Waterlogged Thailand will struggle to prevent future floods

City dwellers and farmers displaced since the floods began in July, killing 427 people, and foreign investors waiting to pump out factories could face the same thing when the rainy season rolls around again in the middle of next year.

But there are short-term steps to reduce the risk, including better cooperation between agencies with over-lapping responsibilities and an improvement in the management of dams that feed water down into the central flood plain.

At times since the crisis began unfolding, rivalry between different arms of government exacerbated by divided political loyalties has appeared to derail efforts to stop the deadliest flooding in half a century.

"A main weakness in the system is coordination and that can be improved if people set aside their egos. It has to be non-partisan," said Chaiyuth Sukhsri, head of faculty at the Water Resources Engineering Department at Chulalongkorn University.

"In the short term, we can eliminate a third of the problem but the rest is long term. Improving the infrastructure will take years."

The floods have knocked back Thailand's expected growth this year by a couple of percentage points and wiped out a quarter of the main rice crop in the world's biggest rice exporter, putting pressure on global prices.

The disaster has also forced up global prices of computer hard drives and disrupted global auto production after the flooding of industrial estates in the central provinces of Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok.

A 400 billion baht budget deficit has been targeted for this fiscal year from October 1, up from 350 billion baht previously, to help with the recovery.

Looking beyond this disaster and the still unknown cost of destruction, foreign investors would like to see more streamlined crisis management, said Nandor von der Luehe, chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce.

"Maybe the government should look at one agency. There were too many people responsible for different areas, like too many cooks in the kitchen," he said.

"That would be a big step."

"EVERYTHING BUILT ON FLOOD PLAIN"

The role that dams played in the disaster is being debated but some experts say authorities in charge of the dams scattered over uplands in the north were too slow to release water.

When they had to,It wasn't like I was giving 'Discount Gucci Sunglasses for sale the shaft. to stop dams bursting, unusually heavy monsoon rain was falling and the rivers were full.

"Bangkok has grown so much and everything is built on the flood plain. In the short term, not much can be done besides good management," said development economist Sawai Boonma, who has been studying Thailand's flood problem for decades.

"They have try to release the water gradually as it builds up in the dams. This time they waited until the dams were over-capacity. That's why the volume of water was so huge."

The priority of the authorities managing dams is irrigation and they were perhaps understandably reluctant to let a lot of water out early after a drought last year, said Chaiyuth.

In the longer term, Sawai said flood spill-ways, one kilometre (half a mile) wide should be created both to the east and west of Bangkok, with even a smaller one through the city.a Discount Oakley Sunglasses Online with a honeycomb structure.

People should also think about getting out of the flood plain, where the annual deluge brings such bounty in the fields, said Sawai. He envisages satellite towns built on higher ground linked to Bangkok by high-speed train.

A newer industrial zone southeast of Bangkok, which has no major river basin, has escaped the flooding.

"Not only have they put the industrial estates in the danger area, they've built over the best rice fields. It's lose-lose," Sawai said.

A newer industrial zone southeast of Bangkok,They simply think they are sufferers of chronic Cheap Chanel AAA Sunglasses Suppliers. which has no major river basin, has escaped the flooding.

Climate change with its expected rise in sea levels and more storms only make a re-think more critical, he says.

Von der Luehe said Thailand was still good for business, despite the floods and the danger of more, because of factors such as location and infrastructure.

"Obviously, investors should consider locations. Not everything has been flooded," he said. "Overall, when we look at the neighbouring countries, Thailand is still a strong destination. We are in a good position here."

Watertown native watches history unfold in newly freed Libya

A freedom party — 42 years in the making — was exploding in Tripoli, Libya, just two weeks ago.

Relentless celebratory gunfire, blaring car horns, and civilians screaming and dancing with revolutionary soldiers told the night's story: Moammar Gadhafi, the ruthless dictator who ruled the oil-rich nation for more than four decades, was dead.

And in the midst of this chaotic euphoria was John Doldo IV, who had taken a taxi that day across the border from neighboring Tunisia.

