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China has a particular dislike of Lai, who has previously described himself as a “practical worker for Taiwan independence”, a red line for Beijing which has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Lai, who has pledged to maintain peace and the status quo,Continue Reading
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Gambling addiction fuelled by poverty, researchers find
Social workers say gambling addiction among blue-collar workers is fuelled by social and welfare issues, not by an individual’s passion as many might have thought. NGOs and government agencies are working together to provide rehabilitation.
Asst Prof Pattamaporn Sooksomsod, from Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Rajabhat University, said gambling addiction arises from workers being paid too little to feed their family.
Most workers in factories work overtime, which takes away their free time for other recreational activities.
“Everyone has their own Facebook account. Just type in a few words and a list of gambling websites shows up. There will also be game plans for gamblers and 24-hour group chats for people to access online gambling. It only takes a few seconds after wiring the money to access the games,” she said.
Based on her research about the effects of online gambling among workers in the manufacturing industry in Ayutthaya, workers do not see online gambling as a problem. Instead, it’s their side income.
Many have set up limit such as not losing more than 300 baht per day. They often think the money they earn from gambling can contribute to their daily expenses. Still, few keep a tally of how much they have lost.
Players aim to make high returns from the games but they are more likely to end up heavily indebted to loan sharks. Once their financial situation deteriorates, the stress tends to affect their relationships, work and health.
The most popular online gambling games among workers include slot machines, the illegal lottery and sports betting, she told participants in the “Gambling Activities in a Daily Life of Workers in Manufacturing Industry” seminar, organised recently by the Center for Gambling Studies and the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation with support from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth).
Asst Prof Tanit Toadithep, from Burapha University, said workers who gamble are often the family’s main breadwinner. They do not wish to spend their lives working in factories but would rather save a sum of money large enough to start a small business at home.
But most workers still live from hand to mouth. Many who work in industrial estates pay off pickup trucks or motorcycles by instalment because public transport is not available in the area. Gambling offers a rare ray of hope.
”However, the more they bet, the more they lose,” Asst Prof Tanit said.
He gave as an example workers in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC): when gambling addicts lose control over their betting, they will try everything to make a return. Eventually, they could end up losing all their money, breaking up with their partner and might even quit their job.
Assoc Prof Lae Dilokvidhyarat, president of the Gambling Rehabilitation Direction Division of ThaiHealth, agreed that gambling addiction among low-income workers is the result of poverty.
“We tend to think about gambling addiction as an individual issue but it is actually a social and welfare issue which requires work from various agencies to solve,” he said.
He proposed workers must be paid a reasonable wage which satisfies their life demands. Once they earn enough, the stress that poverty brings will disappear. Then, there will be no point in betting their hard-earned money on games that are impossible to win.
Jirasak Lamlert, president of Nippon Steel Corp Labour Union, said most gambling addicts spend 5-10% of their wages on betting games. Instead of gambling, the union has tried to convince workers to save the same amount for family or household expenses.
Many employers in manufacturing have joined anti-gambling campaigns, as the outcome directly benefits business and union relations, he said.
Wongjan Janyim, coordinator of the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, said anti-gambling campaigns sponsored by ThaiHealth offer counselling to workers addicted to gambling, and help them quit their habit.
Ms Wongjan said the network has labour unions to the campaigns. Around 70% of participants are now spending less money on betting and have started to save enough for their families, she said.
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Two years since the Taliban swept into power in Afghanistan, not a single country has formally recognised their rule.
Even engaging with the Taliban government remains deeply controversial. Some say talking with them will help bring about change, others insist the Taliban will never change so there’s no point in talking.
And as the world struggles to decide how to deal with Afghanistan’s new rulers, women’s rights – even their beauty salons – have become frontlines in political battles.
Beautician Sakina – in a dimly lit room, curtains tightly drawn, alongside bunches of lip pencils and gleaming palettes of eye shadow – reflects on why she feels women like her have become a bargaining chip.
“The Taliban are putting pressure on women because they want to push the international community to recognise their rule,” she says in her new secret salon in Kabul.
She was forced underground two weeks ago after the government ordered all women’s beauty parlours to shut. It is the latest in a seemingly endless raft of decrees restricting the lives and liberties of Afghan women and girls.
