Search continues for 5 seamen from sunken navy ship HTMS SukhothaiA rubber boat with navy soldiers on board searches around an island off Chumphon province for the missing crew members from the sunken HTMS Sukhothai. (Photo supplied)The Royal Thai Navy is continuing with the search by air and sea for the five crew members of the sunken warship HTMS Sukhothai still missing at sea, navy spokesman Adm Pokkrong Monthatpalin said on Sunday. By sea, special operation teams of navy SEALs - with a speed boat and four rubber boats - were scouring Chumphon's Klaeb, Yung, Noo, Maew and Kula islands. HTMS Sukhothai with 105 crew on board sank in a storm off Bang Saphan district, Prachuap Khiri Khan province, on Dec 18. Five crew members were still missing as no more bodies had been recovered since Thursday.

Tiptoeing through the minefield2023 should be the first time in three years Thailand can fully return to normal practices after Covid-19 was downgraded to endemic in October 2022. In 2023, both deposit and loan rates will continue to increase in accordance with the policy rate hike. Banks have raised the minimum retail rate at a lower level, compared with the minimum loan rate and minimum overdraft rate. Inflation and recessionCentral banks across the world have simultaneously hiked interest rates to tame runaway inflation in 2022. It will be at a slower rate from 2022, which had an average of 6.1% over the 11 months.

Vietnam pulls off Asia's fastest growthA vendor walks past a shop selling Christmas decorations in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam, on Dec 13, 2022. Manufacturing, which grew 8.1% during the year, was the main driver of economic growth, according to Nguyen Thi Huong, head of Vietnam's General Statistics Office. ADB forecasts Vietnam's 2023 growth to be 6.3% as major trade partners see a slowdown. The weakness was already evident in the headline trade data. Vietnam will struggle to keep inflation in check next year, according to Bui Thuy Hang, the central bank's deputy head of monetary policy department.

KCG preps listing ahead of expansionKCG Corporation Plc (KCG), Thailand's leading manufacturer of biscuits and dairy products, has filed a listing proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), aiming to mobilise funds for its capacity expansion. KCG distributes its products to consumers, varying from retail customers to restaurant owners, through different sales channels including retailers and online platforms, he said. BLS president Pichet Sithi-Amnuai said KCG plans to raise funds to expand its current production capacity and ramp up efficiency in cargo and distribution centres. Aside from manufacturing dairy products under the trade names of Imperial and Allowrie, KCG is also an importer of equipment for bakery making. According to data from Euromonitor International, a London-based market research company, KCG ranks top in terms of market share among butter and cheese product manufacturers in Thailand.

State helps fund upgrade of Pluak Daeng hospital 2The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Policy Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, yesterday greenlighted a 2-billion-baht investment to upgrade Pluak Daeng hospital 2 in Rayong. Pluak Daeng hospital 2 will become the first hospital in the country in which the government will establish a joint venture with the private sector, with the bidding for its construction scheduled to be called early next month. Pluak Daeng hospital 2 is in Rayong province, one of the three provinces that comprise the government's flagship EEC development project. It is expected that the upgraded second hospital in Pluak Daeng district would become operational over the next three years. Only the Thai private sector is allowed to participate in this investment project."

Businesses worried by high airfaresTourists await check-in at Phuket International Airport. (File photo)Tourism operators in Phuket are urging the government to intervene following complaints about surging airfares which they fear could prompt travellers to choose cheaper alternatives. He said the government should consider intervening in air travel pricing as most visitors to Phuket arrive by air and are facing high prices and low ticket availability. According to Mr Thanusak, a trip to Phuket costs around 7,000-10,000 baht per person while it costs no more than 8,000 baht for a trip to Singapore. He stressed that access to air travel at affordable prices is essential to promote tourism.

MRTA to resurface roadsCity Hall has set April as the deadline for the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), the contractors of the Orange, Pink and Yellow lines and other stakeholders to restore road surfaces around construction sites. Mr Chadchart's main concern was traffic problems around the construction sites, he said. MRTA and the contractors also have to speed up their pipe and conduit-laying processes, repair road surfaces and recheck drainage systems around the sites, according to the order. Stakeholders must also remove construction barriers from areas no longer in use while limiting in-use areas to the smallest size possible, it added. Stakeholders are also required to improve pavements, paint road markings and prepare traffic signs for the restored areas, it said.

