BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Thailand said Wednesday that it has issued an arrest warrant for a co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization in connection with a fraud case.
Jakkaphong “Anne” Jakrajutatip was charged with fraud then released on bail in 2023. She failed to appear as required in a Bangkok court on Tuesday. Since she did not notify the court about her absence, she was deemed to be a flight risk, according to a statement from the Bangkok South District Court.
The court rescheduled the hearing for Dec. 26.
According to the court’s statement, Jakkaphong and her company, JKN Global Group Public Co. Ltd., were sued for allegedly defrauding Raweewat Maschamadol in selling him the company’s corporate bonds in 2023. Raweewat says the investment caused him to lose 30 million baht ($930,362).
Financially troubled JKN defaulted on payments to investors beginning in 2023 and began debt rehabilitation procedures with the Central Bankruptcy Court in 2024. The company says it has debts totaling about 3 billion baht ($93 million).
JKN acquired the rights to the Miss Universe pageant from IMG Worldwide LLC in 2022. In 2023, it sold 50% of its Miss Universe shares to Legacy Holding Group USA, which is owned by a Mexican businessman, Raúl Rocha Cantú.
In an unrelated case in Mexico, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that Rocha Cantú has been under investigation since November 2024 for alleged organized crime activity, including drug and arms trafficking, as well as fuel theft.
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The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that Raúl “R” was the target of the investigation. A federal agent who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation confirmed that was Rocha Cantú.
The Miss Universe Organization did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Mexico approved 13 arrest orders against targets in the case. The federal agent would not confirm or deny whether an order was issued for Rocha Cantú.
Jakkaphong resigned from all of the company’s positions in June after being accused by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission of falsifying the company’s 2023 financial statements. She remains its largest shareholder.
Her whereabouts remain unclear. She did not appear at the 74th Miss Universe competition, which was held in Bangkok earlier this month.
This year’s competition was marred by various problems, including a sharp-tongued scolding by a Thai organizer of Fátima Bosch Fernández of Mexico, who was crowned Miss Universe 2025 on Nov. 19. Two judges reportedly dropped out, with one suggesting that there was an element of rigging to the contest. Separately, Thai police investigated allegations that publicity for the event included illegal promotion of online casinos.
On Monday, JKN denied rumors that Jakkaphong had liquidated the company’s assets and fled the country, but there has been no immediate reaction regarding the arrest warrant. She could not be reached for comment.
Jakkaphong is a well-known celebrity in Thailand who has starred in reality shows and is outspoken about her identity as a transgender woman.
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AP writer Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.
During the arrest the men reportedly told Koh Phangan authorities that they were celebrating the end of the Israel-Hamas War.
Four Israeli men were arrested for drug possession and consumption in Koh Phangan, Thailand, following a noise complaint lodged early on Tuesday morning, according to several Thai media outlets.
The men informed Thai authorities that they were soldiers on leave, celebrating the end of the Israel-Hamas War, and had been partying with 10-15 other Israelis who had left before authorities responded to the complaint.
The luxury villa where the men were staying was searched, and the men were caught concealing almost two grams of cocaine and powdered ecstasy, illicit substances that are illegal in Thailand.
Koh Phangan tourist police inspector Lt. Col. Winit Boonchit told the Bangkok Post that the men allegedly purchased the drugs from one of the men who had left the party after the noise complaint was initially lodged.
The men were charged with drug possession and consumption
The Bangkok Post reported that the four were taken to Koh Phangan hospital, where they tested positive for having used the drugs.
Police officers in Thailand, in Bangkok, Thailand (illustrative) (credit: CHALINEE THIRASUPA/REUTERS)
After testing positive, they were taken to Koh Phangan Police Station and charged with possession of Category 1 and Category 2 narcotics, according to Thai publication Khaosod English.
Bangkok — A massive sinkhole swallowed part of a major road in Bangkok on Wednesday, disrupting traffic, damaging infrastructure and prompting evacuations in the surrounding area.
There were no casualties, but three vehicles were damaged by the collapse, regional Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said, adding that officials believe the sinkhole was caused by construction work at an underground train station.
Videos of the collapse show a section of the road slowly sinking, pulling down several electricity poles and damaging water pipes. Cars tried to back away as the hole grew larger and completely severed the four-lane road. One edge of the hole stopped in front of a police station, exposing its underground structure.
An aerial view of a massive sinkhole that opened near the Vajira Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, Sept. 24, 2025.
Valeria Mongelli/Anadolu/Getty
People were evacuated from the police station and other buildings. A nearby hospital said it would close the outpatient services for two days, although Bangkok city officials said the hospital’s structure was not affected.
Officials cut electricity and water in the area as a precaution. Chadchart said crews were working to fix the hole as quickly as possible, fearing heavy rain could cause further damage. Bangkok is experiencing its rainy season, which typically extends from May through October.
Emergency workers used a crane with a large harness to remove a pickup truck that was left perched precariously on the edge of the precipice, and at least one other truck could be seen inside the roughly 160-foot-deep hole.
A large sinkhole is seen in front of the Samsen police station on the Samsen road in Bangkok, Thailand, Sept. 24, 2025.
Peerapon Boonyakiat/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty
Noppadech Pitpeng, a 27-year-old hospital worker who lives nearby, told the French news agency AFP that he was frightened by a rumbling sound Wednesday morning, which woke him up.
“The sound was like an electricity pole collapsing and my whole flat shook,” he told AFP as he left his building, carrying some clothes in a bucket.
In 2019, when the Thai government announced plans to turn an abandoned tobacco factory in the nation’s smoggy capital into a public park, Bangkok-based landscape architect Chatchanin Sung saw an opportunity to address another of the city’s chronic problems: flooding.
For Bangkok, a city of 11 million sitting on low-lying swampland, the management of its water has increasingly become a matter of survival. With the capital facing more frequent and extreme rainfall as well as rising sea levels due to climate change, experts have warned that entire swaths of the city may be underwater within the next few decades.
Los Angeles knows how to weather a crisis — or two or three. Angelenos are tapping into that resilience, striving to build a city for everyone.
Like Los Angeles, where intensifying droughts and floods have revealed limitations of conventional flood control systems like the L.A. River, Chatchanin felt that Bangkok’s own stormwater infrastructure had reached its tipping point.
An aerial view shows pathways through the Benjakitti Park in Bangkok.
(Krit Phromsakla Na Sakolnakorn / Associated Press)
Decades of rapid urban development have encased the city with impermeable concrete surfaces that hinder the natural drainage of water. As a result, the city’s network of over 1,600 urban canals, which were once used for transporting goods and people but now primarily act as stormwater channels, are regularly overwhelmed.
“Because the canal water mixes with public sewage, the water quality is really bad,” Chatchanin said. “The park project was an opportunity to absorb and clean this water.”
To design the new space, a 102-acre expansion to the pre-existing Benjakitti Park, Chatchanin partnered with Kongjian Yu, a Beijing-based landscape architect who has long advocated what is known as a “sponge city” model of urban water management.
