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HELLO WORLD Today is Saturday March 26, the first day of the last weekend of the third month.
Thailand's junta: Back to the Lockdowns
The former army four-star general, now nominal head of the country's military government, has issued order to all 77 governors of Thailand's provinces:
Prepare for the worst.
As of Friday, Thailand's top health officials believe that the worst, coming next week, will be 100,000 new cases of Chinese Covid-19 virus, per day.
Thailand is currently in the midst of the fifth major outbreak of Covid, and on Friday, hospitals and clinics reported 26,050 new cases, and 69 deaths.
The health 'experts' believe the cases will quadruple by next week, the start of the annual Thai New Year celebration. Songkran, as it is called, will run from April 10-17, and hundreds of thousands of people will hit the road to take up-country vacations with their families.
Ex-general Prayut, allegedly the 'prime minister' has wavered numerous times on whether to order partial, full - or no - lockdowns to try to slow the fifth and worst outbreak in the two-year record of Covid in Thailand.
PHOTO: People traditionally bathe Buddha images during the annual Songkran holiday.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2285342/
https://bityl.co/BU2d
https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/advanced/2285138/
The above item is not a political devopment that will get loud cheers.
Within a hour of the new orders, businesses along Bangkok's Khao San Road, Pattaya's Walking Street, etc, etc, etc were up in arms.
Example:
The Khao San Road Association claimed that the ban on splashing and throwing water would cost Thailand, its alleged government and the tourism industry one (1) billion baht in stayaways by tourists and visitors, who simply won't come to Thailand next month.
Businesses drew up and submitted a petition to Prayut - who wasn't seen for the whole day on Friday.
The business operators didn't plead, but they darn sure didn't lick army combat boots.
"We have been maintaining strict Covid-19 screening measures," the petition said.
"We even have hired and paid for security guards to check the various Covid-19 papers" of every single visitor.
Also, "No live music or powder play will be allowed on Khao San Road, and we will limit crowds to 5,000" or less" Because everyone now knows that live music is the single greatest cause of Covid-19.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2285386/
SPORTS WRASSLING
Paul Levesque, better known in Thailand and throughout the world as Triple-H, will never again compete as a pro wrestler.
Six months ago, he almost died of heart failure and viral pneumonia. Now he has a defibrillator built (literally) in his heart. But he cannot possibly compete in pro wrestling again - and live to tell the tale.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10653269/Triple-H-bids-farewell-wrestling-WWE-legend-52-retires-suffering-heart-failure.html
North Korea makes a movie, kind of like Top Gun, but starring Kim Jong Un as Tom Cruise
The flick was made and shown nationwide to glorify the launch of a new missiles - the humongous 'Hwasong-17'
Pyongyang wants to scare the living heck out of you
The U.S. retaliated with more sanctions
https://bityl.co/BU0C
Related
Everything is peaceful
North Korea says new ICBM will curb 'dangerous' moves by U.S. military
... The range and size of the Hwasong-17 suggests North Korea plans to tip it with multiple warheads that could hit several targets - or with decoy warheads to confuse defenders.
Reuters shorturl.at/ntwEL
ANALYSIS
Hey, Mr Prayut...
How's that "We will remain neutral" working out for you and Thailand?
West unites to back Ukraine and seek 'ruinous cost' for Putin
... At an unprecedented triple summit, transatlantic alliance NATO, G7 rich nations and European leaders addressed the continent's biggest conflict since the 1990s Balkans wars.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/west-unites-back-ukraine-and-seek-ruinous-cost-putin-2582826
TECHNOLOGY
Lapsus$ might have accessed user data in their Okta hack. (The Register)
Okta, uh, handles logins for other customers. Mostly small customers. Like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
This could be nothing or it could be the biggest hack in recent history. We're not sure yet.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/23/olkta_microsoft_lapsus/
Sure. Okay.
Russia has banned Google News for "unreliable information". (Bleeping Computer)
Sure. Okay.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/russia-bans-google-news-for-unreliable-info-on-war-in-ukraine/
Most powerful CPU ever, except for all the others.
Apple's brand new M1 Ultra processor has shown up in the PassMark benchmark list. (Tom's Hardware)
The top-of-the-line 20-core CPU is listed just behind - oh, that's gotta hurt - just behind AMD's new 12-core Threadripper Pro 5945WX.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-m1-ultra-benchmarked-in-passmark
Let's Go Taiwan!
