The International Republican Institute published a new report that blames the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for a campaign of malign influences that corrode democracy. The International Republican Institute (IRI) is the Washington D.C. think tank whose board, staff and consultants are drawn from the Republican Party establishment. IRI has tended to set the party’s foreign policy […]
The post China’s Malign Influence Corrodes Democracy: Major US Think Tank appeared first on Thailand – China.
BANGKOK, 31 July 2019 (NNT) – The Royal Irrigation Department has released the latest data on water availability at 35 reservoirs as of 29 July 2019, showing 20 reservoirs now containing water at less than 30 percent of their capacity, with the reservoir at Pa Sak Jolasid Dam now holding the lowest water volume.
According to the Royal Irrigation Department, the gross water availability as of 29 July in reservoirs across Thailand is 33.941 billion cubic meters, considered 48 percent of total capacity, with 10.423 billion cubic meters of usable water at 22 percent overall capacity. The current figure is, however, lower than previous year recorded at 47.768 billion cubic meters, a 13.827 billion cubic meter deficit.
The overall water inflow into reservoirs is at 46.18 million cubic meters, with current discharge volume at 92.24 million cubic meters, and 36.986 billion cubic meters capacity available for more water.
Out of 35 major reservoirs, 20 are reported to be at less than 30 percent of their capacity. The 10 large reservoirs currently holding the lowest amount of water are as follow:
No.1: The reservoir at Pa Sak Jolasid Dam in Lopburi, now holding water at 3 percent ofits capacity, with 3 percent usable water.
No.2: The reservoir at Khlong Si Yat Dam in Chachoengsao, now holding water at 13 percent of its capacity, with 6 percent usable water.
No.3: The reservoir at Kwai Noi Dam in Phitsanulok, now holding water at 13 percent of its capacity, with 9 percent usable water.
No.4: The reservoir at Lam Phra Phloeng Dam in Nakhon Ratchasima, now holding water at 15 percent of its capacity, with 14 percent usable water.
No.5: The reservoir at Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam in Nakhon Nayok, now holding water at 16 percent of its capacity, with 14 percent usable water.
No.6: The reservoir at Mae Kuang Dam in Chiang Mai, now holding water at 17 percent of its capacity, with 12 percent usable water.
No.7: The reservoir at Nam Pung Dam in Sakon Nakhon, now holding water at 20 percent of its capacity, with 16 percent usable water.
No.8: The reservoir at Huai Luang Dam in Udon Thani, now holding water at 21 percent of its capacity, with 17 percent usable water.
No.9: The reservoir at Lam Nang Rong Dam in Buriram, now holding water at 21 percent of its capacity, with 19 percent usable water.
No.10: The reservoir at Naruebadintharachinda Dam in Prachin Buri, now holding water at 22 percent of its capacity, with 17 percent usable water.
BANGKOK, 29 July 2019 (NNT) – The Minister of Transport officiated at the trial runs of the MRT Blue Line Hua Lamphong – Bang Khae extension on which passengers can ride the extended route for free from today until 28 September this year.
The Minister of Transport Saksiam Chidchob today at 9:59 a.m. dispatched the first metro train to run on the public trial of the Hua Lamphong – Bang Khae extension of the MRT Blue Line, which is now accepting passengers on public trial runs from today to celebrate the auspicious occasion of His Majesty the King’s 67th birthday.
Passengers can now ride on the extended section between Wat Mangkorn and Tha Phra stations, with a total of 5 new stations, for free from today until 28 September this year, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. The extension is currently served by 3 metro trains, with an 8-minute interval between services.
Passengers travelling from the existing MRT Blue Line network, between Tao Poon and Hua Lamphong stations, will have to change trains at Hua Lamphong station to continue their journey onto the Wat Mangkorn – Tha Phra extension. Fares are currently exempted for stations on the new extension, and will only be collected for parts of the journey involving the existing network, starting at 16 baht up to 42 baht, or up to 70 baht for connecting journeys with the MRT Purple Line. Passengers can use their existing MRT re-loadable fare cards or fare tokens obtained from ticket vending machines for rides. Each journey will have a maximum time limit of 180 minutes starting from the tap of card or token at the ticket gate.
