<p>The recent August 8 statement by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihito">Emperor Akihito of Japan</a> stating the desire for an alternative to a decline in both duties and the wish for the activities of the Japanese monarchy to be sustained have been seen as indicating a wish to abdicate. As an expression of the human condition, the statement has parallels with the resignation of Pope Benedict XI in 2013 and with the birthday speech of his Majesty the King of December 4, 2005.</p>

<p>You have nothing to lose but your chains! &nbsp;Unless you vote to hang on to them of course, which is what the good citizens of Thailand seem to have done.</p> <p>Let’s move backwards through the process to see where it all went wrong.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Fusion, a more environmentally friendly form of energy that operates at the nuclear level, but by combining atoms -- typically forms of hydrogen -- is a potential new answer not only for Thailand's quest for clean energy but for the requirements of the entire planet, and especially economies in transition.</p>

<div><span style="font-size: 12px;">7 August 2016</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>As regards what happened today, I would like to inform state officials, the media, and the people that I was fully conscious of my actions. I am not mentally ill. I was neither on drugs nor was I drunk.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>My actions grew out of the consciousness of a citizen who only wishes to demand and stand firm for rights and freedom, which ought to be ours. Whatever the result, I will take responsibility for my actions. </div>

<p dir="ltr">As the voting for the referendum for the 21th constitution will be held tomorrow, here is what you need to know before casting your ballot.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>What has been going on with the referendum campaign lately?</strong></p>

<div>For the past number of months, youth and student activists around the country have been challenging the upcoming constitutional referendum, and, certainly with the help of the junta, have made it clear this referendum is a democratic farce.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 7 August 2016, Thai citizens, many of whom are unaware there is a referendum, and or are unable to make an informed vote, will take to voting stations to decide on a constitutional referendum, put forward by the junta.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In Thailand, the country with 99.99 per cent democracy, according </div>

<p>In order to understand why the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), formal name of the Thai junta, chose to stipulate that the draft constitution be passed by a referendum, we must return to the first period after the coup.</p> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr">Unlike Thailand, Sweden was successfully elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council recently. Sweden was by far the favourite amongst the European candidates. It had already received enough votes to secure its position on the Security Council in the first round.</p>

<p>The largest environmental story to break this month has been <em>The</em> <em>New York Times</em>' exposé of the Mississippi-based Kemper Project's mismanagement, delays, inflated costs, and alleged fraud, making a mockery of the NCPO's plans to convert Thailand from natural gas to 'clean coal'.</p>

<p>Ah, Ebbw Vale! &nbsp;That evocative name that conjures up the once biggest steelworks in Europe, the socialist ghosts of Aneurin Bevan and Michael Foot, and the gross affront to common sense that is Welsh spelling.</p> <p>Then the steel industry collapsed and the coal mines were savaged by Thatcher’s anti-unionism.&nbsp; By the beginning of this century Ebbw Vale’s people suffered chronic unemployment and its land suffered the toxic legacy of its industrial heyday.</p>

<div><em>The second round of the peace process in Patani seems to be following the first round’s suit: ending up in a stalemate. However, even an abortive attempt for a peace process is not at all useless, and is able to create a considerable impact on the political public sphere in the conflict area.</em></div> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr"><em>This impartial 2016 Constitution referendum voting guide, specifically designed for ultranationalists and ethnic minorities or friends or relatives of ethnic minorities, is brought to you by Special Circumstances.</em></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong><span id="docs-internal-guid-dedf0a88-0771-225e-7a68-94ed2d41745f">Ethnic Minority-Related Issues in the Constitution</span></strong></p>