TSMC is expanding the expansion of its 5nm and 4nm (really, they're the same thing) production lines to meet highly demanding demand. (Tom's Hardware)
Nvidia's new enterprise (Hopper) and consumer (Lovelace) graphics cards, and AMD's Zen 4 CPUs and RDNA 3 GPUs will all be heading to TSMC's 5nm and 4nm production lines this year, joining Apple and Qualcomm who have been producing mobile chips on the new nodes for some time.
https://bityl.co/BT31
YAY INSTAGRAM! Am I right?
Instagram now lets you see the posts of people you follow in the order they were posted. (Bloomberg)
A remarkable innovation.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-23/instagram-to-allow-users-to-see-most-recent-posts-first
The Department of Even A Stopped Clock reports...
Biden warns US food shortages are 'going to be real'
For the 10th, maybe 12th time in his political career, Biden predicts food shortages because of the Russia war on the Ukraine.
It's gonna be real, man.
Several people understood what he said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2022-03-24/biden-expect-real-food-shortages-due-to-ukraine-war-video
U.S.A. ASEAN OPTION
Biden called off his planned summit with most of ASEAN on Monday and Tuesday.
He though Europe and NATO were far more important.
Strange thinking.
Biden warns US food shortages are 'going to be real'
PHOTO: President Biden needs to be firm with his NATO allies, to enforce that Europe's defenses be funded well enough that this will be Russia's last act.
https://nypost.com/2022/03/23/bidens-ballyhooed-nato-summit-wont-do-a-thing-to-help-ukraine/
Can you think of a better reason?
NOTE: Channel 5 broadcasts throughout Thailand. It is fully owned by the Royal Thai Army, which also owns the junta and its alleged 'government'.
Thailand's junta is trying to force parliament to pass yet another law for more oversight and regulation of NGOs.
It's not going well for them.
https://www.thaienquirer.com/38869/civil-society-figures-line-up-to-oppose-ngo-bill-which-would-severely-restrict-civil-rights-groups/
If you (and millions of others) are tempted to give up on Thailand for 2022 or so and
If you are looking around for a replacement
Give this a read.
Everyone I know, including my own son, has enjoyed a Vietnam holiday.
https://strangersguide.com/places/asia/vietnam/
THAILAND COVID-19 STATISTICS
As of midnight, here are the statistics for Friday:
26,050 new Covid-19 cases
69 deaths
244,111 active cases
1,619 serious cases
22,219 recovered
Top 10 Thailand provinces with NEW Covid-19 cases on Friday:
When you've lost the Tourism Ministry...
Even Thailand's 'ministry of tourism and sports' has caught on to the reality: the programmes to encourage foreign tourists have failed.
Now the minstry thinks that deep-sixing its own "Thai.and Pass" project might help.
The ruling junta's so-called 'minister' minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn is sure he can thing up something better.
Phipat is going to insist that all tourists and visitors undergo a single ATK test. He said that will welcome international tourists and spur tourism growth. Yes, he actually said that.
PHOTO: Thailand Pass, with its arcane and hopeless rules, never had a chance.
https://thepattayanews.com/2022/03/24/tourism-and-sports-ministry-to-propose-thailand-pass-cancellation-and-introduce-single-atk-test-to-spur-tourism-growth/
THAILAND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Police have arrested a 54-year-old Songkhla man who began trafficking Rohingya refugees when the junta came to power in 2014.
The trafficking racket was one of the most violent and murderous in Thai history.
Sa-ard Udomsilp, aka Bang Ae, a Songkhla native, had been dodging an arrest warrant for seven years.
He is specifically charged, along with 59 others, of trafficking 97 illegal Rohingya through Nakhon Si Thammarat province in January, 2015. The case is directly tired to trafficking and murders run by the army's Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc).
Sa-ard had been wanted since September 7, 2015, for human trafficking and detention for ransom, in an operation based in Songkhla..
Charges say that Sa-ard supplied Rohingya migrants to employers in Malaysia in association with human traffickers in Myanmar, who arranged for them to travel from Myanmar and Bangladesh to Thailand by sea, then to Sadao district before being smuggled into Malaysia.
PHOTO: With the army's new 'junta government' in place, 2015 saw the height of Rohingya refugee smuggling into Thailand.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2285198/
This is from NBC "News," which has spent the last week informing us that six-foot-two men with big hanging schlongs are actually the Truest of All Women.
