Bangkok News

RAK Airways has marked the introduction of long-haul flights with the introduction of a 12th route to Bangkok, Thailand. Effective 1st June 2012, RAK Airways will offer four non-stop flights a week to Bangkok.

“With the introduction of our first long- haul route to Bangkok, RAK Airways has cemented its unique market position between the well-established full service carriers and the low-cost carriers,” said RAK Airways CEO Omar Jahameh.

Another batch of 11 Pakistani students has graduated from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok, Thailand. Of these, 8 completed their PhDs, 2 Doctor of Engineering, and 1 Masters. AIT’s President Prof Said Irandoust conferred degrees on a total of 243 graduating students at AIT’s 116th graduation ceremony. The ceremony was held at the Thailand Science Park Convention Center in Bangkok, as the AIT campus still remains unusable due to the recent floods in Thailand, according to a message received here on Sunday from Pakistan’s Embassy in Bangkok. The ceremony was attended by senior AIT faculty, relevant Thai officials, members of the diplomatic corps, and families of graduating students.

As Thailand’s economy continues to look precarious after the nation’s worst floods in more than 70 years, today Bangkok’s taxi drivers are holding three demonstrations against the rise in NGV (Natural Gas Vehicle) fuel prices. More >

Bangkok Bank Bhd will be the anchor owner of Berjaya Central Park — a RM2.2 billion mixed development comprising two towers — taking up eight levels of the corporate suite as well as commercial space on the ground and mezzanine floors for its banking halls for about RM100 million. More >

Murky floodwaters are receding from Bangkok’s inundated outskirts to reveal some scary swamp dwellers who moved in while flooded residents were moving out — including crocodiles and some of the world’s most poisonous snakes. More >

Angry residents in flooded Bangkok protested on Monday, briefly blocking a major highway as frustration mounted that parts of the Thai capital are suffering badly while the centre stays dry.

Thailand’s worst floods in half a century, triggered by months of unusually heavy monsoon rains, have left at least 562 people dead around the kingdom and damaged millions of homes and livelihoods.

After weeks of flooding, waters in some Bangkok districts have receded significantly. An AFP photographer said the water level in the Lat Phrao and Mo Chit areas, on the northern edge of the city centre, had fallen by nearly a metre in 48 hours and inhabitants were no longer using boats to get around.

Thailand’s prime minister has warned that it will take the country three months to recover from the worst floods in decades, even though the capital’s central districts have thus far escaped being inundated.

Large swathes of Thailand are still under water as efforts to divert huge volumes of water away from Bangkok during Monday’s peak tides proved largely successful.

The governor of Bangkok has warned residents to prepare for floodwaters to reach further into the city from suburban areas.

More >

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has renewed her confidence in handling anticipated floods in Bangkok, saying it should be under control, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported Monday.

Yingluck told reporters she will be holding another video conference with the Bangkok governor on Tuesday following her session with the governors of Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi on Monday.

Yingluck said she has told governors to start coordinating with Irrigation Department officials in assessing whether each section of flood barriers will suffice further rises in water.

Seeds Ivan Dodig and Fabio Fognini lost on the opening day of the Thailand Open in Bangkok on Monday. More >