Thailand
This is the Thailand News page of Hasekamp Net
On this page you will find news about Thailand, which we gather from different sources.
We make a selection of the news that we consider interesting for tourists and we comment it whenever useful.
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Surayud will go to Birma
Posted on Sunday, 11 May 2008, 11: 13 GMT
Privy Councillor and former prime minister Surayud Chulanont and a six-member entourage will reportedly fly to Burma’s new capital Naypyidaw today in an effort to convince the ruling junta to accept humanitarian aid for cyclone victims. Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama was reported to have told reporters in Japan that one of the missions of Gen Surayud’s delegation was to convince the Burmese government to accept humanitarian aid from other countries and allow international aid workers into the cyclone-ravaged country. Gen Surayud’s entourage includes air force commander-in-chief ACM Chalit Pookpasuk and Raja Prachanukroh Foundation secretary-general Prasong Phithunkijja. The foundation is under His Majesty the King’s patronage. They will also present aid packages provided by the King to the Burmese generals today. The King yesterday instructed the foundation to send 2,000 bags of utensils and bedding weighing 10 tonnes to Burma. (Source: The Bangkok Post)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
PM will not go to Burma
Posted on Friday, 9 May 2008, 19: 32 GMT
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej decided to cancel his trip to Burma this weekend after the military junta said it would not welcome foreign aid workers. His cancellation came just a few hours after Mr Samak told reporters that he would go to the neighbouring country to persuade the junta to open door for western aid after the country was hit by Cyclone Nargis. Mr Samak said Prime Minister Thein Sein told him Friday he would be free to meet Mr Samak on Sunday, but the junta said Friday that they would not welcome foreign staff. "So there is no point of me going there," he said. (Source: The Bangkok Post)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Royal Ploughing Ceremony
Posted on Friday, 9 May 2008, 19: 30 GMT
Thailand's traditional soothsayers predicted an abundance of food production during the coming year, and an average supply of water -- with plentiful rice yields -- in the royal ploughing ceremony, marking the beginning of the planting season on Friday. The ceremony was presided over by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn; Her Royal Highness Princess Srirasmi, Royal Consort to His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn; and Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana. Permanent Secretary for Public Health Charanthada Kannasuta, who served in the Brahman ceremony from ancient India as the Lord of the Plough, was offered three pieces of folded cloth of different lengths and he selected one of medium length. Based on his selection, average water supply, with plentiful food and rice were predicted. (Source: Thai News Agency)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
US ask Thailand to help
Posted on Thursday, 8 May 2008, 19: 17 GMT
The United States yesterday desperately sought Thailand's help to get into cyclone-ravaged Burma and deliver humanitarian assistance to millions of storm victims in the secretive country. US Ambassador Eric John met Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to ask him to facilitate permission from Burmese leaders for the US emergency relief team to enter the country. Samak gave some assurance that he and his government would work closely with the US to help Burma, John said. However, Samak failed to get through to paramount leader Than Shwe and his deputy Muang Aye due to poor communications, government spokesman Wichianchot Sukchotrat said. If contact cannot be made, Samak will fly to Burma soon to talk to the leader, the spokesman said. John urged the junta leaders to make a quick decision to let the US disaster team, waiting in Bangkok, get in soon. (Source: The Nation)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Cellphone use while driving banned
Posted on Thursday, 8 May 2008, 10: 23 GMT
From today it is illegal to use a mobile phone while driving a vehicle on a road, unless using a hands-free device. Police want to publicise the ban before getting tough and will probably issue cautions at first. "First, we’ll warn violators to alert them to the danger. "We will fine the stubborn ones from May 20 onwards," said deputy Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Panu Kerdlarbpol. Police have been told to take pictures of drivers who flout the ban, to serve as evidence. After the grace period ends, offenders will be fined 400 to 1,000 baht. (Source: The Bangkok Post)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Studying climate change
Posted on Thursday, 8 May 2008, 10: 19 GMT
A team of scientists recently erected a pilot 10-metre tower in the middle of Ratchaburi's deciduous forest to measure carbon flux - the net difference between the CO2 gobbled up by photosynthesis and the CO2 produced by respiration. Changes in the carbon flux rate help scientists monitor the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. At the same time, it also helps them keep track of the health of the forest with changes in temperature, rainfall and humidity. "Scientists all over the world are increasingly interested in carbon flux in forests," team leader Dr Amnat Chidthaisong, from the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, said. "Various types of forests in different part of the world exchange CO2 differently. Hopefully, our studies will contribute to the world's understanding of the role of forests as carbon sinks." (Source: The Nation)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Coral reef postponed
Posted on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 17: 38 GMT
The sinking of 10 decommissioned military aircraft nicknamed "the Coral Reef Squadron" to create Thailand’s largest artificial reef has been postponed until November, Tourism Authority of Thailand South Region 4 Office Director Suwalai Pinpradub announced today. Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, K. Suwalai said that the strong winds and large waves that have arrived with the rainy season monsoon have now made it too dangerous to sink the aircraft in Bang Tao Bay.
