The Wall Street bulls embracing sky-high stock values and the Washington pols embracing big deficits may be ideological opposites, but they have something important in common. Both draw sustenance from near-zero interest rates which make stocks more valuable and debt more supportable. And both risk taking this basically sound logic to extremes. The rally
Month: February 2021
Bank of Thailand to cut growth forecast
The Bank of Thailand is expected to lower its 3.2% growth forecast for Thailand this year against the backdrop of increasing downside risks stemming from the persistent Covid-19 outbreak. The economy is expected “to expand somewhat lower than the previous forecast”, said MPC secretary Titanun Mallikamas, even though the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
Read moreMyanmar army chief says coup was “inevitable”
(Yangon) – Army chief Min Aung Hlaing appointed himself head of a new cabinet stacked with former and current generals, justifying his coup as the “inevitable” result of civilian leaders’ failure to heed the army’s fraud warnings. The military declared a one-year state of emergency and said it would hold new elections once their allegations
Read moreAngry protesters break curfew to vent anger at Myanmar military
By TNR Special Correspondent AT around 8.30 p.m. tonight (Feb. 3) in Yangon (9 p.m. in Thailand) a defending demonstration took place on one of main streets with the protesters breaking the curfew that started half an hour earlier at 8 p.m. TNR’s special correspondent based in the Myanmar capital saw with his own eyes
Read moreTWO STRIKES: Patients could catch TWO Covid strains at once
By Vanessa Chalmers, The Sun PATIENTS could catch two Covid strains at once, scientists say, after reports of dual infection from Brazil. And it could lead to even more new variants evolving, with abilities to dodge vaccines and spread easier. Amid growing concern of new variants popping up globally, doctors said they were the first
Read moreAung San Suu Kyi charged with breaching import-export laws
By Tan Hui Yee, The Straits Times Myanmar’s military government has filed criminal charges against civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for breaches of import-export laws, according to a police document. She has been remanded in detention until Feb 15, the document said. It said the military had raided her home and found hand-held radios
Read moreFeature: The original lychee of Samut Songkhram
By Out-crowd NO LESS than 2,400 tons of lychee, a distinctive cash crop of Samut Songkhram province, Thailand’s smallest, are due for harvest and sales at a good price for farmers in the upcoming April. The lychee farmers of Ampawa and Bang Khonthi districts of Samut Songkhram have been eagerly prepared for the harvesting of
Read moreDaily Covid count still high at 795
Thailand saw 795 new coronavirus cases emerge over the past 24 hours to this morning (Feb. 3) taking the cumulative confirmed cases to 21,249, Sanook.com and Siam Rath newspaper said. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration’s (CCSA’s) spokesman Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin said of the total 21,249 cases, 14,001 have been cured while 7,169 are still
Read moreThai household debt likely to climb further
(Bloomberg News) – Thailand’s household debt, already among the highest in emerging Asia, is expected to rise further as a fresh Covid19 outbreak curbs incomes, weighing on consumer spending and heightening financial-stability risks. Household debt stood at 13.8 trillion baht, or 87% of gross domestic product, at the end of September 2020, up from 79% a
Read moreThe Story Behind the Myanmar Coup
Myanmar’s decade-long experiment in conditional democracy just ended in a textbook example of a coup — a coup that was a pre-emptive strike. David Scott Mathieson reports In the early hours of Monday, as the new national Parliament was scheduled to convene for its first session, the military, known as the Tatmadaw, announced that it
Read moreUN calls for ban on virginity tests
The World Health Organisation and the United Nations have called for a ban on virginity tests following a civil rights campaign and media investigation. Controversial “virginity tests”, which involve intrusive and unscientific examinations, are being offered by medical clinics around Britain, according to an investigation. The test claims to determine if a woman’s hymen
Read moreMyanmar military coup caught on camera
(Yangon) – A woman filming a fitness video unknowingly captured the insane moment an army convoy stormed towards a parliament to stage a coup in Myanmar. Click here to see the video https://youtu.be/BGroxCBcuvA Tensions in Myanmar are at an all-time high, after the country’s military seized power in an early morning coup on Monday, detaining
Read morePM facing grilling from 45 MPs
More than four dozen opposition MPs are queueing up to grill Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and nine cabinet ministers in the upcoming no-confidence debate, according to chief opposition whip and Pheu Thai MP Sutin Klungsang. He said the opposition parties had discussed how to allot time among them and so far about 45 MPs on
Read moreHaze to shroud Bangkok for a week
A haze is expected to choke the Thai capital and the upper parts of the country until Monday next week, as changing atmospheric patterns are trapping PM2.5 dust particles and transboundary pollution from Cambodia over Thailand, according to the Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation. “Bangkok and some other parts of the country are now under
Read moreThai household debt sinks to new low
(Bloomberg News) Thailand’s household debt, already among the highest in emerging Asia, is expected to rise further as a fresh Covid19 outbreak curbs incomes, weighing on consumer spending and heightening financial-stability risks. Household debt stood at 13.8 trillion baht, or 87% of gross domestic product, at the
Read moreThailand tops 20,000 Covid19 cases
Another 836 cases of coronavirus infection were reported on Tuesday, bringing the confirmed caseload since the start of the pandemic a year ago to 20,618. Two more deaths were also reported, both elderly people, raising the toll to 79. The 836 new cases included 819 domestic transmissions, with 710 of those found through active testing.
Read moreBangkok school closed after Covid cases emerge at nearby factory
BANGKOK Metropolitan Administration (BMA) ordered a school in Phasi Charoen district closed after 27 workers at a factory in its neighbourhood were found infected with Covid-19, Thai Rath newspaper reported this evening (Feb. 2, 2021). BMA’s spokesman Pol. Capt. Pongsakorn Kwanmuang said Wat Chan Pradit Tharam School had been ordered closed till Friday Feb. 5
Read moreBangkok tap water saltier ‘but safe for healthy folk to drink’
BANGKOK Governor Asawin Khwanmuang said today (Feb. 2) that the capital’s tap water is now saltier than before but is still safe for most people in good health to drink but small children, the elderly, sick and small pets should avoid it, Thai Rath newspaper reported. That Bangkok’s tap water has turned brackish is because
Read more787 Covid cases emerge in Samut Sakhon
THE Covid Centre of Samut Sakhon province this morning (Feb. 2) stated that 787 cases of this feared infection emerged up to midnight yesterday taking the provincial total to 12,130, Thai Rath newspaper said. Altogether 688 cases were found through proactive search in this province, from where the ongoing outbreak sprang, with 59 being Thais
Read moreSpacewalk Coverage Live on NASA TV
NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover is now underway and available on the agency’s website. The crew members of Expedition 64 are preparing to venture outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk expected to last about six and a half hours. The crew is in the airlock and have donned their suits in preparation
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