Narathiwat, Thailand
The Thai air force dropped 100 million paper birds over the southern provinces this week as a goodwill gesture toward the region’s Muslim population. The “peace bombs,” made by Buddhist schoolchildren and carrying written messages of friendship, were the idea of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is running for re-election in a few months. Violence has been almost continual in the south since October, when 78 Muslim demonstrators suffocated to death in police vans. The gesture did not appease Muslim officials in the south, who said it was an “insult” for residents to have to pick up tons of litter.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The FDA plans to embrace AI agencywideIn the Spotlight Rumors are swirling about a bespoke AI chatbot being developed for the FDA by OpenAI
-
Digital consent: Law targets deepfake and revenge pornFeature The Senate has passed a new bill that will make it a crime to share explicit AI-generated images of minors and adults without consent
-
Will Republicans tax the rich?Today's Big Question Trump is waffling on the possibility of taxing wealthy earners
