SAT-1 to be fully open by year-end

New terminal at Suvarnabhumi ready to respond to steadily recovering air traffic

SAT-1 to be fully open by year-end
Some of the first passengers to arrive at SAT-1 at Suvarnabhumi airport on Thursday. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)

The new satellite terminal at Suvarnabhumi International Airport has been opened to the public following a soft launch on Thursday.

The new satellite terminal, dubbed Satellite 1 (SAT-1), will increase the overall handling capacity of the country’s main international gateway to 60 million a year from 45 million, said Kittipong Kittikachorn, director of Suvarnabhumi airport.

Passenger traffic through the 17-year-old airport has been recovering steadily from the slowdown brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

The airport recorded 268,477 take-offs and landings in the current fiscal year that ends on Sept 30, 59.4% higher than traffic figures reported in the previous fiscal year.

The total number of passengers processed through the airport in the same period reached 44.4 million, up 153.4% from the previous 12 months.

“Throughout our 17 years of operations, Suvarnabhumi airport has welcomed 756.47 million passengers on 4.74 million flights. The total amount of cargo transported through the airport reached 20.95 million tonnes,” said Mr Kittipong.

The increasing number of passengers travelling through the airport, which has continued to rise since the pandemic ended, prompted the decision to build SAT-1, along with a third runway to allow more aircraft to take off and land at the same time.

Furthermore, a new Individual Carrier System (ICS) has been installed at SAT-1 to enhance the terminal’s baggage handling capacity, allowing for a more efficient transfer of luggage between SAT-1 and Suvarnabhumi airport’s main terminal.

SAT-1 is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year, Mr Kittipong said. The satellite terminal, he added, will increase the airport’s passenger handling capacity from 45 million to 60 million annually.

The third runway, which is now under construction, is set to be operational in July 2025, he added. It will expand aircraft handling capacity from 68 flights per hour to 94 flights.

Suvarnabhumi airport management is working on plans to further expand overall handling capacity, which include the construction of an annex to the east of the main terminal, which will expand the terminal’s total area by 66,000 square metres.

The expansion will allow the airport to handle 15 million more passengers annually.

The project has been approved by the cabinet, and the procurement process will begin next year, said Mr Kittipong.

Suvarnabhumi airport will also improve its cargo handling capacity by implementing the Free Zone Data Management System and introducing the EZ Cargo application.

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Caucasus crisis could destabilize all of Eurasia

In the past few days, there has been a steady stream of ethnic Armenians fleeing the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan launched a 24-hour assault on the Armenian enclave, which is surrounded by Azerbaijani territory, on September 19 and, following a ceasefire brokered the following day, refugees have been allowed to leave via the narrow Lachin corridor, which connects the enclave with Armenia.

As of September 27, it was estimated that nearly 30,000 people had made the crossing since it was opened on September 24. It is expected that many of the estimated 120,000 Karabakhi Armenians will leave for Armenia. Meanwhile, at least 68 people were killed and about 350 injured in an explosion at a petrol station in the enclave’s main highway out of Stepanakert, its capital.

The Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing in the region – something denied by Azerbaijan which described the conflict as an “anti-terror” operation and said that the majority Armenian population would be integrated into Azerbaijan and their rights respected.

But it appears that the exodus of dispossessed Armenians will continue and they are an angry population. They are angry at Azerbaijan for the shelling which forced them to flee. They are angry at Turkey for supporting and arming Azerbaijan.

Oddly, they are not angry at Russia whose lack of attention emboldened Azerbaijan to take action against them. In fact, some of the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh are expected to make their way to Russia via Armenia.

Armenian anger

Mainly they are angry at the Armenian government as are many of their compatriots in Armenia itself.

But the mass protests have been more an expression of hopelessness than of defiance. Nagorno-Karabakh – where there has been an ethnic Armenian population since 200 BCE – is lost and many people blame their leader. Witnessing refugees arrive has upped the emotional ante.

Anger: protesters in the streets of Yerevan, Armenia, September 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE via The Conversation / Narek Aleksanyan

The response from Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has been brutal. Up to 350 protesters were detained and some were reportedly badly beaten by security forces.

Pashinyan has implied that it is the Kremlin who instigated the riots. But, even if Russian media’s coverage is hostile towards Pashinyan, Armenians themselves have plenty of grievances against their prime minister.

