-
Recently Browsing 0 members
- No registered users viewing this page.
-
Topics
-
-
-
Popular Contributors
-
1
-
2
-
3
.thumb.jpeg.d2d19a66404642fd9ff62d6262fd153e.jpeg)
-
4
-
5
-
-
-
Latest posts...
-
1
Report Cambodian PM Hun Manet Prepares for Migrant Worker Repatriation from Thailand
These people are earning far more money in Thailand than they can do back home in Cambodia and most of them literally won't give a crap about some border dispute that their lords and masters have. I'm in Phnom Penh now with the Mrs and she often speaks to Tuk Tuk drivers and other Cambodians who can speak Thai because they learned it long ago while doing such work. They were very happy with the outcome of their time spent in Thailand and the extra money they earned allowed them to purchase tuk tuks, open small businesses, etc, etc. There will be no exodus no matter what happens. -
5,303
-
0
Accident Escalator Incident in Nakhon Si Thammarat: Pupil’s Foot Trapped in Shopping Mall Incident
Pictured courtesy of ThaiRath A student suffered injuries after his right foot was trapped in an escalator at a major shopping centre in Nakhon Si Thammarat on the evening of 14 June. The incident occurred at around 19:00 on the third floor of Sahathai Plaza, located on Sriprach Road in the city centre. Local police from the Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat Police Station, along with rescue volunteers from the Tai Tek Tung Foundation, were called to the scene and found the 12-year-old boy with his foot caught in the metal teeth of the escalator step. He was wearing standard canvas school shoes at the time. Rescue workers and the mall’s maintenance team used specialised cutting tools to carefully free the boy’s foot, a process that took considerable time due to the complexity of the entrapment. After being extricated, the boy was given first aid at the scene before being rushed to Nakhon Hospital. Initial reports indicate that the boy had come to the mall to visit his mother, who works there. While ascending from the third to the fourth floor to meet her, the front of his right foot reportedly slipped and became lodged in the edge of the escalator. Fortunately, the escalator’s built-in safety mechanism activated automatically, halting its movement when it detected an obstruction. While this may have prevented further damage, the strength of the machinery still caused injuries, including several fractured toe bones and torn ligaments. Medical staff later confirmed that surgery would be required to assess and repair the damage. The boy’s canvas school shoes offered a little protection. Authorities have warned parents and children to exercise caution when using escalators and to remain aware of safety risks. Adapted by Asean Now from ThaiRath 2025-06-16 -
0
UK Cambridge University Faces Backlash discriminating against white job seekers
The University of Cambridge is facing allegations of discriminatory hiring practices against white applicants following the resurfacing of internal guidance that promotes increased representation of underrepresented groups in recruitment. Critics argue that the framework, while intended to foster inclusion, may cross a line into unfair treatment of candidates based on race or gender. The controversy centers on the university’s “diverse recruitment framework,” a document that advises departments to “try to ensure” at least one candidate from an underrepresented group is invited to interview for each job vacancy. If the candidate longlist is deemed insufficiently diverse—such as being composed entirely of white or male applicants—departments are encouraged to consider re-advertising the position. The framework further states that interview panels should be “diverse both in gender and race” and made up of individuals who have completed training in equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI), and unconscious bias. This advice, in place since 2019, is echoed word for word in hiring instructions provided to academic staff. Critics have voiced concerns that the guidance may amount to discrimination against white or male applicants. Edward Skidelsky, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Exeter and director of the Committee for Academic Freedom, stated, “This is one of the worst cases we have come across of EDI interference in what should be a purely academic process. Favouritism towards women and non-whites demeans them, and encourages the very prejudices it is intended to overcome.” Documents obtained by The Telegraph suggest that the policy discourages panels composed entirely of “white males” or individuals with a “particular career track record.” It also instructs recruiters to reflect on their own biases and the university’s EDI commitments before and after interviews. A source familiar with the university’s EDI committee expressed serious concerns, stating, “I joined the committee, wanting to see what was actually going on and maybe prevent things from going off the rails. When I got there, I discovered it was already off the rails.” The same source added, “If you criticise it, you’re just seen as a bad person,” and