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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016265

Britain will lead celebrations around the world this weekend as Queen Elizabeth II marks her 70th year on the throne.

The platinum jubilee is an unprecedented event, with no British king or queen having reached this landmark before. Elizabeth, 96, is also the world’s longest-reigning living monarch.

She ascended the throne on February 6, 1952, at the tender age of 25, after the death of her father, George VI, aged 56.

In 2015, she broke the record for the United Kingdom’s longest reigning monarch, which had been held by her great-great grandmother Victoria, who was queen for 63 years and 216 days.

To achieve the Platinum Jubilee landmark, a monarch must be crowned at a young age, which means Elizabeth’s feat is unlikely to be bettered for many decades to come – if at all. Prince Charles, the next in line to the throne, is now 73.

Tradition dictates that a silver jubilee is held in the 25th year of a monarch’s reign. Several British monarchs have celebrated this landmark, including Elizabeth’s grandfather George V, who reigned for 25 years and 259 days. Her own silver jubilee fell in 1997.

The golden jubilee celebration is held for the 50th year of a monarch’s reign. Elizabeth celebrated this in 2002 when she was 76 years old.

Although she is the longest-reigning monarch alive today, Elizabeth stands only third in the all-time list. Top place belongs to King Louis XIV of France, who reigned for 72 years and 110 days after ascending the throne aged four and reigning from 1643 to 1715.

The second-longest reigning monarch in history is King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great, who spent 70 years and 126 days on the throne.

The next regnal landmark for Elizabeth will be the 80th anniversary of her accession, celebrated as the Oak Jubilee in 2026, when she would be 106 years old.

Before that, she can look forward to becoming only the second person in the UK royal family to reach her 100th birthday, after Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother celebrated her centenary in 2000.

Elizabeth II’s record-breaking reign turned on a quirk of history. At birth she was only third in line to the throne and not expected to become queen.

However, in December 1936 her uncle Edward VIII – a Nazi sympathiser – abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, an American widow. Her father George VI then became king and, since Elizabeth had no brothers, she became heir to the British crown and the commonwealth of nations.

Published : June 03, 2022

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016256

South Korea’s prime minister on Friday said the country will lift its quarantine requirement for foreign arrivals without vaccination from next Wednesday and also start lifting aviation regulations imposed on international flights.

However, the government will maintain the requirement of a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result prior to entry and a PCR test within 72 hours after arrival.

“While there was a 7-day quarantine obligation for non-vaccinated foreign arrivals until now, such requirement will be eliminated from June 8 regardless of their vaccination status,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a pandemic response meeting, adding the country’s COVID-19 situation had stabilized.

Han said any aviation regulations imposed at Incheon International Airport will be lifted from June 8 to ensure that flights can operate in a timely manner, as current restrictions on flights and flight operation times have caused inconveniences such as lack of tickets and rising prices.

Published : June 03, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016254

Declaring “Enough, enough!” U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday urged Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and implement other sensible gun control measures to address a string of mass shootings that have struck the United States.

Speaking from the White House, in a speech broadcast live in primetime, Biden asked a country stunned by the recent shootings of school children in Texas, at a medical building in Oklahoma, and at a Buffalo, New York, grocery story how much it would take.

“For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked.

The president, a Democrat, called for several measures that have historically been blocked by Republicans in Congress, including raising the age at which adults can buy guns and repealing the liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from being sued for violence perpetrated by people carrying their weapons.

“We can’t fail the American people again,” Biden said, pressing Republicans to allow bills including gun control measures to come up for a vote.

The United States, which has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other wealthy nation, has been shaken in recent weeks by the high-profile mass shootings at a grocery store in New York, an elementary school in Texas that killed 19 children, and a medical building in Oklahoma.

Gun safety advocates have pushed Biden to take stronger measures on his own to curb gun violence, but the White House wants Congress to pass legislation that would have a more lasting impact than any presidential order.

A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Thursday was working on a bill aimed at toughening national gun laws, though the measure has little chance of passing the Senate.

Biden’s evening address was aimed at putting further pressure on lawmakers and keeping the issue at the forefront of voters’ minds. He has made only a handful of evening speeches from the White House during his term, including one on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and one about the Texas shooting last week.

More than 18,000 people have died from gun violence in the United States in 2022, including through homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

Canada, Australia, and Britain all passed stricter gun laws after mass shootings in their countries, banning assault weapons and increasing background checks. America has experienced two decades of massacres in schools, stores, and places of work and worship without any such legislation.

