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A semitrailer shed its load of concrete blocks on Patong Hill about 10am today

Photo by Sattawanakam / Facebook

Trafficking Warrants Approved; Thai Airline Signs for China Planes; Burma Driving Dilemma

By Phuketwan Reporter

Monday, September 21, 2015

PhuketWATCH Daily Media Wrap

PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Beware of inconsistent imitations.

Today's Top Stories

bangkokpost.com Chinese-operated City Airways has become the first Thailand-registered airline to sign up to fly Chinese-made C919 jets when they finally are available.

bangkokpost.com With the EU poised to ban all Thai seafood imports, a new ILO report on migrant and child labour conditions needs close attention. Children from 15 to 17 can be legally employed and are a main focus of the report.

The Bombing in Bangkok

washingtontimes.com Investigators from Thailand, China, Turkey, Malaysia, Bangladesh and other countries are grimly investigating how a group of Uighurs, allegedly traveling on Turkish and Chinese passports, enabled an unidentified man to explode a pipe bomb on August 17 at a Hindu shrine in Bangkok crowded with mostly ethnic Chinese visitors.

Human Trafficking in Thailand

bangkokpost.com The Na Thawi Provincial Court on Sunday approved arrest warrants for four more suspects - three army officers and a navy commander - in connection with Rohingya migrant trafficking. The navy officer is named as Cmdr Kampanart Sungthongjeen of Navy Region 3.

Phuket World of People

bbc.com Alexis Tsipras has hailed a "victory of the people" after his left-wing Syriza party won Greece's fifth election in six years. He said Greeks faced a difficult road and that recovery from financial crisis would only come through hard work.

afp Myanmar plans to make left-hand drive cars compulsory, state media reported, causing concern in a country where the vast majority of vehicles remain right-hand drive despite cars driving on the right. The law is an attempt to correct one of the more unusual legacies of decades of junta rule. More than four decades ago Myanmar's paranoid and notoriously superstitious dictator Ne Win ordered all citizens to drive on the right.

theguardian.com A female zookeeper has been attacked and killed by a tiger at a busy New Zealand zoo. Emergency services were called to the Hamilton zoo, 127km south of Auckland and police have confirmed the woman died at the scene.

AP Nepal has formally adopted a much anticipated and long-delayed constitution that took more than seven years to complete following a decade of political infighting.

bbc.com At least 13 migrants, including children, have died after their dinghy and a ferry collided off Turkey, the coastguard there says. In a second incident, Greece's coastguard said 26 people were feared missing from a boat, also off Lesbos.

independent.co.uk Less than a week after toppling Tony Abbott, Australia's new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has signalled a radical change of direction, appointing five women to his cabinet - five times the number Mr Abbott had in his initial line-up - and hinting at plans to scrap knighthoods from the honors system.

UPI The Eiffel Tower was closed and put on a terror alert after rucksack-wearing climbers were spotted ascending the landmark, but a police search came up short, according to authorities. The suspects may have been base jumpers.

smh.com.au Police say at least 10 wombats were believed to have been deliberately killed by a drunk driver over the weekend at the Bendeela Camping Ground, on the banks of the Kangaroo River, about 20 kilometres north of Nowra. Four of the wombats were feeding mothers, and one joey was found alive in its mother's pouch.

AP Thai police have arrested a former primary school teacher who they say admitted to having sexually abused 24 schoolgirls after a tip-off from US authorities. US Embassy spokeswoman Melissa Sweeney said that US agents shared information with Thai authorities that led to the arrest of a Thai national for the sexual assault of minors.

stuff.co.nz My location is Krabi, the coastal town adjacent to some of the world's most beautiful island beaches and flanked by spectacular limestone cliffs. It's a stunning destination and one of Thailand's key attractions for overseas visitors. I have taken six days to arrive, covering 380km on a bicycle across the peninsula from the Gulf of Thailand in the east to the Andaman Sea in the west.

dailymail.co.uk For this is the moment my entire holiday has been building towards: I'm about to 'release my turtle' - and no, that's not a pseudonym for an enema. Though I am on a detox - a love detox, 'break up package' in Phuket, Thailand, designed to help you get over your romantic past.