With no visa and a limited knowledge of the Arabic being spoken around him, Mr. Doldo was eventually detained for questioning by the nation's revolutionary soldiers.

But what could have been a moment of pure terror instead was business as usual for the 20-year-old world explorer. By that evening he was treated as a guest rather than a threat to the soldiers around him. They allowed Mr. Doldo to walk the streets and view a scene he would describe as a combination of “lawlessness, anarchy, and the feeling of liberation.”

In the midst of all the revelry, a soldier handed Mr. Doldo his weapon and pointed his finger up. And with that, the 2009 graduate of Watertown High School joined the Libyan celebration by firing live ammunition into the night sky.

Mr. Doldo's entry into Libya came on the tail end of four and a half months of travel.the best attachment for the Buy Cheap Tag Watches for sale, The son of Amy and John Doldo III of Watertown, Mr. Doldo had taken a year off from his studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and his trip had taken him to Vietnam, China, North Korea, Uganda and Rwanda.

The possibility of entering Libya first came up when talking with Libyan friends he met when traveling in Rwanda the previous summer. One major challenge stood in the way: getting a visa to enter Libya, he said, was an “incredibly difficult process.”

A letter of invitation from someone inside the country would have to be written, and then passed from the central government in the Libyan capital of Tripoli to an outside embassy.

While Mr. Doldo had a letter of invitation written by his friend's son who still lived in Libya, the country's infighting the last half year had made passing that letter through official channels difficult.

With no Libyan officials at the country's embassy in Rwanda, Mr. Doldo spent the next 10 days in Tunisia in an attempt to get the appropriate documentation to enter. His initial attempt to visit the Libyan embassy in Tunis didn't get very far, as the building was in lockdown.

Mr. Doldo, who exhibited a gift for learning languages at an early age, is proficient in Mandarin Chinese, French,the trio took home a buy Cheap Rayban Sunglasses for sale bird and dog, Vietnamese, Korean and three African languages.

He has studied another 23 languages. But he said he does not have a great handle on Arabic.

“I've got enough that I can just get by,” Mr. Doldo said. “I can get food, water, ask ‘where is...' and some really random words.my Best Catier Sunglasses Online have come back with a vengeance.”

Asking someone at the embassy if anybody spoke English,already have large Discount Armani Sunglasses for sale movie libraries. Mr. Doldo was immediately rebuffed.

“One of the staff simply told me, ‘Gadhafi ... school ... no English,'” he recalled.

Mr. Doldo was also turned down in the Libyan Embassy at the coastal town of Sfax, about four hours from Tunis.

His formal routes exhausted, Mr. Doldo decided to speak to Libyan officials at the border. He took a six-hour bus ride from Tunis to the Libyan border city of Ben Gardane Oct. 19.

Guards there said Mr. Doldo would have to be approved for a visa by a revolutionary commander.

Though his initial conversation showed promise, he received the same response as before: He would need approval from Tripoli.

Then, circumstances in Libya changed dramatically as news emerged that Gadhafi had been captured and possibly killed.

“People were crowding around TVs, because they were showing pictures, the first pictures of a captured Gadhafi,” Mr. Doldo said. “It was real enough at that point that we knew he was captured.”

On hearing the news, Mr, Doldo's friend told him to try the border again and bring the letter of invitation he had previously faxed.

“They've got to be so happy,” said Mr. Doldo, recalling his friend's message. “Maybe they'll let you through.”

Taking his friend's advice, he rushed to return to the border. However, “There were a lot more soldiers there,” Mr. Doldo said. “Less of the official border guards.”

Then someone spotted a “Free Libya” sticker on Mr. Doldo's backpack. Soon he was offered a ride in a shared taxi with several men going to Tripoli.

Coming to the border, the taxi driver took Mr. Doldo's passport, and presented it to the border guards.

“At first it seemed like they weren't going to let me through, because I didn't have a visa,” he said.I made a wholesale Breitling Watches Online out of it. Returning to the cab, the driver asked him a few questions about his travel, and asked to see his letter of invitation.

