Guillain-Barre syndrome: India faces outbreak of creeping paralysis

By:
On:
In: Asia
39 hours ago
Soutik Biswas
Getty Images An Indian woman in blurred focus holds out a small photo of her daughter who died of Guillain Barre Syndrome during an outbreak in 2019Getty Images

Next month, a school teacher in the northern American town of Pune found her six-year-old child disturbed about research.

I asked him to read some thoughts that I had wiped out. I assumed he was furious and that’s why he was not holding the pencil properly”, she told the Indian Express paper.

She never imagined his struggle to hold a pencil was the first sign of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare disorder where the immune system attacks nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and paralysis.

Within weeks, the child was in intensive care, able to move his arms or legs. As his situation worsened, he lost the ability to eat, talk, and finally breath, requiring valve support. He is presently recovering.

The child is one of 160 cases of GBS that have been reported in Pune, an business and IT hub, since early January. Five people have been suspected of dying. Now, 48 people are in intensive treatment, 21 on vent, and 38 have been discharged, according to official statistics.

GBS begins with tingling or numbness in the feet and hands, followed by muscle weakness and difficulty moving joints. Symptoms worsen over two to four weeks, typically starting in the arms and legs. The reported mortality rate varies between three and 13%, depending on severity and quality of health care support.

The outbreak in Pune is being traced to a pathogen called campylobacter jejuni, a leading cause of foodborne infections, and the biggest driver of GBS worldwide. The link between the two was discovered in the 1990s in rural China, where the pathogen was common in chickens, and GBS outbreaks occurred every monsoon as children played in water contaminated by chicken or duck droppings.

Getty Images Campylobacter Is A Family Of Curved Gram Negative Bacteria.Getty Images

GBS is not entirely uncommon in India. Monojit Debnath and Madhu Nagappa, of Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), studied 150 GBS patients over a five year period between 2014 and 2019. Their findings showed that over a third of them tested positive for campylobacter.

More recently, outbreaks linked to the pathogen have been reported from all over the world. In the first seven months of 2023, Peru reported over 200 suspected cases and at least four deaths of GBS, prompting the government to declare a national health emergency and strengthen public health measures. Two-thirds of the cases were linked to campylobacter.

In countries with good hygiene, fewer GBS cases are linked to campylobacter, with respiratory infections being a major contributor, say experts. There have been other triggers as well. In 2015 Brazil reported a cluster of GBS cases linked to the Zika virus. Vaccines can rarely trigger GBS, but one Covid vaccine was reportedly linked to a few hundred GBS cases in the UK in 2021.

” Campylobacter is endemic, with tens of thousands of cases every year,” said one researcher. It is always existing in the atmosphere”, Hugh Willison, a professor of neuroscience at University of Glasgow told me.

However, it is not easy to create GBS, scientists say.

There’s a particular strain of salmonella, which has a sugar-coated outside level, and in rare cases, its chemical composition matches the coating of mortal nerve cells.

When the patient’s immune system attacks the bacteria, it may end up targeting the emotions as well, which is known as chemical imitation, which results in GBS. However, a small fraction of salmonella isolates have this nerve-like cover.

A rise in attacks with this burden of salmonella in Pune is likely to be circulating, according to Prof. Willison, which will increase the number of GBS cases.

Getty Images An employee working at a poultry farm in Koregaon Mul village, some 30 kilometres from the western Indian city of Pune. Getty Images

According to the majority of experts, one in ten people who contract salmonella strains are at risk for developing GBS, and one in ten of those who contract it build it.

That results in an “immunological Soviet roulette” that Mr. Willison refers to as an “acute cerebral tsunami” that rages through the peripheral nervous system. When the immune reaction subsides, the attack wanes – but the body also needs period, medical attention, and support to repair the damage.

The fact that there is no treatment for GBS makes things worse.

In GBS, the system produces antibodies against salmonella, which finally attack the emotions. In order to help reduce the severity of the disease, doctors use “plasma exchange,” a procedure that filters blood to remove the harmful antibodies and intravenous immunoglobulin ( IVIG), a therapeutic antibody derived from normal blood.

Another issue is that there is no one test to evaluate GBS. The examination, say physicians, is largely based on scientific features. It presents itself as a paralysis that may be brought on by rare neurological conditions like polio, infections, or numbness.

