Thai sisters dispense with Korean pair to reach Badminton World Tour finals
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2022
Thailand’s badminton sisters – Benyapa and Nuntakarn Aimsaard – dispensed with their South Korean opponents in two straight games on Saturday to enter the women’s doubles finals of the 2022 Badminton World Tour in Bangkok on Sunday.
The sisters are ranked 13th globally as a pair, while the South Korean team of Kim Hye-jeong and Jeong Na-eun is ranked 5th. Benyapa and Nuntakarn already bested them in the final round of Group A, also in two straight games.
Saturday’s match at Nimibutr Arena lasted for 43 minutes. Benyapa and Nuntakarnopponents squeaked through the first game 22-20 and handily took the second by six points, winning 21-15.
In Sunday’s final they will face China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, who clinched their spot after defeating another Chinese team – Zheng Yu and Zhang Shuxian – on Saturday in two straight matches: 21-19 and 21-13.
This year’s season-ending competition was switched from Guangzhou, China to Bangkok due to China’s ongoing struggle against Covid-19.
World Cup quarterfinal: Argentina beat the Netherlands in a battle of fury
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2022
Chaos reigned supreme in the World Cup quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands, with as many as 18 yellow cards being served up.
Argentina won the match 4-3 on Saturday in a penalty shootout after drawing 2-2 in the extra time.
The battle on the pitch was sparked by Argentine captain Lionel Messi, who was infuriated by the Dutch coach Louis van Gaal’s pre-match comment that Messi “did not participate much” when his side lost the ball.
“Messi is the most dangerous creative player, he is able to create a lot and score goals himself,” van Gaal said. “But when they lose the ball and the opponent has possession, he doesn’t participate much, and this gives us chances [to exploit].”
With the win safely under his belt, Messi told reporters: “Van Gaal says they play good football, but what he did was put on tall people and hit long balls.”
Another target of Messi’s fury was the Netherlands’ Wout Weghorst. According to the Independent’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney, Messi yelled “what are you looking at, fool” in Spanish apparently at Weghorst.
The Dutch player had scored two goals for his team.
Twitter user @AlbicelesteTalk quoted Messi as saying: “I don’t like people talking before games.
“The No 19 [Weghorst] came and started to provoke us, bump into us, tell us things. Their coach was not respectful to us either.
“It seemed disrespectful to me, that a coach of his calibre declared like that. Van Gaal does not respect the Argentina National Team.”
Argentina will play Croatia in the semi-final on Wednesday at 2am Thai time at Lusail Iconic Stadium in Lusail, Qatar.
Banh canh cua (crab thick rice noodle soup) is known as a major part of Southern cuisine. It is said to have existed in the twentieth century in Vietnam and was famous for its flavorful red-orange broth.
Crab rice noodle soup (or banh canh cua in Vietnamese) is known as part of Southern cuisine and is famous for its flavourful red-orange broth.
People do not exactly know when the dish was created. Its origin is believed to be in southeast Vietnam last century after it made its debut in Trang Bang District, Tay Ninh Province.
Banh canh (rice noodles) is a traditional dish that is typically served for breakfast. The main ingredient is white, thick and chewy noodles made from rice flour.
Rice noodle is eaten with a flavourful broth made from simmering pork bones with radishes or carrots for hours. Toppings normally include blood puddings, quail eggs, pork belly, and crunchy pork skin. The toppings and flavours are different in different regions.
Banh canh cua is a variant of banh canh that retains the basic elements of the original. It is distinct due to its beautiful red, stock-like soup, which is created by a combination of the essential oil of cashew and maize flour. The taste is of the rich flavour of shrimp, crab, and sometimes abalone, as well as pork bone that has been marinated for hours.
Crab, the soul of the dish, is mostly served in two styles, a whole crab and small pieces.
The whole crab will be cooked with broth. Before being placed in the pot, the chef must remove the crab’s abdomen and wash it until no dirt remains.
Some of the white, thick, and chewy noodles (bánh canh) are made from rice flour. Those are strands of rice dough boiled in water for a few minutes. – Photo danviet.vn
The other way is with small pieces of crab meat. The chef takes out all the crab meat from the shell and then boils it. Then the finished product will continue to be sauteed with spices until it becomes tender and smells perfect.
One of the toppings is fabulous white and organ crab bologna. This is made with a mixture of crab meat, minced pork and fat. Depending on the recipe, some secret spices will be added to increase the savoury taste of crab.
