Thailand vows to fight corruption, as Thailand vows every year
Good morning kids. [Pause for reply] It's Saturday in Nong Bon. And everywhere.
And darned chilly up here north of the Equator - 25 Celsius with a wind chill factor of 24 - or 75 American b-r-r-r.
15 Ways to Say "Goodbye" in Portuguese
https://www.fluentin3months.com/goodbye-in-portuguese/
Bom dia/Boa tarde/Boa noite
Farewell Brazil! There will be no samba tonight.
SPORTS SOCCER WORLD CUP
CROATIAÂ 1-1 BRAZIL
penalties
CROATIA 4-2 BRAZIL
This was the last qualifier for the quarter finals - most of which will be played tonight and tomorrow.
https://www.skysports.com/football/croatia-vs-brazil/report/463022
TOURISM
Prayut himself will welcome a completely random foreigner and present him/her with swag because he/she is the 10 millionth foreign tourist/visitor to arrive in Thailand this year.
At Suvarnabhumi, the international airport just outside eastern Bangkok.
Okay, not random.
 The lucky passenger will fly in aboard Saudia - Riyadh's national airline, to show the gratitude of Thailand's ruling junta for restoring diplomatic relations that were 40 years ago.
 And the Saudia airliner will dock at the airport's Gate 10.
There will be equally not-random swag packets for lucky arrivals at Amazing Thailand 10 Million Celebrations at every other international airports - Don Mueang [Bangkok], U-Tapao, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi and Samui.
Amd at Thailand's main land border checkpoints at Nong Khai province and Sadao district in Songkhla, in the far South.
Last evening, Yuthasak Supasorn, junta-appointed head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said the agency is sticking by its prediction of low tourist arrivals this winter.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2456264/
Flippin' and Floppin'
The latest political utterance by the extremely junta-loyal Anutin Charnvirakul [below]:
 I don't want to 'inherit' the post of prime minister of Thailand -- not from Prayut, not from anyone.
The wealthy Anutin, the junta's token minister of public health, spoke after Prayut announced he will serve two more years as 'prime minister' and then will personally choose his successor.
Anutin is head-honcho of Thailand's Bhumjaithai marijuana party - a key part of Prayut's coalition regime.
Related: The United States Department of State and headman Secretary Tony Blinken are under strict rules to exclusively refer to Thailand as "a democracy" or "democratic".
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2456284/
THAILAND CORRUPTION PRAYUT
Thailand's token prime minister and four-star army general Prayut Chan-o-cha promised yet again on Friday to be against the nation's "endemic corruption" and wipe it out.
In a speech at yet another of the interminable and lavish 'National Anti-Corruption Day' dinners, Prayut said:
 Don't do, tolerate, or ignore any corruption.
Which sounds more riveting in Thai than in translation.
Prayut demanded that the public must organise behind his latest new War on Graft, which he also promised at the time of the 2014 military coup that overthrew the last elected government.
Not by coincidence...
The progressive opposition Move Forward Party officially began its election campaign
Current party leader Pita Limjaroenrat [photo below] promised that an MFP government would be an open and transparent regime.
Continued losses for regional airlines
Trade group forecasts Asia-Pacific to be the last area to recover
The global aviation industry is expected to finally end years of losses with a net profit of US$4.7 billion in 2023.
 but
 Asia-Pacific airlines will have to wait a lot longer for their balance sheets to recover, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Asia-Pacific is forecast to be the last region to recover, with passenger numbers only returning to pre-pandemic levels by 2025 and losses continuing throughout 2024.
Given the effect of China's lockdowns, Asia-Pacific  is  set  to  record losses of $10 billion this year and $6.6 billion in 2023.
In Qatar, a Filipino worker fell to the concrete deck and died while fixing lights at a car park.
The chief executive of the Qatar World Cup, Nasser al-Khater explained,
 Meh, death is a natural part of life -- whether it;s at work, whether it's in your sleep.
Then he instructed journalists at his press conference,
 We're in the middle of a World Cup. And we have a successful World Cup. And this is something you want to talk about right now?
 And honestly, I think a lot of the journalists have to ask themselves and reflect on why they've been trying to bang on about the subject [of the deaths of migrant workers] for so long.
CORONAVIRUS USA
The U.S. Congress has voted to rescind President Biden's mandate that requires every U.S.service member to be shot.
The bill now goes to the Senate and then to Biden's desk. Maybe
TECHNOLOGY
After more than half a century in production
The last 747 ever built has rolled off Boeing's production line. [Thedrive.com]
The last Model 747, the 1,574th to be completed, will emerge from Boeing's Everett, Washington, facility.
With the closure of the production line for the 'Queen of the Skies,' the era of the four-engine airliner also ends, with Boeing and rival Airbus now having fully transitioned to twin-engine wide-body airliner families.
EXCELLENT coverage and Sunday Read at
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/the-last-747-ever-built-has-rolled-off-boeings-production
Crypto is unimportant. But the tax...!
