Sa-teef

From Instagram and nicked off the Smokeroom.com

Some pics this week nicked off my favorite target: Sputnik. https://sputniknews.com/photo/201810191069021367-week-pictures-october/ Models demonstrate the Speranza Couture from the Nadezda Yusupova collection at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall as part of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. Damaged cars are pictured the day after floods hit the town of Trebes, southern France. French officials say the flash floods that swept through the southwest Aude region largely claimed elderly victims, who were seemingly caught off-guard by the sudden torrents. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow takes part in the consecration of a Minsk temple monument. Hot air balloons displayed on a square during the 2018 Outdoor Sports Conference in Xingyi in China's southwestern Guizhou province. Cheerleaders at a European Cup match between BC UNICS (Russia, Kazan) and BC "Torino" (Italy, Turin). Security personnel are seen at the site of a train derailment in Sidi Bouknadel, near the Moroccan capital Rabat, Morocco. A young tigress named Alex and an Amur tiger cub named Taigan, brought from the Crimean park Taigan, in an open-air cage in the zoo Sadgorod in Vladivostok. Maria Voronina dives for the ball alongside Maria Bocharova during play in the Beach Volleyball Women's Gold Medal match at the Beach Volleyball Arena, Green Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina. An Afghan woman walks with a child in the old city of Herat province, Afghanistan. A road in the Teberda Nature Reserve, a Russian 'zapovednik' located in the western region of the Caucasus Mountains. Boats sail past Victory Lighthouse during the 50th Barcolana regatta in the Gulf of Trieste. With some 2,700 vessels, the Barcolana has the most participants of any sailing regatta in the world. A Dallas Cowboys cheerleader performs in the first half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Arlington, Texas.

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer -October 18, 2018 11:53 am Army chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong speaks to reporters Wednesday in Bangkok. BANGKOK — The refusal by Thailand’s new army chief to disavow another military coup drew a heated response Thursday. Former Pheu Thai Party MP Watana Muangsook said the army chief, who spoke to reporters for the first time Wednesday since assuming command earlier this month, is already placing himself above the law and damaging the investment climate. “It shows that the army leader is autocratic and acts above the law because such remarks during the interview were a threat to use force to overthrow [the government] or change the constitution, which is a crime of treason under Article 113 of the Penal Code,” Wattana said in comments published online. Gen. Apirat Kongsompong on Wednesday refused to commit to not staging another military coup when asked by a reporter if how he would handle another political crisis such as that which precipitated the 2014 coup that brought the current ruling junta to power. “I am confident that if politics does not cause a riot, there won’t be any. Thailand has had more than 10 coups, but it’s no longer like in the past, because the recent ones occurred due to politics,” Apiwat said. The new army chief, himself the son of the general who led the 1991 coup, assumed the all-powerful position on Oct. 1. He also defended current junta leader-cum-prime minister, saying he believes that Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha did not intend to stage a coup over four years ago. “I truly believe Gen. Prayuth never wanted to as well, but he had to sacrifice himself. What would have happened if Gen. Prayuth did not decide to stage the coup?” said the army chief, adding that he hopes there will be no future political violence. Others on Facebook expressed anger at Apirat’s non-committal stance. “An ungrateful guy! I’m a taxpayer!” Facebook user Kanonkkorn Onlamri wrote. “I can’t believe that he would dare speak this way. They don’t respect the people who pay their salaries through taxes,” Facebook user Poom Pattara wrote.

08/13/2018 News The Isaan Record Despite the jail sentence, Nittaya Muangklang is determined to continue the fight for the land rights of her community. CHAIYAPHUM – A court in Chaiyaphum handed down the longest prison sentence to date against a member of a forest community threatened by eviction in Sai Thong National Park. Nittaya Muangklang, a prominent land rights activist, was sentenced to 12 months jail time and fines totalling 140,000 baht as part of a legal campaign that may seal the fate of dozens of families in the protected forest area. On August 8, Chaiyaphum Provincial Court found Ms. Nittaya guilty on two counts of trespassing. For the first count the court sentenced her to eight months in prison and to pay damages of 100,000 baht. For the second count she received four months in prison and a fine of 40,000 baht. The court ordered her to immediately vacate the land concerned in both cases. Ms. Nittaya is one of 14 villagers on trial for trespassing on national park territory after they disobeyed orders to abandon their farmland in 2016. The 35-year-old cassava farmer has been leading the community against the authorities’ push for eviction based on the military government’s forest reclamation policy. The policy compelled Forestry Department officers across the country to sue forest communities for trespassing under the Forestry Act 1941, the National Forest Act 1952 and the National Parks Act 1961. Ms. Nittaya was the first to be taken to court in the fight for her community’s land rights. She was joined in the dock by her mother, two sisters, and other neighbours. In addition to Ms. Nittaya, three other villagers have been sentenced so far this year. Sab Wai community members gathered at Chaiyaphum Provincial Court to provide moral support to the defendants. On May 17, Sinuan Phasang was sentenced to five months and 10 days in prison and fined 150,000 baht in damages. On May 25, Pattama Gomed was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined 250,000 baht in damages. On May 26, Somphit Thaennok was sentenced to ten months in prison and fined 100,000 baht in damages. The court ordered the three villagers to vacate the land on which their homes and crops sit. Lawyers representing the three defendants secured their release on bail with aid from the Chaiyaphum Justice Fund. Ms. Nittaya was released on bail that was also supplied by the Chaiyaphum Justice Fund. All of the defendants intend to appeal. Reporting by Sarayut Rittipin. Translated and edited by The Isaan Record.