Around the Region

smh.com.au The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into money-laundering allegations related to a sovereign fund overseen by Malaysia's Prime Minister, Najib Razak. The Wall Street Journal reports the investigation is the latest in a series of international probes into 1Malaysia Development Berhad that is more than $US11 billion in debt.

Phuket World of Sport

smh.com.au A lone intruder set pulses racing at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday when he ambled across the floodlit track midway through the Formula One race and strolled by the metal fences as cars sped past. Ferrari winner Sebastian Vettel got the fright of his life when he spotted the man as he came around a corner. Formula One officials later released a statement saying Singapore police had arrested a 27-year-old man.

theage.com.au Jason Day has become the youngest Australian world no.1 in golf after winning for the fourth time in six starts at the BMW Championship.

Coming Events on Phuket 2015

PHUKET hosts the southern region's Prison Fair until September 23 with all kinds of useful, well-made goods available at Saphan Hin park in Phuket City. Furniture is a specialty. Food and trees and plants are also on sale.

September Quicksilver surf carnival at Patong beach

October 15-23 Phuket Vegetarian Festival

November Patong Festival

November 20 Laguna Phuket Triathlon

November 25 Loy Kratong festival

November 29 Challenge Laguna Phuket 2015

November 29 Phuket King's Cup Regatta

December 5 HM The King's Birthday

December 26 Tsunami memorial ceremonies

Coming Events on Phuket 2016

January 7-10 Phuket International Boat Show

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

I hope the C919's come with a parachute for each passenger.

Competition for Boeing and Airbus, maybe in 30 years if too many dont fall out of the sky.

Posted by MoW on September 21, 2015 15:34

What happens to the money City Airways still owes to Customers with cancelled flights, like the four I made in August 2014, and still have not been refunded.

Posted by Guenter Bellach on September 21, 2015 17:18

Ever since Airbus opened it's first factory in Tianjin, it was to be expected that the Chinese would try to copy the A320 line.

This is the main reason why Boeing is still undecided about opening their factory in China.

C919 is the A320 copy. However the Chinese have discovered that copying an airplane is a bit more complicated than copying mobile phones.

The project has been hit with many setbacks and delays.

MA-60 is the most widely sold Chinese made airplane abroad but it has a scruffy safety record and even banned from use in many countries. Zest Air in Philippines uses them (formerly Asian Spirit).

The BP headline " Shock for Airbus, Boeing " was nothing short of hilarious.

Unlike the Russians, Chinese have no history or experience worth mentioning in airplane manufacturing but despite this the Sukhoi Superjet 100, touted as the Russian A320 / B737 competitor, has been a total sales flop. Not to mention several accidents and a lot of technical failures to date.

To expect the Chinese to do a better job is wildly optimistic.

Cheap may be a great marketing aid for mobile phones or toys but not for airplanes. Aircraft are such complex machines that it takes decades of hand-on experience to produce a safe airplane.

The C919 manufacturer proudly emphasizes the numerous non-Chinese produced components in their product. Not only does this make one wonder why even the manufacturer thinks foreign (mostly US and German) components are better than Chinese but above all the biggest challenge is to make all those outsourced components work together flawlessly.

A lesson Boeing learned the hard way with their B787 when they took their outsourcing to new heights. Boeing has since brought many component manufacturing back to their in-house factory.

The closest competitor to Boeing and Airbus is the Brasilian Embraer but even they are still stuck in the Regional Jet slot, unable to make inroads to the narrow-body market to compete with the big boys.

Posted by Herbert on September 21, 2015 17:31

Just last week Bangkok Post reported that the EU has extended the deadline for complying with the IUU fishing regulations.

I found no confirmation of such from the EU in any media and now BP reports something totally contrary without any mention of the last weeks news.

Sounds like the case of a certain official who proudly declared that Tour de France would be held in Thailand next year.

Posted by Herbert on September 21, 2015 17:47

Herbert

in regard of China market you just get it wrong:

Airbus has facility in PRC not only for A320,but now also for A330.
PRC is the largest aircraft market for years to come.
PRC is buying quite a lot from Airbus.

Boeing just announced first ever facility beyond US - yes,in the PRC,for 737 Max.