” The treatment is a cluster of scientific characteristics. Misdiagnosis or no treatment or delayed diagnosis is occur easily”, says Mr Willison.

India’s uneven public health system presents a challenge, as doctors in rural areas may struggle to diagnose GBS. One reason, possibly, why the World Health Organization (WHO) teams are in Pune, is collaborating with federal and state health workers to trace, test, and monitor cases, and analysing trends to support effective treatment.

Pune Municipal Corporation Pune Municipal Corporation Commissioner and Administrator Dr. Rajendra Bhosale visited Kamala Nehru Hospital and reviewed the various measures being implemented to prevent GBS disease. He also directed the concerned regarding further action.Pune Municipal Corporation

Authorities claim to have inspected more than 60 000 homes, collected 160 liquid samples for tests, and instructed people to drink boiled water, eat clean, fresh food, and avoid” moldy food and partly grilled chicken or mutton.”

While most cases of GBS around the world come from undercooked poultry, it can also spread through water, similar to cholera or salmonella, experts say.

The bacteria can easily spread in the contaminated water used for washing dishes or preparing street food. Clearly, in Pune, a campylobacter strain with the distinctive molecular feature is circulating, affecting a large number of people.

Is it unclear whether this was caused by widespread water contamination or widespread consumption of sickening poultry? ” We appeal to people not to panic”, says a health department advisory. But in the face of uncertainty, it is easier said than done.

Continue Reading

Trump’s Project 2025 agenda caps decades-long resistance to reform – Asia Times

By:
On:
In: Asia

For much of the 20th century, efforts to remake government were driven by a progressive desire to make the government work for regular Americans, including the New Deal and the Great Society reforms.

Those efforts met a conservative backlash seeking to rein in government as a source of security for working Americans and realign it with the interests of private business. That backlash is the central thread of the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” blueprint for a second Trump Administration.

Alternatively disavowed and embraced by President Donald Trump during his 2024 campaign, Project 2025 is a collection of conservative policy proposals – many written by veterans of his first administration. It echoes similar projects, both liberal and conservative, setting out a bold agenda for a new administration.

But Project 2025 does so with particular detail and urgency, hoping to galvanize dramatic change before the midterm elections in 2026. As its foreword warns: “Conservatives have just two years and one shot to get this right.”

The standard for a transformational “100 days” – a much-used reference point for evaluating an administration – belongs to the first administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A smiling man in a light-colored suit signs papers at a table, surrounded by about a dozen people.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Bill in Washington on Aug. 14, 1935. Photo: Wikipedia

Social reforms and FDR

In 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, Roosevelt faced a nation in which business activity had stalled, nearly a third of the workforce was unemployed, and economic misery and unrest were widespread.

But Roosevelt’s so-called “New Deal” unfolded less as a grand plan to combat the Depression than as a scramble of policy experimentation.

Roosevelt did not campaign on what would become the New Deal’s singular achievements, which included expansive relief programs, subsidies for farmers, financial reforms, the Social Security system, the minimum wage and federal protection of workers’ rights.

Those achievements came haltingly after two years of frustrated or ineffective policymaking. And those achievements rested less on Roosevelt’s political vision than on the political mobilization and demands made by American workers.

A generation later, another wave of social reforms unfolded in similar fashion. This time it was not general economic misery that spurred actions, but the persistence of inequality – especially racial inequality – in an otherwise prosperous time.

LBJ’s Great Society

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs declared a war on poverty and, toward that end, introduced a raft of new federal initiatives in urban affairs, education and civil rights.

These included the provision of medical care for the poor and older people via Medicaid and Medicare, a dramatic expansion of federal aid for K-12 education, and landmark voting rights and civil rights legislation.

As with the New Deal, the substance of these policies rested less with national policy designs than with the aspirations and mobilization of the era’s social movements.

Resistance to policy change

Since the 1930s, conservative policy agendas have largely taken the form of reactions to the New Deal and the Great Society.

The central message has routinely been that “big government” has overstepped its bounds and trampled individual rights, and that the architects of those reforms are not just misguided but treasonous. Project 2025, in this respect, promises not just a political right turn but to “defeat the anti-American left.”

After the 1946 midterm elections, congressional Republicans struck back at the New Deal. Drawing on business opposition to the New Deal, popular discontent with postwar inflation, and common cause with Southern Democrats, they stemmed efforts to expand the New Deal, gutting a full employment proposal and defeating national health insurance.