The idea is that, unlike “gray” infrastructure, which is designed to flush water away as quickly as possible, cities like Bangkok can mitigate flood risk simply by making its surfaces more absorbent like a sponge, capturing stormwater before it can turn into runoff that pollutes streets and strains drainage systems.
Their winning design, which was opened to the public three years ago, was realized in just 18 months and reflects the idea that such urban water management systems can also provide valuable aesthetic and recreational benefits to communities.
Today, the former brownfield is a popular bird-watching spot. It features forested walkways alongside badminton and pickleball courts built in repurposed cigarette warehouses, all the while capturing and cleaning water.
People take a rest at Benjakitti Park in Bangkok.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
Fed by a nearby canal, a long system of wetlands containing thickets of aquatic plants removes pollutants from the water as it winds around the park’s perimeter, releasing what’s left into a large pond dotted with small islets.
This, alongside the park’s porous landscape and additional retention ponds, enable it to capture 23 million gallons of stormwater during Bangkok’s rainiest months. The water that’s entering permeable earth instead of being blocked by concrete is helping to replenish natural underground reservoirs that benefit humans and the environment.
“Last year we had really heavy rains,” Chatchanin said. “The park also flooded but eventually absorbed it much more quickly.”
The park’s long system of wetlands contains thickets of aquatic plants that remove pollutants from the water.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
She pointed to the pond, which no longer had the foul odor or the oily sheen of the canal despite being just a few steps away. Dragonflies buzzed overhead — a common sign, she noted, that the water is clean.
Chatchanin acknowledged that one park alone can’t fix Bangkok’s water issues. But its modest success might, at the very least, encourage cities to rethink their relationship to water.
“People want fast answers,” Chatchanin said. “But hiding the problem is no solution. You can’t just raise your house on stilts, or flush out the water. It all comes back in the end.”
The idea that cities need to adapt to — not outrun — their floods has been a lifelong preoccupation of Kongjian Yu, whose work with sponge cities has earned him the prestigious Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize and comparisons to Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York’s Central Park.
Yu traces its beginnings to a near-death experience he had as a child growing up in rural China.
At the time just 10 years old, Yu had been playing on the banks of his village’s river, which was more voluminous than usual due to heavy monsoon rains, when he suddenly found himself being swept away by the powerful currents.
What saved him were the river’s reeds and willows, which slowed the water and gave him a chance to pull himself out.
Kongjian Yu’s work has earned him comparisons to Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York’s Central Park.
(Gilles Sabrié / For The Times)
“My experience in these villages, my experience with the river and the creek, taught me how to live with nature,” he said.
Later, Yu earned a landscape ecology degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and spent two years in Los Angeles working for SWA Group before returning to China in 1997.
Dismayed that the rapidly modernizing country had lined its cities with concrete dams and channelized waterways, Yu began writing to local mayors, warning of the risks of this approach and advocating instead for “rewilding natural water systems.”
“Sponge cities follow three principles: retain, slow down and embrace water,” Yu said. “That means removing all unnecessary concrete and pavement.”
At first, his ideas found few sympathetic ears. Some people, he recalled, sent letters to the Communist Party claiming he was “a spy from the U.S. sent to demolish Chinese infrastructure.”
But things changed in 2012, when severe flooding in Beijing destroyed thousands of homes and killed 79 people, some of whom were caught off-guard in the street.
A man uses a signboard to signal motorists driving through flooded streets following a heavy rain in Beijing. Flooding prompted Chinese leader Xi Jinping to adopt Yu’s “sponge city” philosophy as a national agenda.
(Associated Press)
“Every sort of paradigm shift, you need a crisis,” Yu said. “People dying in the street — that was the critical point.”
The floods prompted Chinese leader Xi Jinping to adopt Yu’s sponge city philosophy as a national agenda in 2015. Since then, the government has pledged more than $28 billion to help fund over 33,000 sponge city projects in 90 cities, aiming to have them capture and reuse at least 70% of their rainwater by 2030.
By 2020, over 40,000 sponge city projects were completed nationwide, contributing to around 3.8 trillion gallons of rainwater being recycled that year, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. The ministry noted that this amount was equal to about one-fifth of China’s annual urban water supply.
Many, like Bangkok’s Benjakitti Park, are wetlands designed to address urban flooding. Others, like a mangrove forest built on the banks of a river in the tropical southern city of Sanya on Hainan Island, act as a natural buffer against saltwater intrusion and coastal erosion from rising sea levels.
“The idea is to not build too close to the water in order to create a buffer zone,” Yu said. “Instead of building a wall, we allow the water to come in.”
Women stop near ponds and water plants at the “Fish Tail” sponge park that’s built on a former coal ash dump site in Nanchang in north-central China’s Jiangxi province.
(Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)
This approach, said Yu, has made sponge city projects uncomplicated and low-cost compared with conventional solutions, deployable just about anywhere.
Benjakitti Park, for example, cost $20 million and was built by the Thai army, which had little experience in environmental landscaping. Yu scribbled the design on a napkin during his flight to Bangkok to meet Chatchanin, keeping it simple enough to be achievable — at least in theory — with only a single excavator.
Still, the program hasn’t been without challenges.
Wetlands are often breeding grounds for mosquitoes. And with local governments expected to foot up to 80% of the cost for their projects, much-needed investments from the private sector have been slow to materialize. Meanwhile, critics have pointed out that some of China’s most touted sponge cities, like Zhengzhou in Henan province, have still experienced devastating floods.
“If a city can’t handle a flood, that means it’s not spongy enough,” Yu said.
“Ultimately, it’s not about getting rid of every piece of concrete. It’s about combining gray and green — upgrading the current model.”
Since 2006, Singapore has been turning its own waterways and reservoirs into public parks that also absorb stormwater, an initiative known as the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme.
In the Netherlands, a flood-prone country famous for mastering the art of keeping water out with techniques like land reclamation, the government has also experimented with a softer approach, strategically allowing its rivers to flood in certain areas in order to spare others.
In L.A., too, there has been a growing awareness that the area’s city’s own impermeable flood control system, which discards billions of gallons of rainwater that might otherwise be stored and reused, is overdue for change.
With around 490,000 acre-feet of stormwater available to be captured a year in an area that includes Long Beach and Anaheim, the L.A. area ranks first in the West in stormwater runoff potential and, 19th out of 2,645 urban areas nationwide, according to a Pacific Institute report last year.
Pedestrians use the Los Angeles River Bikeway.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Among the efforts to make the city spongier — and therefore less dependent on imported water — is the Safe Clean Water Program, which L.A. County voters approved in 2018 as ballot Measure W.
The program levies a property tax on impermeable surfaces to provide around $300 million a year in grants for municipal stormwater capture projects.
The aim of the program is to capture 98 billion gallons annually. Experts have said that projects like this in the upper L.A. watershed could simultaneously help prevent flooding downstream.
