attento

Many a putsch has occurred when the leader is out of the country.

It is extremely unlikely that any person in China would dare to make any public statement without the tacit approval of the CCP.

I am wondering if this announcement is part of the insistent CCP narrative that Covid originated from some person eating bats, or MORE LIKELY, introduced by some foreign agency to damage China's unquestionably high reputation.

It must NEVER be attributed to a leak from the Virus Research Lab, where they do extensive research on ..... bats,    and which just happens to be located in the city where it all started.

Mere speculation on my part, of course.

' UAE requires construction workers '

Could be  to fill the shoes of the  dead Filipinos, and others, who suffered under the treatment of cheap labour imports in that country during the build up to the Football World Cup ?

Known side effects.

'There is evidence that use during pregnancy may result in harm to the baby' .......... Wiki

Not licenced for use in USA or UK..

Licenced for use  in Russia, Egypt and Thailand

Be Careful.

Alcoholism.................

Drug addiction........

Target these, above prostitution, surely.

10 hours ago, JoePai said:

Just pee on the wound - far easier

Depends where the wound is located ... and/or  if you have 'good friends' nearby.

Who gives honest answers to surveys ? Especially boasting  youths !

3 hours ago, mrfill said:

Gosh, behaving just like the British did 150 years ago.

Did the British expect Siam to pay for the infrastructure they supplied ?

Not sure.

17C or 18C - a period of 200 years.

Europe has many countries, and many styles within each country.

Freezing Scandinavian winters to hot southern Europe.

Palace or cottage.

You might consider narrowing your choices, but I guess you already have a specific style in mind.

Wish you every success with this ambitious project

There have been comments here to the effect that China was able to halt Covid in 77 days.  Sadly, this is far from the truth. There are ongoing outbursts of Covid in many of China's provinces, but the official News Agencies have been instructed to censor all reports of them.  I receive frequent messages on WeChat (using VPN to evade censorship) about new Covid outbreaks.  However, authorities are at least giving these localised outbreaks rapid attention and essential treatment.

To think that anyone or any one country can eliminate the Covid virus is to misunderstand the nature of viruses.  This position may be reached at some far distant date, as a result of worldwide collaboration, but until then,  the virus is alive and well. 

The interesting question is what is the real reason that China is selling vaccine abroad but failing to make serious inroads on vaccinating it's own people at home ?

There are two different issues to consider.   Efficacy and Safety.   They are not the same.

There is a genuine problem with the term "Temporary".

It is one thing to refuse entry to boat loads of immigrants, but it would be a totally different matter to put them back in the boats and push them out to sea again, when the "temporary" stay is over. Does the government take over the role that was started by the racketeers? If so, how can the government pursue the original racketeers if they are going to behave in the same manner?

Burma contains a number of groups / tribes who do not recognise the central administration and as a result have been persecuted by the central government and it's military forces. For example, the Karen is just one of the hill tribes conducting a low-level civil war. It is too simplistic to try and interpret historic racial/tribal problems by looking at relatively recent national boundaries. The Rohingya people have been living in north west Burma and southern Bangladesh for many more centuries then some contributors here would have us believe ( my guess they didn't get far beyond the first para of their wiki search )

These are very complex problems, and glib or ill-researched answers maybe amusing, but will not provide a resolution

How many years ago were these national parks or forest reserves created ?

Not recently. What's been happening up to now ?

Why couldn't the previous administration have sorted this "problem", with their well-publicised sympathy and affinity for the rural poor ?

This is the American movie industry, afterall.

It's all about entertainment, historical accuracy has scarcely ever been invovled.

The really sad thing is that so many movie viewers cannot tell the difference.

Welcome to the 21st Century.

Most governments have access to bank transactions, although few are prepared to admit it, and many would deny it.

The police should pull their heads up so we can see their faces. This business of covering the face in photos has to stop!

FACES should not he shown as long as they are a suspect. They have not been convicted yet.

Fine sentiment, but logically, this would mean the police cannot put photos on "wanted" posters, or mug-shots on TV to encourage people to turn them in ? Afterall, they are all innocent until proven guilty. The fact that they have been apprehended or not, neither proves nor disproves their innocence.

Maybe this sentiment is right . . . . . . . sometimes ?

That map reminds me of WW2 expansion maps. The red colour and arrow doesn't help

Look back in Chinese history further than WWII. The Chinese trader, traveller, explorer Zheng He created these blue lines on the map back in the 14 Century.

Now, the Chinese are attempting to re-establish dominance over the waters around south east Asia. Maybe Thailand has mis-understood China's position on this matter.

Yay........

Wondering also, If it rains during songkran, do they move the festivities indoors?

No. Festivities must be cancelled, dont want people to get wet

Another good reason to never, ever, ever drive any kind of vehicle in Thailand.

How old are you? Try living a normal, functional, family life here without a car.

Isn't this the reason we employ a driver ?

same old story will go on -this country was never a true democracy

Which County is? When the system only hears the voices of the bankers and big corporations then how is that considered democracy?

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea - now there's real democracy !

"" .... a genuine workers' state in which all the people are completely liberated from exploitation and oppression .... " N.Korea state website

There's poor and poor. Poor is a relative term. Poor compared to whom ?

If you have enough food, adequate shelter, access to health care, an acceptable life style, are your poor ?

In many societies being poor is not the same as being a loser.

But, why should any women accept a life partner who does not offer a life style at least the equivalent of that she has had before? That is a biological imperative, around which has been woven centuries of social wisdom.

In which country is absolute freedom of speech permitted ?

Each country has it's own boundaries to this "freedom".

Singapore is a democracy, so if enough voters wanted absolute freedom of speech, presumably they would have voted for it.

What they have voted for has resulted in a secure and prosperous nation. Not many of those in SE Asia !

There are questions about the dominance of the ruling PAP, but this is considered as the least corrupt nation in Asia.

Are these 2 sides of the same coin, or in no way related ?

No crops being harvested this month in CM.

So no stubble burning.

Rice has about 4-6 weeks growing to do, corn another month.

Stubble burning happens after the harvest.

Why do people keep writing this rubbish?

Hang on,

This writer is the one that used fake 'haze' photos of CM highway a week back.

Note to OP, if you want to be a real journalist, don't fake your photos.

PS

Here is a real photo of CM fields and the mountains behind taken this week.

Note:

1. Fields are totally green, no stubble to burn.

2. Can't see the mountains because of the smog.

Mountain farm methods are different than flatland. And it is the mountain farms that create the smoke this time of year. This is the driest period of the year and weeds and jungle plants are mainly dormant. So this is the time of year they clear the land with fire. Also this is the time of year they clear new areas of land which have not been farmed for a while or were not previously farm land at all. Stubble is part of it, but they don't burn after the harvest, they burn before planting because at that time the field will burn. The corn from the mountains get taken off with some of the rainy season remaining and lots of weeds will sprout before planting.

Mountain farms generally have no crops at this time of year, because it is hot and dry.

The OP photo doesn't look much like mountain farming.

...'security'....

..wonder what that translates to........

too frequently, means someone who is given distinctive work clothes and is prepared to do low-paid work at anti-social hours.