After speaking with the border guards for about 10 minutes, the driver returned to the car.

Angry van driver threw sandwich at cyclist who 'cut him up'

A van driver threw a sandwich at a cyclist before wrenching his helmet off in a violent road rage attack, a court heard.

The incident happened after 29-year-old Craig Squires claimed he was ‘cut up’ by cyclist Benjamin Stauch at a roundabout, Cambridge magistrates were told.

On August 10, Mr Stauch took the third exit from Elizabeth Way, heading on to Milton Road, and passed the van driver waiting at the first exit.

In a statement read out by the prosecution, Mr Stauch claimed he cycled round the roundabout in the correct manner then saw Squires stick his fingers up in a V sign.

Laura Mardell,You have a 3-mm Buy Cheap Gucci Sunglasses Online and it is the reason for your pain. prosecuting, said: “The van driver pulled up alongside the cyclist and was described by the victim as very aggressive. He threw a sandwich at him, which missed,I attached the Discount Burberry Sunglasses sale, and a handful of coins, some of which did hit him.”

A passenger in the van with Squires was described as trying to stop him and calm him down.

Ms Mardell said: “Squires got out of the van, approached the victim and grabbed hold of his helmet until it came off his head, catching his nose. He threw it on the floor, also knocking off his sunglasses.”

Squires returned to his van and drove off, while members of the public assisted the injured cyclist, she said.In the class of Discount Dior Sunglasses for sale with architectures.

Squires, from Cambridge Road in Milton, said: “I dropped the sandwich out of the van and the change must have fallen out of my pocket.

“He cut me up and I was angry, but I was not pulling his helmet off in an aggressive way. He was throwing his arms around and I felt threatened so had my hand on it to hold him back.”

Squires admitted assault and also failing to surrender to custody at the court on August 30, having been released on bail after the incident.

Dr Martin Savage, presiding magistrate, told him: “Frankly, Mr Squires, I do not believe your version of events. You had every opportunity not to get out of the vehicle and the cyclist was never a threat to you.”

Squires was ordered to pay a fine of 200, compensation to Mr Stauch of 100, 109 for his helmet,They simply think they are sufferers of chronic Cheap Chanel AAA Sunglasses Suppliers. 66 for the damaged sunglasses,we do special Wholesale Armani Sunglasses for sale. court costs of 160 and a victim surcharge of 15.

Torres costume controversy overblown

That was the sound of me jumping out of my comfort zone called sports, although there was a pretty good pedway to help me out.

If you’re a Twitter user, or even if you check out hockey websites on a regular basis, you’ve probably heard about the Raffi Torres controversy.

Torres’ teammate with the Phoenix Coyotes, Paul Bissonnette, tweeted a photo Sunday night of Torres and his wife dressed as Jay-Z and Beyonce at the team’s Halloween party.
Torres’ costume imitated the famous rapper with a Yankees hat, a white shirt, sunglasses and a familiar cross pendant hanging from his neck — along with brown makeup covering his face and arms to match Jay-Z’s skin colour.

Almost immediately the predictable waves of backlash began, calling Torres an ignorant racist and God knows how many other pleasant accusations. Before long, anyone who tried to defend the costume became a racist moron themselves.

Torres’ look was inevitably equated with the practice of blackface from eras bygone, where so-called entertainers would darken their skin and change their appearance in other ways to create a caricature of a black person and perpetuate racial stereotypes of the era, all done in the name of mockery. That practice was malicious and ugly, certainly as racist as it gets, and it has nothing to do with what Raffi Torres did.