Snapped on Saturday.

Good rain shower in Pattaya just past noon Monday, the 22nd of October. But bright sun before and after the rain.

Mostly snapped today, the 31st of August in Pattaya.

VOA 31 Aug 2018, 00:05 GMT+10 JAKARTA - As Indonesia's health ministry undertakes a huge campaign to immunize 70 million children against rubella and measles, critics say those efforts have been complicated by an edict issued by the country's top Muslim clerical body, Indonesian Ulema Council, declaring some of the vaccine's ingredients as forbidden by Islam. While the quasi-governmental body's edict, a fatwa, did not explicitly prohibit Indonesian Muslims from using the vaccine, experts are warning it is having consequences for immunization efforts in poorer, more religiously conservative parts of the nation and its more than 18,000 islands, threatening to derail the $100 million campaign supported by the World Health Organization (WHO). The measles-rubella (MR) vaccine that Jakarta is rolling out is produced by the Serum Institute in India, the only manufacturer capable of producing a quality vaccine in the quantity required by Indonesia, and contains materials derived from pigs, which are considered forbidden for consumption by Muslims. Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease which causes a rash and fever and can be deadly for babies and young children, while rubella exhibits similar symptoms and can cause death or serious birth defects for the fetus if contracted by a pregnant mother. Congenital deafness is most commonly caused by rubella during pregnancy. FILE - An Indonesian child receives a shot of measles vaccine in Banyusoco village near Gunung Kidul, Indonesia. The Saudi-based Islamic Advisory Group for Polio Eradication, a grouping of religious scholars, Islamic institutions, and researchers whose aim is to stamp out the disease among Muslim communities worldwide, has recommended the use of vaccines containing generally banned ingredients if there is no other form available. "Parents (have) the sharia obligation of vaccinating their children," Abbas Shouman, undersecretary of Egypt's Al-Azhar, considered one of the world's preeminent authorities on the interpretation of Islamic law, said in 2015. His institution has spearheaded the advisory group's eradication efforts. UNICEF officials say the MR vaccination is currently administered in 143 countries, including nearly 30 that are majority Muslim. In Indonesia, however, the powerful Indonesian Ulema Council, known as MUI, seeks to halal-certify all products imported and made in Indonesia, including vaccines. Its latest fatwa said that while the vaccine contained elements that would be otherwise generally prohibited by Islam, the immunization was ultimately permissible for Indonesian Muslims..... https://www.vietnamtribune.com/news/257917602/islamic-edict-threatens-to-derail-indonesian-immunization-efforts

30 Aug 2018, 07:42 GMT+10 The collapse of a spillway of a dam in central Myanmar's Bago region early Wednesday caused flooding that killed one woman and left six others missing as it submerged roughly 60 villages and affected more than 63,400 people, a regional lawmaker said. Those displaced by the breaching of the spillways of the Swar dam in Swar township have moved to Yedashe and Taungoo townships where they are staying in monasteries or temporary camps after their houses were partly or completely inundated with water."It wasn't the dam that broke; it was the spillway that regulates the release of water from the levee that broke at around 4:20 a.m. due to heavy seasonal rainfall," regional lawmaker Kyaw Kyaw told RFA's Myanmar Service.Spillways, or overflow channels, allow for the controlled release of water flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area to ensure that the water does not overflow and damage or destroy the dam. "Swar town was submerged at around 10 a.m., and six people were swept away by the waters while they crossed a road," Kyaw Kyaw said. "No one could save them. One woman died in the evening.""Authorities didn't issue a warning about the possibility of danger from the dam, and people had to run away when [the flooding] occurred," he said. "We have to discuss this in parliament and question why it occurred and why they didn't warn people about it." Meanwhile, engineers say they can control the water but that Yedashe township may be submerged if more heavy rain falls over the next few days."If the water flows into Sittaung River, it will be OK, but if not, the downstream areas of Taungoo, Shwegyin, and Madauk will be in danger of being submerged," Kyaw Kyaw said. A bridge along the Yangon-Mandalay highway is damaged by raging floodwater in the Swar River in central Myanmar's Bago region, Aug. 29, 2018. Credit: RFA Bridge damage on main highwayThe Yangon-Mandalay and Yangon-Naypyidaw highways were closed because of high water levels, the Ministry of Construction announced.Surging floodwater swelled the Swar River beneath an elevated section of the Yangon-Mandalay highway, a major thoroughfare in Myanmar, causing the lanes for southbound vehicles to buckle and bringing traffic in both directions to a standstill...... https://www.vietnamtribune.com/news/257911707/myanmar-dam-breach-kills-one-displaces-more-than-63000 Some pics from other sources......

