Politics
Thailand’s former queen Sirikit dies aged 93
BANGKOK: Thailand’s former Queen Sirikit, the mother of the current King Vajiralongkorn and wife of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late Friday at the age of 93, the palace said.
The royal family is venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide.
“It is a great loss to the nation,” said Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Saturday, adding that he would delay his departure to a weekend summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Malaysia.
Throughout her 66-year marriage to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Sirikit carved a dual reputation as a fashionista and the nation’s caring matriarch — with some Western media featuring her on magazine covers and comparing her to former US first lady Jackie Kennedy.
“I had heard that she had been unwell and, given that she was in her 90s, I knew this day would come,” 53-year-old housekeeper Sasis Putthasit said early Saturday in the capital, Bangkok.
“But I didn’t expect it to be today,” Sasis told AFP. “I feel sad because she was a mother figure to the country, and now she’s gone.”
Sirikit had “suffered several illnesses” while hospitalised since 2019, including a blood infection this month, the palace said in a statement.
“Her majesty’s condition worsened until Friday and she passed away… at Chulalongkorn hospital at age 93,” it added.
King Vajiralongkorn has assigned members of the royal family to begin a year-long mourning period, the palace said.
From early Saturday, Thai news anchors were seen wearing black during broadcasts, a sign of public mourning.
Her passing “marks a profoundly significant event for the Thai Royal Family and the entire nation, given her immense popularity and deep connection to the late king who remains deeply revered”, Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a former Thai diplomat and academic who studies the monarchy, told AFP.
‘Mother of the Nation’
King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s lengthy reign from 1946 until 2016 was bookended by World War II and the first inauguration of US President Donald Trump.
Though Bhumibol’s son inherited the throne about nine years ago, many still revere him as the nation’s most steadfast figurehead — and Sirikit as his constant companion.
She retired from the public eye in recent years as she suffered from ailing health, her privacy sealed by strict lese majeste laws that limit what can be reported about the royal family.
But in her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, she mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley, while at home touring Thailand to visit villagers in rural areas.
She was referred to as the “Mother of the Nation,” and her birthday was designated the country’s Mother’s Day.
Store owner Tanyaporn Arammetha, whose own parents divorced, said she always saw the late king and queen as parental figures.
“(Sirikit) showed me that she cared about Thai people the way parents love their children,” she said.
The reigning Chakri dynasty dates back to 1782, but the succession from King Vajiralongkorn is unclear as he has not formally named an heir.
He has seven children, including five sons — four from an earlier marriage who have been officially disowned, and his 20-year-old son Dipangkorn Rasmijoti.
While the royal family is still held in very high regard by most Thais, it faced unprecedented public dissent during street protests in 2020.
Tens of thousands of young protesters took to the streets demanding widespread political reforms, including changes to the monarchy — a public challenge to the royals’ status never seen in Thailand before.
Though Thailand’s constitution places the monarchy above politics, Sirikit drew public attention when she attended the funeral of a royalist protester in 2008.
When her husband King Bhumibol died, Thailand observed a year-long mourning period.
Authorities ordered flags to fly at half-mast for 30 days, banned weddings and concerts, and instructed citizens to wear black.
Former Queen Sirikit’s body will lie in state at the Grand Palace’s Dusit Thorne Hall in the capital Bangkok, according to the palace.
Frozen food company employee Siraphob Sutthisalakorn said Thailand had “lost two guiding figures” in Queen Sirikit and her husband King Bhumibol.
“They are watching us from heaven,” he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif expressed their deep sorrow over the passing Sirikit.
“On behalf of the Government and the people of Pakistan, the President conveyed heartfelt condolences to His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the Royal Family, and the people of Thailand,” President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press statement.
The president said the people of Pakistan share the grief of the Thai nation and stand with them in this time of loss.
PM Shehbaz, in a post on X, said “Deeply saddened at the passing of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, the beloved Queen Mother of Thailand.”
He said the people and Pakistan government joined him in extending their deepest condolences to King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the Royal Family, and the people of Thailand.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time of national grief,” he further added.
- Indian envoy summoned to express “grave concern”, says ministry.
- India dismissed reports of vandalism as “misleading propaganda”.
- Bangladesh-India ties deteriorate since ex-PM Hasina fled New Delhi.
DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned the top Indian envoy as fresh protests erupted outside its high commission in New Delhi over the mob lynching of a Hindu worker in Dhaka.
The garment worker was accused of blasphemy and lynched on December 18 as anti-India sentiment rises in the neighbouring majority Muslim nation. Seven suspects have been arrested over the killing.
On Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators converged near Bangladesh’s High Commission in New Delhi waving saffron flags and banners, including one that read: “Stop Killing Hindus in Bangladesh”.
“Hindus are warning Bangladesh that it is taking the wrong approach,” said Puneet Gautam, 37, a protester and member of the right-wing Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) organisation.