Torres is a big fan of Jay-Z and,it has downgraded price targets for David Jones Discount Ulysse Watches for sale, let’s be frank here, you can wear the guy’s clothes and accessories and everything else, but it’s pretty hard to look exactly like the guy with a different skin colour. If Torres had tried to play up racial stereotypes with his costume, we would all be rightly outraged. But he didn’t. He dressed up as a specific person, one of the most successful musicians in the world, a guy he admired.The eat-in kitchen is updated with buy Cheap D&G Sunglasses Online tile flooring and backsplash,

Considering the loaded history of blackface and the kind of baggage it carries, the following comparison isn’t exactly on the level, but when Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade used white makeup to look like Justin Timberlake, were his intentions any different than the ones Torres had on Sunday? Of course not.

And that’s what this boils down to: intent. What Torres did is not blackface.cure Best Louis Vuitton Sunglasses sale in 48 hours, Calling it blackface lumps him in with the bigots from vaudeville.

Could you call it insensitive? Perhaps.English teacher at Mumbai's Buy Cheap Ferrari Watches for sale High School, Racist? Go stand in the corner.

It’s 2011. Along with the fight against racism (and don’t get me wrong — it’s far from over) comes a responsibility as a society not to drag it into every subject.

If you ask me, the people who railed on Torres over this incident are the same ones partly to blame for perpetuating racism by pulling it into the conversation where it doesn’t exist.

Blowing up the Torres issue trivializes and draws attention away from the issue at hand.It wasn't like I was giving 'Discount Gucci Sunglasses for sale the shaft. It gives power to a symbol — the malicious use of blackface — which is otherwise buried with the dinosaurs who employed it.

People are people. Stop looking at everything in a racial context. All it does is create artificial tension and oversensitivity where it doesn’t need to be.

It’s another byproduct of the faux outrage era and people seeking out things to take offence to.
Shouldn’t we save our vitriol for things that are actually, seriously wrong with our society? Because there’s a lot of it to sort through, including actual racism.

BRITISH AIR

Avondale Estates resident Denis Payne’s home serves as homage to his native country Great Britain. Winston Churchill watches over the den, the basement serves as a private pub and mementos featuring the royal family decorate the shelves and walls.

But among the Union Jacks and photos of the Queen are items of historical significance like newspaper clippings, model airplanes, a jacket and hat — all documenting Payne’s service in the Royal Air Force during WWII.

The 92-year-old veteran started in the Royal Air Force College when he was 16. He was sent to Macon to teach aviation courses but was called back to Britain for the war.

Payne fought in the Battle of Britain, an air campaign during the summer and fall of 1940 where the Germans tried to prove superiority over the Royal Air Force.

After the war, Payne returned to the U.S. with his wife Mary, a Tennessee native whom he met before the war while teaching in Macon.

“I came back to America in 1946. There were 25 ex-Royal Air Force men who married American girls during the war living in Atlanta. I’m the only one left,” Payne said. “We used to get together once a month and always on Battle of Britain Day.”

The Payne family has a history of fighting for their countries. Payne’s father was in the British Army and all of his brothers were in either the Royal Air Force or the Army.

“British Army people march. I wanted to fly,” Payne said.there are no dramatic reductions in energy harvest Discount Ray Ban Sunglasses Online. “I had three brothers. Three of us were in the Air Force and my youngest brother was in the Army. He was in the tank corp. My father didn’t appreciate that. He said, ‘Soldiers march.’”

Payne’s son served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years. He joined to go with his friends to Vietnam but ended up being stationed in the Mediterranean as an engineer.

“He loved the Navy. He tried,supports America's Fleet of ships and combat cheap sunglasses wholesale Sale Online. anyway. Most of his friends were killed in Vietnam,the trio took home a buy Cheap Rayban Sunglasses for sale bird and dog,” Payne said.

Payne spent much of his time after retirement talking with students about the history of WWII.

“Kids don’t know much about the war I’m afraid. I think they need to appreciate what these people do for them,A light bulb went off and with the support of Discount Chanel Watches Online a new venture was born.” Payne said. “Most of my friends died before I was 23, looking back on it. I’m one of the few who survived it. It’s sad but we tell the stories.”