The operation was set to begin today and wrap up with Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat and Thai celebrities attending the final-day festivities on Monday. A date has yet to be set for the operation to continue, K. Suwalai said. (Source: The Phuket Gazette)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Fight against dengue fever
Posted on Tuesday, 6 May 2008, 11: 54 GMT
Experts from 22 Asia-Pacific countries are meeting in Singapore to draw up an eight-year battle plan against dengue fever, participants said Tuesday. Details in the Asia-Pacific Dengue Strategic Plan are being finalized during the week-long meeting, with results to be presented in September to regional health ministers. It is crucial that the plan be compelling enough to attract both the money and political will to fight the disease, said Dr John Ehrenberg, the Western Pacific regional adviser of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Dengue fever respects no borders. "It is an urban disease, a product of our global village, where people move around a lot," said Dr Michael Nathan, chief of vector ecology at WHO's department of control of neglected tropical diseases. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for more than 70 per cent of dengue cases, WHO said. Some 50 million to 100 million cases have been reported worldwide annually, 30 times higher than 50 years ago.
There have been more dengue cases in Thailand during the first four months of this year than the same period of 2007. The plan is expected to cover strategies on surveillance, case management, changing behavior and combating the dengue-spreading Aedes mosquito. (Source: The Bangkok Post)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Thailand helps Burma
Posted on Tuesday, 6 May 2008, 11: 51 GMT
The government approved an aid fund of about 3 million baht to help the neighbouring Burma after it was hit by Cyclone Nargis over the weekend, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said Saturday. Mr Noppadon said the ministry decided to donate a total of 100,000 USD through the Ambassador of Burma to Thailand U Ye Win to help the Burmese victims. He also said that Thailand is willing to provide assistance should the Burmese government ask for it. "What Myanmar really needs now are tin sheets and tents as we are initially sending them food and water supplies," he said before attending a cabinet meeting. "This is a tsunami-like disaster in which many more unaccounted bodies are buried deep under the debris," he added. Mr Noppadon also suggested that the Burmese military junta accept assistance to international countries as well. (Source: The Bangkok Post)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Save your rice
Posted on Monday, 5 May 2008, 15: 42 GMT
Thailand's National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) warned farmers not to empty their rice barns for instant cash but to save some "for a rainy day". NESDB Secretary-General Ampon Kitti-ampon said the surge in rice prices had the effect of making farmers rush to sell all grain in hand, including supplies that would have normally been set aside to provide for future seed and household consumption. (Source: Thai News Agency)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Cabinet members get low marks
Posted on Sunday, 4 May 2008, 14: 44 GMT
Bangkok voters have said that if the cabinet were a 36-member classroom, the entire student body would fail. The Bangkok University's Bangkok Poll last week interviewed 1,228 people in the capital and asked them what they thought of the members - who was good, who was bad. Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan scored the highest. Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung was at the very bottom, just a little worse than second-worst cabinet member and Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. But the news was actually all bad. Mr Mingkwan was merely best out of a cabinet where every minister got a failing grade. Asked to rate the ministers on a scale of 10, respondents to the poll game Mr Mingkwan just 4.96, not even the 50 per cent needed for a minimum passing grade of D-minus. Second "best" was Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kohsurat with 4.93 points and Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Somsak Prissananantakul with 4.91 points. Mr Samak got just over 40 per cent down near the bottom - a grade of 4.04 from Bangkokians - and Mr Chalerm managed to outdo him, with an horrendous 3.39 score out of 10 to finish behind every one of his 35 cabinet colleagues. FYI: This result is nothing top worry about for the cabinet members. We believe that there hardly is any government in the world that gets high marks from its voters! (Source: The Bangkok Post)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Birth control works
Posted on Sunday, 4 May 2008, 10: 27 GMT
Thailand's birth rate in 2008 is reported to be alarmingly low due to overly exerted contraception, revealed Director-General of the Department of Health Dr. Narongsak Angkhasuwaphla.
