They play Wordle. You play Senet.

Here's what I'd like to talk about this week:

• The cannabis industry in Asia, specifically Thailand
• All the wonders archeologists have found in Egypt lately
• Mexico's lack-of-press-freedom problem
• And nature stuff in Tonga and South Africa, patriarchy in India, democracy in Barbados, danger in Yemen and Liberia and 'new year, new me' plans of Indonesia

what happened last week

We are getting closer to legalizing cannabis for everyone in Thailand:
The government in Thailand is thinking about making cannabis legal for everybody.

Why this matters:
The cannabis market is booming in Asia. Thailand's ganjapreneurs are convinced, 'this country could be come the no.1 player in the global cannabis market. We have perfect conditions to grow the plant.' Plus, many people in Thailand continue to get thrown into jail for possessing, growing and smoking cannabis; some even up to 15 years. If legalized, this is no longer an arrestable offense. With this move, the government hopes to promote its tourism industry.

Tell me more:
Some people at the country's health ministry is like, 'we should make more parts of cannabis, like marijuana and hemp plants, legal.' The healthy minister, Anutin Charnvirakul is currently looking into whether this proposal makes any sense or nah. You should know that Anutin is also a businessman and the leader of the Bhumjai Thai party (a major partner in the country's coalition government); rumour has it he wants to become prime minister next year. wink

If he says 'yes', what's next?
Well, mainly, it would make it possible for so many companies in the country to start using and selling cannabis for much more than 'just' medicinal purposes; like put cannabis into foodstuffs or the beauty industry, among other things.

How legal is cannabis in Thailand now?
As of now, cannabis is only legal as medicine. Its production and trade is highly regulated by the government, meaning that, by law, legal cannabis cannot have a more-than-0.2% THC level; THC is the stuff in cannabis that gets you high.

Did you know:
Thailand, in 2018, became the first Southeast Asian nation to decriminalize the production and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes?

For my German readers:
I talked about this in Die Wochendämmerung with Katrin Rönicke and Holger Klein last week. Check it out.

Sources: ABC News, South China Morning Post, Bangkok Post, Nikkei Asia, Thai PBS World

We found two new big sphinxes in Egypt -- archeologists are going cray cray
Archeologists from Egypt and Germany found two big sphinxes in Luxor last week. The statues were built by the great pharao King Amenhotep III (granddaddy of King Tutankhamun) 3,300 years ago.

How big?
An article calls the sphinxes 'colossal' but they measure around 26 feet/around 8 meters long. For comparison, the Great Sphinx is 240 feet/73 meters long. But maybe, that's why it's called the Great Sphinx. These are 'just' Good Sphinxes.

Where did they find it?
At the 'Temple of Millions of Years'. The temple is in Luxor, Egypt, which is famously known for the oldest and most ancient Egyptian sites, along with being home to the Valley of Kings. Archeologists also found statues of the goddess Sekhmet.

Were their noses smashed?
I love that you ask that. Not many people know that this is an interesting field of questioning and research. To answer your question, yes, their noses were smashed, too; like so many other statues from Ancient Egypt. There are some wild theories about why that is; one being that to really make sure these nobles and pharaohs have died, people who went to rob...