should be 160 centimetres or more, with "proportional weight" - about 5-foot-three.

This sort of political analysis is discouraged or banned by the ruling Thai junta.
Bloomberg news agency:
Tenure verdict 'too late' for Prayut
Summary Analysis: As an opposition win in 2023 begins to look likely, the elite may want to back a different kind of potential prime minister - one who is in with a chance.
PHOTO: It is no longer "IF" Prayut disappears, but when.
https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/09/25/most-thais-don039t-see-suitable-candidate-for-pm-says-survey

POLITICS
Thailand's ruling junta scoffs at putsch speculation
Defence Ministry spokesman four-star General Kongcheep  Tantravanich has brushed off rumours of a coup ahead of the general election planned for next year.
"There  are  no  factors  that would lead to a coup," he said after a Defence Council meeting chaired by suspended Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who also serves as defence minister.
The rumour mill went into overdrive with suggestions of yet another coup after Digital Economy and Society Ministry Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn warned that an election might not take place if demonstrations are held and unrest breaks out Friday when the Constitutional Court hands down its ruling on Gen Prayut's eight-year term as prime minister.
 [Translation: The court will rule to bring back Prayut to the title of 'prime minister' - or  dump him.]
His remarks prompted protest leaders and opposition politicians to accuse the 'government' of trying to cling to power.

That said...

Things we always hear just before a military coup d'etat in Thailand.
FACT: Four-star general Kongcheep Tantravanich is the only spokesman of the Royal Thai Army since the last coup of May 22, 2014.

Sorry, Chiang Mai
Or should that be, 'Sorry, Korat'?
Nok Air's last flight to Chiang Mai departed from Nakhon Ratchasima yesterday.
The airline tried for two months but the route is "loss-ridden".

CRIME SCAMS CHINA
Philippines to shut 175 online casinos, deport 40,000 dodgy Chinese
4 years after thrilling cave rescue, sleepy park readies for onslaught

APEC ABSENTEES
Details have been announced on the Regrets snub by U.S.A. President Biden for skipping the long and carefully planned APEC summit in Bangkok on November 19.
He and DOCTOR Jill Biden will host a White House reception to mark the wedding of Biden's granddaughter Naomi, eldest daughter of Hunter.
Such plans obviously cannot be changed.

  It doesn't really matter.
  -- Don Pramudwinai, token 'minister of foreign affairs' and official host of the summit and all 'sideline' events of APEC.
 Biden's decision may have something to do with the junta's 'emergency decree' of March, 2020, which the junta has promised to lift, as of Friday.
 -- Anusorn Iamsa-ard, member of parliament, Pheu Thai Party

CORONAVIRUS THAILAND STARTING SATURDAY...
The anti-Covid nasal spray Vaill CoviTRAP, approved by the junta's Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  will be available for purchase. Marketers insist it will prevent Covid - if used three times a day [every six hours].
Local developers are Chulalongkorn and Silpakorn universities.
[Please, no jokes about sticking CoviTRAP where the sun don't shine. Although that is the mode of usage.]
[English] https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2400651/
[Full Article in Thai] https://thestandard.co/covitrap-covid-spray/

CORONAVIRUS U.S.A.
Following the science, no matter how belatedly: CDC drops universal masking at nursing homes, hospitals.
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/09/26/CDC-drops-universal-masking-nursing-homes/6301664197700/

TECHNOLOGY
MIT, school of alumna Her Royal Highness Princess Ubonratana, has developed a battery=free underwater camera, about 100,000 times more energy efficient than conventional models.
 The new camera is powered largely by underwater sound waves.
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2022/09/26/mit-underwater-battery-free-camera/4381664203492/

SPACE TRAVELS EATING
Astronauts demand real-authentic Thai food
NASA and the Canadian Space Administration (CSA) and the Methuselah Foundation demanded better and more diverse food for astronauts facing the upcoming Phase 2 of their "Deep Space Challenge".
Thai Team Keeta got on the case and made the Top Ten Menus with their dish of "real Thai" sago worms, plucked from sago palms in the deep South, where people actually eat them.
As you already know, the worm is the larva of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus. It keeps for at least three years.
PHOTO: Grub fit for an astronaut: Fat and buttery sago worms.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2401880/

CHINA SOCIAL MEDIA TIKTOK
Actually, a bit of a puzzle worth widespread analysis.
 Fact: TikTok can keep operating in the U.S.A. under a deal being worked out with Biden.
 1. How likely is it that the Biden administration would do anything to seriously hurt China?
 On the other hand, honestly speaking
 2. Biden was the chief Senate supporter of a post-Vietnam war, 1975 campaign to ban ALL INDOCHINESE from the United States - an effort that morphed into an instruction by his son Hunter Biden to his pimp: NO ASIANS.
AND
Negotiations could still go on for months more as security risks are weighed
The New York Times claimed that 'over the past few months', the Biden administration has drafted a preliminary agreement with TikTok "to resolve national security concerns."
Sources confirmed that the compromise means TikTok has agreed to change how it collects data and who has control over data. However, under the agreement, current TikTok owner ByteDance would retain ownership.
"Negotiations have not been easy."
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/tiktok-can-keep-operating-in-us-under-deal-being-worked-out-with-biden/