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Thailand’s Budget Airlines to Offer Cheaper Airfare for Songkran 2024

Thailand's Budget Airlines Add Extra Flights for Songkran 2024

Six budget airlines will add 38 flights during the Songkran 2024 holiday to assist alleviate the problem of high domestic flight ticket prices, Transport Minister Suriya Juengrungreangkit announced yesterday.

The additional flights add 13,000 seats over the period, according to Mr Suriya, who said after the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) convened a discussion on cutting domestic fares during vacation periods on Wednesday.

Representatives from Thai Airways (THAI), Thai AirAsia, Bangkok Airways, Thai LionAir, NokAir, and Thai Vietjet attended the meeting, where they agreed to operate 38 extra special domestic flights on April 11-12 and April 15-16 to destinations such as Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, and Khon Kaen.

To respond quickly to passenger requests and avoid service congestion, Mr Suriya stated that he had directed various sectors, including the Airport of Thailand (AoT), the Airport Department, and the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (Aerothai), to expedite preparations for the additional flights.

The CAAT stated that the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the aviation business, as well as a 30% increase in fuel excise duty, are the primary drivers of rising ticket rates. The ministry’s major priorities, according to Mr Suriya, are convenient and speedy service, safety, and fair costs.

Songkran 2024

Songkran 2024 Travel Guide: Top Destinations, Tips, and More

Songkran is an important festival in Thailand because it represents renewal, purification, and showing respect to elders. The festival’s popularity among both locals and tourists is unparalleled, attracting people from all over the world to join in the boisterous festivities.

As you plan your Songkran 2024 trip, imagine yourself immersed in a frenzy of vibrant water splashes, boisterous street parades, and passionate rituals.

Whether you choose to celebrate in bustling cities like Bangkok or immerse yourself in the cultural riches of Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, the beauty and passion of Songkran will captivate your senses and leave you with lasting memories.

The formal opening ceremony of Songkran 2024 sets the stage for a slew of unique activities and performances that start off the festival in style. The Wan Payawan, also known as ‘Bathing Buddha’ Day, is at the core of the celebration, when communities gather to honor Buddha via rituals and offerings.

This auspicious day promotes joy and unity as people embark on a journey of cultural awakening.

Water is a key theme throughout Songkran, representing cleaning and wealth. The event is well-known for its water-themed activities, which include joyful water battles, colorful parades, and serious blessings.

Travellers looking for an authentic experience can participate in the vibrant water festivities in a variety of sites throughout Thailand. Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Phuket are ideal locations for witnessing the boisterous events and immersing yourself in the holiday spirit.

Prepare to be drenched in the festive spirit of Songkran 2024 as you immerse yourself in the lively rituals and experience the rejuvenation that comes with welcoming the Thai New Year surrounded by water splashes and heartfelt blessings.

Bangkok to Make Songkran 2024 More Grandiose than Ever Before

Songkran 2024 Travel Guide

Planning a trip to Thailand for Songkran 2024 and wondering how to make the most of this vibrant festival? Here’s a comprehensive travel guide to help you navigate through the excitement:

Accommodation Options

  • Budget-friendly Hostels: For the budget-conscious traveller, hostels in Thailand offer a comfortable stay without breaking the bank. Consider places like Lub d Bangkok Silom or NapPark Hostel in Bangkok for a pocket-friendly experience.
  • Mid-range Hotels: If you’re looking for a balance between comfort and cost, mid-range hotels like Ibis Bangkok Sathorn or The Quarter Ladprao by UHG provide a cozy retreat after a day of festivities.
  • Luxury Resorts: Indulge in luxury by staying at resorts like The Siam Hotel in Bangkok or Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai for a lavish experience during Songkran.

Transportation Tips

  • Booking Flights: Plan ahead and book your flights to Thailand well in advance to secure the best deals. Consider airlines like Thai Airways or Bangkok Airways for a comfortable journey to the festival.
  • Trains and Buses: Travelling within Thailand during Songkran can be hectic, so opt for trains or buses for a more relaxed commute. Take the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai or hop on a bus to explore different cities.
  • Local Transportation: Tuk-tuks and taxis are popular modes of transport in Thailand. Be cautious of scams and negotiate fares before hopping on a ride. Alternatively, use ride-sharing services like Grab for convenience.

