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Thailand Live Thursday 31 Mar 2011

webfact

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webfact Grand Master Member

webfact

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Thailand Live Thursday 31 March 2011

News, Bits and Tweets

with webfact

Keep up to date with live updates from the news, hour by hour.

For breaking news,national, regional and international news updates on a daily basis only, this thread is closed to commentary so that those who wish to follow the news can find it here...

Commentary is still open for Thailand news in the relevant thread posted in News Clippings.

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Related topic: Thailand Live Wednesday 30 Mar 2011

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webfact Grand Master Member

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Mudslide in Krabi's Khao Phanom district kills at least 12 while 30 people remain unaccounted for, a Krabi official confirmed

Follow this link:

webfact Grand Master Member

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Thai Airways supports renewable energy instead of diesel

BANGKOK (NNT) -- President of Thai Airways International PCL Dr. Piyasawat Amaranand said the government should let the market mechanism determine the fuel prices while encouraging the use of renewable energy in the country by advising related agencies to cancel the sales of benzene 91 across Thailand.

Dr. Piyasawat said the government’s efforts in maintaining diesel prices not over 30 baht per liter is laudable, but it should also consider other approaches to prevent future risks. He suggested spending the money from the Oil Fund to buy fuel in advance of a price hike, adding that Thai Airways has done so in the past and does not suffer profit loss due to rising global oil prices.

He further added that in order to encourage Thai people to adapt to using renewable energy in the long run, the government should float the fuel prices according to the global trend. He also said the popularity of gasohol 85 among commuters remain unchanged in the past two years, adding that Thai people should be encouraged to fade out vehicles relying on benzene 91 and turn to the ones that run on gasohol instead.

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-- NNT 2011-03-31 footer_n.gif

george Legendary Member

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Current weather conditions and forecasts for all amphurs, cities and provinces:

- Bangkok: http://weather.thaivisa.com/bangkok/bangkok/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/bangkok/bangkok/

- Chiang Mai: http://weather.thaivisa.com/chiang-mai/chiang-mai/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/chiang-mai/chiang-mai/

- Pattaya: http://weather.thaivisa.com/chon-buri/pattaya/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/chon-buri/pattaya/

- Khon Kaen: http://weather.thaivisa.com/khon-kaen/khon-kaen/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/khon-kaen/khon-kaen/

- Mae Hong Son: http://weather.thaivisa.com/mae-hong-son/mae-hong-son/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/mae-hong-son/mae-hong-son/

- Phuket: http://weather.thaivisa.com/phuket/phuket/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/phuket/phuket/

- Hua Hin: http://weather.thaivisa.com/prachuap-khiri-khan/hua-hin/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/prachuap-khiri-khan/hua-hin/

- Hat Yai: http://weather.thaivisa.com/songkhla/hat-yai/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/songkhla/hat-yai/

- Koh Samui: http://weather.thaivisa.com/surat-thani/ko-samui/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/surat-thani/ko-samui/

- Krabi: http://weather.thaivisa.com/krabi/'>http://weather.thaivisa.com/krabi/

- All amphurs, cities and provinces: http://weather.thaivisa.com/

webfact Grand Master Member

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3 serious, airlifted from Pha-ngan

By THE NATION

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Health Minister Jurin seeks more rescue boats for Surat Thani

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit yesterday ordered the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand to send a helicopter to transport three seriously ill people out of flood-hit Koh Pha-ngan Hospital to better-equipped facilities and asked for 20 more rescue boats to assist flood victims in Surat Thani.

Meanwhile, the National Coordination Centre for Flood Relief (NCCFR) considered requesting Bt15 billion from the Cabinet next Monday to assist about 300,000 families affected by flooding in the South.

Jurin said a 40-year-old man with heart failure, a woman who was bleeding after a miscarriage, and a man with a serious spine injury from a road accident were airlifted safely. The first two were sent to Koh Samui Hospital, and the accident victim to Surat Thani Hospital.

Thai authorities' mission to aid stranded tourists at Koh Tao in Surat Thani's Koh Pha-ngan district - using four helicopters, two inflatable boats and a landing craft - managed to evacuate at least 600 people on to the helicopter-carrier HTMS Chakri Naruebet to Prachuap Khiri Khan's Bang Saphan district yesterday.

1,000 TO BE RESCUED

During their journey to the shore in this large, impressive vessel, the evacuees were served a hot meal of fried garlic-and-pepper pork and fried eggs. The Chakri Naruebet will return today to rescue another 1,000 people stranded there.

In the meantime, about 500 tourists stranded on Tarutao and other islands off the Satun coast were rescued by a chartered speedboat, while another 300-500 people were willing to stay on Li Pe Island at resorts as food and supplies were sufficient, Tarutao National Park chief Phairoj Homchuay said.

