Which of the following would most likely oppose the opening of a Super sports store in Norway

By GRANT PECK and CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL - Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled Friday that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha can remain in his job and did not violate a constitutional provision limiting him to eight years in office.

Opposition lawmakers had petitioned the court to decide on their contention that Prayuth, who took power as army commander in a 2014 coup, had violated the eight-year limit for prime ministers that was included for the first time in Thailand’s 2017 Constitution.

Prayuth officially became prime minister in a military government in August 2014, and was named prime minister again after a 2019 election. Using 2014 as a starting date, he would have reached his legal limit last month.

He and his supporters argued that the countdown for the term limit should begin when the current constitution came into effect in April 2017, which would allow him to serve until 2025 if he is returned to office after the next general election.

The nine-member court ruled in a 6-3 vote that because the constitution came into effect after Prayuth had already taken power, the term limit did not apply to the time he had previously served, since the constitution did not specify it could be applied retroactively.

The court's decision had been widely expected, since it has generally ruled in the government's favor in a series of political cases. The judiciary, especially the Constitutional Court, and the military are strong defenders of the country's conservative establishment, whose most important pillar they consider to be the monarchy,

Prayuth will still face a political reckoning early next year when Parliament’s four-year term expires and a new election must be called. His popularity ratings are low, with critics saying he has mishandled the economy and botched Thailand’s initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demand that Prayuth and his Cabinet resign, while also calling for the constitution to be amended and the monarchy to be reformed. Several confrontations between the student-driven protest movement and authorities turned violent. Activists threatened new protests if the court favored Prayuth, raising fears of more unrest.

The protest movement was weakened by COVID-19 restrictions and repression from the government, and only about 30 people answered a call to demonstrate Friday in central Bangkok, shouting insults as they listed to the court's verdict over a loudspeaker.

Chai-amorn Kaewwiboonpan, a musician and veteran activist also known as Ammy, said the ruling was no surprise.

“I think tomorrow the people will come out on the streets, and hopefully we will have a lot of people,” he said.

Prayuth paid his respects to the court on his Facebook page and thanked those Thais whom he said had given him good wishes and encouragement since the court took up the case.

“It was the opportunity for me to realize that I must spend the government’s limited remaining time to follow up and push several important projects that I have initiated, and complete them for the country’s progress and our children’s future,” he said, highlighting infrastructure development.

Last month, the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended Prayuth from carrying out the prime minister’s duties pending its ruling. The senior deputy prime minister in his Cabinet, Prawit Wongsuwan, became acting prime minister while Prayuth retained his concurrent position of defense minister.

Had Prayuth been forced out Friday, power would have been ceded to a caretaker government with limited executive powers, assembled from the current Cabinet, that would have sat until Parliament elected a new prime minister.

The eight-year term limit was meant to target former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist billionaire who was ousted by a 2006 military coup but whose political machine remains powerful. The army in 2014 also ousted the government of Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, who was forced from office shortly before the takeover by a controversial court decision.

Thailand’s traditional conservative ruling class, including the military, felt that Thaksin’s popularity posed a threat to the country’s monarchy as well as their own influence. The courts have been stalwart defenders of the established order and ruled consistently against Thaksin and other challengers.

Associated Press journalists Jerry Harmer and Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report.

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By Katharina Bart, Brian Homewood

ZURICH, March 5 (Reuters) - Younger than some professional footballers, Swiss attorney Cornel Borbely is at first sight an unlikely choice as the man to step into Michael Garcia’s shoes and try to keep corruption out of FIFA.

A disillusioned Garcia, the former U.S. attorney with a long track record in complicated, international, high profile cases, resigned in December, saying he felt he was no longer making progress and that soccer’s governing body “lacked leadership.”

Widely regarded as the man most likely to get to the root of FIFA’s problems, Garcia’s departure was seen as another sign that the organisation was incapable of reforming itself.

Borbely, who has enjoyed a remarkably swift rise through the Swiss legal world, has landed the role as FIFA’s chief ethics investigator at the age of 36, having been promoted from his previous role as Garcia’s deputy.