They struck back at organized labor with the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, which undercut federal law by allowing states to pass anti-union “right to work” laws. And they launched an infamous anti-communist purge of the civil service, which forced nearly 15,000 people out of government jobs.

Lewis F. Powerll, Jr., pictured as a US Supreme Court justice. Photo: Wikipedia

In 1971, the US Chamber of Commerce commissioned Lewis F. Powell, Jr. – who would be appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court the next year – to assess the political landscape. Powell’s memorandum characterized the political climate at the dawn of the 1970s – including both Great Society programs and the anti-war and Civil Rights movements of the 1960s – as nothing less than an “attack on the free enterprise system.” In a preview of then-current US politics, Powell’s memorandum disparaged a disquieting “chorus of criticism” coming from “the perfectly respectable elements of society: from the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences and from politicians.”

Powell characterized the social policies of the New Deal and Great Society as “socialism or some sort of statism” and advocated the elevation of business interests and business priorities to the center of American political life.

Building a conservative infrastructure

Powell captured the conservative zeitgeist at the onset of what would become a long and decisive right turn in American politics. More importantly, it helped galvanize the creation of a conservative infrastructure – in the courts, in the policy world, in universities and in the media – to push back against that “chorus of criticism.”

This political shift would yield an array of organizations and initiatives, including the political mobilization of business, best represented by thePresident Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Bill in Washington on Aug. 14, 1935.emergence of the Koch brothers and the powerful libertarian conservative political advocacy group they founded, known as Americans for Prosperity.

Charles and David Koch (L-R). Image: SourceWatch

The shift also yielded a new wave of conservative voices on radio and television and a raft of right-wing policy shops and think tanks – including the Heritage Foundation, creator of Project 2025. In national politics, the conservative resurgence achieved full expression in President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign. The “Reagan Revolution” united economic and social conservatives around the central goal of dismantling what was left of the New Deal and Great Society.

Powell’s triumph was evident across the policy landscape. Reagan gutted social programs, declared war on organized labor, pared back economic and social regulations – or declined to enforce them – and slashed taxes on business and the wealthy.

Publicly, the Reagan administration argued that tax cuts would pay for themselves, with the lower rates offset by economic growth. Privately, it didn’t matter: Either growth would sustain revenues, or the resulting budgetary hole could be used to “starve the beast” and justify further program cuts.

Reagan’s vision, and its shaky fiscal logic, were reasserted in the “Contract with America” proposed by congressional Republicans after their gains in the 1994 midterm elections.

This declaration of principles proposed deep cuts to social programs alongside tax breaks for business. It was perhaps most notable for encouraging the Clinton administration to pass the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, “ending welfare as we know it,” as Clinton promised.

Aiming at the ‘deep state’

The published report. Photo: Project 2025

Project 2025, the latest in this series of blueprints for dramatic change, draws most deeply on two of those plans.

As in the congressional purges of 1940s, it takes aim not just at policy but at the civil servants – Trump’s “deep state” – who administer it.

In the wake of World War II, the charge was that feckless bureaucrats served Soviet masters. Today, Project 2025 aims to “bring the Administrative State to heel, and in the process defang and defund the woke culture warriors who have infiltrated every last institution in America.”

As in the 1971 Powell memorandum, Project 2025 promises to mobilize business power; to “champion the dynamic genius of free enterprise against the grim miseries of elite-directed socialism.”

Who has the power?

Whatever their source – party platforms, congressional bomb-throwers, think tanks, private interests – the success or failure of blueprints for change has rested not on their vision or popular appeal but on the political power that accompanied them.

The New Deal and Great Society gained momentum and meaning from the social movements that shaped their agendas and held them to account.

The lineage of conservative responses has been largely an assertion of business power. Whatever populist trappings the second Trump administration may possess, the bottom line of the conservative cultural and political agenda in 2025 is to dismantle what is left of the New Deal or the Great Society, and to defend unfettered “free enterprise” against critics and alternatives.

Colin Gordon is a professor of history at the University of Iowa.

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

Continue Reading

Slower growth, souring business sentiment: How Trump’s tariffs could hurt Singapore’s economy

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

DAMPENING EXPORTS

Given Singapore’s smaller size and high dependent on commerce, its business has limited choices if US tariffs slower global trade and development, analysts said.