High-speed trains comprise a portion of the state investment budget. Disbursement of the state investment budget in fiscal 2022 tallied 74% of the total investment budget of 611 billion baht, the highest level over the past five fiscal years, says Kulaya Tantitemit, director-general of the Comptroller-General Department. The government set a disbursement target of 75% for the investment budget of 689 billion baht in fiscal 2023, of which 15% was achieved during the first two months of October and November. The investment budget for fiscal 2023 accounts for 21.7% of the state's total expenditure, the highest proportion since 2018. She said the department accelerated the disbursement for contractors working on state projects and eased obstacles that delayed disbursement.

Rohingya need urgent rescueToday, as Christmas marks a celebration of family and giving around the world, about 200 Rohingya refugees are stranded at sea, starving and dying. When the boats were adrift near the Phuket shores, human rights groups called for an urgent rescue from the government. The desire for a better life has made them an easy target for transnational human trafficking rings. In 2015, the world was shocked when the mass graves of over 30 Rohingya bodies were discovered at an abandoned human trafficking camp in Songkhla province. The government has already squandered this opportunity by refusing to recognise the stranded Rohingya, rescue them, and prosecute the traffickers.

'I have to sue a lot of people,' says 78-year-old serial killer freed from Nepali prisonFrench serial killer Charles Sobhraj, 78, sits in an aircraft bound from Kathmandu to France on Friday evening, following his release from a Nepali prison. (AFP Photo)KATHMANDU: French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, responsible for multiple murders in the 1970s in Thailand and across Asia, was heading to France on Friday after being freed following almost 20 years in a Nepali prison. Including the state of Nepal,” Sobhraj told AFP on board a plane for his deportation. … It was sheer luck that I recognised him,” Nathan told AFP on Thursday. But on Thursday, he told AFP that he did not object to the release, as both he and the criminal he once pursued were now too old.

The search operation for the missing sailors from HTMS Sukhothai that sank off Prachuap Khiri Khan last Sunday entered its sixth day on Saturday. (Photo supplied/Wassana Nanuam)Eighteen sailors are still missing from the doomed HTMS Sukhothai after the sixth day of search operations in the Gulf of Thailand, amid confusion over the number of bodies recovered and identified so far. They included one body found by HTMS Taksin and recovered by HTMS Kraburi, another found by patrol ship 113 and recovered by HTMS Kraburi, and another detected by an aircraft and recovered by HTMS Taksin. Diving teams were also active at the spot where HTMS Sukhothai sank. HTMS Sukhothai, with 105 people on board, capsized on Sunday night after taking on water while patrolling in rough seas off Bang Saphan.

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Navy scales down search areas for 31 missing soldiersCrew members from the sunken HTMS Sukhothai are seen on Royal Thai Navy buses in Sattahip district in Chon Buri after returning from a shelter in tambon Mae Ramphueng in Bang Saphan district of Prachuap Khiri Khan. (Photo: Royal Thai Navy)The search and rescue operation for 31 crew members missing after HTMS Sukhothai sank off Prachuap Khiri Khan has narrowed down its scope, the Royal Thai Navy said on Monday. HTMS Kraburi, HTMS Angthong, navy helicopters and navy planes were dispatched to engage in the search. HTMS Sukhothai sank shortly before midnight on Sunday amid high waves and gusty winds in the Gulf of Thailand. The warship was patrolling the gulf when the incident took place about 20 miles off the Bang Saphan pier.

(Photo: Royal Thai Navy)An air and sea search continued on Monday for 31 missing sailors from HTMS Sukhothai, which sank in a storm in the Gulf of Thailand late on Sunday night. HTMS Sukhothai, a Rattanakosin class corvette, sank during a storm off the coast of Prachuap Khiri Khan. They were widely reported to be missing sailors from HTMS Sukhothai. HTMS Sukhothai sank off Prachuap Khiri Khan about 11.30pm on Sunday, navy spokesman Adm Pokkrong Monthatpalin said. HTMS Sukhothai was built by Tacoma Boatbuilding Company, in Tacoma, Washington, USA, and commissioned on Feb 19, 1987.

BloombergTikTok has accelerated efforts to move workers away from China in an attempt to distance itself from its Chinese parent, but the short-video app still counts on local talent to handle some key functions and continues to recruit there. Still, some engineers working on TikTok's algorithms remain based in China, people familiar with the matter said. The parent is advertising jobs in China to work on various TikTok features, such as private messaging, live-streaming and its marketplace functions. Most of TikTok's hiring is happening in the U.S., U.K., Singapore and other markets in Southeast Asia, a company spokesperson said. It is also developing e-commerce on the app, duplicating some functions and models from TikTok's Chinese sister app Douyin.