Sakina is uncertain what approach to the Taliban will work.
“If the Taliban are accepted as the government, they might remove restrictions on us, or they could impose even more,” she says, with the kind of uncertainty and anxiety that plagues this huge, sensitive political issue.
The Taliban insist issues like women’s rights are none of the world’s business.
“Focusing on this one issue is just an excuse” says Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban.
Speaking to the BBC from the Afghan city of Kandahar – home to the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada – he insists that “the current government should have been recognised long ago. We have made progress in some areas and we will also sort this issue.”
Whether to talk or not to the Taliban government sharply splits many communities with a stake in Afghanistan’s future.
This includes a deeply embittered and still shaken Afghan diaspora, forced to flee their own country when the Taliban swept into power – for a second time – on 15 August 2021.
“Saying don’t talk is easy,” says Fatima Gailani, one of four women who were on the Afghan team that tried to negotiate with the Taliban right up to the moment they seized power.
“If you don’t talk, then what do you do?”
Since the collapse of the last government, she’s been involved in backchannel initiatives.
“We don’t need another war”, she emphasises, in a nod to voices, including former military commanders and old warlords, who still harbour hopes of eventually toppling the current order by force.
Others in the diaspora are calling for greater pressure, including more sanctions and additional travel bans, to intensify the isolation.
“What is the point of engagement?” demands Zahra Nader, editor-in-chief and founder of Zan Times, a women-led newsroom in exile. “They have shown who they are and what kind of society they want to build.”
Diplomats involved in dialogue emphasise that engagement is not recognition, and concede there is little to show so far.
But signs of dissatisfaction, even among senior Taliban leaders, with the most extreme edicts imposed by the ageing ultra-conservative supreme leader, keep kindling faint hope.
“If we don’t engage Afghans who want to engage, in the smartest possible way, we’ll give free reign to those who want to keep a large part of the population essentially imprisoned,” says a Western diplomat involved in recent meetings with mid-level Taliban representatives.
Sources point to a recent unprecedented meeting between the reclusive Akhundzada with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani – the supreme leader’s first with a foreign official. Diplomats briefed on the discussions say they confirmed wide gaps, especially when it comes to education and women’s rights, but also indicated a possibility to find a way forward, however slowly.
Discussions are tough – it’s hard to find common ground.
“There’s a lot of distrust, even disdain, between sides who fought each other for years,” says Kate Clark of the Afghanistan Analysts Network. “The Taliban think the West still wants to corrupt their nation and the West doesn’t like the Taliban policy on women’s rights and their authoritarian rule.”
Ms Clark highlights a fundamental disconnect: “The West may see issues like recognition as concessions, but the Taliban see it as their right, a God-given right to rule after they defeated the US superpower and returned to power, for a second time.”
Outside powers balance criticism with praise for progress, such as a crackdown on corruption which boosted revenue collection, and some efforts to tackle security threats posed by the Islamic State group. And Western powers look to Islamic countries and scholars to take the lead on shared concerns over the Taliban’s extreme interpretations of Islam.
But there is also a toughening of tactics.
Even the UN now speaks of “gender apartheid” as the Taliban tighten the vice around women by even banning them from public parks, women’s gyms and beauty parlours. Moves are now underway to develop a legal case for “crimes against humanity”.
Despite some mixed messaging and occasional friction between regional and Western countries, so far there’s a rare meeting of minds among world powers, including Russia and China on some red lines, including recognition.
The impasse has devastating consequences for ordinary Afghans.
The UN’s latest report highlights, in bold letters, that their humanitarian appeal is only a quarter funded as of the end of July, as donors turn away. More and more Afghans are going to bed hungry.
Some 84% of households are now borrowing money just to buy food, the UN says.
And there is concern too that the footprint of Islamist groups like Islamic State is growing.
The Taliban government paints a rosy picture. And, even without recognition, their envoys – in signature traditional turbans and tunics – are among the world’s most frequent flyers, jetting to meetings in many capitals.
The acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi receives delegations in Kabul almost daily, with all the usual protocol, including flags and official photographs set in elegant rooms.
