Somali Pirates Release Thai Hostages Held For 4 Years

NAIROBI: -- Four Thai fishermen held hostage by Somali pirates for nearly four years have been released, local officials said Friday.

"We collected the four Thailand men from a remote area," said Omar Sheikh Ali, an official in Somalia's central Galmudug administration.

The four fishermen were among 24 crew members seized in April 2010 when Somali pirates hijacked the Taiwan-flagged fishing vessel FV Prantalay 12.

Their nearly four-year captivity is one of the longest suffered by any victims of Somali piracy.

Ali said the relieved men were able to contact family members soon after their release on Wednesday.

"They called their families by phone and cried and cried and cried," he said.

Residents of Galkayo, where the Galmudug administration is based, said a $150,000 ransom was paid but the information could not be independently verified.

After its capture the FV Prantalay was used as a pirate mother ship to launch attacks far out to sea before it capsized in July 2011 and the crew was taken ashore.

Of the original 24 crew members, six died from sickness at various stages during their captivity.

Another 14 crew from Myanmar were released to the government in the Somalia's northern Puntland region in May 2011 and repatriated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Hostage Support Programme.

A further 26 hostages are still being held by Somali pirates.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia reached its height in 2011 when there were 237 incidents attributed to Somali pirates and 28 vessels hijacked.

But a combination of armed onboard guards and international naval patrols have had a big impact and last year there were no successful hijackings, according to the International Maritime Bureau which tracks piracy incidents worldwide.

More Than 3,000 Kilogrammes Of Ivory Tusks Registered In One Month

BANGKOK: -- Over three tonnes of ivory tusks have been registered after one month of the enforcement of the Ivory Act B.E. 2558.

However, it was reported that many traders in ivory tusks were worried that the tusks in their possession might not be registered with the Wildlife Conservation Office within the 3-month reprieve because of the lack of evidences to prove the origin of the tusks.

Traders in ivory tusks are mainly concentrated in Chatuchak and Tha Prachan areas and many of these shops have stopped trading as they could not find evidences to back up how the tusks were acquired.

The Business Development Department has reported that the number of shops trading in ivory tusks have already dropped from 200 to just over 30 which corresponds with the wish of the Wildlife Conservation Office to regulate the trade in ivory tusks.

As for private possession of ivory tusks or ivory products, any individual who possesses more than half a kilogramme of tusk or over 12 pieces of ivory products are required to register with supporting evidences.

Evading registration is liable to both fine and imprisonment.

Call For Less Fattening Food Offering To Monks

 

 

Bangkok: – Public Health Minister RatchataRatchatanawin has urged merit-makers to ensure healthy diet for Buddhist monks.

 

Offering fattening food for monks leads to rising numbers of illnesses caused by obesity as more than five per cent of monks are overweight, Ratchata said.

 

Under the Disciplinary Canon, monks are obliged to accept and partake in food given as alms by laymen.

 

In a health survey of 98,561 monks, one in three have oral health problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

 

Because of poor diet and lack of exercise, one in 20 monks is likely to suffer obesity-related diseases.

 

The public health minister said temple’s followers should safeguard good health of their revered monks by offering balanced and nutritious meals.

 

Food alms should not include very sweet desserts and spicy, fattening and low-fibre cooking.

 

Suggested healthy meals have high-fibre vegetables, fresh fruits, and beans.

 

Monks should be offered fruit juice or no-sugar beverages in lieu of soft drinks.

 

Sugary sweets should be avoided.

 

In related news, Department of Health has launched the awareness campaign designed to promote healthy diet.

 

The department is to work in cooperation with monks to convince the public to change eating habit under the slogan “Less Dietary Risk, Less Illnesses”.

 

The health authorities have designated one temple per district as the coordinating centre for the campaign activities.

 

Some 3,044 temples nationwide are taking part in the campaign. Of the total, 921 temples have received the citations for exemplary achievements on healthy diet.

China’s Big Enemy: Deflation

It’s funny how any particular country’s economic problems change depending on how developed that country becomes. If you live in a developing country, your big problem is inflation. Inflation is very easy to understand. The price of goods and services keeps going up. In most cases, they appreciate faster than the natural increase in wages. This is a very common problem in the developing world.

However, it’s worth noting that once an economy has reached a certain level of development, the problem is turned on its head. The problem now is not inflation but deflation. Instead of worrying about prices rising, you’re worried that prices are headed in the opposite direction.

As I’ve written earlier, deflation is bad news. You might think that it’s a great deal to pay less for clothing, cars, and food, but it’s actually very bad news for the broader economy.

When consumers realize that there is a downward trend in pricing, they would actually hold off on buying. They would expect that the price would go down. As a result, this impacts manufacturing and production negatively and can lead to layoffs, less investment, and a shrinking economy.

Deflation is actually more harmful to the economy than inflation.
You have to remember that in normal situations, inflation takes place because of a high level of economic activity.

There’s a high level of demand for products and services and people are more willing to pay top dollar for product and services that’s why prices go up.

That’s the good cause for inflation. The bad cause for inflation is when the government pumps the broader economy with such a huge amount of paper money that there are a lot more pieces of paper chasing a smaller amount of goods and services.

It appears that China has a very interesting problem. Its problem is not inflation but deflation. China can ill-afford a deflationary spiral.

 Its growth rate is already slowing down, and its exports are declining. Add to this its huge problems with shadow banking and shadow lending and you might have the ingredients for an economic hard landing.

Chinese economic planners are always on the look out to prevent a hard landing that can deal a crushing blow to Chinese consumers.

Depending on their interest rate decisions, China’s growth outlook might look grim in the short-term. China is not alone in facing a deflationary spiral. Europe is in deflation as well as, until recently, Japan.

