Thailand Live Wednesday 25 Jul 2012

[george]

Starbucks Thailand issued a notice to private tutors taking advantage of their seats/wifi to order more or get lost /via @RichardBarrow

[webfact]

Special Report: Bangkok receives World's Best City Award 2012

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok has for the third time in as many years been named the World’s Best City 2012 by the globally renowned travel magazine Travel & Leisure.

Full story:

[webfact]

17 Thai students in Syria worry by violence, request help to return to Thailand: Foreign Ministry /MCOT

[webfact]

ICT to host "Bangkok International ICT Expo 2012"

Bangkok, July 25 2012 (NNT) – ICT will be holding “Bangkok International ICT Expo 2012” under the concept of “Smart Thailand toward AEC”.

Anudith Nakornthap, Minister of Information and Communication Technology or ICT has given his speech in the press conference for the “Bangkok International ICT Expo 2012” on the occasion of August 4th National Communications Day. He said this year’s event will be organized under the concept of “Smart Thailand toward AEC”. The event’s exhibition is divided into 2 parts. The first part is organized in honor of and to celebrate His Majesty the King's 85th birthday anniversary and Her Majesty the Queen’s 80th birthday occasion as well as HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn’s 60th birthday anniversary. The second part of the exhibition will be organized by a number of private companies including AIS, TRUE, DTAC, Thaicom, and Samsung.

The objectives of the event are to raise awareness of the AEC, integrate educational system, agriculture, tourism, service, and creativity industries, as well as to showcase ICT’s technology for disaster watch. The attendees will have a chance to experience the 2020's technology and future life style.

The exhibition will be held at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani during 3-6 August, 2012.

-- NNT 2012-07-25

[webfact]

Starbucks Thailand tells teachers "order more coffee or get lost"

Full story:

[Lite Beer]

SET index midday down 5.79 pts,0.49 pct

Thai composite stocks index (SET) at midday Wednesday stood at 1,181.85, down 5.79 points, or 0.49 per cent in line with regional shares amid Bt20.37 billion turnover.

Blue chip SET-50 index was at 815.01 points, down 4.58 points, or 0.56 per cent.

Top five most active (value) stocks: CPF, PTT, BGH, PTTEP, SCC

-- The Nation 2012-07-25

[Lite Beer]

New Senate speaker to be elected August 6

BANGKOK: -- Thiradet Meepian has been disqualified as the Senate speaker and the new one will be elected on August 6, Deputy Senate Speaker Nikom Waiyaratphanit said Wednesday.

Nikom has become acting Senate speaker pending the election after the Criminal Court found Thiradet and two other former ombudsmen guilty of malfeasance for giving themselves salary increase.

Nikom said Article 124 (4) states that the Senate speaker must be disqualified once he gives a jail term no matter whether the imprisonment is suspended or not.

-- The Nation 2012-07-25

[Lite Beer]

From Jan 4, 2004 until May 31, 2012, official figures show violence in the Deep South has claimed 5,206 lives and injured about 9,137. / NATION

[Lite Beer]

Thailand expects to export about 8mn tons of rice this year: Commerce Minister /NATION

[Lite Beer]

EXPORTS

Euro crisis pressures Thailand's export in June

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thailand witnessed a contraction in monthly export, when the value in June fell 2.5 per cent from the same period last year to US$20 billion as the euro crisis pressures regional and global demand.

The Commerce Ministry’s latest data showed that in baht term, at Bt616.5 billion, the export value dropped 0.69 per cent on year. In the month, export to 15 European nations dropped by 16.1 per cent while export to the US increased by 5 per cent.

Thailand first felt the pinch of the euro crisis in April when exports contracted 3.7 per cent, before recovering with a 7.7 per cent growth in May.

The poor monthly figures in June, particularly against the ministry’s annualised growth target of 15 per cent, resulted in a 1.66 per cent contraction in export value in the first six months of this year. The value was US$112.62 billion. In baht term, at Bt3.47 trillion, it showed a 0.52 per cent increase.

The ministry attributed the monthly contraction to the intensifying debt crisis in the euro zone, which dampened export-oriented manufacturing in several countries which ordered raw materials from Thailand. These countries included Japan, South Asia, South Korea, Taiwan and Russia.

Europe accounts for only 10 per cent of Thailand’s total exports.

In June, Thailand’s exports declined sharply in the agriculture sector, contracting by 19.8 per cent led by the 49.2 per cent slump in rice export and 31.4 per cent fall in rubber export.