Reduced US exports would probably lessen Singapore’s trade progress, according to&nbsp, Mr Ray Farris, chief analyst at Eastspring Investments. &nbsp, The doubt surrounding&nbsp, international trade was also undermine business sentiment.

Ms. Sheana Yue, an analyst at Oxford Economics, made the observation that business expense in Singapore is closely related to export.

” We suspect firm attitude may sour over the coming apartments”, she said.

Yet, she does not anticipate a serious slowdown. &nbsp,” Our analysis suggests GDP may decrease by simply 0.4 per share from our foundation in Q1 2026″, she added.

Mr Brian Lee, an analyst at Maybank Securities, highlighted that Singapore’s view is supported by easing economic conditions, the development of major infrastructure projects and an expected “generous vote Budget”.

The General Election may be held by November 23rd, and Singapore’s Budget Statement may be delivered on February 18.

” We are projecting 2025 GDP growth slowing to 2.6 per share from the 4 per cent display measure in 2024 – our estimates lies at the top end of MTI’s 1 per cent – 3 per cent selection”, he said.

TARIFFS ON CHINA TO HAVE LARGER IMPACT

China, one of Singapore’s largest buying companions, is expected to feel the burden of US taxes, which will in turn affect Singapore. &nbsp,

According to Mr. Mohi-uddin, North American trade is mostly concentrated in the US, Canada, and Mexico, while a decline in China’s imports to the US could stifle Chinese demand for goods and services from the rest of Asia.

According to Ms. Yue, Singapore’s deal level with China is 20 times greater than its total business volume with Mexico and Canada. &nbsp,

As Singapore’s another business partners also have powerful ties with China, the ripple effects could be substantial. &nbsp,

” The US is also possible to scrutinise Singapore’s partnership with China, particularly following reports of Nvidia cards being procured improperly by DeepSeek in Singapore”, she added.

Continue Reading

Tougher cyber laws ahead

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

Additionally, new measures will help victims.

PUBLISHED: 4 Feb 2025 at 05: 04

According to Digital Economy and Society ( DES ) Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong, a proposed amendment to an executive order aimed at combating cybercrime and protecting its victims is expected to be published in the Royal Gazette this month.

Mr. Prasert stated on Monday that work have been intensified to combat tech murder in response to the Senate’s concerns about rising online scams and related financial harm.

Mr. Prasert claimed that the Council of State’s current review of the professional draft does provide authorities measures to combat the crime and assist victims.

Under the proposed article, banks, mobile operators, and social media owners may be held liable for injury from call center scams if they are found negligent or foolish.

Telecom providers and the NBTC ( National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission ) would also be required to suspend SIM cards that are believed to have been used by fraudsters.

The committee evaluating cash trades under the Anti-Money Laundering Act may be permitted to return stolen funds to victims without having to wait for instances to get settled in court.

Criminals could face sentences of up to five years in jail or fines of up to five million baht if they disclose private information without consent.

Regarding surrogate or animal bank accounts, the DES Ministry has been investigating the rights of SIM tickets to get abnormalities, according to Mr Prasert.

The NBTC has been given the instructions to get in touch with people who use more than 100 calls per day and who have multiple SIMs. If their proprietors don’t deliver compelling arguments, SIM cards may be suspended, he said.

By the end of December last year, Mr. Prasert claimed that as a result of the president’s assault on horse records, more than 1.6 million bank accounts had already been suspended for suspected references to fraud. He urged those who had these addresses to email their banks to get them closed, as customers are now subject to stricter customer protection laws to stop the use of proxy accounts for deceptive transactions. Additionally, those found guilty of opening accounts for scammers are subject to severe penalties.

Continue Reading

Malaysia’s ECRL: A closer look at the US.2b railway’s promises of boosting jobs for locals and making money

By:
On:
In: Asia

When then-prime minister Najib Razak announced the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL ) project in 2016, he estimated it would cost RM55 billion. The following year, it was revealed that the ECRL’s construction had value RM65.5 billion in full.

After that, it was claimed that the project’s costs were exaggerated because Chinese state-owned companies were agreeing to pay the enormous debts of troubled sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad ( 1MDB).

His new administration planned to resign the ECRL in order to save money when the Pakatan Harapan ( PH) coalition came into power in 2018 under Mahathir Mohamad, the next premier.