Yet officials have estimated that it will take decades to achieve this goal, and progress has been slow.
Just 30 acres of green space were added to the county in its first three years, according to a report by Los Angeles Waterkeeper, a local watchdog.
And although the program has recently begun to pick up pace, with around $1 billion allocated across 130 projects, Bruce Reznik, the group’s executive director and a member of the Measure W scoring committee, pointed out there are a host of challenges not present in China’s centralized model.
Among them are scant federal support and the slow, costly bureaucratic processes involved with the program, such as cleaning up contaminated project sites and getting permits. He estimated that the projects the county needs will cost around $50 billion, 10 times what Measure W funding can provide over the next 20 years.
“In terms of expenses, that’s a question a lot of us are asking: Why are these projects so expensive?” Reznik said. “I get that there’s inflation, but man, projects we thought were going to be $10 million are now $25 million. I think we’ve got to figure out ways that we can streamline some of this stuff.”
Special correspondents Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul and Xin-yun Wu contributed reporting from Bangkok and Taipei, respectively.
Dare to defy gravity as you lean out from the edge 296 metres above ground at Thailand’s highest observation deck on the 75th floor of King Power Mahanakhon.
BANGKOK, May 8, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– King Power Mahanakhon’s 75th floor – Bangkok once again takes centre stage as a global destination for bold new experiences, with the launch of “Mahanakhon Bangkok I-Tilt” – the world’s first extreme leaning ride. This outdoor attraction dares visitors to lean out from the edge of a skyscraper at a dramatic 65-degree angle, soaring 296 metres above the city skyline. Global Muay Thai icon, Buakaw Banchamek, was among the first brave souls to take on the challenge-inviting thrill-seekers from around the world to come and test their courage.
The exhilarating launch event was held under the theme “Conquer the Sky, Defy Your Limits”, led by none other than Buakaw Banchamek, Thailand’s legendary fighter, who was among the first to conquer the daring challenge of this extreme ride. He was joined by a host of celebrities and thrill-seeking personalities, including Boy Pakorn Chatborirak, Anntonia Porsild, Aimm Sanpetch Kunakorn, Kim Thitisan Goodburn, Anchilee Scott-Kemmis, and a lineup of extreme sports influencers – all stepping up to test their limits in a way never seen before. Event highlights also included a heart rate challenge measuring participants’ level of courage, and a VR experience that invited guests to virtually immerse themselves in the heart-pounding thrill.
Mahanakhon Bangkok I-Tilt was developed by a leading extreme engineering firm from Germany. Designed to challenge the limits of human courage, the attraction is equipped with an AI-controlled Auto Secure System to ensure precise safety throughout the experience. It is certified by TÜV Nord, a renowned German organisation specialising in engineering inspections and system certifications and is compliant with European Union (EU) regulations. These international standards guarantee the highest levels of safety and performance, giving participants full confidence in the ride’s quality and design.
‘Mahanakhon Bangkok I-Tilt’ – the world’s first outdoor leaning ride that tilts up to 65 degrees. This groundbreaking innovation not only marks a global first, but also reflects our commitment to elevating Thailand’s tourism experience to an international level. King Power Mahanakhon is no longer just an observation deck; it is now a bold new destination where both Thais and travellers from around the world can come to take on a truly unique, once-in-a-lifetime challenge.
Dare to challenge your courage and push beyond your limits with “Mahanakhon Bangkok I-Tilt” – now open at King Power Mahanakhon, 75th Floor. Open daily from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM (last entry at 6:30 PM). Tickets are priced at THB 800 (Daytime) and THB 900 (Sunset time) includes admission to the Mahanakhon SkyWalk Indoor Observatory at 74th floor and one I-Tilt ride at 75th floor. For more details and ticket reservations, please visit https://kingpowermahanakhon.co.th or call 02 677 8721 for more information.
Since he was a child, Oral Clarke II has had his life mapped out up to the age of 99. Those plans were upended, however, when he applied for a yearlong study abroad program at the start of his sophomore year of high school.
Since he was a child, Oral Clarke II has had his life mapped out up to the age of 99. Those plans were upended, however, when he applied for a yearlong study abroad program at the start of his sophomore year of high school.
Clarke’s French teacher at the time told him and his fellow classmates about the Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program, also called the YES program.
The initiative, headed by the Department of State, brings high school students from countries with significant Muslim populations to the U.S. to live and study and sends U.S. students to YES countries to spend an academic year.
Clarke, now a 17-year-old senior at Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, applied for the program in November of his sophomore year of high school.
He embarked on his Thailand adventure in August 2023 along with five other members of his cohort.
Clarke lived with a host family, the Mahdpaditts, in Pathum Thani, a province just north of Thailand’s capital, Bangkok.
His host brother was a year older than him and had just completed a similar program, living and studying in America, which helped with the language barrier.
“He speaks such good English, I actually forget that English is not his first language,” Clarke said.
His host parents, he said, owned a factory in Thailand and could speak average conversational English, again helping with the language barrier.
For his part, Clarke did not know any Thai before starting the program. He learned some by taking language classes at a local Thai school.
He came to speak what he called a version of “Thai-English.” When talking with his host family or Thai classmates, he’d speak in Thai when he was able and fill in the blanks with English words.
Before learning enough “Thai-English” to hold conversations, Clarke said he relied heavily on body language and other cues to understand if he’d done something wrong.
Clarke told InsideNoVa he eventually became friends with a number of his Thai classmates, playing beach volleyball with older students and badminton with younger classmates.
His Thai friends, Clarke said, eventually joked he was a superstar on the school’s campus. Fellow students would come up to Clarke, introducing themselves, pointing out new foods the American could try in the cafeteria.
That “superstar” status didn’t come right away, though.
While Clarke grew up as a military child who moved around the country, even living in Japan for a time, this was the first time he’d been alone in another country without the support system of his family.
Learning to make friends and create his own network – in a foreign country and using a foreign language – was challenging for the then-16-year-old.
“It was very challenging at first, and over time I was able to create my own group of friends and group of family and got to bond, and that’s what really kept me motivated to continue on this program and not want to go home early,” Clarke said.
Lessons learned
Clarke returned home to Dumfries from his program in May and, having had the last several months to reflect, he said he took away two main lessons from his time abroad.
The first, Clarke said, was the kind of work-life balance he’d like to achieve. From his perspective, people in America have a tendency to work hard, sometimes too hard, forgoing relaxation to pursue ambitious work pursuits.
“In Thailand, they really do like to relax and have fun,” Clarke said. “So, I’ve learned from having both experience there and here that I need to take some time to not stress out and get all into school…but also take some time to go meditate or go to the gym, while also working on academics. To put out your best, you need to be your best mentally.”
The second lesson, Clarke said, was one on self-identity.
While Clarke was born and raised in America, save the time spent in Japan, both his parents are Jamaican immigrants. Clarke told InsideNoVa he was searching for perspective on his own identity, both socially and culturally.
He said his time abroad helped him gain an ability to recognize himself as an American and the ability to share American culture.
