Hey guys!
Sorry for the Monday Show lackage yesterday but it was another national holiday here in
the UK so this week we're bringing it to you on a Tuesday instead.
So here's what's coming up on what we've very imaginatively called...
the Tuesday Show!
After much speculation, Thailand's king has apparently officially given his backing to
the army chief who is now in charge of running the country after staging a coup last week...
The White House has blown the cover of the Central Intelligence Agency's top agent in
Afghanistan...
A Turkish newspaper has made an interesting revelation surrounding the Soma coal mine...
And the World Meteorological Organisation has warned that time is running out to address
climate change, after record levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide were recorded last month...
Plus, of course, we have your comments.
But first up, over to Thailand where the much revered King seems to have officially backed
the army chief who seized power in a coup last Thursday.
This news comes from the army chief himself, a man named General Prayuth Chan-ocha.
And if true, which nobody seems to be disputing it is, officially allows Prayuth to head a
military council with wide-reaching powers that include: Establishing a legislative assembly
and reform committee, drawing up a temporary constitution, and appointing a prime minister.
Prayuth deposed Thailand's democratically elected government on the 22nd May after six
months of anti-government protests, in which at least 28 people were killed and more than
700 injured.
Military coups are relatively common in Thailand, with as many as 12 occurring since 1932.
But while they may be common, it doesn't make them any less worrying.
And just five days after taking power, Prayuth has already given human rights groups much
to be concerned about.
Not only have more than 200 journalists, academics, politicians and activists been rounded up,
with many of them detained in undisclosed locations, but the military now has the jurisdiction
to intervene in ALL legal cases and Prayuth has said he would have no choice but to use
violence if anti-coup demonstrators continue to protest.
Oh and he's promised elections...but not until the country's "at peace".
Time will tell what Prayuth determines this "at peace" to be.
And now for your comments.
And on our video about the United States picking and choosing when it comes to penalising people
for drone use, Swidhelm said this: Here's how it works.
You have money, you're good.
You don't, sucks to be you.
That applies across the board.
And right there you summed up the lesson that emerges from pretty much all of our videos...
And on our video about the landowners and corporations causing problems for families
trying to recover from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, jibjr88 simply said this:
Governments are awful . ﻿ Well as always, you can let us know what you
think about these comments in the er, comments below.
And on to the United States where the White House has blown the cover of the CIA's top
agent in Afghanistan.
The chief of station's name was included on a list of those who attended President Barack
Obama's visit to an air base in the country on Sunday.
The list was initially given to reporters during the visit but then forwarded on to
a White House press office mailing list that included a whopping 6,000 recipients.
And conspiracy theorists will no doubt jump on the fact that the list of attendees was
initially drawn up by the US military after being requested by White House officials.
However, the list included the agent's job title in addition to their name and so presumably
it should have been obvious to these White House officials that it needed to be redacted.
But it didn't come to light until the Washington Post correspondent Scott Wilson, who was in
Afghanistan at the time, drew it to their attention.
The last high-profile instance of a CIA operative's identity being revealed came in 2003, when
someone inside the George W Bush administration exposed the identity of operative Valerie
Plame, a month after her husband, the diplomat Joe Wilson, had publicly questioned the administration's
case for the Iraq War.
But now to Turkey where the country's oldest English-language daily newspaper, the Hurriyet
Daily News has made an interesting discovery.
Yesterday it revealed that the Soma coal mine, where 301 workers lost their lives earlier
this month, had received a "perfect" score in March by an official inspector - who just
so happens to the the brother-in-law of a senior executive of the mine company.
Emin Gumus, a chief inspector with the Turkish Ministry of Labor and Social Security, is
said to have last inspected the mine on March 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th and reported "no
shortcomings".
He did note however, that 2,938 of the 2,948 people working in the mine were working "very
dangerous" jobs.
And last but not least, the World Meteorological Organisation revealed yesterday that for the
first time ever, monthly concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere topped 400
parts per million in April, throughout the northern hemisphere.
According to the WMO, this threshold is of both "symbolic and scientific significance"
and reinforces evidence that humans are responsible for the continuing increase in global warming.
Although this is the first time that CO2 levels have topped 400ppm in the northern hemisphere
as a whole, the WMO says that all monitoring stations in the Arctic have been recording
maximum levels in spring ABOVE this, since 2012.
And in the next couple of years, the global annual average CO2 concentration is set to
cross this line too.
In fact, these levels are so worrying that the WMO's Secretary-General Michel Jarraud
has warned that time is running out to address climate change.
Well that's it for this week but as always you can let us know your thoughts on all of
this in the comments below and we'll see you again next time!