claimed to have witnessed cases where white men were discouraged from applying due to their race or gender. The University of Cambridge has strongly denied these allegations. A spokesperson said, “Every candidate is recruited based on merit. We have no quotas for staff recruitment and strongly refute claims of discriminating against white and male job applicants. Our ‘diverse recruitment framework’ is a guidance document aimed at ensuring that all suitably qualified candidates are encouraged to apply for roles at Cambridge – not to dictate the outcome of recruitment. Use of this guidance, including training recommendations, is not mandated in our recruitment policy.” Despite this defense, concerns persist within the academic community. Professor David Abulafia, professor emeritus of Mediterranean history at Cambridge, called the guidance “arrant nonsense” and warned, “The sheer fanaticism of the bureaucracy at Cambridge and the craven submission of academics to their arrant nonsense spells the end of a once great university.” Professor John Marenbon, a philosopher and fellow of Trinity College, added, “Academic appointments should be made solely on the basis of academic merit. Academics who do otherwise betray their calling.” Cambridge’s EDI action plan sets goals to increase applications from ethnic minority candidates, aiming for at least 8 percent in academic and research roles, and 30 percent for professional services posts. Although recruitment is managed at the departmental level, it remains governed by a university-wide policy framework. Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Telegraph 2025-06-16 -
0
UK The Vaccine Whisperer: How One Doctor Is Rebuilding Trust in Immunisation
The Vaccine Whisperer: How One Doctor Is Rebuilding Trust in Immunisation Several times a week, Professor Elizabeth Whittaker invites hesitant parents into her clinic and begins what she calls a gentle, open conversation about vaccinating their children. “Every vaccine’s a win,” she says, “The most important thing is to be kind and to listen. I will often say, ‘I hear your child’s not vaccinated. Do you want to tell me about it?’” As a leading paediatric infectious disease and immunology expert and the research director for West London Children’s Healthcare, Whittaker is at the forefront of the UK’s battle against declining childhood vaccination rates. The stakes are high. Coverage for critical childhood vaccines like the six-in-one jab has fallen from 89% in 2014 to 83%, while MMR uptake is down from 88% to 84%. Measles, she warns, is extraordinarily contagious: “It knocks Covid out of the water. If you put ten unvaccinated people in a room with one infected person, nine of them will get measles.” Reframing risk is key. “However bad any side-effects of the vaccine are, the side-effects of the disease are much worse. People will say they had the Covid vaccine and then caught Covid and I will say, ‘Yes but you didn’t end up in intensive care or die, so it worked.’” Whittaker sees parents often arrive defensive, feeling judged before the conversation even begins. “There’s a huge amount of uncertainty and anxiety that whatever they do, they’re wrong,” she explains. Online misinformation and community-specific fears make her job harder. She recalls parents whose children were hospitalised with measles or whooping cough yet still refused vaccination due to what they’d heard in their communities. “My sister still thinks that her child is autistic because they had the vaccine. And so I don’t want to risk that for my child,” one parent told her, referencing the widely debunked claims of Andrew Wakefield. Even families newly arrived in the UK are not immune. One Somali family, previously living in Norway where MMR uptake exceeds 95%, stopped vaccinating their children after moving to London and engaging with local community fears about autism. Others come to her well-prepared for a debate, citing questionable websites. Whittaker challenges them respectfully: “You don’t know the credentials of the people who’ve put this stuff on the internet. Can I show you evidence-based websites?” Concerns also include the number of early childhood vaccines. “Then I talk about the fact that the minute we are born we are exposed to gazillions of bugs everywhere. Our immune system is designed to look at them and manage them.” On Covid-19 vaccines, she notes: “Normally vaccine development takes 20 years, but all the normal stages of vaccine research were done, they just did them in parallel on an accelerated timeline.” In her clinic at St Mary’s Hospital in Westminster — where MMR coverage is just 64.3% — she sees the consequences of low vaccination rates. Measles cases that require intensive care, the return of meningococcal disease, and whooping cough in newborns. “In newborn babies, it’s awful. They get this massive white cell count, their lungs get clogged. They get clogging of the blood vessels in their brain and their hearts give up.” Whittaker, who has worked across continents, sees that low uptake is not limited to any one group. “Orthodox Jewish communities have really poor