“I’ve gained an appreciation for how people are always willing to learn about other people’s cultures,” Clarke said.
That’s the lesson he hopes to share with his fellow Prince William County classmates: “Don’t be afraid to talk to people and share your personal experiences and learn about other people’s experiences.”
What’s next?
Going into his study abroad program, Clarke said he knew none of his credits would transfer when he returned to school in Prince William County – a fact he said helped him settle in during his time in Thailand.
“That gave me the ability to focus on really connecting totally with Thailand and really figuring out stuff about myself, helping others learn more about America and American culture and really bond with the people around me,” Clarke said.
Grades ultimately were never an issue for Clarke – he completed an advanced math program in middle school, leaving him with only one to two more years of mandatory math when he got to high school.
Before heading to Thailand, Clarke took two summer classes. Upon returning, he took an additional two summer classes and now, in his senior year, is taking a full schedule and is set to graduate on-time this spring.
After graduation, Clarke hopes to attend Columbia University in New York, where he plans to study computer science. There, he hopes to achieve his ultimate goal of creating “culturally inclusive” artificial intelligence.
Clarke is already well on his way to achieving another goal, which is to travel to every continent at least once – he only has three more left.
Up next on his travel bucket list? A trip from New Zealand to Europe, hopefully next summer.
BANGKOK (AP) — The bodies of six people were found Tuesday in a luxury hotel in downtown Bangkok and their deaths may have been caused by poisoning, police and officials said.
Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang identified the dead as two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese nationals, and said there were three males and three females. Investigators said the bodies were foaming at the mouth, an officer from the Lumpini police station said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release information.
The victims had booked several rooms at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel under seven names, and some were staying on a different floor from the room where they were found dead, Thiti said. Police are still looking for the seventh person included in the booking, Thiti said at a news conference at the hotel.
He said there were no signs of a struggle. The residents of the room where the bodies were found were supposed to have checked out earlier Tuesday and their luggage had already been packed, he said. The bodies were discovered by a maid who went to the room after they failed to check out and found it locked from the inside, Thiti said.
There was food that had been ordered earlier from room service that was left uneaten, but drinks had been consumed, Thiti said. He would not confirm a cause of death, but said the deaths appeared to have occurred about 24 hours before police arrived on the scene Tuesday evening after being called by hotel staff.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin went to the hotel in the evening, and later told journalists that the incident was neither a robbery nor a random assault, and that it should not affect Thailand’s lucrative tourism industry.
Pending the results of autopsies, “Our hypothesis is that they ingested something that killed them,” Srettha said.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said U.S. officials are aware of the reports of the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Bangkok.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the families on their loss. We are closely monitoring the situation and stand ready to provide consular assistance to those families,” he told reporters in Washington.
BANGKOK (AP) — A Japanese tourist reaches into a baggie of cannabis he’s just bought in a central Bangkok weed shop, pulling out a gram of buds to chop down in a small black grinder, before rolling them neatly into a joint.
Only the slight spillage onto the smoking lounge’s table — and his cough as he lights up and inhales deeply — betray the fact that until two weeks ago, he’d never tried marijuana.
Most Asian nations have strict drug laws with harsh penalties, and Thailand’s de facto legalization of marijuana last year has brought a wave of tourists from the region like the visitor from Japan, intrigued by the lure of the forbidden leaf.
The candidate who led his party to first place in Thailand’s general election in May says he’s open to bowing out of contention for new prime minister if he can’t win in a second round of voting in Parliament.
The political party that captured first place in Thailand’s general election two months ago — only to see the country’s unelected Senators block it from taking power — is fighting back.
Thailand’s Election Commission says there is evidence that the top candidate to become the country’s next prime minister, a reformist with strong backing among progressive young voters, violated election law.
Thai police say they have found the dismembered body of a missing German businessman inside a freezer inside a house in southern Thailand.
“I was curious about how I would feel after smoking,” said the 42-year-old tourist who spoke on condition that his name not be used, for fear his experimentation in Bangkok could lead to legal issues at home.
“I wonder why Japan bans it?” he pondered. “I wanted to try it.”
Even as more countries around the world legalize marijuana, Thailand has been the outlier in Asia, where several countries still have the death penalty for some cannabis offenses. Singapore has already executed two people this year for trafficking marijuana and its Central Narcotics Bureau has announced plans to randomly test people returning from Thailand.
Japan does not have the death penalty for drug offenses, but has warned that its laws on cannabis use may apply to its nationals even when they are abroad.
China’s embassy in Thailand has warned that if Chinese tourists consume marijuana abroad and are “detected upon returning to China, it is considered equivalent to using drugs domestically. As a result, you will be subject to corresponding legal penalties.” It issues similar warnings for travel to other countries where marijuana is readily available, such as the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.
On a recent flight from the Chinese city of Shanghai, passengers were cautioned not to “accidentally” try marijuana in Bangkok, with an announcement that in Thailand “some food and drink can include cannabis, so please pay attention to the leaf logo on the package of food.”
Neither Chinese nor Singaporean authorities would detail how frequently they test citizens returning from countries where marijuana has been decriminalized, responding to queries from the AP simply by reiterating their previously announced policies.
It’s no wonder that weed dispensaries in Bangkok say that customers from Singapore and China are among the most cautious, asking questions about how long traces of the drug remain in the system and whether there are detox products.
But many remain undeterred, and Thailand’s cannabis industry has grown at lightning speed, with weed dispensaries now almost as common as the ubiquitous convenience stores in some parts of the capital. Through February, nearly 6,000 licenses for cannabis-related businesses have been approved, including more than 1,600 in Bangkok alone, according to official figures.
There are no government figures on how many tourists come specifically to smoke marijuana, but Kueakarun Thongwilai, the manager of a weed shop in central Bangkok, estimates at least 70%-80% of his customers are foreigners, primarily from Asian countries like Japan, Malaysia, China and Philippines, and some from Europe.
Most cannabis shops, including his, now only hire employees who speak English, the lingua franca of the industry.
“You don’t need to speak perfect English, but you need to communicate with foreigners,” Thongwilai said.
About half of his customers are first-time weed users and most of them are Asians, he said.
Some want to try edible cannabis products, but Thongwilai said he tries to steer them toward smoking.
“Edibles take more time to take effect, and during that time people may eat more and more, leading to an excessive experience for beginners,” he said.
Not all are new to the drug, said Thongwilai, remembering a Malaysian customer who snuck away from a meal with his wife and daughter at a nearby restaurant. The man said he smoked marijuana secretly at home, but had heard the Thai product was better quality and wanted to try it.
“He bought the cheapest weed in our shop and tried it in a mall, and then he came back and bought more,” Thongwilai recalled.
Not far from Thongwilai’s shop at Dutch Passion, a newly opened retail branch of a Netherlands seed distributor that has been in business for more than three decades, about half the customers are also first-time users, said Theo Geene, a Dutch shareholder in the business.