Locally well-known restaurant
Do Thanh Long, the owner of the eatery Banh Canh Cua Ba Ba in District 5, told Vietnam News that the recipe was passed from his grandma.
“I learned to cook banh canh cua from my grandma, who has been selling this for thirty years in her hometown. I still keep the old traditional flavour of the broth by using only dried shrimp, pork bones, and egg whip. Our noodle soup has extra toppings like grilled fish, which makes our guests love it,” Long said.
Long’s restaurant has gone viral on many social media platforms and newspapers since the day he started the business thanks to many popular videos from food vloggers and articles from journalists.
Nguyen Hoai Thuong, a diner from District 7 who is passionate about this dish, said, “The thing that makes me love banh canh cua so much is the gorgeous broth. The umami flavour of it contains all of the fresh seafood flavours inside.”
According to Hoang Thi Minh Hien, co-owner of Banh Canh Cua Co Dieu, a 12-year-old chain restaurant in HCM City, the recipe is passed down from generation to generation, and each ingredient is made by only one family member.
“I remember eating banh canh cua with my mother at a diner in Thai Binh Market in District 1, which was one of the first places in HCM City to sell the dish; the flavour was unlike any other place that sells this dish until even now in HCM City. I raised our family with the passion to make our own version of banh canh cua,” Hien said.
“One of the ways to make good stock flavour is to make the sauce with only seafood, which has made our dish unique. The most succulent crab must come from Vung Tau, where you have some of the best crabs in the country.”
The restaurant is mostly crowded in the afternoon when people are having lunch or dinner.
Dang Huu Thanh Tung, a university student from An Giang Province, said, “I will never forget the first time I tried banh canh cua from a vendor in my hometown when I was 11 years old. Right after the first spoon, I knew exactly how much I loved it.”
The price for this lovely dish is around VND50,000 (US$2) to VND300,000 (US$12).
Reviews, podcasts, virtual reality among 2023 content marketing trends
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2022
The Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) has identified seven content marketing trends for next year, which may not just win customers’ hearts, but also improve business potential and opportunities.
“Business operators can become social-media celebrities every day,” TPSO said on Sunday.
The seven trends in content marketing for 2023 are:
• Consumers’ experience: Reviews, testimonials and social-media messages influence consumers more than brands
• Streamed, live and recorded content: Anything that allows consumers to participate directly will continue trending for a long while
• Micro-influencers: Social media users with a small following will be able to engage with consumers more than influencers who have a lot of followers
• Virtual reality: This will play a key role in brand promotion as it will help improve consumers’ decision on purchasing products and services
• Podcasts: This will keep trending next year as it can engage with a large audience. This trend is also being promoted by Spotify and YouTube
• Shoppable posts: This feature introduced by Instagram and Snapchat to engage consumers via social-media messages will become a trend next year as brands seek ways to boost sales and engage with a larger audience
• Interactive content: An effective way to engage customers as it can cover questionnaires, surveys and games. Most marketers say their interactive content helped keep their brand different.
Experience “SIAM SMILEY® Celebration Infinite Happiness” all through December 2022 and ring in the New Year with concerts from top artists
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2022
Siam Paragon, a ‘world-class shopping destination’ and a top-of-mind destination for locals and international tourists, is celebrating the season of joy with a special collaboration with global brand SMILEY, universally recognized for its iconic smiling face symbol.
The grand festivity “Siam Smiley® Celebration Infinite Happiness” marks Southeast Asian’s first festive collaboration with the iconic brand SMILEY® . Siam Paragon is presenting a cheer myriad of SMILEY®, bringing the happy vibes plus an exciting line-up of international theatre performances from France and The Netherlands. The celebration kicked off on 9 December 2022 with a mini concert from famous duo artists Putthipong ‘Billkin’ Assaratanakul and Krit ‘PP’ Amnuaydechkorn and theatre performances Le Ballerine from Teatro Pavana from the Netherlands at Parc Paragon, Siam Paragon.
Thanaporn Tantiyanon, Head of Business Unit of Siam Paragon, said “Siam Paragon is dedicated to create extraordinary and exceptional experiences. For this holiday season, our “Siam Smiley Celebration Infinite Happiness” is a collaboration with global brand SMILEY that marks the first festive collaboration in Southeast Asia. Internationally-renowned illustrator Pomme Chan or Tachamapan Chanchamrassang created the chic graphic for the festive celebration. The holiday hypes at Siam Paragon is filled with happy SMILEY faces, dazzling Christmas tree, SMILEY installation art.”