Safety Precautions

  • Stay Hydrated: With the heat and festivities of Songkran, it’s essential to stay hydrated. Carry a water bottle with you at all times to beat the heat and enjoy the celebrations.
  • Protect Electronics: Water is a central element of Songkran, so safeguard your electronic devices by keeping them in waterproof pouches or bags. Consider using a waterproof phone case to capture the festival moments without worries.
  • Respect Local Customs: Embrace the cultural traditions of Thailand during Songkran by respecting local customs and practices. Learn a few basic Thai phrases to engage with locals and immerse yourself in the festival’s spirit.

Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a returning traveller, following these accommodation options, transportation tips, and safety precautions will ensure a memorable and enjoyable experience during Songkran 2024. Enjoy the festive spirit and make lasting memories in the Land of Smiles!

songkran festival

Top Destinations for Songkran 2024

Songkran, the Thai New Year water festival, is a vibrant and joyous celebration that attracts visitors from around the globe. In 2024, Thailand will come alive with exciting festivities, and here are the top destinations where you can experience the best of Songkran:

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is a must-visit destination during Songkran for its rich cultural heritage and lively celebrations. The city is known for its traditional practices that honor the New Year, including water splashing events that symbolize the washing away of the past year’s misfortunes. During Songkran, Chiang Mai’s streets transform into a playground of water fights and festive gatherings, creating a lively and memorable atmosphere for visitors to immerse themselves in Thai traditions.

Bangkok

While Chiang Mai offers a more traditional Songkran experience, Bangkok provides a modern twist to the festival, blending the old with the new. In the bustling capital city, Songkran celebrations feature energetic water battles where locals and tourists alike engage in friendly splashing matches.

Beyond the water festivities, Bangkok showcases cultural performances that highlight Thailand’s rich heritage, accompanied by vibrant nightlife that keeps the party going long after the sun sets. Experience the best of both worlds in Bangkok during Songkran 2024, where traditions meet modernity in a dynamic and unforgettable celebration.

Thailand Readies for a Serge in Covid-19 After Songkran

Essential Packing List for Songkran 2024

Are you ready to splash into the vibrant and joyous Songkran Festival in 2024? Packing smartly is key to ensure you have a memorable and safe experience at this thrilling event. Here’s a detailed packing list of essentials to consider bringing along for your Songkran adventure:

Clothing and Footwear

  • Comfortable and quick-dry clothing to stay cool during water festivities
  • Flip flops or waterproof sandals for easy movement and water drainage
  • Traditional Thai attire or colourful outfits to immerse yourself in the cultural celebrations
  • Sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat for sun protection

Water Essentials

  • Waterproof bags or pouches to protect your valuables like phone and money from splashes
  • Water guns or water pistols for participating in the lively water fights
  • Small towels to dry off quickly between the water battles
  • Extra Ziploc bags for storing wet items

Health and Safety

  • High SPF sunscreen to shield your skin from the intense tropical sun
  • Reusable water bottle to stay hydrated throughout the festivities
  • First aid kit with essentials like bandaids, antiseptic wipes, and pain relievers
  • Hand sanitizer for maintaining cleanliness during the festivities

Miscellaneous

  • Portable phone charger to keep your devices powered up for capturing memorable moments
  • Snacks like energy bars or dried fruits to keep you energized during the day
  • Small backpack or crossbody bag for carrying your essentials comfortably
  • Waterproof phone case to protect your device from water splashes

With this comprehensive packing list, you’ll be well-prepared to dive into the jubilant spirit of Songkran 2024 and create lasting memories amidst the water-soaked revelry. Get ready to celebrate in style and make the most of this festive occasion!

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

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Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Could Last-Minute Surprises Derail Kamala Harris’ Campaign? “Nostradamus” Explains the US Poll.

Scientists Awarded MicroRNA The Nobel Prize in Medicine.

US Inflation will Comfort a Fed Focused on Labor Markets.

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