Cannabis has been available in coffee shops in the Netherlands since the 1970s, and Geene said he has used his experience to train his staff how to serve those unfamiliar with the drug.
“For beginners, it’s not good to use a bong,” he said. “It’s too much for them. We don’t want anyone to pass out here.”
Most customers refused to talk about their experiences, with the Japanese tourist in Geene’s shop the only one who agreed to — and only on the condition his name not be used.
Most of the shop’s Asian customers are similarly discreet, choosing to smoke their purchases inside rather than on the streets like many Westerners do, which is common but a violation of Thai regulations, Geene said.
“They are more cautious and afraid,” he said. “They don’t want to be seen when they smoke weed.”
Before he embarked on his trip to Thailand, the 42-year-old Japanese tourist said he researched extensively online and determined that while customs might randomly check bags and luggage for marijuana being smuggled into Japan, there was no testing going on in line with government policy.
Since his first puff two weeks ago, he said he’s been smoking every day, visiting different shops, comparing prices and trying different strains.
Dispensary staffers taught him how to grind buds and roll a joint and he’s been having fun perfecting the technique.
“I practice it every day,” he said, looking down at the joint he was rolling and repeating the word “practice” twice before bursting into laughter.
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AP journalist David Rising contributed to this story.
POIPET, Cambodia — The confirmed death toll from a massive fire at a casino hotel complex in western Cambodia rose to 25 on Friday as the search resumed for victims, officials said.
The blaze at the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel in the town of Poipet on the Thai border started around midnight Wednesday and was extinguished more than 12 hours later on Thursday afternoon.
By Friday morning, 25 bodies had been recovered from the site, according to Sek Sokhom, head of Banteay Meanchey province’s information department. He said six bodies were found Friday morning, some in their rooms and others on stairways.
More than 60 people were injured, he said, and the death toll was expected to rise once rescuers are able to access victims who are believed to be under debris or in locked rooms.
The Grand Diamond City casino complex has 500 employees, and it had 1,000 customers Wednesday, according to a report from Soth Kimkolmony, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management. It was unclear how many were present when the fire broke out, and how many managed to flee to safety.
An accurate toll of the casualties has been hard to obtain due to the chaotic rescue efforts and since many of those saved were rushed across the border for treatment in neighboring Thailand, which has better medical facilities.
Thai and Cambodian rescue teams have been working side-by-side in searching the 17-story complex, but paused their efforts overnight at the dangerously damaged site.
Many of those inside, both customers and staff, were from neighboring Thailand, which sent firetrucks and emergency workers to help.
Thailand’s Sa Kaeo Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office has counted 11 dead — all Thai — and 109 injured, including 57 in hospitals.
An initial investigation found that the fire may have been caused by New Year’s holiday decorations that drew too much electricity, causing wires to overheat and burn, local authorities said.
Khmer Times, a Cambodian English-language news website, quoted Poipet city governor Keat Hul describing the chaos when the fire broke out.
“Hotel and casino workers used fire extinguishers to stop the fire but to no avail. People were panicking and rushing about everywhere but mainly for the nearest exit,” he said. “I was told that there was a stampede out at the main entrance when black smoke was billowing through the building.”
He was quoted saying he believed many of the deaths came from smoke inhalation and some people died when they leapt from high stories to escape the flames.
Poipet in western Cambodia is a site of busy cross-border trade and tourism opposite the city of Aranyaprathet in more affluent Thailand.
Casinos are illegal in Thailand. Many Thais visit neighboring countries such as Cambodia — a popular tourist destination with convenient international connections — to gamble. Poipet has more than a dozen casinos.
The Grand Diamond City casino is just a short walk from the border checkpoint with Thailand and popular with customers who make the four-hour drive from the Thai capital, Bangkok.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen made his first public comments on the tragedy in remarks to villagers Friday morning at a road repair ceremony in the southern province of Kampot.
He expressed his condolences and said the incident showed that all tall buildings in the country must have sufficient equipment to fight fires. He also gave thanks to all the people who worked in the rescue effort, including those from Thailand.
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Associated Press writer Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul in Bangkok contributed to this report. Sopheng Cheang reported from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Wall Street pointed slightly higher in premarket trading Friday as investors await the government’s final inflation-related report of the year.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and futures for the Dow Jones Industrials were up 0.3%.
On tap Friday is the Commerce Department’s consumer spending report for November, which includes measure of inflation that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve. The report for October showed that inflation eased somewhat, with prices rising 6% in October from a year earlier. That was the smallest increase since November 2021.
Analysts surveyed by data firm FactSet expect that number to have fallen further, to 5.5% in November. That would be good news for American consumers, who have been squeezed by higher prices for just about everything for the past year-and-a-half.
The Fed is believed to monitor the inflation gauge in the consumer spending report, called the personal consumption expenditures price index, even more closely than it does the government’s better-known consumer price index. But whether a projected half-percentage point decline would move Fed policymakers to soften their stance on future rate hikes remains to be seen.
Last week, the central bank boosted its benchmark rate a half-point to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years. More surprisingly, the policymakers forecast that their key short-term rate will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023. That suggests that the Fed is poised to raise its rate by an additional three-quarters of a point and leave it there through next year. That has many economists and investors expecting the U.S. economy to fall into recession in 2023.
Japan reported its core inflation rate, excluding volatile fresh foods, rose to 3.7% in November, the highest level since 1981, as surging costs for oil and other commodities added to upward price pressures in the world’s third-largest economy.
While the rate was much lower than in the U.S. and most major European and emerging economies, it adds to pressure on the Bank of Japan to adjust its own policies that have kept interest rates ultra-low to spur growth. For Japan, deflation — falling prices — rather than inflation has been the key concern for most of the past few decades. Recession in coming months remains the greater concern, economists say.
“Inflation edged up in November and will peak at around 4% around the turn of the year, but we expect it to fall back below the Bank of Japan’s 2% target by mid-2023,” Capital Economics economist Marcel Thieliant said in a report.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1% to 26,242.58 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.5% to 19,578.44. The Shanghai Composite index was unchanged, at 3,054.52 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 7,099.70.
In Seoul, the Kospi dropped 1.4% to 2,323.09. Shares also fell in Bangkok, Mumbai and Taiwan.
In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was flat, while Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.3%. The CAC 40 in Paris dipped 0.1%.
In other trading Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose $1.78 to $79.27 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 80 cents to $77.49 per barrel on Thursday.
Brent crude oil, the pricing basis for international trading, advanced $1.61 to $83.28 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 132.66 Japanese yen from 132.38 yen. The euro strengthened to $1.0622 from $1.0597.
The S&P 500 fell 1.4% on Thursday after having been down as much as 2.9% earlier in the day. It closed at 3,822.39. The pullback brings Wall Street’s main measure of health back to a loss of nearly 20% for the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1% to 33,027.49 and the Nasdaq closed 2.2% lower, at 10,476.12. The Russell 2000 index dropped 1.3% to 1,754.09.
