Thailand’s king swears in new government after turmoil
Thailand’s king swears in new government after turmoil/node/2570363/world
Thailand’s king swears in new government after turmoil
Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra stands with her cabinet members in front of Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn during a royal oath-taking at the Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, September 6, 2024. (REUTERS)
Thailand’s king swears in new government after turmoil
Dressed in official uniform, Paetongtarn and her Cabinet ministers swore their allegiance in front of King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida in a ceremony at Bangkok’s Dusit Palace
Updated 06 September 2024
Reuters
BANGKOK: Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn swore in Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and 35 Cabinet ministers in Bangkok on Friday, ushering in a new government in Southeast Asia’s second largest economy after a period of political turmoil.
Paetongtarn, 38, leader of the ruling Pheu Thai party, was elected by parliament last month to become Thailand’s youngest prime minister after her predecessor Srettha Thavisin was dismissed by a court order over an ethics violation.
The Cabinet, which was formally endorsed by the king on Wednesday, comprises 17 members from Pheu Thai, including the premier, and another 19 positions divided among coalition partners.
Dressed in official uniform, Paetongtarn and her Cabinet ministers swore their allegiance in front of King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida in a ceremony at Bangkok’s Dusit Palace.
“I want to wish, with gladness, that the Cabinet will have the encouragement and determination to perform your duties as you have sworn for the benefit of the country and people,” the king said after the Cabinet’s oath of allegiance.
Paetongtarn and the Cabinet ministers bowed after the king’s remark.
The youngest daughter of the divisive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn has not served in government previously and will face challenges on multiple fronts, including a floundering economy.
She is also the second woman and fourth member of the Shinawatra clan to hold Thailand’s top elected position, with three previous premiers removed by coups or court decisions.
Paetongtarn’s government will deliver its policy statement to parliament next Thursday and Friday, marking the formal start of her administration.
Tribal clashes kill at least 11 people in Pakistan
Updated 4 sec ago
Vehicles were targeted in different areas of the district, leading to more casualties Efforts were being made to secure travel routes and restore normalcy
PESHAWAR: Tribal clashes killed at least 11 people in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday and injured eight, including women and children, a local official said. Tensions rose in Kurram district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after two people were critically injured in a shooting incident between rival tribes. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the shooting. Vehicles were targeted in different areas of the district, leading to more casualties, said senior official Javedullah Khan. Khan said efforts were being made to secure travel routes and restore normalcy. The injured were taken to a hospital. Pir Haider Ali Shah, a former parliamentarian and member of a tribal council, said elders had arrived in Kurram to mediate a peace agreement between the tribes. “The recent firing incidents are regrettable and have hampered efforts for lasting peace,” he said. Last month, at least 25 people were killed in days of clashes between armed Shiites and Sunni Muslims over a land dispute. Although both live together largely peacefully in the country, tensions have existed for decades between them in some areas, especially in Kurram, where Shiites dominate in parts of the district.
How Filipino content creator makes country’s natural heritage a TikTok hit
Environment and travel writer Celine Murillo moved to TikTok platform in 2022
With 620,000 followers, she sheds light on little-known flora and fauna of the Philippines
Updated 23 min 53 sec ago
Samantha Beltran
MANILA: When Celine Murillo traded the bustling streets of Manila for the nature of Bicol region 400 km south, she began to use TikTok to share her journey — a decision that soon shot her to social media fame.
Almost three years later, Murillo’s account has over 620,000 followers. Filled with conversational content and tidbits in under two minutes, her content resonates with viewers of all ages who appreciate learning more about the plants and animals they see around them.
An experienced travel writer, she was creating long-form content for years. But the outreach was not yet enough to make a difference. It was her social media venture that changed it.
“For almost a decade, I’ve been creating stories about the natural world — written features, photo stories, and, ultimately, documentaries. While these have been fulfilling, I felt like they were reaching the people that already cared. There was this dread of being in an echo chamber,” she told Arab News.