The unrest follows riots in 2020 over the loss of territory and prestige after the second Karabakh war. During the conflict, Azeri forces reoccupied large tracts of territory previously occupied by Armenia.

So Pashinyan was already unpopular even before the most recent Azeri military action – his approval ratings as of June 2023 were very low – only 14% expressed trust in him and 72% gave his performance a negative rating. But there is little cohesion among opposition groups beyond a desire for Pashinyan’s resignation.

Russian relations with Armenia have been shaky for some time. After the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow pivoted towards Turkey, Azerbaijan’s sponsor, as it deemed the relationship more valuable in terms of mitigating the effects of Western sanctions.

To a degree this was a rational calculation, but there’s a personal element as well. Vladimir Putin never warmed to Pashinyan, who gained power in 2018 after popular protests ousted the Kremlin-friendly leadership of Serzh Sargsyan. But Armenia’s close relationship with Russia goes back centuries, so the two leaders managed to get along.

Things began to really sour between Russia and Armenia in 2023, when Armenia, refused to host military exercises by the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), instead inviting the US military to train there.

The highly symbolic visit by Armenian First Lady Anna Hakobyan to Ukraine in early September seems to have been the last straw. Armenia, it seems, no longer counted Russia as a friend or a force to be reckoned with.

What happens next

Azerbaijan has not achieved all of its goals yet. It aims to open direct ground links to its enclave embedded in Armenia, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, which has a population of just under 450,000. This would also give mainland Azerbaijan direct access to Turkey rather than transit routed through Iran.

Map of Azerbaijan and Armenia showing the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhchivan.
Turbulent region: Azerbaijan and Armenia showing the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhchivan. Map: Peter Hermes Furian / Shutterstock via The Conversation

Proposals for the “Zangezur corridor” are bitterly opposed by Armenia as it would effectively block the country’s border with Iran. The issue has rankled since the first Karabakh war in 1991, after which the two populations were only linked by air travel.

Part of the agreement that halted the second Karabakh war in 2020 included allowing free transit through Zangezur, but this was never implemented. Now the idea is back on the table, raised by Azeri president Ilham Aliyev at a meeting with Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan on September 25, when they met in Nakhichevan.

This will bring Iran into play as the route of any corridor between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan would go along its border. Some sort of deal addressing Iran’s security concerns will need to be reached – and this is very likely to involve Moscow as one of Tehran’s close allies.

So, Moscow appears to have taken a conscious decision to abandon Armenia for closer relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey and the opportunity to act as a power broker with Iran. In Putin’s eyes, no doubt, Pashinyan is disposable. He can wait until a different, more amenable leader, comes to power.

Armenia’s pivot to the West, meanwhile, appears almost inevitable. The country is likely to withdraw from the CSTO and apply to join NATO and request visa-free travel to the EU. But the manner in which Pashinyan is putting down protests will make many potential allies in the West uncomfortable.

The situation is only made more complex by Europe’s dependence on Azerbaijan for gas and its strategically important location in the Middle Corridor Eurasian trade route between China and Europe.

The West can still play a valuable role in brokering peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But for any lasting settlement to stick, Russia and Turkey will have to be involved, instead of becoming its spoilers. This is a problem with many moving parts.

Anna Matveeva is Visiting Senior Research Fellow, King’s Russia Institute, King’s College London

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Making sense of scams: Who should pay for them?

FINDING OUT ABOUT THE SCAM

For the two weeks following the scam call, his mother appeared completely normal. Despite sharing the joint account from which she had withdrawn large sums from, Mr Ho was not alerted to any movement of the money, he said.

When he finally saw the withdrawals and checked with his mother, she said she authorised the transaction but refused to share the circumstances, saying she was busy.

When he checked with her again on whether she had been scammed, she was reluctant to reveal details, so Mr Ho got suspicious. He eventually took her to the police station.

“I could see that she was very confused and she was made to believe that the story (that the scammers told her) was true,” he said, adding that the perpetrators were successful in psychologically manipulating her.

Mr Ho said that he was left with some questions following the encounter. 

He wanted to know why he was not notified of the first withdrawal of S$70,000 – an unusual amount, despite being a joint account holder. 

