Thai king fires more officials for 'extremely evil' conduct, poor performance

        BANGKOK: Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has fired four more officials, two palace announcements said on Tuesday (Oct 29), the latest shake up after the sacking of the king's royal consort last week.
In one announcement, two palace officials, identified as bedroom guards, were fired for "extremely evil misconduct" and "adultery", which it said was a violation of a code of conduct for courtiers.

           In another document, two military officers were fired for being "lax" in their duty as palace guards and "behaving unbecomingly of their ranks and titles".
The four were all stripped of their ranks and titles, the announcements said.

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The four dismissals on Tuesday followed those of six palace officials last week, who were accused of severe disciplinary misconduct that caused harm to the royal service.
    

 

Since taking the throne following the death of his revered father in 2016, King Vajiralongkorn has proved to be an assertive constitutional monarch, taking more direct control of royal affairs and the crown's vast wealth, and transferring two military units from the army to his personal control.
Last week, the king also demoted Royal Consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi in an extraordinary announcement, just months after granting her the title.
She was accused of being "disloyal" and conducting a rivalry with Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana, who married King Vajiralongkorn in May just days before his coronation.

California faces huge power cuts as wildfires rage

An estimated 1.5 million more people in California are set to lose power on Tuesday as a utility firm tries to stop damaged cables triggering wildfires.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) already faces an investigation by regulators after cutting supplies to 970,000 homes and businesses.
It announced that another 650,000 properties would face precautionary shut-offs on Tuesday amid high winds.
Wildfires fanned by the strong winds are raging in two parts of the state.
Thousands of residents near the wealthy Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles have been told to evacuate because of a wildfire that began early on Monday.

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Celebrities including the actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger and basketball star LeBron James are among those who have fled the fast-moving Getty Fire, which started near the Getty Center arts complex.
Further north in Sonoma County, a larger fire has forced 180,000 people from their homes.
California's governor has declared a state-wide emergency.

What about the power cuts?

On Monday regulators announced a formal inquiry into whether energy utilities broke rules by pre-emptively cutting power to an estimated 2.5 million people as wildfire risks soared.
They did not name any utilities but analysts said PG&E was responsible for the bulk of the "public safety power shut-offs".

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Those fighting the flames had been "overwhelmed", a fire chief said

The company filed for bankruptcy in January after facing hundreds of lawsuits from victims of wildfires in 2017 and 2018.
Of the 970,000 properties hit by the most recent cuts, under half had their services back by Monday, the Associated Press reported.
Despite criticism that the precautionary blackouts were too widespread and too disruptive, PG&E said more would come on Tuesday and Wednesday because further strong winds were expected.

The company said it had logged more than 20 preliminary reports of damage to its network from the most recent windstorm.
In a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, Governor Gavin Newsom said the power cuts were "infuriating everyone, and rightfully so".

Where are the fires now?

In Los Angeles, the Getty Fire has burned over 600 acres (242 ha) and about 10,000 buildings are in the mandatory evacuation zone.
At least eight homes have been destroyed and five others damaged.
"If you are in an evacuation zone, don't screw around," Mr Schwarzenegger tweeted. "Get out."

LA fire chief Ralph Terrazas said fire crews had been "overwhelmed" by the scale of the fires.
"They had to make some tough decisions on which houses they were able to protect," he said.
"Many times it depends on where the ember lands. I saw homes that were adjacent to homes that were totally destroyed, without any damage."

Media captionSonoma County residents react to raging fire

In northern California, schools remain closed in Sonoma County, where tens of thousands of homes and businesses are under threat.
Sonoma has been ravaged by the Kincade Fire, which started on Wednesday and has burned through 50,000 acres of land, fanned by the winds.

The Kincade Fire began seven minutes after a nearby power line was damaged, but PG&E has not yet confirmed if the power glitch started the blaze.
About 180,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, with roads around Santa Rosa north of San Francisco packed with cars as people tried to flee.
There are fears the flames could cross the 101 highway and enter areas that have not seen wildfires since the 1940s.


https://youtu.be/a-3yJSbHjhs

Has China really banned PewDiePie?

Has China really banned PewDiePie?

You would be forgiven for thinking so. After all, several major international news websites have written headlines about the world's most popular YouTuber being "wiped" or "banned" from the internet in China.
But there is one tiny problem - it did not happen.
Fanpages for PewDiePie still exist on Chinese social media, and a cursory search for his name on Baidu - China's Google - returns 8.28 million results.
PewDiePie himself originally claimed to have been banned in a video on Saturday but he later appeared to make light of the supposed block, suggesting he was not being completely serious.
He joked on Twitter that he had punched a wall in outrage.
"Well boys, we did it," he said in Saturday's video, which has been viewed 6.5m times. "I'm banned from China."
He continued: "I spoke about the Hong Kong protests, and showed their leader being mocked for looking like Winnie the Pooh."
He added searches for his name now bring up no results on certain forums and video platforms.
But did not mention that searches for him on video sites like iQiyi and Tencent Video still return tens of thousands of results.
Chinese authorities have banned any comparison between President Xi Jinping and Disney character Winnie the Pooh since 2017.
Put simply, the government is extremely sensitive about how the president is regarded and seeks to maintain the perception he is loved and praised by the country's 1.4bn population.
The Pooh comparisons were propelled back into the public consciousness in October 2019 when a South Park episode heavily criticised the Chinese government.

The show was subsequently largely made unavailable in China, with any search for it on social media and video websites returning no results.
But this has not happened to PewDiePie: Some content related to the YouTuber has indeed been made inaccessible online, such as a Baidu-run forum about him which has removed messages and even prevented people from posting new comments.
But there is no evidence to suggest this was done on the orders of the government.

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In China, the general rule for censorship is: if something is too violent, sexualised, or goes against the government's message, it will be banned from the country.
Several manga and anime (Japanese comics and cartoons) are banned for the first two reasons.
Meanwhile celebrities are usually barred for the third reason. For example, Lady Gaga was reportedly denied a Chinese visa in 2016 over her meeting with the Dalai Lama.
With regards to PewDiePie, the censorship of the forum seems to be Baidu acting out of an abundance of caution.
The government has certainly not demanded that the search engine erase mentions of PewDiePie. A search for his name still returns more than eight million results.