He did not specify how many had returned to the mainland. He named the other three islands as Adang Rawee, Bulone, and Li Pe, where naval officers based there were monitoring the situation and taking care of the tourists, while prohibiting small boats from going out because of high seas.

NCCFR deputy director Vittayen Muttamara said the agency might initially ask for Bt15 billion to assist about 300,000 affected families but this had not been confirmed yet depending on whether the rain persists.

Agencies are gathering disaster reports and complaints via 1111 and 0-2141-6588 around the clock and information collected with Google Maps and Small Multi-Mission Satellite technologies will be forwarded to central agencies and in those in the affected areas.

Thailand Post Co also opened the phone number 0-2831-3333 to coordinate transport of donated items to the South.

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-- The Nation 2011-03-31

webfact Grand Master Member

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DIESEL

'Subsidies unsustainable'

By Watcharapong Thongrung

The Nation

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The government will come under increasing pressure to end its diesel subsidy as the Oil Fund's net cash flow has fallen to just Bt2.3 billion.

Manoon Siriwan, an energy specialist, said at a seminar organised by the Federation of Thai Industries that the up-trend in the price of crude oil was unlikely to change in the near future, hence the government should review its subsidy policy.

Since December, the government has capped the retail diesel-fuel price at Bt30 per litre, resulting in outflows from the Oil Fund, which has led to its depletion from Bt34.6 billion to the present Bt2.36 billion.

With the crude-oil price currently at more than US$100 per barrel, the Oil Fund is seeing an outflow of Bt314.8 million per day to subsidise the diesel price.

Olarn Chaipravat, a former deputy prime minister, said no government would dare to float oil prices when elections were near but subsidies are now risky because of the fast-depleting Oil Fund.

In the first quarter, the prices of refined oil products have risen by more than 20 per cent on unrest in the Middle East as well as natural disasters in Japan, where a nuclear power plant that was generating 9,702 megawatts has stopped operation. As a result, Japan will have to fall back on importing traditional sources of energy such as coal, natural gas and oil.

Surong Bulkul, chief executive officer of Thai Oil, said the current up-trend in the prices of finished oil products was due to the Japanese crisis. The market is expected to reach its peak in June, so the Thai government's subsidies are now risky.

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said at a seminar on "A Balanced Energy Policy for a Sustainable Economy and Society" that the country aimed to produce as much as 5,600MW from renewable sources in the near future.

He told the seminar, organised by Krungthep Turakij newspaper, that Thailand's electricity capacity was now nearly 30 gigawatts, with natural gas accounting for 70 per cent of the total, followed by coal at 10 per cent and hydroelectricity at 5 per cent.

He said renewable energy was the answer to the declining reserves of hydrocarbons, so the country's target was to generate 5,604MW by 2022, according to the Power Development Plan. This includes 500MW of solar energy, 800MW of wind energy, 324MW of hydropower, and 3,700MW of biomass power.

In addition, the purchase of energy from neighbouring countries will be limited to 25 per cent of the total requirement to minimise risks.

Piyasvasti Amranand, a former energy minister who is currently president of Thai Airways International, said it was difficult to implement a nuclear-power policy in Thailand even though such energy would help reduce global warming.

He said the Japanese crisis was similar to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, so it could affect nuclear-power projects around the world for many years to come.

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-- The Nation 2011-03-31

webfact Grand Master Member

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Talks coming on more minimum-wage rises

By The Nation

Labour Minister Chalermchai Sri-on will tomorrow start discussions with the Federation of Thai Industries and employee associations over the Democrat Party's election promise to raise minimum wages by 25 per cent within two years.

According to Democrat Party spokesman Buranat Samutarak, raising minimum wages is one of two major policies for the upcoming election to help the poor cope with the increasing cost of living. On the other hand, farmers' income will also be raised by the same amount.

"We will launch the policies soon through TV commercials and radio spots until the election takes place," he said.

The latest rises in minimum wages, by Bt8-Bt11 per day depending on the province, took place in January and drew criticism from manufacturers.

Meanwhile, Labour Ministry permanent secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong, as chairman of the Central Wage Committee, noted that the planned increase was just an election-campaign promise of the Democrat Party. He also believed other parties would follow suit, however.

He said provincial subcommittees had been assigned to collect data on the cost of living in each province and submit the data within two months.

If the cost of living in any province shows significant increases, the issue will be tabled at the committee's meeting for immediate discussion. Without such signs, the issue will be discussed at the end of the year, as usual.

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-- The Nation 2011-03-31

webfact Grand Master Member

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Going to Jatujak Park for tree planting with @KristieKenney to mark 178 years of Thai-US friendship /RT @RichardBarrow: /RT @bangkokgovernor:

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