Western embassies in Kabul remain shuttered, except for a small European Union and a Japanese mission. Discussion goes on about whether diplomats now based in the Gulf state of Qatar should at least be in Kabul if they want to exercise any influence at all.
There’s no appetite, in any of the world’s capitals, for another bloody chapter in this 40-year war.
And despite any discord among Taliban leaders, their unity remains a goal which matters above all else.
There are no quick or easy solutions.
“The only thing I could say from my heart is that we are really suffering,” says the beautician Sakina.
“Maybe those who are not among us don’t understand it, but it’s really painful.”
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited key military factories, including a tactical missile production plant, state media KCNA said on Monday (Aug 14). Kim “expressed satisfaction” with a factory’s “recent focus on tactical missile production” and “expanding production capacity” during his visits last week, it said. He “presentedContinue Reading
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO HELP YOUTHS FEEL MORE INVOLVED? Given the need to increase awareness among the young on the institution of the elected presidency, analysts said that various parties, such as the government, mainstream media, and the PE candidates themselves, can step up their respective efforts to helpContinue Reading
Two construction companies said they already have hot-weather measures in place, but they also take into account the new advisory service.
Hitomo Construction said it schedules indoor work activities when the heat risk is high. This is the same arrangement the company has for rain, which was in place even before the introduction of the heat stress advisory, said chief executive officer Serene Pan.
Workers may start earlier in the day when the temperature is cooler. They also get more water breaks and the company will provide drinks with electrolytes, said Ms Pan, adding that workers can also inform the site manager if they are feeling uncomfortable.
While heat is an “unavoidable factor” for construction projects, “workers’ safety comes first”, she said.
Similarly, United Tec Construction already had its own heat stress measures but after the advisory service was launched, it installed a temperature monitoring system and records temperatures at fixed periods, said senior corporate manager Eric Tan.
Employees working under direct sunlight will be rotated to minimise exposure. Work will be rescheduled as a “last resort”, added Mr Tan.
Delivery platforms said they send reminders to riders during periods of hot weather.
Grab uses in-app reminders to alert riders to the heat advisory risk, while foodpanda said it sends reminders regardless of the advisory, depending on weather conditions.
“Given that individuals’ heat tolerance varies, we will continue to send out reminders when the weather gets hot – and this can include days when the heat stress advisory is not issued,” said a spokesperson.
Deliveroo said it provides water for riders at its delivery-only kitchens and encourages merchants to offer drinks to riders in hot weather.
Existing guidelines for schools are generally already aligned with the heat stress advisory, said the Ministry of Education (MOE).
The guidelines include minimising outdoor physical activities between 10.30am and 3.30pm, when heat and ultraviolet light levels are generally higher, said the Education Ministry in response to CNA queries.
“Schools also have the autonomy to determine the localised measures that can best help their students manage the heat, as weather and environmental conditions could vary across schools,” it said.
For example, schools can allow students to wear different uniforms. When the heat stress risk is high, schools can also conduct physical activities in sheltered or indoor spaces, implement more frequent breaks or reschedule activities to cooler parts of the day, said MOE in the statement.
There are countless examples of children growing up multilingual, such as with the One Parent One Language method where each parent speaks exclusively in one language to the child. By associating one language with a particular person or function, our brain can be trained to know exactly when and where each language is to be used.
While many popular polyglot influencers seem to be self-taught, we cannot expect to achieve fluency by simply relying on lessons, books, and apps.
Though these are useful tools to help explain grammar, vocabulary, and other theoretical aspects, we need to be immersed in the spoken language as much as possible to foster speaking proficiency, according to linguistic expert Stephen Krashen.
Opportunities for this include conversing with native speakers, watching movies or shows in the target language, and simply letting the spoken language play in the background. It increases our chances of encountering frequently used words and phrases, and the better we can absorb and replicate the natural rhythm, intonation, and informal expressions.
Jonas Fine Tan, for instance, learnt Thai not just from textbooks but by interacting with native speakers, hanging out at a Thai restaurant near his mother’s workplace over the years. Such real-world practice can help not only to improve speaking proficiency but also to understand the nuances, colloquialisms, and cultural contexts over a detached set of grammar rules and vocabulary.