“(I asked myself), ‘Where’s the audience? How can I make the message reach more of them?’ These were the questions I consistently mulled over. And the answer I came to was TikTok.”
It all clicked as Filipinos were eager to learn about their country’s rich biodiversity.
Murillo travels with her husband Dennis, who shoots and edits their content as they explore the Philippines’ natural wonders — from hiking in the mountains to documenting endangered species.
One of the videos about a yellow-vented bulbul, a common bird in the Philippines, has earned 12 million views, while the views on her series called “Saribuhay sa Salapi” (Biodiversity in Local Currency) range from over 1 million to 3 million views for each clip.
Celine Murillo and her husband and video producer Dennis during one of their field trips. (Celine Murillo)
With the number of her followers growing, Murillo realized there was great interest among Filipinos to learning about their own natural heritage — something that many were never introduced to, as the Philippines’ native flora and fauna was not a subject typically covered in school curricula.
“It makes me sad and a little angry that foreign species like lions and cherry blossoms are more known to Filipinos and more prominent in popular culture than our own local biodiversity,” she said.
“This should be taught in schools. This should be inculcated in our psyche.”
The lack of knowledge and awareness stems, according to her, from a systemic issue of long-held colonial narratives.
“For so long, all of our institutions forward colonial ideas. This is true in all aspects of our lives as Filipinos, even in the way we perceive our environment,” she said.
“We see nature as something to profit from, and ultimately exploit and abuse. That’s why I’m proud of my work because it has started a resurgence in interest, a remembering that our natural heritage is just as amazing and worthy of attention, that it’s inherently valuable, even without factoring in how much money we can profit from it.”
Living with indigenous communities and working, among others, with Climate Tracker Asia — a non-profit committed to enhancing climate journalism — Murillo has witnessed the situation on the ground and the fight of those trying to stop the destruction of the environment, which to her was linked to the continuing presence of “colonial systems” that “allow the wanton abuse and oppression of people, communities, and our natural treasures.”
She is trying to address this, making more people aware by sharing online the knowledge of experts, conservation institutions and grassroots groups she has learnt from.
“My work as a storyteller and communicator is built on the collective knowledge and experiences of scientists and Indigenous communities. I am a proud product of their legacies ... “I’m so happy that the online community is empowered to share their experiences, in the context of their cultural and personal history,” she said.
“I know my work in social media is barely scratching the surface, but I hope this will instill a sense of wonder to the viewer, and hopefully, this will turn into love. In time, we will collectively harness this love to create a better, kinder, more compassionate world.”
Nuclear deterrence still at heart of great power strategy — experts
While none of the countries possessing nuclear weapons have used them in war since 1945, the implicit or even explicit threat to do so is part of their arsenal
Moscow has repeatedly brandished the nuclear threat in a bid to dissuade the West from supporting Ukraine, which has been fending off Russia’s invasion since 2022
Updated 12 October 2024
AFP
PARIS: Nuclear-armed powers have no intention of giving up the atom bomb as part of their military strategy, experts said after the Nobel Peace Prize committee urged against any weakening of the nuclear “taboo.”
Awarding this year’s peace prize to Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors pushing for a nuclear weapons ban, the committee said on Friday the atom bomb attacks on both Japanese cities in 1945 had led to a “nuclear taboo” which had, however, come under “pressure” since.
While none of the countries possessing nuclear weapons have used them in war since 1945, the implicit or even explicit threat to do so is part of their arsenal.
Moscow has repeatedly brandished the nuclear threat in a bid to dissuade the West from supporting Ukraine, which has been fending off Russia’s invasion since February 2022.
According to Alexander Gabuev, Director at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, it was “no coincidence” that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a nuclear threat on the eve of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky about Kyiv’s possible use of missiles capable of striking Russian territory.
The Nobel committee wanted to send “a strong signal” to Russia, said Bruno Tertrais, political scientist at France’s Strategic Research Foundation.
Russia, he said, had “normalized,” even “trivialized,” talk of a nuclear weapons use since its invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin is not alone.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last week his country would use nuclear weapons “without hesitation” if attacked by South Korea and it ally, the United States.