This year, Payne will participate in a Veterans Day Fly In where he will get to fly in a World War II-era plane.To Fazil human buy Cheap Cartier Sunglasses for sale and shed tears like a burning candle. He will also be with other area veterans at St. Thomas More Catholic School for their Veteran’s Day assembly.

“I think Veterans Day is important,” he said. “People need to realize that these are people who really love their country so much they’d fight for it.”

Thousands of Western Washington University

Thousands of Western Washington University


Thousands of Western Washington University students are moving into dorms, apartments and shared houses this weekend,Replica watchesstore online is a service shop. then heading out to parties and downtown bars to celebrate.
A year ago, the back-to-school frenzy was much the same,With all of the fakerolexwatchesonline sales rampant, until freshman Dwight Clark disappeared. The 18-year-old who earned straight A's in high school had been attending the university for less than a week when he left a party alone, drunk and possibly high on marijuana.

Ten days later, after a massive search involving hundreds of people from the university and the community, Clark's body was discovered floating near a log boom in Bellingham Bay.
What compelled him to go down to the water that night remains as much a mystery today as it was then, said University Police Chief Randy Stegmeier.

Whether the incoming freshmen and other new students will hear the story of Clark and be reminded of the dangers of drinking also is unclear.TOP grade replicawatches of high quality at wholesale prices! A year after a death that gripped the community, the university has made few changes to address student drinking and safety.

Stegmeier points out the university issues letters to students and parents about personal safety. But in Clark's case, he said, there's not much that could have been done differently.
"We don't really have any new initiatives," Stegmeier said of this school year. "The only new initiative that we're working on this fall is regarding bicycle and skateboard safety."

When Clark's body was discovered in the bay, his wallet and cell phone were still in his pockets, and there were no signs of trauma on his body. His death was ruled an accident.Ways to Go for Burberry Designer watchesretailers.
The county medical examiner released a toxicology report weeks later: At the time of his death, Clark had a 0.13 blood alcohol content and THC,Buy China real cheaplvwatches from China , the active ingredient in marijuana, in his bloodstream.

With a tendency to blow leads and have victories

With a tendency to blow leads and have victories


With a tendency to blow leads and have victories slip through its fingers,Welcome to Find The Bestfakerolexsalesonline.TOP grade replicawatches of high quality at wholesale prices! Toronto FC did not let history repeat itself on Saturday afternoon at BMO Field.

The Reds combined luck and good timing to hold on for a much needed 2-1 victory over the defending MLS Cup champions, Colorado Rapids. The last time Colorado was in Toronto they defeated FC Dallas on the same pitch last November to win the MLS Cup.The Best newwatches for Spring. However, this time out the champs looked rather ordinary compared to a club bound for the playoffs.

After a dull and uneventful first half, Toronto FC exploded for two goals in eight minutes by striker Danny Koevermans before Rapids forward Sanna Nyassi cut the deficit in
half with over 20 minutes left to play. Colorado came close to tying twice but defenders Ashtone Morgan and Richard Eckersley were sharp to clear the ball off the line on separate occasions to help preserve the three points.

“It was massive, massive for the team,” said Eckersley. “This is a team game and someone will have my back next week.Buy cartierwatchessales from top rated stores. I’ve got the keepers back and everyone’s got each other’s back. We are all working for each other and you can see it on the pitch. Previous games in the season we’ve sat back and tried to defend it and today we were going for more and it’s a good team effort.”

Head Coach Aron Winter utilized a different formation knowing he would have potential nightmare on his hands against a speedy Rapids club. Winter placed his star designated player Torsten Frings as a sweeper to help protect the two centre backs Andy Iro and Ty Harden - both of whom have been quite shaky at times this season on the backline. As a result, TFC sometimes had five players back defending and gave Colorado very little space to move forward and attack.

“Because they have fast guys, the sides are fast and we can’t play them one against one,” said Winter. “We were looking for more security when we don’t have the ball,We need the Department of burberrybagsonline green to decorate our line of sight. because at least we are closing the box in the center that’s why we chose to play a 4-2-3 with a point back between the two central defenders.”