In addition to dazzling festive decorations and lighting, Siam Paragon is bringing together over 50 international performers for exciting theatre performances, every Friday-Saturday and Sunday at 17.00 and 18.00 hrs. (40 minutes per show) all through December.
The lineup of performances on every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday throughout December 2022 are:
Le Ballerine from Teatro Pavana theatre of the Netherlands: The graceful stilt walking ballerinas from the Netherlands will amaze the audience with pirouettes and clouds of colorful tulle created from over 250 meters of fabric, dancing synchronously with melodious music, between December 9-11, 2022.
SPHERES, street theatre from France: A breathtaking performance of SPHERES, a street theatre from France which performers dance in twinkling air-light spheres as if floating in the air, between December 16-18, 2022.
Night Colors from Teatro Pavana theatre of the Netherlands. A dazzling stilt walking performance with illuminated sparkling silver costume decorated with over 170-meter-long light wire, from 23-25 December 2022.
Additionally, Siam Paragon will present a parade of entertainment including concerts by leading artists such as Bodyslam, Joey Boy, Milli, Three Man Down, Tilly Birds, and Proud band that will ring in the New Year on 31 December 2022, from 5.30pm onwards at Parc Paragon on M Floor of Siam Paragon. Admission is free and the event is organized under a high level of safety measures. On New Year’s Eve, Siam Paragon also extends its operation times, from 9.30am to midnight.
Siam Paragon also offers special promotions from 2 December 2022 to 15 January 2023.For VIZ members using ONESIAM SuperApp, for THB1,000 spent at participating restaurants get 100 VIZ COINS (limited to 50 offers a day), and for THB15,000 spent on shopping at participating stores get 500 VIZ COINS (limited to 80 offers a day.) ONESIAM-Kasikorn credit card holders will get 700-baht cashback. At Paragon Department Store, MCard members will receive E-Coupon valued 500 baht for THB7,000 spent (limited to 700 offers/throughout the campaign period). The members also have a chance to win special prizes valued at over 3 million baht in total such as TOYOTA FORTUNER 2.8 LEGENDER, 4 WD 60th ANNIVERSARY (1 prize), and round-trip tickets by VIETJET from Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) to Japan/Taiwan/Vietnam for 25 prizes (2 seats per prize). Especially for all VISA card holders, when spending 2,000 baht at the department store, they will get X2 benefits from the campaign The Great Happy New Year 2023.
In addition, Siam Paragon continuously offers special Boxing Day privilege to customers from 24 – 26 December 2022, and from 30 December 2022 to 1 January 2023. For THB20,000 baht spent at participating stores get 1,000 VIZ COINS and a THB1,000 dining voucher from Co-limited restaurant (limited to 200 offers a day). ONESIAM-Kasikorn credit card holders get 5,000 K Points and a maximum of 16% cashback credits from participating credit cards.
Discover the amazing festive experience throughout the month of December 2022 at Siam Paragon. For more information, call 02-610-8000 or log on to Facebook: Siam Paragon.
All members of SK parliament sign declaration against hate speech
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2022
All members of the South Korean parliament have pledged to take part in a campaign to get rid of hate speech, bullying and human rights violations in cyberspace, the Sunfull Foundation said Sunday.
“All 299 lawmakers have signed a pledge to support using good language during their political activities,” announced the organization’s founder Min Byoung-chul during an award ceremony held Dec. 7 to commend 35 parliamentarians for using what they perceive as a respectful language, as opposed to malicious or disrespectful language.
The NGO was founded in 2007 for the purpose of eradicating malicious online comments. It has been awarding National Assembly members every year since 2013.
Sunfull, referring to kindhearted online comments, is a combination of the Korean word “sun (good)” and “full (short for reply).”
Wednesday’s winners of the “Sunfull Grand Prize” were National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo; Rep. Lee Che-ik of the People Power Party, who chairs the parliament’s Public Administration and Security Committee; and Rep. Hwang Hee of the Democratic Party of Korea. The 35 recipients were selected by the National Youth Sunfull Social Media Reporters, consisting of 300 high school and college students who analyzed each lawmaker’s use of language via transcripts of plenary sessions and standing committee meetings for the past year.
