Top business group JSCCIB raises growth outlook as Covid curbs easeA masseuse sprays disinfectant on a reclining chair while her colleague massages a customer on the first reopening day at a foot massage shop in Bang Kapi district of Bangkok on Wednesday. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)Thailand's leading joint-business group, the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB), on Wednesday raised its 2021 economic forecast to between a 0.5% fall and 1% growth. The easing of curbs should lower an economic loss to between 200 billion baht to 300 billion baht this month, down from 300 billion baht to 400 billion baht projected earlier, the group said. "Last month we didn't get the picture and had no confidence in vaccine procurement which could lead to longer lockdown measures," JSCCIB chairman Payong Srivanich told a briefing. The group also raised its export outlook to a rise of 12-14% this year, up from 10-12% predicted earlier.

500kg ganja found on Mekong riverbankThe 500 slabs of dried marijuana, 500 kilogrammes in total, found on the Mekong riverbank in That Phanom district on Tuesday night, displayed at the Mekong Riverine headquarters in Nakhon Phanom. (Photo: Pattanapong Sripiachai)NAKHON PHANOM: A drug suppression team of the Mekong Riverine Unit seized 500 kilogrammes of compressed dried marijuana left on the bank of the Mekong river in That Phanom district late on Tuesday night. R/Adm Jaraskiat Chaiyaphan, commander of the Nakhon Phanom MRU, said a team on routine patrol found 10 sacks left on the riverbank near Ban Khap Phuang in tambon Nam Kam. They contained a total of 500 slabs of compressed marijuana weighing 1kg each. About 3 tonnes of marijuana had been seized by the unit during the past month, R/Adm Jaraskiat said.

"[We] can't help but ask, as an independent organisation supporting contemporary art, and has operated in the city for 44 years, how can Arts Centre randomly terminate any hiring contracts without citing concrete evidence?" In its own statement, Hong Kong Arts Centre said it had decided to cancel Ho's reservation for the period between Sept 6 and 12 citing clause 22(c) of the centre's terms and conditions. Ho, an active participant in Hong Kong's protest movement, was recently attacked by pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao, which accused her of taking part in what it termed anti-China and Hong Kong activities since 2019. Two months later, Ho was invited by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in the United States to testify on Hong Kong's situation amid the social unrest. She attended alongside jailed activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung and activist Sunny Cheung Kwan-yang, who recently announced he was now residing in the United States.

PM hints at shortening, lifting night curfewThe night curfew in dark-red zones may be shortened or lifted, depending on the Covid-19 situation, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Wednesday. He said the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) had eased some disease controls, effective from Wednesday, and he hoped everyone would to strictly comply with them. The prime minister said he knew the curfew had affected entertainment places. The prime minister said he still had confidence in the country's health system, although it had been battered by the Covid-19 pandemic. It would not be fair if only the numbers of infections and fatalities were used to judge the efficiency of the system.

BOI USA invites you to join “Thailand’s Semiconductor & Smart Electronic Manufacturing Solutions” webinarThe Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), New York and Los Angeles Offices, are honoured to welcome you to a joint online seminar and panel discussion on “Thailand’s Semiconductor and Smart Electronic Manufacturing Solutions”. The event will include three guest speakers:Mr. Chanin KhaochanDeputy Secretary General Thailand Board of InvestmentDeputy Secretary General Thailand Board of Investment Mr. Narat RujiratExecutive Director Electrical and Electronics Institute of ThailandExecutive Director Electrical and Electronics Institute of Thailand Mr. Vivek JainSr Vice President Tech & Manufacturing Group, Maxim Integrated Products Inc. Date: 9 September 2021 (Thursday)Time: 23.00 – 24.00 hrs. (Thailand Time)Registration: https://roi.gazelle.ai/roi-webinar-smart-electronics-and-semiconductors-in-thailandFree of Charge

Governor: Phuket virus surge at crisis levelHealthcare workers give Covid-19 tests at a trawler pier in Phuket. (Photo: Achadtaya Chuenniran)PHUKET: The surge in new coronavirus infections on this resort island is at a crisis level the provincial governor admitted on Wednesday, as tourism operators called for urgent action to rein in the spread of the disease. "That the number of infections is more than 200 a day is a crisis situation," Phuket governor Narong Woonciew said on Wednesday. The surge came despite 70% of its population having been inoculated against Covid-19 before the island reopened for fully vaccinated tourists on July 1. Phuket tourism operators have called on authorities to quickly bring an end to the recent surge in.

New law stokes tension in Nigeria's blighted oil deltaA resident stands in oil-polluted land in B-Dere, southern NigeriaEJAMAH-EBUBU (NIGERIA) - Nigerian farmer Nwale Nchimaonwi celebrated when he learnt that an oil law to overhaul the industry and improve the plight of communities living on crude-producing land had passed after two decades wait. Disappointment with the Petroleum Industry Bill is again testing patience in Nigeria's delta where many lost farming and fishing livelihoods to contamination even as foreign oil giants pumped crude from Africa's largest producer. A decade ago, the Niger Delta was a hotbed of militants who abducted foreign oil workers and raided their installationsto push for more share of the oil wealth. Nigeria's state-run oil company NNPC recently took over the oil wells following a court order but Ogoni leaders vow to resist any resumption of production. "My prayer is that the people would see this as a major step," Godswill Akpabio, the minister in charge of the Niger Delta told reporters.