New crypto tax rules are coming to the EU. [Coindesk.com]
 Proposed legislation will mandate tax reporting for all crypto companies within the bloc, including non-EU operators with EU customers.
 Europe's top Number One Tax Collector is Paolo Gentiloni.
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/12/08/eu-to-make-crypto-companies-report-tax-details-to-authorities/
The United States' Federal Trade Commission got all pissy and told Microsoft, "Uh-uh, no bro" you cannot buy the Xbox console maker Activision Blizzard. {cnn.com]
The US$69 billion sale would have been the biggest tech acquisition in history, but now it's history.
https://bityl.co/G6Cu
China and Saudi Arabia cemented ties.
 The country's leaders met Wednesday in Riyadh
 They signed several deals including a cloud computing and internet agreement with Huawei.
MBS ordered a lavish welcome for Xi Jinping, in contrast with the low-key, low-budget welcome for Joseph Biden last month.
Reportedly, Biden watched his intentional humiliation on the XiNN TV channel.
Report: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/china-xi-jinping-visit-saudi-arabia-united-states-alliance-analyst-3131421
VIDEO: https://www.reuters.com/world/saudi-lays-lavish-welcome-chinas-xi-heralds-new-era-relations-2022-12-08/
VIDEO:
Germany started an ironic but massive fraud trial, with executives of a company charged with disappearing €1.9 billion ($2 billion).
The irony is that the victim company is Wirecard, a "payment firm."
https://www.rfi.fr/en/business-and-tech/20221208-huge-wirecard-fraud-trial-opens-in-germany
MORE SUNDAY READS
• Arrested in Bangkok, but free again
Meet Viktor Bout, the "Merchant of Death"
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/meet-the-merchant-of-death-freed-by-the-biden-administration/
• Madman president out in Peru [The Associated Press]
https://apnews.com/article/politics-peru-caribbean-government-and-ee258b8b8495c9ae06a43f6d3c906a7a
• Reporter gets 297-year sentence. For reporting.
https://www.meforum.org/63872/turkish-journalist-serving-297-years-in-prison
• The Violence in Iran's uprising
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/violence-irans-uprising-what-happens-if-either-side-escalates
• Daily Politics Today political columnist and book writer Jules Witcover is 95 and stepping aside.
His last column covers some of the highlights of a truly colourful career.
https://tribunecontentagency.com/article/politics-today-on-ending-a-lifetime-of-writing-about-american-politics/
GLOBAL WARMING
Sydney Magistrate Allison Hawkins tossed Violet Coco (yes, her actual real name) in jail for 15 months for blocking traffic on the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge for 28 minutes because of all the global warming that's going on. And she added
 You do damage to your cause when you do childish stunts like this.
Violet's lawyer is going to appeal because
 There are five lanes on that bridge. She blocked one, and not for very long.
The United Nations employs Togolese diplomat Clément Nyaletsossi Voule as a "special rapporteur on peaceful assembly" and he is alarmed.
PHOTO: That's Violet on the truck on the bridge, holding a flare.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-63883430
Late in the second half, with the score locked at 0-0, Brazil head coach Tite paced the touchline cautiously, looking pensive and concerned. His consternation was altogether justified.
Strike for Christmas! And also the New Year.
Britons are about to receive a long season of delayed packages, canceled trains. And medical shortages. The worst in 40 years.
Hundreds of thousands of workers won't work. They will walk off the job amidst a nationwide cost of living crisis.
The main demand across various categories of workers is a pay raise in line with, or greater than, inflation.
And also all of Britain's Border Forces, so plan for long, l-o-n-g lines or worse at every passport queue.
https://qz.com/the-uk-is-expecting-its-largest-wave-of-strikes-in-over-1849865611
Time magazine has run its 80-year-old 'Man of the Year' into the ground but yesterday announced a new one: Icon of the Year.
Incredibly, it wasn't Lebron James or DOCTOR Jill or even American.
 The fantastically talented and personally pleasant Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh.
p.s. The "Person" of the year was Zelensky. What a surprise.
https://time.com/icon-of-the-year-2022-michelle-yeoh/
British media refuse to reveal Meghan's favourite soup.
TOURISM PARKING
All weekend (four days) long: park in the long-tem area of Suvarnabhumi until midnight on Tuesday.
Especially "other issues".
Truly a Woke vs Woke situation.
Hilarious that the coverage is by The New York Times. With a photograph, even.
I am Woman. Hear Me Whine
Prince Harry: Royals didn't understand risk to Meghan of racial attacks
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/08/prince-harry-royals-meghan-racial-attacks-duke-duchess-sussex-netflix
Reviewer Lucy Mangan
"Harry & Meghan" review – so sickening I almost brought up my breakfast
Although there are sweet moments alongside the vomit-inducing, the overriding message of this royal documentary is: the late Queen was right to keep stumm.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/08/harry-and-meghan-netflix-review-so-sickening-i-almost-brought-up-my-breakfast
I just read an article with the phrase "the older generation born between 1981 and 1996" and now I need a lie-down.