The Ministry of Transport, the Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA), and Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM) plans to open the Tao Poon – Tha Phra extension of the MRT Blue Line in 2020, which will be the final section of the Blue Line network that will run in a circle with Tha Phra station serving as an interchange. The MRT Blue Line network will provide connections to other modes of urban transportation, including rail and water, providing passengers with a more convenient commute and helping to solve traffic congestion in Bangkok, and will be a significant milestone in public transport development to help improve the general public’s lives.
Headline inflation surged to 1.24%YOY in March, up from 0.73%YOY in the previous month. Raw food and energy prices are the main drivers for inflation growth.
Raw food price index increased by 3.75%YOY following rising rice flour and cereal products, meat and fruit and vegetable price. Lowered agricultural supply from drought caused fruit and vegetable prices to increase, the first increment in 10 months.
Meanwhile, energy price index rebounded with growth of 2.07%YOY from heightened global crude price, after dropping for 3 consecutive months (in March, Brent crude oil price averaged at 66.41 USD per barrel compared to 64.13 USD per barrel in February).
Core inflation stood at 0.58%YOY, stable from 0.60%YOY in the previous month following stagnated prepared food, housing rent and medical and personal care price index.
Headline inflation decelerated slightly to 0.74%YOY in quarter 1 from 0.84%YOY in quarter 4, 2018
Energy price index declined by -0.78%YOY following a decease in global crude price in Q1-2019. On the contrary, raw food price index accelerated to 2.51%YOY in line with rice, meat and fruit and vegetable prices. Meanwhile, core inflation averaged at 0.62%YOY in the first quarter of 2019, slightly declining from 0.71%YOY during the last quarter of 2018.
The post Thai inflation climbed to 1.24% in March 2019 appeared first on Thailand Business News.
Bangkok, 23 July 2019 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is launching a unique online video sharing campaign that ‘dares’ foreign tourists and expats in Thailand to accept four challenges by creating videos to post on social media and share with friends using the #WeDareYouThailand hashtag.
Each of the four activities will allow participants to discover more about the identity of Thailand through four different types of challenges including Muay Thai (Thai boxing), Thai language, Khon (Thai masked dance drama), and Ruesi Dat Ton (Thai yoga). Those who successfully complete the challenge get the chance to win a trip to Thailand or other exciting prizes.
TAT Governor Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn said, “We Dare You’ encourages participants from around the world to accept the challenge set by TAT and explore their inner ‘Thainess‘ in every video that they post.
“The activity promotes a range of ‘Thainess’ elements and experiences through the four unique challenges. We hope that it will help encourage repeat visits among international tourists who appreciate these timeless traditions and cultures of Thailand,” Mr. Yuthasak said.
He added that anyone can join on the ‘We Dare You’ campaign website that includes special privileges, articles and travel information. In addition, there will be other online activities which participants can join on a monthly basis.
“For each challenge, participants have to record a video of their response, and then upload it to the website, while also sharing the video on their own personal social media account with the hashtag #WeDareYouThailand. Most importantly, they must tag a friend to pass on the challenge.”
For step one, participants must the select the challenge they want to accept out of four options. Then after accepting the challenge, step two is to watch the relevant video on the website, then, register or log in and to record your own video that imitates the gestures of the video they just watched on the ‘We Dare You’ website.
After completing their video recording, the final step for all participants is to share their video link on their personal Facebook page with the hashtag #WeDareYouThailand and set the post as public. Then, they must tag a friend who they want to pass on the challenge to.
All of these steps must be successfully completed to have a chance to win. Entrants that fail to meet these criteria will not be considered.
The TAT’s ‘We Dare You’ challenge runs from now until 31 July, 2019.
BANGKOK, 25th July 2019 (NNT) – The problem of the baht’s appreciation by five percent since the beginning of the year has affected the export of Thai products especially the price of rice which is higher than that of the country’s rivals. In the first half of this year, Thailand exported 4.36 million tons of rice, down by 19 percent year-on-year.