A few from my favorite online place to nick pics, Sputnik. "The carnival has been held every year since 1966 and is one of the largest festivals of its kind in Europe, with tens of thousands of revelers flocking together to celebrate Caribbean culture on the streets of the British capital. The annual Notting Hill Carnival was held in London on August 26 and 27. The event, led by members of the British West Indian community, attracts up to one million people every year." Hows that for a circuitous route to see a festival in the UK? Performers in costume take part in the Notting Hill Carnival in west London on August 27, 2018. Revelers take part in the Notting Hill Carnival in London, UK, on August 27, 2018. Carnival performers in costume wait in a preparation area ahead of their appearance on the main parade day of the Notting Hill Carnival in west London on August 27, 2018. Carnival performers in costume pose for a photograph ahead of their appearance on the main parade day of the Notting Hill Carnival in west London on August 27, 2018.

August 24, 2018 12:20 pm LOPBURI — A young soldier beaten into a coma by his superior officers earlier this week is now brain dead, his family said Friday. Hope that Pvt. Kacha Pacha, 22, who was beaten senseless in an army barracks Tuesday, would recover from his injuries dimmed after brain activity could no longer be detected on his third day of hospitalization. “I heard on Thursday morning he was getting better, moving his hands and feet. I was happy all day, but after his brain stopped working, I still can’t come to terms with it,” his 48-year-old father, Komchun Pacha, said. Komchun was among Kacha’s relatives who visited the barracks Friday morning where he was assaulted to hold a tearful ceremony calling out to the deceased 22-year-old husband and father. “Come back to your wife and kids, come see your parents, my child,” his mother, who was not named, can be heard crying out in a live-stream video of their visit. Wansina Boonta, pregnant with their second child, told the media yesterday they forgave three senior soldiers, including Lt. Col. Monchai Yimyoo, who prostrated and plead for forgiveness at Kacha’s hospital bedside Thursday, saying that they “did not intend for this to happen.” He said the family forgave them because they did not want vengeance. “I’m not vengeful, angry or blaming Lt. Col. Monchai,” Kacha’s father, 48-year-old Komchun Pacha, said Thursday night. “I see it as an unavoidable accident that stemmed from fleeting emotions that weren’t handled maturely. I would like to thank Lt. Col. Monchai for coming to help take care of Kacha and us all day.” The three soldiers asked the Pacha family not to go public with the story, but the family said they talked to the media for fear no justice would be served, as happened after the death of 19-year-old cadet Pakapong Tanyakan last year. His family cried foul after his body was returned by the military missing vital organs – including tissue paper stuffed into his skull. The army has denied responsibility and said he fell down some stairs..... .........Violence against lower-ranking soldiers and recruits are a perennial problem in Thailand’s military. Each year, several stories enter the national conversation to be dismissed by senior military leaders and little serious effort at reform. Army higher-ups have tried to distance Kacha’s assault from the organization.“It’s not hazing. The army has no hazing these days. This is a personal dispute between young men,” Gen. Chalermchai Sitthisart, army commander-in-chief said. “Don’t worry. Physical abuse happens when soldiers fight, but if someone is wrong we will proceed accordingly.” http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2018/08/24/senior-soldiers-apologize-for-beating-private-into-coma/ ----------------------------- The officers apologized and that will be the end of it.

Rather than work for a living, let's blow all our money on what we see on a "lucky golden turtle"? NAKHON RATCHASIMA — A shiny, money-colored reptile was giving Isaan residents hope ahead of Wednesday’s lotto results. "As the bimonthly lottery results draw near, Baan Talad Jiab Village residents were pinning their hopes on lucky numbers they claimed to see on the back of a turtle’s golden shell. They’re hoping the digits they spotted on the animal – which merchant Pranom Panichcharoen picked up by the roadside in Phimai district – will shower them in millions. “While driving back from the market one night, I saw it and picked it up, afraid a car would run it over. Only when I turned on the car light did I see it was golden,” Pranom said. “I believe it brings us all luck. All the elders said they’ve never seen a turtle this color here before.” In the last lottery round, Pranom said several people from her neighborhood reportedly won lottery prizes due to the turtle, prompting an even larger group of venerators this time. Visitors took turns to hold the reptile up, measure it and give it offerings....." http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2018/08/29/isaan-lotto-faithful-venerate-lucky-golden-turtle/ ------------ ---sigh---