Dr. Narongsak, presiding at a conference on Communication and Reproductive Health Services, said Thailand's current birth rate in 2008 was only 1.5 per cent lower than the targeted minimum of 2 per cent, or two children per household. (Source: Thai News Agency)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Train derailed
Posted on Sunday, 4 May 2008, 10: 21 GMT
One passenger died and 13 others were hospitalised
after a train derailed in the southern province of Songkhla, officials of the State Railway
of Thailand (SRT) said Sunday morning. The accident occurred Saturday night when a train from Phatthalung enroute to Sungai Kolok on the Malaysian border derailed near a railway station in a village of Songkhla province, they said. Fourteen injured passengers were sent to a hospital in Hat Yai, but one man died shortly
of multiple injuries to his abdomen, officials said. (Source: Thai News Agency)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Cyclone alert
Posted on Sunday, 4 May 2008, 10: 05 GMT
Sixteen provinces in upper Thailand went on alert on Saturday as tropical cyclone Nargis moved so close to Thailand that it ripped off Burmese roofs and closed down Rangoon airport and broadcasting stations. The Thai provinces, mostly in the North, were on special watch for flash floods and mudslides through the weekend, according to the Meteorlogical Department. The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office in Lampang province instructed all five of its relief agency offices in the North to closely track the cyclone, which is expected to dump inches of rain on the already wet area. (Source: The Bangkok Post)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Thailand wanrs rice cartel
Posted on Friday, 2 May 2008, 10: 37 GMT
Thailand wants to form an Opec-style rice cartel to give it more control over international rice prices. The world's biggest rice exporter plans to talk to Laos, Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam about co-operating on prices. Rice prices have tripled so far this year with countries such as India and Vietnam restricting their exports. A Thai government spokesman confirmed that the cartel idea had been discussed in talks between the prime ministers of Thailand and Burma on Wednesday. (Source: BBC News)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Cheap land for rice
Posted on Friday, 2 May 2008, 10: 35 GMT
The Treasury Department will lease 200,000 rai of land to farmers for rice and biofuel-crop production in a bid to increase supply and ease price pressures, Deputy Finance Minister Ranongrak Suwan-chawee said this week. She said by 2011, the department would lease 1 million rai to farmers, who will only have to pay Bt20 per rai annually for a three-year contract. The department will consult with the Agriculture Ministry on the list of farmers eligible for the leases and the amount of land they can have. Previously, the department granted each farming family a maximum of 15 rai. Farmers in Udon Thani are expected to be the first group to benefit from the government policy, she said, as state agencies have handed over land in the provinces to the department. Most of the land is concentrated in five provinces: Kan-chanaburi, Nakhon Ratcha-sima, Surat Thani, Kalasin and Ratchaburi. (Source: The Nation)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
Burmese leader in Chiang Rai
Posted on Friday, 2 May 2008, 10: 29 GMT
Burma’s leader Gen Thein Sein will visit Chiang Rai province on his final day in Thailand. He is due to inspect the Mae Fah Luang Foundation and its various projects to enourage locals to cultivate agricultural crops instead of opium.
There are reports that the Thai and Burmese governments are embarking on a joint project to develop the Shan state in Burma. (Source: The Bangkok Post)Any Comments? Use our Message Board! (Please register for the Board first)
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