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Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok; Ott reported from Washington.
BANGKOK — European shares were higher Wednesday after a mixed session in Asia in the absence of major data releases.
Germany’s DAX rose 0.7% to 13,987.59 while the CAC 40 in Paris jumped 1% to 6,514.30. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.5% to 7,407.92.
The future for the S&P 500 advanced 0.7% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 0.8%.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.7%, to 26,387.72, a day after the Bank of Japan gave in to pressure on the yen by expanding the cap on the yield of the 10-year Japanese government bond to 0.50%. It had been 0.25%.
On Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 lost 2.5%.
The Japanese central bank has kept its key lending rate at minus 0.1% for years, trying to spur growth by keeping credit ultra cheap. The slight softening of its stance against raising interest rates to cut inflation rattled world markets Tuesday, with bond yields pushing higher.
Higher yields make borrowing more expensive, slowing the economy. That can alleviate upward pressure on prices, but it also pulls prices for stocks and other investments lower.
The widening gap between the BOJ’s benchmark rate and rising interest rates in the U.S. and other economies has weakened the yen against the U.S. dollar and other currencies, causing prices for imported oil, consumer goods and industrial inputs to surge and adding to pressures on its economy.
“Ultimately, the BOJ is reacting to a dysfunctioning bond market and a weakening yen. But the move also represents the fall of one of the last central bank hold-outs of ultra-low rate policy,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Central banks around the world have been raising rates at an explosive clip and a growing number of economists and investors see a recession hitting in 2023. Both the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank have pledged to keep raising rates into next year to be sure they get inflation under control.
At the same time, fresh waves of COVID-19 infections in China, Japan and other countries are casting a shadow over pandemic recoveries.
In other Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 19,160.49 and the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.2% to 3,068.41.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.2% to 2,328.95. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.3% to 7,115.10. Shares rose in Bangkok and Taiwan but fell in Mumbai.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% while the Dow industrials climbed 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite barely budged, closing less than 0.1% higher. Small company stocks outdid the broader market, lifting the Russell 2000 index 0.5%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.70% from 3.59% late Monday. That yield helps set rates for mortgages and other economy-setting loans, which has already meant particular pain for the U.S. housing market.
The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which tends to more closely track expectations for action from the Federal Reserve, was more reserved. It held steady at 4.26%.
In the foreign exchange market, the dollar rose to 131.70 Japanese yen from 131.62 yen. Tokyo’s surprise move on Tuesday had pulled the dollar 4% lower against the yen.
The euro fell to $1.0615 from $1.0626.
U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 77 cents to $77.00 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 1.2% on Tuesday.
Brent crude, the pricing basis for international trading, picked up 85 cents to $80.84 per barrel.
BANGKOK — Thailand’s king and queen have tested positive for COVID-19, and so far have only mild symptoms, the royal palace said Saturday.
Doctors prescribed treatment for King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 70, and Queen Suthida, 44, and requested them to refrain from duties for a while, the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement.
Their symptoms are “very mild,” the statement said.
Earlier Friday and Thursday, the couple visited Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol at Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok, where she was admitted after she fell unconscious due to a heart problem on Wednesday.
The number of infections spread by the dominant omicron subvariants has increased in Bangkok and Thailand’s tourist destinations after the country relaxed restrictions that were in place since 2020, according to the Department of Disease Control.
Its records show that 82% of the population, or at least 57 million, have been vaccinated with at least one jab. Of those, 53.5 million people have received a second dose and 32.5 million have received a third jab.
BANGKOK — Asian shares followed Wall Street and Europe lower on Friday, with markets jittery over the risk that the Federal Reserve and other central banks may end up bringing on recessions to get inflation under control.
Oil prices and U.S. futures edged higher.
China’s move to relax COVID restrictions has raised hopes for an end to massive disruptions from lockdowns and other strict measures to prevent infections. But signs of sharply rising case numbers have raised uncertainty, with some alarmed over the possibility that the pandemic will continue to drag on the economy.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat, at 19,369.65 while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.3% to 3,160.67.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.7% to 27,569.56 after a survey of manufacturers showed a further contraction in output.
The Kospi in Seoul edged 0.2% lower to 2,357.97, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.3% to 7,180.50.
Shares in Taiwan fell 1.2% and the SET in Bangkok lost 0.2%. Mumbai dropped 1.4%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 2.5% to 3,895.75, erasing its gains from early in the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 3.2% to 10,810.53 and the Dow gave back 2.2% to 33,202.22.
The wave of selling came as central banks in Europe raised interest rates a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked its key rate again, emphasizing that interest rates will need to go higher than previously expected in order to tame inflation.
European stocks fell sharply, with Germany’s DAX dropping 3.3%.
Like the Fed, central bank officials in Europe said inflation is not yet corralled and that more rate hikes are coming.
“We are in for a long game,” European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said at a news conference.
Small company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000 index slid 2.5% to close at 1,774.61.
The Fed raised its short-term interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday, its seventh increase this year. Central banks in Europe followed along Thursday, with the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank each raising their main lending rate by a half-point Thursday.
Although the Fed is slowing the pace of its rate increases, the central bank signaled it expects rates to be higher over the coming few years than it had previously anticipated. That disappointed investors who hoped recent signs that inflation is easing somewhat would persuade the Fed to take some pressure off the brakes it’s applying to the U.S. economy.
The federal funds rate stands at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the highest level in 15 years. Fed policymakers forecast that the central bank’s rate will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023. Their forecast doesn’t call for a rate cut before 2024.
The yield on the two-year Treasury, which closely tracks expectations for Fed moves, rose to 4.24% from 4.21% late Wednesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, slipped to 3.45% from 3.48%.
The three-month Treasury yield slipped to 4.31%, but remains above that of the 10-year Treasury. That’s known as an inversion and considered a strong warning that the economy could be headed for a recession.
The central bank has been fighting to lower inflation at the same time that pockets of the economy, including employment and consumer spending, remain strong. That has made it more difficult to rein in high prices on everything from food to clothing.
On Thursday, the government reported that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign that the labor market remains strong. Meanwhile, another report showed that retail sales fell in November. That pullback followed a sharp rise in spending in October.
In other trading Friday, benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 38 cents to $76.49 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.17 on Thursday to $76.11 per barrel.
Brent crude, the pricing basis for international trading, added 49 cents to $81.70 per barrel.
The dollar fell to 137.25 Japanese yen from 137.81 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0651 from $1.0627.
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AP Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed.
BANGKOK — Stocks were mostly higher Wednesday in Asia after a rally on Wall Street spurred by news that inflation in the U.S. cooled more than expected last month.
The 7.1% consumer price index reading for November raised hopes Tuesday for easing pressure on the economy ahead of an interest rate policy update from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate a half-point Wednesday, smaller than the past four hikes of three-quarters of a point.
