International
Paetongtarn Shinawatra swears in as Prime Minister of Thailand
Paetongtarn Shinawatra was sworn in as Prime Minister of Thailand on Sunday, two days after Parliament elected her after the dismissal this week of her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, by order of the Constitutional Court.
Paetongtarn, who turns 38 on Wednesday, became the youngest president in the country and the second woman to occupy the position, after her aunt Yingluck (2011-2014).
The leader is also the third member of the influential Shinawatra clan to take the reins of the Thai Executive, after her father Thaksin (2001-2006) and his younger sister, whose governments withdrew from office in two military uprisings.
Dressed in the official white uniform for the ceremony of her official appointment in Bangkok, Paetongtarn heard the approval of King Vajiralongkorn, a mere formalism and read by the secretary of the House of Representatives, Apat Sukhanand.
The young woman, who came accompanied by her father, paid tribute to a portrait of the monarch and, in a brief speech, promised to “fulfill her duty” and listen to the opinions of the legislators in order to give “stability” to Thailand.
Paetongtarn came to power after Srettha, with whom he shares a party (Pheu Thai), resed on Wednesday after less than a year in office in a controversial decision of the conservative Constitutional Court for a case curiously linked to Thaksin.
The court considered that Srettha violated a code of ethics by appointing a lawyer convicted of attempted bribery as Minister of Finance in April, in a case involving the patriarch of the Shinawatra.
On Friday, after 48 hours of frantic political cabals, Paetongtarn received the support of 319 of 493 members of Parliament to occupy the position of prime minister.
Interestingly, the appointment of Thaksin’s third daughter coincides with the first day of freedom of influential former president after it was confirmed on Saturday that he received a pardon from the king that allowed him to pay the one-year prison sentence for crimes of corruption that he had served since August 22, the day the patriarch returned to Thailand after 15 years of self-imposed exile.
Thaksin, who did not spend a night in prison and regained his parole after being in custody for six months in a capital hospital, now faces an accusation of lesa majesty, which is punishable by between 3 and 15 years in prison, with a judicial hearing scheduled for Monday and destined for the parties to present their list of witnesses and evidence.
According to the complaint, Thaksin accused the Privy Council of the Royal House of Thailand, the body that advises the king, of organizing the 2014 military coup d’état that overthrew the Yingluck Government, during an interview published in 2015 by a South Korean media.
Thaksin’s return, the same day that the already dismissed Srettha was elected, stages the apparent reconciliation between the former president and the pro-military and pro-military elite that overthrewal him by a military coup d’état in 2006.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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