But in 2019, the PH state, eager to avoid paying a hefty termination charge of RM21.78 billion, later renegotiated the ECRL partnership and road position, bringing the price down to RM44 billion.

Mahathir claimed that the overall cost of the loan would be decreased as well, with lower interest rates and fees being paid on the loan, though no specific figures were provided.

The ECRL’s realignment was also politically motivated because the PH government proposed a southern route through the state of Negeri Sembilan, which is home to Transport Minister Anthony Loke’s Seremban district.

The new Perikatan Nasional government, which included Barisan Nasional ( BN ) from Najib, largely followed its original plan and revised the cost estimate to RM50 billion in 2020. &nbsp,

The political conflict continued, with the new alignment alleged to have spanned at least five parliamentary constituencies that were all heavily contested and lost by BN component parties during the 2008 and 2013 general elections.

After the election of Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister in 2022, he declared in December that year his administration would start using the ECRL at a “reduced” cost of almost RM75 billion, revealing that the cost at the time of approval in 2016 was close to RM86 billion.

The cost of construction, which totals RM50.27 billion, and other costs, including interest fees during construction and land acquisition costs, total RM24.69 billion.

Anwar reaffirmed that his government will not significantly alter the project to prevent putting off its completion and putting incontrovertible steps and negotiations.

Continue Reading

Commentary: Remember when social media used to be fun?

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

SINGAPORE: It’s 2012. You place your glass crown upon it, and use your brand-new mobile device to click on a blue app logo, either one with a small white birds on it or one with a white” F” in lower situation.

On your beautiful contact screen, you kind:” Taking a poop. LO L”. And you hit “post”, uploading it for the poor.

Some likes on Facebook, quickly. a few Linkedin companions who retweet something. You recall the most recent article you made on social media: a photo of you and your family making amusing faces over meal, or an uncensored thought that persisted as you waited for the bus.

Social media has now become something of a pit for judgment and criticism rather than helping you stay connected with friends and family.

Post something less than appealing? Strangers you’ve never met who might not even reside on the same continent will likely make some offensive comments about your weight, barely noticeable acne scars, and somewhat broken teeth.

Love to dance? RandomUser123 will comment on your TikTok videos that you were a trifle eccentric, your arm motion was not strong enough – and you misspelt” dance” in your message. &nbsp,

You wouldn’t even need to get posting something somewhere online. You might be out looking after seeing a picture or video of yourself on a strange social media post by a complete stranger with the message” Why would you use this out”…

Everyone has to be excellent online right now, so using social media has become almost intolerable. &nbsp,

The rule includes minor adjustments to your face on an editing program and a color filter to improve aesthetics. Although the pictures were properly planned and had specific sides used, the candid shots and “unglams” are long gone.

But lately, one pattern has breathed fresh air into the social internet activity, encouraging people to be proudly themselves:” We listen and we don’t assess”.

The eponymous remark, which is sung by friends, family, or couples, is used before sharing embarrassing but harmless secrets about themselves, such as stealing their sibling’s expensive glitter gel pen or using each other’s expensive shampoo. &nbsp,

Continue Reading

New plan to combat scammers

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

50 % electricity cut in the pipeline: DPM

PUBLISHED: 4 Feb 2025 at 04: 56

The delegation of Liu Zhongyi, Chinese assistant minister of public security (centre), looks at business facilities in Myawaddy, Myanmar from Mae Sot district of Thailand's Tak province on Jan 29. (Photo: Assawin Pinitwong)
The delegation of Liu Zhongyi, Chinese assistant minister of public security (centre ), looks at business facilities in Myawaddy, Myanmar from Mae Sot district of Thailand’s Tak province on Jan 29. ( Photo: Assawin Pinitwong )

According to Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai on Monday, the government will cut 50 % of energy resources to areas in Myanmar that are suspected of being used by criminal cartels to run their businesses.

He pledged it after the Interior Ministry and the Provincial Electricity Authority ( PEA ) met on Monday to discuss the plan to reduce electricity supplies in areas with links to illegal activity.

Mr Phumtham, who is also a deputy prime minister, said the Foreign Affairs Ministry did tell Myanmar about the decision, which is expected to impact many Burmese cities along the frontier, for as Shwe Kokko in Myawaddy opposite Tak’s Mae Sot area. They are known to host online fraud syndicates. He promised to visit Mae Sot district on Thursday to check the position along the Thai-Myanmar boundary, and then he would issue an order to cut the area’s power provide by 50 %.