Also Wednesday, the Bank of Japan’s quarterly “tankan” survey showed a deterioration in business conditions for major Japanese manufacturers, reflecting higher costs for industrial inputs and energy and weaker demand as the Fed and other central banks raise interest rates to tame inflation.
The headline index for large manufacturers was 7, down from 8 in the previous quarter and the fourth straight quarter of declines. The tankan measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies saying business conditions are negative from those responding they are positive.
Conditions for nonmanufacturers, such as service industries, rose to 19 from 14, as Japan lifted pandemic precautions and reopened to foreign tourists.
“Today’s Tankan survey suggests that while the services sector is going from strength to strength, the outlook for the manufacturing sector continues to worsen,” Darren Tay of Capital Economics said in a commentary. He noted that capital spending projections also weakened slightly.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.7% to 28,156.21 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.6% to 19,722.16. South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.1% to 2,399.25.
The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 3,172.33.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7% to 7,251.30. India’s Sensex gained 0.7% while the SET in Bangkok added 0.6%.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 4,019.65 and the Nasdaq composite gained 1% to 11,256.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 0.3% to 34,108.64.
Small company stocks also gained ground. The Russell 2000 index rose 0.8% to 1,832.36.
Stocks pared back gains as analysts cautioned investors not to get carried away by hopes for an easier Fed, as they have in the past.
The detail of the inflation data “under the hood being less encouraging than it is on the surface,” Mizuho Bank economists said in a report. They noted that core services prices were up 0.4% from a month earlier, distorting inflation risks.
“To be precise , the headline understates underlying inflation risks that concern the Fed,” the report said.
Tuesday’s report offered hope that the worst of inflation really did pass during the summer, though inflation remains painfully high and shoppers are paying prices well above levels from a year earlier.
A Fed rate hike of 0.50 percentage points would usually be a big deal because it’s double the typical move. But with inflation coming off its worst level in generations, it would be a step down from the four hikes of 0.75 percentage points the Fed has approved since the summer.
Some of Wall Street’s wildest action Tuesday was in the bond market, where yields fell sharply immediately after the inflation report’s release.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans, fell to 3.48% from 3.62% late Monday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, dropped to 4.22% from 4.39%.
Other central banks around the world, including the European Central Bank, are also likely to raise their own rates by half a percentage point this week.
Even if inflation is finally abating, the global economy still is threatened by rate increases already pushed through. The housing industry and other businesses that rely on low interest rates have shown particular weakness, and worries are rising about the strength of corporate profits broadly.
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude lost 30 cents to $75.09 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $2.22 on Tuesday to $75.39 per barrel.
Brent crude, the pricing basis for international trading, shed 34 cents to $80.34 per barrel.
The dollar slipped to 135.43 Japanese yen from 135.59 yen. The euro rose to $1.0638 from $1.0633.
Markets were mixed on Friday after a surprisingly strong jobs report renewed worries about inflation and more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 ended down 0.1% and the Nasdaq lost 0.2% after being down even more earlier in the day. The Dow ended slightly higher, closing up by 0.1%, at 34,429.
Stocks had been on the upswing for the last month on hopes the worst of the nation’s high inflation may have passed already. That fed expectations for the Federal Reserve to dial down the intensity of its big interest-rate hikes as it moves to slow the economy.
But Friday’s jobs report showed that wages for workers rose 5.1% last month from a year earlier, an acceleration from the 4.9% gain in October and higher than what economists had expected.
Such jumps in pay are helpful to workers struggling to keep up with soaring prices for everyday necessities. The Federal Reserve’s worry is that too-strong gains could cause inflation to become further entrenched in the economy. That’s because wages make up a big part of costs for companies in services industries, and those companies could end up raising their own prices further to cover higher wages for their employees.
“Inflation is certainly moving in the right direction,” said Adam Abbas, co-head of fixed income at Harris Associates, “but the market is still going to have to go through some calibration of the risk that we level off at 3% to 4% core inflation versus a natural, steady move down to” the 2% goal set by the Fed.
Employers also added 263,000 jobs last month, above forecasts for 200,000, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%.
Fed officials have signaled that the unemployment rate needs to be at least 4% to slow inflation. It’s in the midst of raising interest rates quickly in hopes of slowing the economy just enough to undercut inflation.
Expectations are rising for what the Fed will do in 2023. Treasury yields jumped immediately after the jobs report’s release on speculation the Fed may ultimately hike rates higher than thought a few moments before.
The yield on the two-year Treasury jumped to 4.29% from 4.24% late Thursday. The 10-year yield, which helps set rates for mortgages and many other loans, rose to 3.52% from 3.51%.
“Another month with a strong jobs report and torrid wage gains is a reality check for where we stand in the inflation fight,” said Mike Loewengart, head of model portfolio construction at Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office.
Aside from the job market, the economic picture has been mixed. The nation’s manufacturing activity shrank in November for the first time in 30 months, for example, and the housing industry is struggling under the weight of much higher mortgage rates. Even though Friday’s report showed hiring was stronger than expected, it also clearly demonstrated that hiring is gradually slowing from its red-hot pace earlier in the year. November’s jobs gains matched the low seen in April 2021, which was the weakest since December 2020 when the number of jobs shrank.
Signs of weakening trade, especially for export-dependent economies in Asia, have deepened worries over slowing growth in China and its implications for the global economy.
More economists are still forecasting the U.S. economy to fall into a recession next year in large part because of higher interest rates.
“While the Fed won’t back away from” a hike of just half a percentage point “in December, they still have no clue what they’ll do in 2023,” said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has stressed the need to reject confrontation in Asia, warning against the risk of cold war tensions, as leaders gather for the last of three world summits hosted in the region this month.
Xi began the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in Bangkok by staking out his wish for China to be viewed as a driver of regional unity in a written speech released ahead of Friday’s opening day – which also appeared to make veiled jabs at the United States.
The Asia-Pacific region is “no one’s backyard” and should not become “an arena for big power contest,” Xi said in the statement, in which he also decried “any attempt to politicize and weaponize economic and trade relations.”
“No attempt to wage a new cold war will ever be allowed by the people or by our times,” he added in the remarks, which were addressed to business leaders meeting alongside the summit and did not name the US.
Xi struck a milder tone in a separate address to APEC leaders on Friday morning as the main event got underway, calling for stability, peace and the development of a “more just world order.”
Leaders and representatives from 21 economies on both sides of the Pacific meeting in the Thai capital for the two-day summit will grapple with that question of how best to promote stability, in a region sitting on the fault lines of growing US-China competition and grappling with regional tensions and the economic fallout of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Those challenges were palpable Friday morning, as North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the second weapons test by Kim Jong Un’s regime in two days amid increased provocation from Pyongyang.
US Vice President Kamala Harris gathered on the sidelines of the summit with leaders from Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to condemn the launch in an unscheduled media briefing.
In a speech Friday to business leaders, Harris said the US had a “profound stake” in the region, and described America as a “strong partner” to its economies and a “major engine of global growth.”
Without mentioning China in her address, she also promoted American initiatives to counter Beijing’s regional influence, including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, launched by Washington earlier this year, and the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.