You just need to get to news outlets more often, as an acquired knowledge, whatever extensive it may be, in the modern world depreciates fast, just turning into a filth.

Posted by Sue on September 23, 2015 13:01

Sue,
I would think its just a strategic move over Boeing to corner a huge potential market in a country where Boeing doesnt have a comprehensive manufacturing facility. The facility is 80% Chinese owned and its easy to assume what manufacture of plane they will choose.

Posted by MoW on September 23, 2015 15:49

@ Sue

You obviously do not remember I told you long time ago I will no longer respond to whatever it is you write here.

Obviously I need to make an exception to remind you of that and correct the utter rubbish you just posted.

A. Nowhere did I claim Airbus only produces the A320 line in China. Nor did I make any statements about Chinese market or purchases. I'm sure I speak for just about every reader on PW when I say this:

" Take some English lessons ! "

B. Boeing does NOT produce aircraft in China. Only components.

C. The 737 "news" you claim was published on Sep 22nd, a day after my initial post. Please tell me how to access news not yet published.

Furthermore they are only PROPOSING a finishing and delivery factory. The aircraft will be built in Seattle and possibly flown to China for paint job, finishing and delivery.

D. "First ever facility beyond US" Total BS. Their component facility in Tianjin opened in 2011. It produces COMPONENTS, not aircraft. You do understand the difference, do you ?
Producing car tires does not make you a car manufacturer either now does it ?

Furthermore you may want to look at the production process of the B787 which has parts delivered from all over the world. Many of those facilities have since been taken over by Boeing.

Understand that whatever you write in response to this or anything else in the future, I will ignore. Save your breath and play armchair quarterback with someone else.

Hope this helps.

Posted by Herbert on September 23, 2015 17:02

@Herbert

whatever your stance, it doesn't prevent me to point out that to your incompetent serial incidence of publishing BS disguised behind too many words of technical jargon poetry - that is what you regularly insert here as your drops of wisdom :)

Wherever you got that bulk of fragmented knowledge, it is certainly not up to date, and you feeding us your subjective biased prejudices as intuitive wisdom derived from intrinsic understanding of the industry.
However it is clear that you are just far behind understanding of situation on the ground:

H.21/09:"This is the main reason why Boeing is still undecided about opening their factory in China." -WRONG, moreover you claim encompasses (and on purpose, as it reflects your subjective prejudices) that they never had any factory there, even component JVs - in other words you feed well BS in our ears, exploiting your fantastic productivity to type in technical language.
H. 23/09: "Furthermore they are only PROPOSING a finishing and delivery factory. " -WRONG
H. 23/09: " "First ever facility beyond US" Total BS. Their component facility in Tianjin opened in 2011. It produces COMPONENTS, not aircraft. You do understand the difference, do you ?
Producing car tires does not make you a car's manufacturer either now does it ?" - you, Herbert, just collapsed under your own lies, caught red-handed with your biased outflow: you attempted to make us belive that Boeing has no any factory in PRC - and, now you are trying to slip out, "Oh no, I meant some thing different ", claiming lack of understanding, however that was you published a trash on 21/09 - now no sense to elevate yourself to so much agitated state.

Financial Times:
"Boeing is preparing to announce its first plant outside the US with a deal to set up a completion facility in China for the 737 single-aisle aircraft , to mark the visit of President Xi Jinping to Seattle"
"Boeing's new Chinese facility will do the final painting and livery of the new generation 737 Max aircraft. People familiar with the situation said the plant, to be located in Zhoushan in the eastern province of Zhejiang"
"It has resisted setting up facilities outside the US, preferring to import components from local partners as it has done in China for several decades."
Boeing is ANNOUNCING commencement of the facility, it is already behind "advanced stage of negotiations"., Herbert. Time for proposals already has passed, you seems was reading wrong news or didn't understood language well.

And remember, Herbert, you are not in position to lecture me - or anyone - to learn YOUR mother tongue of English to perfection, otherwise it looks that you for successful cosmetic surgery of transplanting sphincter over lips - as both your talk and surgical achievement would make a produce of brown colour. You better find less fascistic idea too promote as the current is centred on supremacy of English language and its eligibility to be promoted even further.
Better put more efforts in promoting studying of Mandarin.