A broad majority of American voters, both Republicans, and Democrats favor stronger gun control laws, but Republicans in Congress and some moderate Democrats have blocked such legislation for years.

Prices of shares in gun manufacturers rose on Thursday. Efforts to advance gun control measures have boosted firearm share prices after other mass shootings as investors anticipated that gun purchases would increase ahead of stricter regulations.

As president, Biden has called on Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons and pass measures to require universal background checks for those who purchase guns.

In the aftermath of the Texas shooting, he urged the country to take on the powerful pro-gun lobby that backs politicians who oppose such legislation.

The Senate is split, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, and the law must have 60 votes to overcome a maneuver known as the filibuster, which means any law would need rare bipartisan support.

While Biden and Congress explore compromises, the Supreme Court is due to decide a major case that could undermine new efforts to enact gun control measures while making existing ones vulnerable to legal attack.

Published : June 03, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016253

A former Mexican governor was extradited on Thursday from the United States, where he had been held for nearly two years on charges of embezzlement and criminal association, Mexican authorities said in a statement.

Cesar Duarte, who governed the state of Chihuahua from 2010 to 2016, was arrested in 2020 by U.S. Marshals in Miami, Florida.

Duarte is accused of acting in a group to divert more than 96 million pesos, or the then-equivalent of $6.5 million, from the government between 2011 and 2014.

The former governor’s extradition was the “result of the close collaboration” between Mexico and the United States, authorities said, coming the same day six Mexicans were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for alleged cartel involvement.

Current Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos said in a message on Twitter she “celebrates” the decision, adding that her administration would not “forgive or forget” the actions of past governors.

Published : June 03, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016243

A beaming Queen Elizabeth waved to cheering crowds massed outside Buckingham Palace on Thursday as Britain kicked off four days of pomp, parties and parades to celebrate her record-breaking 70 years on the British throne.

Tens of thousands of royal supporters waving flags lined the streets of London for a military parade at the start of the four-day Platinum Jubilee. Millions of people across Britain and the world were expected to watch the festivities, join street parties and light beacons in honour of the 96-year-old queen.

Elizabeth, holding a walking stick and wearing a dusky dove blue outfit that she also wore for an official Jubilee photograph, was joined by her son and heir Prince Charles, 73, and other senior royals on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

While the family waved to the crowds and enjoyed a Royal Air force fly-past, Louis – Prince William’s 4-year-old son – covered his ears and howled as the planes roared overhead. He later jumped up and down as Red Arrow jets released red, white and blue smoke trails.

Elizabeth has been on the throne for longer than any of her predecessors, and is the third-longest reigning monarch ever of a sovereign state. Opinion polls show she remains hugely popular and respected among British people.

The celebrations began with the Trooping the Colour, a military parade held annually to mark the queen’s official birthday, where 1,500 soldiers marched to military music in ceremonial uniforms of scarlet tunics and bearskin hats.

Later the crowds moved to the Mall, the grand boulevard running up to Buckingham Palace, where in brilliant sunshine they cheered and waved Union flags while a display of modern and historic planes took place overhead.

Published : June 03, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016234

The “Trooping the Colour” military parade kicked off Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations on Thursday.

Also known as the Queen’s Birthday Parade, “Trooping the Colour” has more than 1,200 soldiers taking part along with military bands. It has been held for more than 260 years.

It comes on the first of four days of celebrations in Britain to mark Queen Elizabeth’s seven decades on the throne.

The queen has attended every such parade bar one since 1955, with scaled-down ceremonies taking place in the last two years because of coronavirus restrictions. Due to her mobility issues, for the first time, she will take the salute from soldiers and officers from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Published : June 02, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016218

Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, a former leader of Colombia’s once-powerful Cali cartel, died in the United States while serving a 30-year drug trafficking sentence, his family said on Wednesday.

Sometimes known by his alias ‘Chessplayer,’ Rodriguez was extradited to the United States in 2004. The 83-year-old was serving time at a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.

The drug lord’s daughter informed of Rodriguez Orejuela’s death on May 31 at 6:54 p.m. in a statement. They were beginning the process of extraditing his remains back to Colombia, his family said.

Rodriguez’s 1995 arrest by Colombian authorities marked the beginning of the disintegration of the Cali cartel, which once controlled 80% of the global cocaine market, according to a contemporary report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Rodriguez’s brother Miguel was captured two months later and is also serving a sentence in the United States.

The brothers deployed bombs and vigilantes against their drug trafficker enemy Pablo Escobar, who was killed in a police operation in 1993, and his associates.