uptake. Romanian communities have really poor uptake, other black and ethnic minorities have poor uptake. And they all have different reasons.” She emphasises that mandatory vaccination isn’t the answer. “What works is education and communication.” She has seen the worst of these diseases. “We had two or three children a week with meningococcal disease. What kills them is the fact that they go into massive sepsis and they go purple and they lose limbs. So I have a whole cohort of children who I still follow up who lost fingers or thumbs.” Many younger doctors have never seen these cases. “That is vaccination. Vaccines have been the single most important thing we have done in health in the last 30 years.” Citing The Lancet, she notes over 154 million deaths have been prevented globally since 1974 through vaccination — including 146 million children. “They have worked really well here in the UK,” Whittaker says. “We don’t want to lose that advantage.” Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Times 2025-06-16 -
0
USA Trump's Crypto Windfall: President Reports $57 Million in Earnings from Digital Token
Trump's Crypto Windfall: Former President Reports $57 Million in Earnings from Digital Token Sales Donald Trump earned an estimated $57 million in 2024 from the sale of digital tokens through his stake in the crypto firm World Liberty Financial, marking a lucrative early return from his expanding involvement in the digital asset space. This financial detail was included in the president's annual disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics, which also highlighted Trump’s extensive wealth and diversified revenue streams. A Wall Street Journal analysis of the disclosure revealed Trump’s assets to be worth approximately $1.7 billion, though this figure may be on the conservative side, as the Journal calculated totals using the low end of the valuation ranges provided in the report. Trump’s earnings came from a wide variety of sources including real estate, licensing deals, and technology investments. However, it’s his burgeoning crypto portfolio that is generating the most attention. World Liberty Financial, backed by the Trump family, launched in September and has quickly broadened its presence across the crypto landscape. In the early months of 2025, the company introduced a dollar-pegged stablecoin, designed to offer a 1:1 exchange with fiat currency, making it suitable for both digital transactions and crypto investments. The Trump family’s digital ventures didn’t stop there. In March, they unveiled American Bitcoin, a bitcoin-mining company that has since raised over $2 billion in capital. Additional initiatives include the launch of memecoins and a high-profile dinner hosted by Trump for the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP token, illustrating the president’s growing influence within the crypto community. Critics have raised concerns that Trump’s deepening business activities, particularly in crypto, could represent conflicts of interest, especially since he has simultaneously advocated for looser regulatory oversight of the sector. “President Trump, Vice President Vance, and senior White House staff have completed required ethics briefings and financial reporting obligations,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is committed to transparency and accessibility for the American people.” Beyond his digital ventures, Trump also collected around $1.2 million in licensing fees from NFT INT LLC, the company responsible for marketing his line of digital trading cards. His more conventional business endeavors also performed strongly. Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, brought in about $50 million, while Trump Endeavor 12, a Miami-based golf and resort business, earned $110 million. He also gained $1.3 million in royalties from the sale of the “God Bless the USA Bible,” branded with his name and promoted by country singer Lee Greenwood. Other branded merchandise—including Trump-themed sneakers, fragrances, watches, and guitars—also added significantly to his income. Trump earned $2.5 million from footwear and colognes, $2.8 million from watch sales, and another $1 million from guitars. These products are not produced by the Trump Organization itself but through licensing arrangements with third-party manufacturers. In terms of traditional investments, Trump held stakes in high-profile firms such as Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Broadcom, and Exxon Mobil. His portfolio also included government securities such as U.S. Treasurys and municipal bonds. Vice President JD Vance, a vocal supporter of the crypto sector, also disclosed holdings between $250,001 and $500,000 in bitcoin and earned up to $100,000 in royalties from his best-selling memoir Hillbilly Elegy. The financial filings underline how Trump, now a central figure in American politics and finance, continues to shape markets and public policy through both his business acumen and his political influence. Adapted by ASEAN Now from WSJ 2025-06-16
-
-
Popular in The Pub
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now