The Defense Minister emphasized that if it can be demonstrated that the area in question is being used by criminal gangs, the NSC has the power to shut off power resources to an area without case acceptance.

Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the government has contacted the NSC to point out the locations in Myanmar where scammers and other criminals are active.

” If we can confirm the information, the Interior Ministry is ready to cut off the electricity offer”, said Mr Anutin, who is also a Deputy Prime Minister.

NSC Secretary-General Chatchai Bangchuad stated that government will carefully review all pertinent information before deciding to stop energy supplies to companies along the Thai-Myanmar borders.

According to Mr. Chatchai,” Any decision to cut off strength must take into account PEA’s energy supply contracts and the potential effects on people in the neighboring country.”

Following China’s demand for Thailand to stop providing solutions to the hoax groups in Myawaddy, which are targeting Chinese citizens, Mr. Chatchai stated that he had discussed the matter with representatives from the Interior Ministry, Peas, armed forces, and intellect agencies.

He said there is evidence of transnational criminal syndicate activities in Tachileik, opposite Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district, Myawaddy, which borders Tak province, and Payathonzu, which is adjacent to Kanchanaburi province.

Mr. Chatchai claimed that some of these con artist syndicates appear to be connected to casino owners in Myanmar operating across the border.

Some of these venues have requested an increase in power supply, but their requests were turned down because they failed to state the cause of the increase, he said.

Prior to shutting off power supplies, PEA deputy governor Prasit Junprasit stated that the PEA will conduct surveys in areas thought to be run by criminal gangs.

Mr. Anutin wrote a letter to the NSC last week asking for information on illegal activity in five of the areas where the PEA provides electricity.

Although the ministry has the authority to halt the supply of power to these areas, he said, we require more information from other organizations.

Despite repeated requests, the government has been accused of dragging its feet on the matter because it hasn’t yet taken decisive action to stop the flow of criminal syndicates across the border.

Some people have suggested that coalition rifts are making the crackdown effort more difficult.

Continue Reading

Aviation regulator bids to curb high airfares

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED: 4 Feb 2025 at 04: 50

Travelers visit Phuket airport in December. (Photo: Achadthaya Chuenniran)
Tourists visit Phuket aircraft in December. ( Photo: Achadthaya Chuenniran )

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand ( CAAT ) announced plans to combat high airfares during the holiday season’s peak, particularly around the Songkran holiday on Monday.

Suttipong Kongpool, the chairman of CAAT, said the action was taken in response to Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit’s request to regulate fares for the good of travelers.

CAAT has outlined a number of steps to maintain affordable tickets. A rate ceiling has been set based on trip mileage, capping low-cost airline tickets at 9.40 ringgit per kilometre and full-service airline tickets at 13 baht per kilometre. This rule only applies to direct orders made with carriers.

The foreign civil aircraft organization’s pricing structure is consistent with international standards. Approximately 25-33 % of the collected fares go towards fuel, 20-31 % for flight operations and 8-16 % for maintenance.

A rate cap is intended to stop airlines from exceedingly increasing ticket prices above acceptable profit margins.

To further target fare issues, the CAAT has proposed three important techniques.

The first is to improve offer. In order to improve flight availability during the busiest times of the year, the CAAT is working with airports, airports, and providers of air transportation services. Programs include adding more planes, expanding airport operations, and enhancing plane maintenance facilities.

Conducting governmental evaluations is another option. To maintain a fair pricing structure that benefits both airlines and travellers, the CAAT is gathering information to reevaluate the suffer requirements.

The carriers ‘ next strategy is to cut costs. The Transport Ministry is accelerating initiatives to lower operating costs, such as restructuring airport and improving system to increase fuel efficiency and cost savings.

Travelers can find the best airfare deals, according to CAAT by booking tickets at least two to three weeks in advance of travel dates during the low year or six to eight weeks in advance of the high time.

Continue Reading

CAAT bids to curb high airfares

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED: 4 Feb 2025 at 04: 50

Travelers visit Phuket airport in December. (Photo: Achadthaya Chuenniran)
Tourists visit Phuket airports in December. ( Photo: Achadthaya Chuenniran )

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand ( CAAT ) announced plans to combat high airfares during the busiest times of the year, particularly during the Songkran holiday on Monday.