One idea gaining currency is to assign nature an economic value. But experts are divided on how to measure "natural capital", and some argue that it should not be done at all. Mary Ruckelshaus, head of the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University, acknowledges that it is a complex task. Using the natural capital as the guiding principle, proponents favour integrating natural resources into the calculation of a country's wealth. "Valuing nature... gives everybody the same information but it doesn't guarantee that everyone will make the decision to protect nature," she said.

Germany's 'Blade Jumper' leaps into competition at Tokyo ParalympicsThe Tokyo Paralympics are entering their final stretch before Sunday's closing ceremonyTOKYO - A German long jumper who leaps further than his Olympic counterparts and a US swimmer who survived a bomb detonated by her parents are among the stars competing at the Tokyo Paralympics on Wednesday. Markus Rehm, known as the "Blade Jumper", is eyeing his fourth Paralympic gold and third straight victory in the long jump T64. And with the Games entering the final stretch before Sunday's closing ceremony, competition is heating up, with the first medals in wheelchair tennis. Some athletes in Tokyo, such as Team USA's Sam Grewe, have been juggling stunning performances on the track with other big ambitions. Grewe, who won gold in the men's high jump T63 on Tuesday, is a medical student who said he has been studying for six hours every day at the Games.

Has the wildlife 'Red List' let Africa's big cats down? Lions and cheetahs were both reconfirmed as "vulnerable" in 2014 and are unlikely to change category in a Red List update at the IUCN congress in Marseille, from Friday. Following the 2014 assessment, to which she contributed, Durant and another 50 conservation experts made that case in a peer-reviewed study. - Hunted -Unlike cheetahs, lions live in groups, or prides, and almost exclusively within protected areas. Craig Hilton-Taylor, who heads the IUCN's Red List Unit, defended its classification process as "robust" and said experts looked at a full range of issues.

Wildlife trader arrested with macaquesDepartment of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department officials with some the six macaques seized from the house of a wildlife trader in Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district on Wednesday. (Photo: Chalit Poomruang)NAKHON SAWAN: A wildlife trader was arrested by National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department officials with six macaques in his possession on Wednesday. Six macaques were found in his possession. He was charged with possession of protected wildlife without permission in violation of the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act of 2019. Mr Pitak allegedly told the officials he usually sold monkeys he caught to buyers in nearby Phichit province for 1,000-1,500 baht each.

Bomb survivor Shepherd 'just having fun' at ParalympicsHaven Shepherd lost her legs as a baby when her parents detonated an explosive that was meant to kill the whole familyTOKYO - US swimmer Haven Shepherd lost her legs as a baby after her parents detonated a bomb intended to kill the whole family. This week, at her maiden Paralympics in Tokyo, the upbeat teenager said her goals were all about "just going out and having fun". She is excited though about having the Paralympics in the international spotlight and says she is "open" about telling her story to the world. After years of training for Tokyo, Shepherd is looking forward to taking a break after the Games and just being "a normal 18-year-old". "My expectations are the same as who I am -- I'm just going out and having fun," she said.

Atletico Madrid welcome back Griezmann as Real sign CamavingaGriezmann has rejoined Atletico on a one-year loan deal with an option to extend by another yearPARIS - France forward Antoine Griezmann has made a shock return to Atletico Madrid just two years after leaving to join Barcelona, on the final day of a hectic European transfer window. Real Madrid also bagged a French international star as Eduardo Camavinga arrived from Rennes -- but their attempts to sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain failed. Midfield prodigy Camavinga, who is just 18, penned a six-year deal at Real, the club reportedly paying a fee of 31 million euros ($36.6m) plus nine million euros more in bonuses. The latter cost some 60 million euros, with the rest all arriving as free agents. In Germany, Bayern Munich splashed a total of 67.5 million euros signing France defender Dayot Upamecano and Austria's Marcel Sabitzer from RB Leipzig.

How scorpion tails do the bend and twistAn image provided by Alice Günther shows a 3-D reconstruction of the scorpion’s tail, which is used for much more than stinging prey. So while a scorpion’s tail is doing the bend and twist, it is also moving solid waste toward its anus so it can defecate through its tail. In a scorpion tail, there is only the ball, meaning the round edge of the joint. The lack of a socket allows the segments of the tail to bend up and down and twist left and right, as well as to bend and twist simultaneously. The fifth, final segment in a scorpion’s tail is narrower than the rest and can only bend, not twist.

The chips are down for a whileIf you haven't noticed, there is a microchip shortage. - I for one am interested in alternatives to Microsoft Office. I've covered Open Office recently and with a new release from the Document Foundation of LibreOffice, the Libre meaning free, it is time to look at this and some other offerings. Microsoft departed from this standard with OOXML, the Office Open XML, where "open" here means with some proprietary bits included. Microsoft always seems to have a problem with the definition of the word "standard."