Another issue he had was the method the bank teller used to ascertain if his mother had been scammed, he said. 

“The bank teller, actually asked my mum: ‘Auntie, are you being scammed?’” Mr Ho recounted. 

“Nobody in the right mind would actually say ‘yes, I’m being scammed. Please help me’,” he said, adding that the scammers would have already convinced the victims by that point that they are not being cheated.

Since the incident, Mr Ho has set the withdrawal limit for the account to S$500.

“There’s probably nothing I could have done, but I would have educated her differently,” he said. 

WHO IS TO BLAME?

Mr Ho’s mother is not alone – there were nearly 23,000 scam cases in the first six months of this year, with increasing sophistication from the fraudsters.

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Taiwan unveils first domestically built submarine

The first prototype is named “Hai Kun”, which means “mythical sea creature” in Chinese, and was unveiled Thursday at a ceremony in the southern port city of Kaohsiung. “History will forever remember this day,” declared Tsai, standing in front of the vessel draped in Taiwan’s flag colours. “In the past,Continue Reading

Flood forces brief closure of World Heritage tunnels

Water receding on stretch of Highway 304 in Prachin Buri but officials still monitoring conditions

Flood forces brief closure of World Heritage tunnels
The tunnels on Highway 304 under the wildlife corridor in Nadi district of Prachin Buri province were closed on Thursday morning due to flooding. (Photo: Manit Sanubboon)

PRACHIN BURI: The Nadi district administration on Thursday morning closed a section of Highway 304, which links the lower Northeast and the East, along with its twin tunnels under a world heritage wildlife corridor due to flooding triggered by days of rain.

Sonthaya Fueangcharas, the assistant district chief, said floodwater was about 30-50 centimetres deep in an 80-metre-long section of the tunnels at 9.15am, while water on Highway 304 was 40-50cm deep. As a result, he ordered the closure of both the tunnels and the Nadi-Nakhon Ratchasima section of the highway.

The water level in the tunnels peaked at about 1.50 metres late Thursday morning. By 1.30pm it had dropped to 20-30cm and local officials reopened the tunnels to traffic while remaining at the site to monitor the situation.

Measures were also taken to disconnect power in the tunnels to prevent short circuits, Mr Sonthaya said.

The tunnels, which are 250 metres long in total, pass beneath a wildlife corridor that connects Khao Yai and Thap Lan national parks, both of which are natural World Heritage sites.

Prawatsart Chanthep, chief of Thap Lan National Park, said continuous heavy rainfall over several days had led to flooding in the tunnels and other areas of Nadi.

Local canals were overflowing and had flooded five villages in tambon Buphram of Nadi. Ban Thap Lan school in the district had to be closed on Thursday due to the flooding.

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Singapore Land Authority unveils plans to deepen geospatial capabilities, including building talent pipeline

MAKING GEOSPATIAL CAPABILITIES MAINSTREAM

Geospatial refers to data that is linked to specific geographical locations. 

“It is essentially location data. Data that has a georeference, so it can be located somewhere in space,” said Professor David Taylor, head of the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

“But it’s also more than simply locational data, because it’s also the technologies that we have to visualise those data, (and) to analyse and evaluate those data.”

At the ongoing Singapore Geospatial Festival 2023, SLA unveiled new engagement plans, including an upcoming challenge that will see organisations and professionals harness artificial intelligence (AI) and develop innovations to enhance the country’s data-driven national map, known as OneMap.

The annual event, held from Tuesday to Friday, brings the global geospatial community together for activities promoting the innovative use of such information and technology.

This year, the theme of the festival is “Enriching Minds, Empowering Lives”. 

Mr Sin said the aim is to make the use of geospatial data and capabilities accessible to the layman.

“We don’t want geospatial data and technologies to be only used by experts and scientists, we want it to be used mainstream,” he added. 

“That means to be used by everyday laymen to solve the problems that we face every day.”

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Nickel nationalism working well for Indonesia

The International Monetary Fund’s June 2023 assessment of Indonesia’s export ban policy has reignited debate on Indonesia’s downstream industrial policy. 

Advocates emphasize its substantial impact on export revenues and value addition, while critics pinpoint the fiscal cost and the market distortions caused by the policy. A more nuanced assessment suggests the merits of both perspectives.