Suttipong Kongpool, the chairman of CAAT, said the action was taken in response to Suriya Jungrungreangkit, the vice minister and transport minister, to regulate airfares for the good of travelers.

CAAT has outlined a number of steps to maintain fair tickets. A rate ceiling has been set based on trip mileage, capping low-cost airline tickets at 9.40 ringgit per kilometre and full-service airline tickets at 13 baht per kilometre. Simply direct tickets made with flights are subject to this rule.

The global civil aircraft organization’s pricing structure is consistent with international standards. Approximately 25-33 % of the collected fares go towards fuel, 20-31 % for flight operations and 8-16 % for maintenance.

A price cap is intended to stop airlines from unnecessarily increasing ticket prices above affordable profit margins.

To further target fare issues, the CAAT has proposed three important techniques.

The first is to improve supply. The CAAT is collaborating with air visitors service providers, airports, and airlines to raise flight availability during the busiest times of the year. Programs include adding more planes, expanding airport operations, and enhancing aviation maintenance facilities.

Conducting regulatory reviews is another method. The CAAT is gathering information to reevaluate suffer standards and maintain a fair pricing structure that benefits both airlines and people.

The final option involves lowering costs for flights. The Transport Ministry is taking immediate steps to lower operating costs, such as restructuring aircraft and upgrading system to increase fuel efficiency and cost savings.

Travelers can find the best airfare deals, according to CAAT, by booking tickets at least two to three weeks in advance of travel dates during the low year or six to eight weeks in advance of the high time.

Continue Reading

Freed Thai hostages ‘never gave up hope’

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED: 4 Feb 2025 at 04: 41

Foreign Affairs Minister Maris Sangiampongsa meets Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday to express Thailand's appreciation for Israel's help in ensuring the safety of the Thai hostages recently released by Hamas. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
On Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Affairs Minister Maris Sangiampongsa meet to show Thailand’s gratitude for Israel’s assistance in ensuring the safety of the Thai victims who were just released by Hamas. Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Five Thai captives who were recently released by Hamas said they remained optimistic and made every effort to remain as healthy as possible while still being held captive.

Pongsak Thaenna, a Buri Ram local, described life in prison as hard and compared his liberty to being reborn.

” It appeared as though I had awakened.” A minute chance in life. I’m happy to be alive, and that’s enough for me”, he said.

He had no idea what was happening outside his room during the struggle. However, Mr. Pongsak asserted that he never gave up hope that he would one time been freed.

The thought of his family, especially his 15-year-old girl, who he had not seen for more than seven centuries, provided him with psychological support, he said.

After being held hostage by Hamas for more than a year, Mr. Pongsak and Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa discussed their ideas with him at the hospital in Israel, where he and the other four people, Watchara Sriaou, Sathian Suwannakham, Surasak Rumnao, and Bannawat Saethao, are now receiving medical care.

Mr Bannawat, who was held captive with two different Thais, said that living in prison was not pleasant, but his health was not too poor.

” After being freed, I felt so relieved. I had no idea how much of a journey I would take house. They assured us they wouldn’t do anything, but I kept wondering whether they would.

” They did show some worry, asking if we could eat their food. We had to because we must live, “he said, adding that the three of them frequently supported each another.

According to Mr Maris, Israeli President Isaac Herzog even praised Thailand’s role in supporting the peace negotiations, which led to the discharge of more Thai victims.

He added that the Jewish president even urged Thailand to keep cooperating with Israel and other countries to free the last of the Thai hostages whose fate is still unknown.

Mr Maris, who met his Jewish rival, GideonSa’ar, said the Israeli secretary praised Thailand’s ability to secure the release of the five victims.

The foreign minister attributed the victory to Thailand’s strong relationships with various states, including Qatar, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, the US and Israel.

This demonstrates our ability to work with friends and allies. We stand in the middle and may push for conversations through our political programmes, he said, despite the two parties ‘ opposing positions.

He claimed that if the two countries cooperate more, it could act as a “bridge builder” in addition to the labor collaboration that has made Thai employees so important to Israel’s agricultural industry.

Five Thai victims ' family depart for Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday evening to attend their loved ones and bring them back to Thailand. ( Photo supplied )

Five Thai victims ‘ family depart for Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday evening to attend their loved ones and bring them back to Thailand. ( Photo supplied )

Continue Reading