In football terms, he is like a young coach who has made a good start to his career with middle-ranking teams and has now been appointed to lead a large, volatile, internationally renowned club with an army of fickle supporters.

In his first interview with international media, Borbely told Reuters he would not be pushed around and rejected suggestions he will act on FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s orders.

“This is absurd and any such claim is not founded in any facts that I could comprehend or cite. I can only emphasise that I am not an employee of FIFA,” he said.

“I run my own law firm and I don’t take any orders at all from FIFA -- none whatsoever. I alone decide whether to open, conduct and conclude an investigation and on its result.

“I am completely independent of any FIFA officials. Otherwise I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, do this job. Nobody interferes -- neither the (FIFA) executive committee nor anybody else.”

He added: “My contact to the executive committee is purely professional. Some of these contacts have become public, but it is imperative for my independence that they remain professional, otherwise I could not fulfil my mandate.

“I can’t disclose details of how often I have met with Sepp Blatter, but my contacts with him are limited to purely professional encounters. He has no authority to give directives to me.”

IMPOSING FIGURE

A physically imposing figure who headed an economic crimes investigation unit in Zurich for three years and has worked as a prosecutor for a military tribunal, Borbely has accepted what is seen by many as a thankless job with little to gain.

Asked about his motivation, Borbely talked about the “fairness of the sport” and said he was also eager to apply his experience as a prosecutor and criminal lawyer to sports.

He also warned there would be no quick fix.

“It’s going to take a lot longer than a few months of good work to show that we are highly professional, but that is our aim,” he said.

“Our work is conducted with a high degree of professionalism, is of high quality and efficient, and I believe we are a credible team.

“I have few illusions that it will be quite some time, especially in these turbulent times, before that is recognised.”

FIFA has been plagued by a wave of scandals and controversy, ranging from allegations of corruption in the 2018/2022 World Cup bidding process to a row over $25,000 watches given as gifts to executive committee members at the World Cup in Brazil.

Garcia resigned after a disagreement with Hans-Joachim Eckert, head of the ethics committee’s judgement chamber, over the handling of his report into the process which led to the 2018 World Cup being awarded to Russia and 2022 finals to Qatar.

But his probe led to investigations being opened against a number of individuals, which have been left to Borbely to follow through, and a redacted version of Garcia’s report will be published at an undisclosed date.

Borbely said he could not reveal the individuals under investigation, although the names have been widely published in the media.

“It is imperative and an integral part of the professionalism of this chamber that such facts, correct or false, do not enter public view,” he said.

“This is quite delicate, since a leak of facts like these can sabotage an ongoing investigation. I am strongly of the opinion that this must not be allowed to happen.”

“When legal breaches and leaks take place, we take it very seriously and this will be pursued accordingly.”

WIDE-RANGING POWERS

Borbely said that nobody would be above investigation, and added that he had wide-ranging powers.

“We can force people to cooperate under Swiss law governing associations, and if they don’t cooperate they are punished. This distinguishes us from a prosecutor, who cannot force people to cooperate.

“In effect, the requirement to cooperate is an attempt to offset the lack of prosecutorial powers.”

The former prosecutor noted that proceedings can be fluid, often turning up new evidence, and the amount of time needed to carry out an investigation depends on each particular case.

“These are all decisive factors which naturally influence the course of an investigation and make it impossible to say how long the process generally lasts.”

Asked how wide his remit was in terms of who could be investigated, he said: “Every football official is subject to the ethics code. Whoever... breaches it will come into our purview, regardless of hierarchy, rank or position.”

Borbely added that he would act upon complaints sent to him but was also on the lookout himself for any wrongdoing.

“Cases end up on my desk through notifications and tips that I carefully evaluate. But I also have my eyes and ears open and if I see something that calls for it, of course I open a preliminary investigation,” he said.

“Everybody can hand in tips or any kind of information via our whistleblower website. Any information will be transferred directly to us, there is no intermediate in between at all.” (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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