Thai Rice Exporters Association President, Police Lieutenant Charoen Laothammathas, has reported on the situation of Thai rice exports in the first half of the year. It was found that the Thai rice exports are still affected by the value of the baht which is higher than the currency of a major rival like India. The Indian rupee has depreciated while the Vietnamese dong remains stable causing the prices of white rice produced by Thailand to be higher than those of competing countries especially Thai Jasmine rice with an export price as high as 1,050 US dollars per ton while the average price of Vietnamese jasmine rice is only 550 US dollars per ton. Meanwhile, Thai white rice is from 395 – 400 US dollars per ton but Vietnamese white rice is only 345 US dollars per ton. China has a large amount of rice in stock, causing the demand for rice to decrease. Soft rice is popular among rice importers but Thailand still lacks this type of rice. In June, Thailand could only export 570,000 tons of rice, down by 37.7 percent or the lowest since 2011.
In the first half of this year, Thailand exported 4.36 million tons of rice, down by 19.6 percent year-on-year, worth 2.28 billion US dollars, down 17.5 percent.
However, the second half of the year is still causing concern because certain factors are still affecting Thai rice exports, causing the market to slow down. The baht appreciation and drought problems may cause the volume of rice to decrease and rice prices to increase further. Major rice importing countries have also reduced the volume of their rice imports. Therefore, Thai rice exporters lowered the target for the year from 9.5 million tons to 9 million, worth about 4.7 billion US dollars.
The private sector still believes that the work of the new government especially the Minister of Commerce and the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives who are from the same party, will be in a consistent direction.
As the Chief Executive Officer of WWF-Thailand, Ms. Natalie Phaholyothin’s mandate is to lead the organisation to excel in conservation and environmental work in Thailand and the Mekong region.
An animal lover, nature lover and a Thai national, Natalie is particularly proud of Thailand’s national heritage in terms of its environment and wildlife.
“We have 127 national parks, which is quite a high number, and that in itself should be an indication of the potential for Thailand to become more of a sustainable tourism destination.
Chief Executive Officer of WWF-Thailand, Ms. Natalie Phaholyothin
“All Thais should be really proud that we have so much biodiversity in Thailand. How do we make it sustainable? How can all Thais be encouraged to think about how we can co-exist with nature and thrive together? Because if we don’t preserve nature, we also don’t preserve our own future.”
The World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) established its presence in Thailand in 1995, and today it has some 60 staff on the roster, of which a third are deployed in the field the majority of the time.
It works with other NGOs and government organisations like the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), which is under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Since being registered as a…
BANGKOK, 25th July 2019 (NNT) – Thai students have won three gold medals and three silver medals at the 60th International Mathematical Olympiad in the United Kingdom. As a team, Thai students achieved the 5th highest score in the competition which was attended by contenders from over 100 countries.
The Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST) welcomed six Thai students who had returned from Bath in the United Kingdom, after successfully winning medals at the 60th International Mathematical Olympiad.
Mr. Sornthep Wannarat, IPST Assistant Director, disclosed that the three gold medalists are Mr. Jirayus Jinaphong, Kamnerdwit School, Rayong, Mr. Phitchayot Saengrungkhongkha, Bangkok Christian College, Bangkok, and Mr. Paphon Laphet, Mahidol Witthayanusorn School, Nakhon Pathom. The three silver medalists are Mr. Paramut Samutsin, Triam Udom Seuksa School, Bangkok, Mr. Nathanon Therdphraisan, Bangkok Christian College, Bangkok, and Mr. Thana Somsiriwatthana, Suankularb Witthayalai School, Bangkok.
The students admitted that they felt pressured during the competition because it was an international competition but relieved the pressure by making it fun to do the exams. Thailand’s 5th highest score suggests that the country has personnel with real potential.
The competition was attended by 621 participants from 112 countries and territories. China and the United States made overall top scores. The Thai students score of 185 was the highest that Thai students have ever achieved since their participation in the Olympiad began in 1989.
© Siam News Network Ltd.