Indonesia’s experiment with downstream industrial policy began with the 2009 Mining Law signed by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which mandated the domestic processing of all mineral commodities mined in the country. 

But the policy was only implemented in 2014 for nickel and bauxite amid widespread opposition from the mining sector. It was in nickel that Indonesia found its success.

Before banning nickel ore export in 2014, Indonesia predominantly exported raw nickel ore, which is minimally processed into nickel matte. The country’s nickel-related exports were a modest US$6 billion in 2013. 

By 2022, this figure had skyrocketed to nearly $30 billion, propelled by the exports of higher value-added products such as stainless steel and battery materials.

The most crucial factor to this success appears to be Indonesia’s exploitation of its “market power” in nickel production through an export ban. 

Chinese firms that were large players in the downstream nickel-based production had no choice but to expand their operations within Indonesia to secure access to its abundant nickel resources.

The rapid growth of the nickel sector was facilitated by concessional financing under the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese state-owned banks financed the construction of coal power plants and basic infrastructure, integral components of the industrial areas that fostered economies of scale and agglomeration.

President Joko Widodo (third left) visits the PT Obsidian Stainless Steel (OSS) production line, during a series of events for the inauguration of the China-invested nickel smelter factory PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) in Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi, in a file photo. Image: Twitter / Doc Palace / Agus Suparto

But while the export revenue gains are evident, the extent to which this revenue is retained and equitably shared within the country remains uncertain. 

This is mostly due to the capital-intensive nature of the nickel sector, the high share of foreign equity and the sector’s limited linkage with other parts of the economy beyond the primary sector.

Growth in gross domestic product may not directly translate into gross national product as export earnings by foreign investors may be entirely repatriated out of Indonesia. Yet the downstream industrial development strategy has contributed significantly to structural transformation.

Nickel-based manufactured products now stand as the third-largest export commodities behind coal and palm oil. The impact on regional economic development is also significant as the industrial areas are concentrated in eastern Indonesia, which generally lacks a large formal manufacturing sector.

A balanced evaluation necessitates weighing these benefits against the costs. Basic trade theory suggests that an export ban will depress domestic prices relative to global prices, resulting in winners and losers within the economy. 

The nickel mining sector has borne the brunt of subsidizing the downstream industries, which may affect the incentive to explore new reserves.

The fiscal costs of tax holidays and forgone royalties may also be substantial. The environmental and social costs associated with nickel processing should also be considered. Nickel smelting tends to be emission-intensive due to a reliance on coal-fired power plants. Industrial expansion has also been associated with deforestation and water pollution.

In terms of social cost, labor rights violations have been amply documented. The building of industrial areas has also been associated with the displacement of local communities traditionally dependent on agriculture and fishing.

As Indonesia contemplates extending the policy to other commodities, it is imperative to note that its nickel-based export success was highly contextual and whether comparable outcomes can be realistically expected for other commodities.

This underscores the necessity for the downstream industry development strategy to move beyond export bans and tariffs.

A nickel mine in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Image: Twitter

While harnessing market power through export restrictions has attracted investments, there is an inherent risk to this strategy due to its impact on global prices and supply. It potentially incentivizes the innovation of substitutes and provokes retaliatory trade measures from other countries.

Indonesia needs better policies to internalize the social and environmental externalities associated with nickel processing. Better enforcement of labor and environmental regulations will be key. Indonesia could also draw inspiration from certain aspects of the US Inflation Reduction Act.

While Pigouvian taxes remain the optimal way to internalize externalities, linking fiscal incentives to broader social and environmental objectives — such as reducing carbon intensity and creating quality middle-class jobs — can be another method to achieve similar goals.

Also, as natural resource advantage diminishes the more downstream a sector is, a more holistic approach that focuses on ecosystem development through the provision of key public inputs will be essential. 

Developing human capital and subsidizing public research and development will amplify positive spillovers as well as support downstream industrial growth, promoting more inclusive and shared prosperity.

Finally, increasing the share of value-add that stays in Indonesia will require financial market deepening and removing foreign direct investment barriers. These will incentivize the reinvestment of export receipts in the country.

There is reason for cautious optimism and with the implementation of better evidence-based policies, Indonesia can expand on its initial success and achieve the intended goals of its downstream industrial policy.