Update: August, 29/2018 - 11:36 Viet Nam News WASHINGTON — As Washington and Ottawa resumed trade talks on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would only sign a new trade pact that was good for his country. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was upbeat in Washington after meeting US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, saying that "detailed" discussions to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement as a three-nation deal would begin the following day. After months of intense talks, the United States and Mexico announced an agreement on Monday to thoroughly overhaul the 25-year-old free trade pact, but President Donald Trump suggested he could cut out Ottawa. "We will engage in a positive way and look forward to ultimately signing a deal as long as it’s good for Canada and good for middle class Canadians,” Trudeau told reporters on Tuesday. Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto and President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador both said NAFTA should remain a trilateral deal.The outlines of a NAFTA 2.0 are now on paper, including new provisions on auto trade with higher percentage of locally-produced components, tougher worker protections and a provision to review the deal every six years.But sticking points remain with Canada, including its dairy market and how to handle some disputes among NAFTA partners. Freeland told reporters that "tough decisions" taken by Mexico, which agreed to wage hikes for some auto workers and tougher labor protections, among other matters, had eased matters for Canada and the United States. Mexico’s effort "clears the way for us to have some significant, substantive, and, I think, productive conversations with the US this week," Freeland said. Canadian and Mexican officials were also due to meet on Tuesday evening, Freeland said. Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite NAFTA but in the last five weeks Washington and Mexico City held talks to resolve their bilateral issues, especially on the auto industry rules, without Ottawa. Trump stressed Monday that he could go ahead without Ottawa in the new agreement, adding that he would take a tough line with Canada on autos and dairy tariffs -- long a source of tension between the neighboring countries. But Trudeau vowed not to give in to Washington’s demands to dismantle Canada’s supply-managed dairy market."My position on defending supply management has not changed. We will defend supply management," Trudeau said. ------------------------------------ 555....This has a very positive spin on it. Justina and Christine are shittin' bricks at the moment. The trade deal with Mexico makes it a "take it or leave it" situation for the Canucks. The truth is....30% of the Canadian economy is dependent upon trade with the US. and Justina has been sleeping with the Chinese for years now, importing auto parts assembled in Canada and shipping them to the US under the old NAFTA agreement without tariff. This will stop. "...Canada's provinces are in large part overwhelmingly dependent on keeping the borders open with the U.S. Forty-nine per cent of Ontario's gross domestic product depends on trade with the United States. For Quebec, that number is 23 per cent. For Alberta, it's 31 per cent. Professor Tombe's calculations divided the value of cross-border import and export trade in each state or province by the jurisdiction's gross domestic product. He used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Canada's Innovation Department and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Canada-U.S. trade matters much more for Canada than the United States," Prof. Tombe said.>..." https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/how-much-trade-leverage-does-canada-really-have-with-united-states/article34014567/ "By choosing politics over fundamental trade economics Justin and Chrystia from Canada have painted themselves into an isolated position on the renegotiated North American Trade deal. Here’s the basic Canadian conundrum. The U.S. and Mexico have agreed to manufacturing origination terms; wage and labor improvements; elimination of AG subsidies and non tariff barriers; and removal of all protectionist tariffs – so long as the structural terms of commerce are upheld. In order for Canada to join the U.S. Mexico deal they would need to: (1) eliminate soft-wood subsidies in the lumber sector; (2) eliminate protectionist tariffs in the AG (Dairy) sector; (3) accept the 75% rules of origin, eliminating the NAFTA loophole; (4) agree to the enforcement mechanisms for all the above; (5) allow U.S. banks to operate in Canada (financial sector). Each of these five issues, now locked-in and agreed by the U.S. and Mexico are “take-it-or-leave-it” terms for Canada to join. There’s almost no-way, given the politicization of the Canadian plan, for Justin and Chrystia to agree to those terms and keep their fragmented political support base appeased. Therefore, absent total acquiescence, it is likely Canada will keep their soft-wood lumber subsidies, keep their protectionist Dairy tariffs, keep their banking rules blocking U.S. access, and face a 25% duty on U.S. auto imports – effectively destroying their auto manufacturing sector. Car companies (ex. Toyota) will simply leave Canada and return to building/assembling in the U.S. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/page/2/ ---------------------------------------- The moral of the story: if you aren't getting your news from a variety of sources, you really don't know if you are getting the straight scoop.

It rained on the afternoon of the 26th just as I was about to head home. So I stuck around and got some "rain shots". TGs are like cats and hate getting wet! 555

Snapped on the 26th of August.... ....