They also confessed to financing political campaigns, including that of Liberal Party president Ernesto Samper in 1994, who denied having any knowledge of the donations at the time.

Published : June 02, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016217

The leaders of Denmark’s centre-left ruling party and the centre-right opposition were united on Wednesday after the country decided to join the European Union’s defence policy.

The final results of a referendum on the issue signalled the latest shift among Nordic countries to deepen defence ties in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

After most votes had been counted, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of the Social Democrats and the leader of the opposition Venstre party, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, both hailed the decision.

Denmark is the only EU member that is not part of the European Union’s defence and security policy.

The referendum marks the first time a government has succeeded in abolishing one of several exemptions secured in a 1993 referendum on the Maastricht Treaty.

Final results showed almost 67% of voters were in favour of removing an opt-out to the EU’s so-called Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), in what was the largest recorded show of support in a referendum on an EU matter in Denmark.

Around 33 per cent of voters polled were opposed.

The vote to abolish the opt-out is a win for those in favour of greater EU cooperation, while those against have argued that the EU’s defence pact is strained by bureaucracy and that Denmark’s participation in EU military operations will be too costly.

In historic policy shifts, Sweden and Finland this month decided to apply for NATO membership, while both Denmark and Germany have already promised to sharply raise defence spending.

Denmark is a founding member of NATO, but the alliance’s biggest military power, the United States, has signalled that European allies must take greater responsibility for their own security.

In the CSDP, Denmark would be able to take part in joint military operations, such as those in Somalia, Mali and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and cooperate on the acquisition of joint military capabilities.

Published : June 02, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016170

Shanghai’s roads and subway stations hummed back into life on Wednesday (June 1) as the financial hub ended its strict two-month lockdown.

Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents can now freely leave home, return to work, use public transport and drive their cars – a moment that for many in China’s largest and most cosmopolitan city felt like it would never arrive.

“I felt extremely happy when I left home for work today. We were locked in our homes for two whole months as we were under lockdown since April 1,” said a Shanghai local, Ma Xiang.

During the two months, numerous residents of the country’s most important financial and economic hub struggled to get enough food or medical care. Families were separated and hundreds of thousands were forced into centralised quarantine facilities.

Residents will have to test every 72 hours to take public transport and enter public venues, heralding what may become a “new normal” in many Chinese cities. Those testing positive, and their close contacts, face onerous quarantines.

Following two months of frustration, despair and economic loss, Shanghai’s residents were seen on Wednesday buying groceries, picking out fruits and engaging in chitchats.

Holding bags of vegetables, an elderly local who only gave her surname as Wang, told Reuters she had not stepped out of her home for two months.

“Finally at ease. I stayed at home all day and never went out, I felt sloppy,” she said.

Shanghai’s ordeal has come to symbolise what critics say is the unsustainability of China’s adherence to a zero-COVID policy that aims to cut off every infection chain, at any cost, even as much of the world tries to return to normal despite ongoing infections.

Shanghai’s roads streamed with cars and people as the city sprang to life again on Wednesday 

Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents can now freely leave home, return to work, use public transport and drive their cars – a moment that for many in China’s largest and most cosmopolitan city felt like it would never arrive.

Joggers, skaters and dog walkers braved the heat, pouring into riverfront parks along with other residents basking under the sunshine in the West Bund area.

Residents must still wear masks in public and avoid gatherings. Restaurant dining remains banned and shops can only operate at 75% capacity. Gyms will reopen later.

Published : June 01, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40016166

South Korean supergroup BTS, a fundraising juggernaut for social justice causes in the United States, visited the White House on Tuesday to discuss hate crimes targeting Asians with U.S. President Joe Biden.

The meeting comes as May’s recognition of Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander month comes to a close amid a sharp upswing in hate crimes against Asian Americans in the past year.

Attacks against people of Asian descent have escalated as some politicians and pundits have encouraged Americans to blame China for COVID-19, amid other tensions.

The boy band’s meeting with Biden was closed to media organizations.

The K-pop stars are known for using their lyrics and social campaigns aimed at empowering youngsters since making their debut in 2013. Their fan base extends into older demographics, tying their spending clout to a generation that is internet-savvy and able to harness the power of social media.

In June 2020, the group’s fans put their energy behind an online campaign called #MatchAMillion to raise money for social justice causes in the United States. It hauled in $1 million in roughly one day, matching the donation of the band itself to Black Lives Matter.

Published : June 01, 2022

By : Reuters