New Plane Tracking To Be Tested After Malaysia Jet Mystery

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia will lead a trial of an enhanced method of tracking aircraft over remote oceans to allow planes to be more easily found should they vanish like Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australia's transport minister said Sunday.

The announcement comes one week ahead of the anniversary of the disappearance of Flight 370, which vanished last year during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing with 239 people on board. No trace of the plane has been found.

Airservices Australia, a government-owned agency that manages the country's airspace, will work with its Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts to test the new method, which would enable planes to be tracked every 15 minutes, rather than the previous rate of 30 to 40 minutes, Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said. The tracking would increase to 5 minutes or less if there is a deviation in the plane's movements.

The trial is expected to use satellite-based positioning technology already on board 90 percent of long-haul aircraft that transmits the plane's current position and its next two planned positions, said Airservices Australia chairman Angus Houston, who helped lead the search for Flight 370.

The trial will boost the frequency with which planes automatically report their position, allowing air traffic controllers to better track them, Houston said.

"This is not a silver bullet," he told reporters in the nation's capital, Canberra. "But it is an important step in delivering immediate improvements to the way we currently track aircraft while more comprehensive solutions are developed."

There is no requirement for real-time tracking of commercial aircraft and ever since Flight 370 disappeared, air safety regulators and airlines have been trying to agree on how extensively planes should be tracked. The Boeing 777 veered sharply off-course and vanished from radar shortly into its flight on March 8.

An international team of experts that analyzed a series of hourly transmissions between the plane and a satellite later determined that the plane traveled for another seven hours before crashing somewhere within a remote 60,000-square-kilometer (23,000-square-mile) patch of the Indian Ocean. An extensive, monthslong search of that area is ongoing, but nothing has yet been found.

Houston warned that new method being trialed would not necessarily have allowed air traffic controllers to monitor Flight 370 — whose transponder and other tracking equipment shut down during the flight — to the point where it crashed.

People Jailed For Political Crimes 'United'

BANGKOK: -- PROTESTERS detained for their involvement in political demonstrations have placed their hopes in the reconciliation reform committee, says Phayaw Akkahad, a key member of the committee and someone who claims to have witnessed unity among detainees of conflicting political colours.

In an attempt to bring about reconciliation, Anek Laothamatas, chairman of the National Reform Council (NRC), last week led committee members on a visit to inmates incarcerated as a result of the political unrest to discuss reconciliation and to try to serve them with better justice.

"The political prisoners wish that we could possibly help them get back to their normal lives," Phayaw told The Nation.

She said the detainees could talk to and understand one another without seeing someone as a People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) member or someone else as a United Front for Democracy (UDD) against Dictatorship member.

Phayaw, whose daughter was killed during a UDD protest in 2010, became an activist who seeks to find the truth in political cases including seeking for justice for the protesters.

"If you have a chance to talk to them [the protesters in prison] you would understand that they are neither bad people nor deserve to be in jail like society views them, rather they are citizens of this country like everyone else," she said.

Phayaw said most of the people imprisoned for years were sincere in saying they would live good, normal life if given a second chance.

"If they were given another opportunity to regain their freedom, or another chance to start a new life, I believe these people will be the main force for driving society to realise that peaceful protest is their right and not a crime at all," she said.

The first thing the committee needed to do was focus on the prisoners because they were victims of Thai politics, she said, adding that reconciliation and unity must be done with actions more than words, something the committee realised.

She doubted that a single political leader or a leader of a group involved political protests had visited a prisoner.

Phayaw supports the idea of granting a pardon to the wrongdoers who admit their guilt, reasoning that a pardon would be the first big step towards reconciliation and unity in the society.

The charter drafters agreed to create a national reconciliation committee under the new constitution that would have the authority to request a pardon for wrongdoers.

"I am sure that even if we point a gun to their heads and threaten them, or force them to reconcile under any law, reconciliation will never be achieved," she said.

"But if people understand them and give them another chance to have a normal life, then conflicting parties would see the sincerity of Thai people and unity can happen again in our society."

Society should view them as citizens and not convicts, she said.

Another committee member, Boonlert Kachayudadej, said the committee was helping prisoner Anek Singkhunpob, who set off a bomb at the Bhumjaithai Party's headquarters on Phahonyothin Road in 2010, as he had lost an eye and was in danger of going blind.

"Anek must be treated quick because he will be totally blind without efficient medical care. He must be brought to a physician who can have a close look at his eye," Boonlert, also an NRC member said. He said he visited inmates jailed over the UDD protests in 2010 and the PDRC protests in late 2013 and early 2014.

Like Phayaw, he said prisoners from different political camps were living peacefully together in the same prison, and that unity could happen even in prison.

He said some prisoners had asked the Ministry of Justice to provide them with financial support to fight for justice in court.

"They want temporary bail in order to fight in court, asking for the justice. They also want to return to their families," he said.

Automatic Immigration Machines Coming To Suvarnabhumi Airport

BANGKOK: -- Thai Immigration have announced they will install 16 automatic immigration clearance machines at Suvarnabhumi airport that will be fully operational by July 2015.

According to Choengron Rimphadee, the director of immigration clearance at Suvarnabhumi airport, eight machines will be placed at both arrival and departure halls and intended for use by pre-registered foreign residents.

The 16 machines will cost an estimated 76 million baht and should half the processing time to around 20 seconds per passenger, Pol Lt Col Choengron said.

Don Mueang airport will take delivery of four machines for its arrival and departure halls that will be operational by the end of the year.

Cutting the processing time to 20 seconds per passenger is all well and good if the user knows what they are doing. How many times have you seen people take ten minutes to print a boarding pass on an automated machine?