"NORTHEAST"

The Category 5 typhoon “Vamco” over the upper coast of Vietnam was centred about 180 kilometres southeast of Dong Hoi, Vietnam at 4am on Sunday, the Thailand Meteorological Department said. 

Category 3 tropical storm "Linfa" made landfall over Quang Ngai, Vietnam at 10am on Sunday with sustained winds of 75 kilometres per hour (kph), the Thai Meteorological Department reported at 10am.

There will be no military roadblocks to stop protesters from the Northeast travelling to join an anti-government demonstration scheduled for Saturday (September 19) at Thammasat University's Tha Phrachan campus in Bangkok, 2nd Army spokesman Maj-General Rachan Prachantasen said on Monday (September 14).

The Thai Meteorological Department on Saturday (September 14) morning warned people in the lower Northeast, the Central region, including Bangkok and its vicinity, the East and the South (west coast) to brace for more heavy rains and dangers from accumulated rainfalls over the next 24 hours.

Latest UN report also warns ‭Thais living in the northeast are vulnerable ‬

The northeastern province of Si Sa Ket on Tuesday declared that the prevention and control of dengue fever had become an issue requiring urgent attention throughout its area. Health chiefs said they were especially concerned about what will happen during the latter stages of the traditional rainy season.

A transgender teacher’s assistant at a school in the Northeast has been subjected to discrimination to such an extent that it has affected her welfare and promotion, Thai activist Nada Chaivajit claimed in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

The Northeast is suffering from critical water shortage due to the lack of rain, despite it being the middle of the rainy season.

The Office of National Water Resources (ONWR) has warned of water shortages in 160 districts in the North and Northeast due to the low level of water in dams and reservoirs and an anticipated lack of rain in July and August.

The Democrat Party's "Economic Avenger Team" on Sunday announced its fact-finding mission to the Northeast found the region is suffering two major problems – water shortages and farmers afflicted by crushing debt. Party members would begin tackling the problems once they were assigned Cabinet positions, team leader Prinn Panitchpakdi said.

A durian fair is significantly spurring economy in Si Sa Ket, a remote and rather poor province in northeast Thailand.

A CHARITY run led by rock star Artiwara “Toon” Kongmalai has scored another success – raising more than Bt 40 million for eight small hospitals in the Northeast.