“The US is here to stay,” said the vice president, who is representing the US at the summit after US President Joe Biden returned home for a family event after attending meetings around the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and the G20 summit in Bali in recent days.
Despite the US-China rivalry, the three summits have also brought opportunities to defuse rising tensions and strained communication between the world’s top two powers.
US-China relations have deteriorated sharply in recent years, with the two sides clashing over Taiwan, the war in Ukraine, North Korea, and the transfer of technology among other issues.
In August, following a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, China fired multiple missiles into waters around the self-governing island and ramped up naval and warplane exercises in the surrounding area. Beijing claims the democratic island as its territory, despite never having controlled it, and suspended a number of dialogues with the US over the visit.
A landmark meeting between Xi and Biden on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali on Monday – the leaders’ first since Biden took office – ended with the two sides agreeing to bolster communication and collaborate on issues like climate and food security.
After landing in Bangkok Thursday, Chinese leader Xi sat down with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in the first meeting between leaders of the two Asian countries in nearly three years. Both sides called for more cooperation following a breakdown in communication over points of contention from Taiwan to disputed islands.
At stake in the broader meeting, however, is whether leaders can find consensus on how to treat Russia’s aggression in a concluding document, or whether differences in views between the broad grouping of nations will stymie such a result, despite months of discussion between APEC nations’ lower-level officials.
In an address to business leaders alongside the summit Friday morning, French President Emmanuel Macron, who was invited by host country Thailand, called for consensus and unity against Moscow’s aggression.
“Help us to convey the same message to Russia: stop the war, respect the international order and come back to the table,” he said.
Macron also called out the US-China rivalry, warning of the risk to peace if countries are forced to choose between the two great powers.
“We need a single global order,” Macron said to applause from business leaders.
UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand — Grief-stricken families prayed Saturday morning at a Buddhist temple filled with children’s keepsakes, flowers and photos of the smiling toddlers who were slain as they napped on blankets at a day care center in northeastern Thailand.
Coffins containing the 36 killed, 24 of them children and most of them preschoolers, were released Friday and placed inside Wat Rat Samakee and two other temples in the town nestled among rice paddies in one of Thailand’s poorest regions.
Several mourners stayed at Wat Rat Samakee overnight in the tradition of keeping company for those who died young.
“All the relatives are here to make merit on behalf of those who died,” said Pensiri Thana, an aunt of one of the victims, referring to an important Buddhist practice. She was among those staying the night at the temple. “It is a tradition that we keep company with our young ones. It is our belief that we should be with them so they are not lonely.”
The massacre left no one untouched in the small town, but community officials found helping others was helping assuage their own grief, at least momentarily.
“At first, all of us felt so terrible and couldn’t accept this. All the officials feel sad with the people here. But we have to look after everyone, all these 30 victims. We are running around and taking care of the people, giving them moral support,” Somneuk Thongthalai, a local district official, said.
A mourning ceremony will continue for three days before the royal-sponsored funerals, which will culminate in the cremation of the bodies according to Buddhist tradition.
No clear motive may ever be known for Thailand’s deadliest mass killing after the perpetrator left the day care center Thursday and killed his wife and son at home before taking his own life.
Late Friday, King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida visited hospitals where seven people wounded in the attack are being treated. The monarch met with family members of the victims in what he said was a bid to boost morale.
“It is a tragedy that this evil thing has happened,” the king told reporters in a rare public appearance. “But right now, we have to think of what we can do to improve things to the best of our ability.”
Outside the Young Children’s Development Center in Uthai Sawan, bouquets of white roses and carnations lined an outside wall, along with five tiny juice boxes, bags of corn chips and a stuffed animal.
At Wat Rat Samakee, mourners and those trying to lend them support crowded the grounds.
“It was just too much. I can’t accept this,” said Oy Yodkhao, 51, sitting Friday on a bamboo mat in the oppressive heat as relatives gave her water and gently mopped her brow.
Her 4-year-old grandson Tawatchai Sriphu was killed, and she said she worried for the child’s siblings. The family of rice farmers is close, with three generations living under one roof.
Police identified the attacker as Panya Kamrap, 34, a former police sergeant fired earlier this year because of a drug charge involving methamphetamine. An employee at the day care told Thai media Panya’s son had attended but hadn’t been there for about a month.
Mass shootings are rare but not unheard of in Thailand, which has one of the highest civilian gun ownership rates in Asia, with 15.1 weapons per 100 people. That’s still far lower than the U.S. rate of 120.5 per 100 people, according to a 2017 survey by Australia’s GunPolicy.org nonprofit organization.
Thailand’s previous worst mass killing involved a disgruntled soldier who opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020, killing 29 people and holding off security forces for some 16 hours before being killed by them.
The previously worst attack on civilians was a 2015 bombing at a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people. It was allegedly carried out by human traffickers in retaliation for a crackdown on their network.
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Associated Press writers Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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See more AP Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific
BANGKOK, Thailand — Richard Bland, Branden Grace and Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra upstaged their more-illustrious opponents on Friday to shoot 7-under 65s and share the lead after the first round of the LIV Golf Invitational-Bangkok.
Marc Leishman and Ian Poulter were a stroke behind while Kim Sihwan, Brooks Koepka and Morgan Jediah were among those two behind in the 54-hole event.
The tournament is being played on the new Stonehill Golf Club north of downtown Bangkok. The course was created by American designer Kyle Phillips and opened this year.
Dustin Johnson, who leads the money list with just over $12.5 million in five events, shot 70. British Open champion Cameron Smith, who won the last LIV event in Chicago in mid-September, shot 72.
It’s the first time LIV Golf is being played outside the United States since its inaugural event in early June near London.
Before the start of play, players learned that they still won’t accrue ranking points on the LIV series. The Official World Golf Ranking said in a statement Thursday that it had denied the MENA Tour’s request to immediately add the Saudi-funded series to its schedule.
The OWGR said the MENA Tour did not give it sufficient notice and there would not be time to finish the review ahead of the Bangkok tournament and next week’s event in Saudi Arabia.
LIV Golf created an alliance with the little-known MENA Tour, which hasn’t run a tournament of its own since March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MENA Tour stands for Middle East and North Africa and is a developmental tour that has been getting the bare minimum of world ranking points since 2016. It has 54-hole events with a 36-hole cut, offering a $75,000 purse.
“I don’t think it really was much of a response. I just hate when you sit on the fence. Just pick a side,” Koepka said Friday. “If it’s yes or no, just pick one. So I’m not a big fan of that.”
Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 69 Friday, said the decision by the rankings group was only “delaying the inevitable.”
“We’ve hit every mark in their criteria, so for us not to get points is kind of crazy with having the top — at least I believe we have the top players in the world,” DeChambeau said. “We certainly believe that there’s enough that are in the top 50, and we deserve to be getting world ranking points. When they keep holding it back, they’re going to just keep playing a waiting game.”
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