Foreign diplomats and other dignitaries also participated in the awards ceremony, expressing high interest in the movement. They include Indonesian Ambassador Gandi Sulistiyanto Soeherman, Cambodian Ambassador Chring Botumrangsay and Designated Turkish Ambassador Murat Tamer.
Nobel awards take place in Stockholm with full glitz and glamour
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2022
Nobel laureates gathered in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Saturday for the first fully in-person award ceremony since the Covid-19 pandemic that curtailed events in the previous two years.
The ceremony featured glamorous formal wear, with the men in white tie and tails and women in flowing gowns and elegant hairdos. Ceremonies in 2020 and 2021 were scaled back and there was no banquet after the ceremony.
Many laureates from 2020 and 2021 attended this year as well as the 2022 winners – last year there was a ceremony but no laureates attended as they received their medals in their home countries.
Five of the six Nobel prizes are awarded in Stockholm every year after a nomination process that is kept secret for the next 50 years. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo.
Dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel left around 31 million crowns – about 1.8 billion crowns (174.2 million U.S. dollars) in today’s money according to the Foundation – to fund prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace awarded annually since 1901.
Among the laureates for 2022 is a former chairman of US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, who won the Nobel Economics Prize along with economists Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig for research on how propping up failing banks can stave off an even deeper economic crisis.
The economics prize is a later addition to the original line-up, instituted by the Swedish central bank.
Scientists Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and Barry Sharpless won the chemistry prize for discovering reactions that let molecules snap together to create new compounds and that offer insight into cell biology.
Sharpless joins an elite band of scientists who have won two Nobel prizes.
Scientists Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger won the physics prize for experiments in quantum mechanics that laid the groundwork for rapidly-developing new applications in computing and cryptography.
Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo won the medicine prize for discoveries that underpin our understanding of how modern-day people evolved from extinct ancestors at the dawn of human history.
French author Annie Ernaux was awarded the literature prize for “the courage and clinical acuity” in her largely autobiographical books examining personal memory and social inequality.
After the ceremony, there was a banquet in Stockholm’s City Hall, attended by Sweden’s royal family, government officials and dignitaries and business leaders from different countries.
Swedish political party leaders are always invited to the banquet. However, Jimmie Akesson, leader of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, which became the country’s second biggest party in an election in September election, was left off the guest list, with his party not deemed to be in keeping with the prizes’ tenets.
The Nobel Foundation has also snubbed the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jailed Belarusian activist Ales Byalyatski, Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a “dependent dictatorship” like Belarus, the wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski said on Saturday upon receiving the prize on his behalf, speaking his words.
Receiving the award on behalf of her husband at Oslo City Hall, Natallia Pinchuk said Byalyatski dedicated the prize to “millions of Belarusian citizens who stood up and took action in the streets and online to defend their civil rights”.
“It highlights the dramatic situation and struggles for human rights in the country,” she said, adding she was speaking her husband’s words.
“I know exactly what kind of Ukraine would suit Russia and Putin — a dependent dictatorship. The same as today’s Belarus, where the voice of the oppressed people is ignored and disregarded,” Pinchuk said, quoting her husband.
Pinchuk has met her husband once since he was named a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in prison, behind a glass wall, she told a news conference on Friday (December 9).
Belarusian security police detained Byalyatski, 60, and others in July last year in a crackdown on opponents of the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko.
Authorities had moved to shut down non-state media outlets and human rights groups after mass protests the previous August against a presidential election that the opposition said was rigged.
Byalyatski is the fourth person to win the Nobel Peace Prize while in detention, after Germany’s Carl von Ossietzky in 1935, China’s Liu Xiaobo in 2010 and Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest, in 1991.
Russia used Belarus as a staging post for its failed advance on Kyiv, starting on February 24. Belarus has said it will not enter the war in Ukraine. Russia said on Thursday (December 8) its troops were taking part in tactical exercises in Belarus, amid concern that Moscow is pressing its ally to get more involved in the war.
Oleksandra Matviichuk, representing Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties and Jan Rachinsky, representing Memorial, both addressed the ongoing war in their Nobel speeches.