Demand for industrial goods rose by only 1.9 per cent. While vehicles and parts showed an increase of 21.3 per cent, paper and packaging products suffered from the steepest decline of 73.2 per cent.

In the first six months, exports of agricultural products contracted by 9.1 per cent, while that of industrial goods dropped 3.6 per cent.

-- The Nation 2012-07-25

[Lite Beer]

Famed Thai-Myanmar border clinic faces funding crunch

File photo : A young Myanmar refugee waits for treatment before a picture of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, at Mae Tao clinic.

The Thai-Myanmar border clinic of an award-winning doctor has run into a funding shortfall this year as donations dry up in the West, sources said Wednesday.

The Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, 320 kilometres north-west of Bangkok, has appealed for Bt13 million (419,355 dollars) to meet this year’s cost of treating an estimated 100,000 patients from neighbouring Myanmar.

"This year the money from individual donors and foundations hasn’t been coming in," said Lisa Houston, a spokeswoman for the clinic.

She blamed "a combination of the economic downturn in the West as well as a perception that things on the border should be okay because the media on Burma is all about political changes." Myanmar, a former pariah state among Western democracies, has carried out political and economic reforms since President Thein Sein assumed office in March 2011.

But the reforms have yet to lead to improved health services, especially in conflict areas such as the Karen State, where most ofthe Mae Tao clinic’s patients come from, border sources said.

"The situation on the ground hasn’t changed," said Debbie Stothard, a Myanmar activist. "What’s changed is the attitude of donors." The Mae Tao clinic was set up in 1989 by doctor Cynthia Maung, who won South-east Asia’s Magsaysay Award in 2003 for humanitarian work on the border

The clinic receives donations, primarily from the governments ofAustralia, Britain, Canada, Norway and the United States whichcollectively provide about Bt60 million (US$1.9 million) per annum. These governments have not yet cut their donations to theclinic, sources said.

"But as the situation evolves in Burma we are afraid the fundingis going to keep getting harder," Houston said. Mae Sot has long been a refuge for ethnic minority groups fleeingfighting in Myanmar.

There are an estimated 140,000 refugees in camps around Mae Sot.

-- The Nation 2012-07-25

[Lite Beer]

KMC LOAN

Supreme Court to try Thaksin

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Supreme Court's Criminal Division agreed to the trial of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and 27 accomplices, implicated in Krungthai Bank's fradulent lending to Krisda Mahanakorn Group (KMC).

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/572482-supreme-court-to-try-thaksin/#entry5517203

[webfact]

POLITICS

Senate speaker gets suspended jail term for granting himself a pay increase

Thiradet

BANGKOK: -- The Criminal Court Wednesday found Senate Speaker Thiradet Meepian, another former ombudsman and former secretary-general of the Office of Ombudsmen guilty of malfeasance in issuing a regulation to grant themselves a pay increase.

Full story:

[webfact]

Thailand awaits confirmation that Myanmar court sentences 92 Thais to 3 years, 6 months jail each for deforestation, illegal entry /MCOT

[webfact]

Thailand holds interest rate but says ready to act

Bangkok, July 25, 2012 (AFP) - Thailand's central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.0 percent on Wednesday, warning that the worsening global economic situation was weighing on Asian exports.

Full story:

[webfact]

British tourist, 47, drowns at Patong Beach

Phuket Gazette

A couple walk past one of the lifeguard red warning flags near where English tourist Peter Cook drowned yesterday. Photo: Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai

PHUKET: -- An English tourist who ignored warnings by lifeguards at Patong Beach yesterday became the latest monsoon-season drowning victim in Phuket.

Full story:

[webfact]

Five policemen killed in Yala bombing ambush

The Nation

YALA: -- Insurgents detonated a homemade bomb hidden in a pick-up truck to ambush a teacher-protection unit, killing five policemen and injuring another Wednesday afternoon.

Police said the explosion occurred at 4 pm in Raman district.

The insurgents detonated the bomb when the vehicle of the teacher-protection unit reached the spot.

-- The Nation 2012-07-25

[webfact]

SET index closed at 1188.62, up 0.98; Bt/USD31.60; GBP48.84; AUD32.33; EUR38.24; CAD30.87; HKD4.07; SGD24.95; JPY40.15

[webfact]

UK border guards cancel pre-Olympics strike (Reuters) /Voice of Russia

[webfact]

to continue:

Thailand Live Thursday 26 Jul 2012