Faris Abdurrachman is a Master’s student in Quantitative Economics at New York University Stern School of Business and Graduate School of Arts and Science and a former Research Analyst at the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Economic Development.

This article was originally published by East Asia Forum and is republished under a Creative Commons license.

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Pita joins protest against Chiang Mai coal mine

Karen residents in Omkoi fear pollution of water sources if project goes ahead

Pita joins protest against Chiang Mai coal mine
Former Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat (fifth from left) joins Karen ethnic residents in a protest against a coal mine planned near the village of Kaboedin in Omkoi district of Chiang Mai on Thursday. (Photo: Panumet Tanraksa)

CHIANG MAI: Pita Limjaroenrat, former leader of the Move Forward Party, on Thursday joined a protest by Karen ethnic villagers against a proposed coal mine in Omkoi district of this northern province.

The group marched in the rain from a sports field to the Omkoi district office to submitted a letter of protest to the district chief. Mr Pita was joined by a number of MPs and members of Move Forward Party.

The march followed a public forum held earlier in the day and attended by a number of human rights activists, lawyers and environmentalists.

The panelists included representatives of the Kaboedin village community, a network of people opposed to the mine and others who stand to be affected by the project.

A private company first applied for a 10-year concession to operate a coal mine on a 284-rai site in tambon Omkoi of Omkoi district in 1999. However, local residents only learned of the plan in 2019. That was when the indigenous Karen people of Kaboedin village started to campaign against the project.

Since the planned mine would be located by a stream that is considered the lifeline of the village, residents are afraid the water would be polluted by the mining operation and affect their way of life.

In July 2020, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found human rights violations in an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the project and recommended the plan be revised.

In particular, the NHRC said the public hearing carried out in Kaboedin village was flawed. The report about the hearing contained errors including a list of participants, some of whom said they had not attended.

The hearing was focused mainly on what local people wanted rather than providing them with correct information about the project, the commission added.

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Every Chuseok a stark reminder for families separated during the Korean War that time is running out

However, around 93,000 of them subsequently passed away. Among those alive, about 67 per cent are 80 years old or older.

As the two sides are technically still at war, most will not have the chance to meet their loved ones again.

VIDEO MESSAGES THAT LIVE ON

Since 2005, the South Korean government, along with the Red Cross, have helped more than 24,000 South Koreans record video messages for their loved ones in the North.

Participants hope that even if they pass away, their digital messages will live on and one day be delivered to their intended recipients in North Korea.

Mr Cha Hyung Mo is among those who have recorded a video message in hopes that it will someday reach his family on the other side of the border.

The 89-year-old has been searching for his family for the past 75 years. His brother and sister would be about 78 and 75 years old respectively today.

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Teacher suspended for repeatedly slapping student

Viral video shows woman’s outburst after boy refused to call her ‘mum’

Teacher suspended for repeatedly slapping student
An image from a school security video shows a teacher slapping her student so hard that it took his face mask off.

A teacher at a secondary school has been suspended for repeatedly slapping the face of a student, reportedly because he refused to call her “mum”, after video of the incident was widely seen online.

Thatchapol Polrat, deputy dean of Ramkhamhaeng University overseeing its demonstration secondary schools, said on Thursday that the guardian of the student met with him last week to discuss the matter.

The video shows a teacher grabbing a schoolboy’s wrist and leading him through a passage. She then stops to speak to the boy and points to his face before slapping it. The impact takes off his face mask.

The teacher is then seen shouting at the boy and hitting his face again. The impact of the second slap was so hard that his face jerked to one side.

Mr Thatchapol said he had forwarded a report of the incident to the disciplinary office of the university for further action. Pending its ruling, the teacher concerned has been suspended.

Meanwhile, school officials have discussed compensation with the student and his guardian to boost their morale as students have examinations next week, Mr Thatchapol said.

The deputy dean said the boy told him he was “okay”, and the boy’s classmates have also given him moral support.

The video was posted online by a woman who said she was the schoolboy’s aunt.

She said the teacher had become angry after the boy rejected her instruction to call her “mum”, telling her he had only one mother.

It was unfair for the boy to be slapped twice while he kept apologising to the teacher, the X (Twitter) user wrote.

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