Rachinsky said they had asked themselves if Memorial deserved to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Yes, we have tried to resist the erosion of historical memory and legal consciousness by documenting crimes of both the past and the present. But did our work prevent the catastrophe of 24 February? The monstrous burden that fell on our shoulders that day became heavier after we received the news that the prize had been awarded to us. No, this is not a matter of “national guilt”. It is not worth talking about “national” or any other collective guilt at all – the notion of collective guilt is abhorrent to fundamental human rights principles. The joint work of the participants of our movement is based on a completely different ideological basis – on the understanding of civic responsibility for the past and for the present,” he said.
Founded in 2007, the Center for Civil Liberties aims to document every single war crime committed across Ukraine.
“Since this Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony takes place during the war, I will allow myself to reach out to people around the world and call for solidarity. You don’t have to be Ukrainian to support Ukraine. It is enough just to be humans,” Matviichuk said.
Suspected Dresden hostage taker dies of injuries sustained during the police operation
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2022
Dresden Police said a suspected hostage-taker, a 40-year-old man, died of the injuries he sustained during the police operation to free the two hostages, on Saturday afternoon.
The suspected hostage-taking in the Eastern German city of Dresden took place at the shopping mall “Altmarkt-Galerie” in the historic city centre near the famous Striezelmarkt Christmas market.
“The situation is now more or less under control and there is no longer any acute danger in Dresden,” the spokesperson of the Dresden police Thomas Geithner told Reuters, as pedestrians passed by the mall, the site of the incident.
“A 40-year-old man from Dresden took two people hostage, a woman and a child. In the end, special forces seized the hostages. The two hostages were taken into custody, they are unharmed and safe and are now being looked after,” Geithner said.
The man was believed to have killed his 62-year-old mother in an apartment building in the Prohlis district of Dresden, southeast of the city centre, before making his way to the city centre. According to local media, the suspect is also believed to have tried to break into the premises of a local radio station earlier on Saturday, where the police could be seen undertaking investigations in the afternoon.
The incident comes as security has shifted into focus in Germany after investigators earlier this week foiled a far-right plot to overthrow the German government and install an aristocrat as the leader of a new state.
Hidden temple tours light up again at abandoned wats in Bangkok Noi
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2022
A second tour of hidden temples was launched on Saturday, this time in the capital’s Bangkok Noi district, as part of Creative Economy Agency’s efforts to help reinvigorate tourism through its “Unfolding Bangkok” project.
Two abandoned temples – Wat Phumarin Ratchapaksi and Wat Dusidaram Worawiharn – are the focus of the latest tour, which started on Saturday and runs until December 18.
Both ancient temples had been central to the daily life of the communities around them, but were abandoned during Bangkok’s rapid development as local residents became disconnected from them, explained Wichit Werungkhabutr, deputy director of the state-run agency.
The tours will use light and sound shows to tell the stories of the temples and their histories, while local communities will be integrated into the shows and related events, Wichit said.
The tours will include visits to popular restaurants in the area, as well as cooking and handicraft classes focused on local dishes and handicrafts, Wichit said.
His agency is working closely with local residents on the tours. Other partners include Urban Ally, Silpakorn University’s Faculty of Architecture, the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
The first hidden temple tours took place in Thonburi from November 12 to 20 to promote night visits to Wat Intharam Worawiharn, Wat Chataram Worawihan, and Wat Ratcha Khruet in the district’s Talad Plu.
Prayut welcomes this year’s 10-millionth tourist at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2022
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha showed up at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Saturday afternoon to personally welcome Thailand’s 10-millionth tourist – Hetham Almdlj and Njood Alkhuwaiter – for this year.
The couple had landed in Bangkok on Saudi Airlines flight SV846 at about 3pm. Prayut said it was commendable that Thailand managed to successfully attract as many as 10 million tourists in the first year after the pandemic. “Today we have welcomed more than 10 million tourists. We will not stop after this success and will underline Thailand’s popularity as a destination among international tourists,” Prayut said. Apart from Prayut, also welcoming the lucky couple were Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn, and Suvarnabhumi Airport’s general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn.
The tourists, described as the “luckiest” under the Tourism Authority of Thailand campaign, were welcomed with garlands, gifts, free air tickets and gift vouchers from several hotels, hospitals, shopping malls and other businesses. They were then chauffeur-driven to their hotel on a limousine. The couple has said they will be spending the next 10 days in Phuket.
Some of the white, thick, and chewy noodles (bánh canh) are made from rice flour. Those are strands of rice dough boiled in water for a few minutes. – Photo danviet.vn
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