And in the Middle East, Israel, the region’s only nuclear-armed state, has vowed a “deadly, precise and surprising” response to Iran’s direct strike on Israeli territory on October 1.
Tehran, meanwhile, has significantly ramped up its nuclear program and now has enough material to build more than three atomic bombs, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Tehran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and designed to produce energy.
“The logic of deterrence is firmly entrenched in countries that have nuclear weapons,” said Tertrais, adding however that the risk of atomic bomb use “is no greater now than five years ago.”
Standard nuclear doctrine — developed during the Cold War between super powers the United States and the Soviet Union — is based on the assumption that such weapons will never have to be used because their impact is so devastating, and because nuclear retaliation would probably bring similar destruction on the original attacker.
This is why China has never given up its “no first strike” doctrine, said Lukasz Kulesa, Director of Proliferation and Nuclear Policy at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
Other countries have also signalled that nuclear arms use would be a last resort while not ruling it out completely to maintain credibility in the eyes of opponents, said Kulesa.
But keeping a safe balance between threat and restraint can never be risk-free, he warned.
“There is always a possibility of failure. There is also a possibility of inadvertent escalation that can go all the way to the nuclear level,” Kulesa said.
Countries possessing nuclear weapons today are the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.
Israel is also widely assumed to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons, although it has never officially acknowledged this.
Nobel Peace Prize winners warn of rising risk of nuclear war
Updated 12 October 2024
Reuters
TOKYO: Leaders of the group of atomic bomb survivors awarded the Nobel Peace Prize warned on Saturday that the risk of nuclear war was rising, renewing their call to abolish nuclear weapons.
“The international situation is getting progressively worse, and now wars are being waged as countries threaten the use of nuclear weapons,” said Shigemitsu Tanaka, a survivor of the 1945 US bombing of Nagasaki and co-head of the Nihon Hidankyo group.
“I fear that we as humankind are on the path to self-destruction. The only way to stop that is to abolish nuclear,” he said.
In awarding the survivors, the Norwegian Nobel Committee highlighted the devastation of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese group’s decades-long work to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
The group’s endeavours have critical importance in the world today, the committee said. It did not specify any countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signalled last month that Moscow would consider responding with nuclear weapons if the US and its allies allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with long-range Western missiles.
Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris on handling Israel, Ukraine wars, WSJ poll shows
The poll published on Friday showed Harris and Trump tied across the seven states that could decide the November presidential election
Updated 12 October 2024
Reuters
Former Republican President Donald Trump has an edge over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on who would better navigate the country through the Ukraine and Middle East wars, a Wall Street Journal opinion poll of seven battleground states showed.
In overall support, the poll published on Friday showed Harris and Trump tied across the seven states that could decide the November presidential election.
The poll showed Harris with marginal 2 percentage point leads in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, Trump up 6 points in Nevada and 1 in Pennsylvania, and the two tied in North Carolina and Wisconsin. The poll of 600 registered voters in each state conducted on Sept. 28-Oct. 8 had a margin of error of 4 percentage points in each state.
The neck-and-neck results echo other polls reflecting a tight race before the Nov. 5 election as Americans grapple with concerns about the economy, immigration, women’s rights and the nation’s democratic values in picking between the two candidates.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week also found Trump and Harris locked in a close race nationally, with Harris marginally ahead 46 percent to 43 percent.
Surveys of swing state voters can be an important indicator given that state-by-state results of the Electoral College will determine the winner, with the seven battleground states likely being decisive.
Harris would win a narrow majority in the Electoral College if she captures the states where she holds an edge in the WSJ’s poll.
According to the WSJ poll, Trump leads Harris in the seven swing states 50 percent to 39 percent on who is best able to handle Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump also has a 48 percent to 33 percent lead over Harris on who is better suited to handle the Israel-Hamas war.
More voters said they backed Trump on the economy and immigration while more said Harris would do a better job when it comes to housing, health care and caring about people like them, the WSJ poll found.
