Britney is the self-titled third studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears, released on November 5, 2001 around the world (see 2001 in music). Britney is notable for Spears’ increasingly prominent role in the production, and being the transition album away from her bubblegum pop sound and teen pop image from her previous two albums.

Britney debuted at number one on both the Canadian Albums Chart and the U.S. Billboard 200 album
chart, replacing Michael Jackson’s Invincible. In the U.S., Britney sold over 746,000 copies in its first week.[4] The following week, Britney moved to number two after a 55% sales decline, selling 337,000 units.[5] In the album’s third week of release, its sales increased by 34% to 451,000 because of the holiday season, though it dropped to number three on the Billboard 200 behind two new entries.[6]
Read the rest of this entry »

Suvarnabhumi Airport (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ; pronounced /sùwannápʰūːm/) (IATA: BKK, ICAO: VTBS), also known as (New) Bangkok International Airport, is the international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand. After delays and three decades of planning, the airport opened for limited domestic flight service on September 15, 2006, and opened for all domestic and international commercial flights on September 28. [3]

The airport is the main hub for Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Orient Thai Airlines, PBair and Thai AirAsia, and a focus city for China Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates Airline, EVA Air, Indian Airlines, and SriLankan Airlines.

The airport is located in Racha Thewa in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan Province, about 25 km east of downtown Bangkok. The name Suvarnabhumi was chosen by King Bhumibol Adulyadej and refers to the golden kingdom hypothesized to have been located somewhere in Southeast Asia. Designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects, this airport has the world’s tallest control tower (132.2 m), and the world’s third largest single-building airport terminal (563,000 m²). Suvarnabhumi is one of the busiest airports in Asia and Bangkok’s primary airport for all international airline flights.[4] The airport inherited the airport code BKK from Don Mueang after the older airport ceased commercial flights. A modern motorway connects the airport, Bangkok, and the heavily industrial Eastern Seaboard of Thailand, where most of the manufacturing for export takes place.

From November 25 to December 3, 2008, the People’s Alliance for Democracy blockaded and seized the airport, demanding the resignation of the government of Somchai Wongsawat. All flights to and from the airport were canceled, leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded.

Don Mueang International Airport (IATA: DMK, ICAO: VTBD) (or also (Old) Bangkok International Airport) (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานดอนเมือง, also Don Muang) is an airport in Bangkok, Thailand. It was officially opened as a Royal Thai Air Force base on March 27, 1914, although it had been in use earlier. Commercial flights started in 1924. Don Mueang Airport closed in 2006 following the opening of Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport. After some problems at Suvarnabhumi, flights resumed at Don Mueang on March 24, 2007.

Don Mueang was an important hub of Asia and the hub of Thai Airways International prior to its closure. At its peak, it served most air traffic in Thailand, with 80 airlines operating 160,000 flights and handling over 38,000,000 passengers and 700,000 tons of cargo in 2005. It was then the 18th busiest airport in the world and 2nd in Asia by passenger volume. Read the rest of this entry »

International Day of Disabled Persons (December 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been celebrated with varying degrees of success around the planet. Typically, the Day’s activities are mounted by unpaid volunteers. Unless non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or governments step up to support the Day, effects will vary greatly from country to country, and year to year.[original research?]. It has now been renamed as “International Day of Persons with Disabilities” [1]

Each year the day focuses on a different issue:

* 2008: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Dignity and justice for all of us.
* 2007: focus is on 3 December 2007 “Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities”
* 2006: International Day focused on access to information and communication technologies. Article 21 of the UN Convention on Disabled Persons briefly explains the issues.

The 2008 Thai political crisis is a conflict between the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the People’s Power Party (PPP) governments of Prime Ministers Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat. It is a continuation of the 2005-2006 Thai political crisis, wherein the PAD protested against the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Notable events that have occurred during the 2008 political crisis include the PAD’s reformation after the PPP won the 2007 general election, the PAD’s seizure of Government House, Samak Sundaravej’s resignation from the Premiership after the Constitutional Court found him guilty of hosting a cooking show while acting as Prime Minister, violent clashes between PAD and anti-PAD forces, the seizure of the government’s temporary offices at Don Muang Airport, and the seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Underlying the 2008 crisis is the PAD’s claim that Samak and Somchai are proxies for Thaksin. In 2006, the PAD’s protests against Thaksin led to the 2006 Thailand coup. An army junta-appointed committee rewrote the constitution and a junta-appointed court dissolved the Thai Rak Thai party and banned Thaksin and the TRT’s 111-person executive team from engaging in politics for five years. Many TRT MPs joined the PPP, which won parliamentary elections overseen by the junta. The PAD, which had voluntarily dissolved itself after the coup, reformed and resumed street demonstrations against the new government. It opposed any attempts to amend the constitution in ways that would reverse the TRT ban. The PAD also demanded “New Politics,” the amendment of the constitution in ways that would make Parliament a largely royally-appointed body.

In October 2008, five members of a nine member special bench of the Supreme Court found Thaksin guilty of a conflict of interest and sentenced him in absentia to two years in jail.[1] At the time, Thaksin was in Beijing, and refused to return, claiming that the outcome was politically motivated. The PAD demanded that the government extradite the former Prime Minister—the extradition process is in-progress as of November 2008.

During the crisis, the Royal Thai Army refused to follow government orders to enforce an Emergency Decree after the PAD’s siege of Government House. It also refused to follow orders to evict the PAD after they lay siege to Suvarnabhumi Airport. Instead, it unsuccessfully proposed that the PAD leave the airport and that the government resign. Supporting and leading the PAD in the crisis are several leaders of the opposition Democrat Party, including Somkiat Pongpaiboon and Kasit Piromya.[2] The crisis has seen a move towards the “judicialization” of Thai politics, wherein the decisions of certain high courts have an increasingly partisan bent.[3] The PAD’s core supporters in the crisis consist of middle and upper-class Bangkokians and Southerners as well as leaders of state-enterprise labor unions.[4][5]

In December 2008, the Constitutional Court ruled that the PPP and two other parties in the ruling coalition were guilty of voter fraud. The parties were ordered to disband and their leaders were barred from holding office for five years. Following this ruling, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resigned and the PAD protestors occupying the airports agreed to withdraw.[6][7]

The PAD dress in yellow, the royal color, and claim that they are defending King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the monarchy against the alleged disloyalty of Thaksin. Bhumibol has made no public statements about the crisis and the PAD. Queen Sirikit attended the cremation of a PAD protester and called her a “good girl” and “protector of the monarchy and the country”.[8] Princess Sirindhorn, when asked at a US press conference whether the PAD was acting on behalf of the monarchy, replied, “I don’t think so. They do things for themselves.”[9]