VHP members and security personnel clashed outside Dhaka’s outpost as the crowd shoved its way through yellow metal barricades around 300 metres from the building.
Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry had summoned Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma to express “grave concern” over previous protests outside its visa centres.
In its statement, the ministry cited “regrettable incidents” and vandalism outside its visa centres in New Delhi and Siliguri last week. India has dismissed reports of vandalism as “misleading propaganda”.
Ties between the neighbours have deteriorated since ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the pro-democracy uprising last year and sought refuge in India.
India says it is still considering Dhaka’s requests to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.
Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since the end of Hasina’s rule, with violence marring the campaigning ahead of next year’s election.
This month, parliamentary hopeful and vocal India critic Sharif Osman Hadi was shot by masked assailants in Dhaka, with unconfirmed reports suggesting his attackers might have fled to India.
The killing set off protests in Dhaka with arsonists torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India as well as a prominent cultural institution.
Mobs also pelted stones at the Indian High Commission in the port city of Chattogram, where India has since suspended visa services.
On Monday, Dhaka temporarily suspended visa services in Delhi.
Russia has urged Delhi and Dhaka to mend fences.
“The sooner this happens, the better,” Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Alexander G Khozin, was quoted as saying in the Dhaka Tribune.
An investigative reporter best known for exposing fraud at Silicon Valley blood-testing startup Theranos sued Elon Musk’s xAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Perplexity on Monday for using copyrighted books without permission to train their artificial intelligence systems.
New York Times reporter and “Bad Blood” author John Carreyrou filed the lawsuit in California federal court with five other writers, accusing the AI companies of pirating their books and feeding them into the large language models (LLMs) that power the companies’ chatbots.
The lawsuit is one of several copyright cases brought by authors and other copyright owners against tech companies over the use of their work in AI training. The case is the first to name xAI as a defendant.
Spokespeople for the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Unlike other pending cases, the writers are not seeking to band together in a larger class action – a type of lawsuit they said favours defendants by allowing them to negotiate a single settlement with many plaintiffs.
“LLM companies should not be able to so easily extinguish thousands upon thousands of high-value claims at bargain-basement rates,” the complaint said.
Anthropic reached the first major settlement in an AI-training copyright dispute in August, agreeing to pay $1.5 billion to a class of authors who said the company pirated millions of books.
The new lawsuit said class members in that case will receive “a tiny fraction (just 2%) of the Copyright Act’s statutory ceiling of $150,000” per infringed work.
Monday’s complaint was filed by attorneys at law firm Freedman Normand Friedland, including Kyle Roche, whom Carreyrou profiled in a 2023 New York Times article.
During a November hearing in the Anthropic class action, US District Judge William Alsup criticised a separate law firm Roche co-founded for gathering authors to opt out of the settlement in search of “a sweeter deal.” Roche declined to comment on Monday.
Carreyrou told the judge at a later hearing that stealing books to build its AI was Anthropic’s “original sin” and that the settlement did not go far enough.
- Bill limits most gun owners to four firearms, 10 for farmers.
- Main opposition Liberal party backs amendments.
- Three-quarters of Australians want tougher gun laws, shows poll.
Australia’s most populous state is set to pass tougher gun laws, ban the display of terrorist symbols and curb protests after the state parliament’s lower house cleared a bill late on Monday in an emergency sitting following the Bondi mass shooting.
The terrorism and other legislation amendment bill won support from the opposition Liberal Party in New South Wales state, and is expected to clear the upper house on Tuesday.
The ruling centre-left Labour government has proposed capping most individual gun licences at four firearms and allowing up to 10 for farmers.
Fifteen people were killed and dozens were injured in the mass shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi on December 14, a shock attack that has prompted calls for tougher gun laws and stronger action against antisemitism.
Police said one alleged gunman, Sajid Akram, 50, who was shot dead by officers, owned six firearms. His 24-year-old son Naveed, faces 59 charges, including murder and terrorism.
Although Australia tightened gun laws after a 1996 shooting that killed 35 people, a police firearms registry showed more than 70 people in New South Wales, which includes Sydney, each own over 100 guns. One licence holder has 298 guns.
A Sydney Morning Herald poll on Tuesday found three-quarters of Australians want tougher gun laws. The rural-focused National Party opposed the gun reforms in New South Wales, saying the amendments would disadvantage farmers.
The federal government has also pledged reforms, including tighter gun controls and a gun buyback plan but has resisted calls to set up a royal commission, the most powerful type of government inquiry, into the attack.
Instead, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is facing mounting criticism from opponents who argue his government has not done enough to curb a rise in antisemitism, has announced an independent review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
“We need to get to these answers quickly, and we cannot be waiting around for years, which is what a royal commission would take,” Defence Minister Richard Marles told ABC News on Tuesday.
US economy grows at fastest pace in two years
China keeps key lending rates steady in Dec amid policy continuity
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