BIRTHDAY
December 18, 1980
Staten Island, NY

RECENT CREDITS
Get Him to the Greek (FILM) Jun. 4, 2010
Making the Video (TV) Feb. 21, 2007
Late Show With David Letterman (TV) Feb. 8, 2007
Ellen DeGeneres Show (TV) Feb. 7, 2007
Tonight Show With Jay Leno (TV) Feb. 1, 2007

Although she lost when she appeared on Star Search at age 9, this determined diva was definitely the winning star out of a slew of late-’90s pop princesses. Undeterred by her televised talent-show defeat, Aguilera continued to pursue her musical dreams and signed on to the Mickey Mouse Club at age 12, where she performed alongside Justin Timberlake, J.C. Chasez and her future nemesis, Britney Spears. After working overseas and recording the song “Reflection” for Disney’s Mulan, Aguilera released her self-titled first album in 1999. Like many of her fellow teen songstresses, including Spears and Jessica Simpson, she had blonde hair, an innocent yet alluring image and catchy pop hits like “Genie in a Bottle” and “What a Girl Wants.” However, Aguilera was a much stronger vocalist than her competitors, boasting a four-octave range and a jazzy-pop style. The industry took note of her superior talent and in 1999 she won the Grammy for Best New Artist. In the 2000s, she (like her cohorts) sexed up her look. For her second album, 2002′s Stripped, she went from teenybopper to bombshell, appearing practically nude on its cover, in her videos and in a number of men’s magazines. In 2006, Back to Basics found her super-sexy image complemented by vintage vocal stylings reminiscent of her idols Etta James and Billie Holiday. Despite Aguilera’s racy image, she had a down-to-earth personal life. Unlike Spears, whose life spiraled out of control, or Simpson, who traded music for movies, Aguilera remained amazingly focused, earning three more Grammys (including two for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance) and settling into a stable marriage with producer Jordan Bratman.

Read More http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/1149906/Christina_Aguilera

BIRTHDAY
September 28, 1968
Shoreham, England

RECENT CREDITS
Mother and Child (FILM) May. 7, 2010
The International (FILM) Feb. 13, 2009
Funny Games (FILM) Mar. 14, 2008
Eastern Promises (FILM) Sep. 14, 2007
The Painted Veil (FILM) Dec. 20, 2006

BIOGRAPHY

Born in England, raised in Australia and ? after 15 years of hard work ? an “overnight” Hollywood success, this actress is as brilliant as she is gorgeous. Watts began studying acting Down Under and befriended Nicole Kidman at a commercial audition when the two were just teens. In their twenties they both appeared in the boarding-school drama Flirting, but Kidman’s star rose much more quickly than Watts’. Throughout the ’90s, Watts languished in supporting parts that failed to showcase her incredible versatility and knack for accents. Yet, with a lot of encouragement from Kidman, she stuck it out and finally got her big break in 2001′s Mulholland Dr. Originally conceived as a TV series, this offbeat chronicle of an L.A. starlet was released as a movie that featured Watts in two powerhouse parts. Audiences and critics immediately took notice of her talent, and the next year she finally hit the big time with the horror flick The Ring and made the tabloids because of her romance with hunk Heath Ledger, 10 years her junior. Watts continued her hot streak with an Oscar-nominated turn in 2003′s 21 Grams and soon signed on to play an ape’s best gal in the remake of King Kong. After her relationship with Ledger ended in 2004, she found new love in the arms of the more mature Liev Schreiber, her costar in The Painted Veil.

more: http://www.bangkokpost.com/multimedia/photo/189646/12th-fruit-carving-contest

Nok’s board on Wednesday endorsed a major plan to add eight planes – four Boeing 737-800s and four ATR-72 turboprops – to its fleet currently comprising six Boeing 737-400s and two ATR-72s.

The board, chaired by Siam Commercial Bank executive chairman Vichit Suraphongchai, was also receptive to the plan by Nok’s management for the carrier to resume flying regional routes in the next one or two years.

The approval is seen as a big step forward for Nok since its recovery from its worst financial crisis three years ago caused by spiking oil prices, global economic turbulence and over-expansion which included the launch of international services to Vietnam and India.

It also dealt with the recent criticism from THAI, its largest shareholder with 39%, that Nok was too complacent with its status quo to support THAI’s plan to use it to fight off the growing dominance of Thai AirAsia, part of Malaysia-based AirAsia Bhd, in the lower market segment.

THAI’s management has made this issue, among others, an excuse to quickly create Thai Tiger Airways (TTA), a 51:49 joint venture with the Singapore-based low-cost carrier Tiger Airways, the agreement of which was hastily signed on Monday.

The TTA deal raised some eyebrows among industry executives and Thai politicians as the deal involved a Thai flag carrier and the Singapore-based low-cost carrier which counts among its major shareholders Singapore Airlines (SIA), an arch-rival of THAI, and the Singapore government investment arm Temasek, which bought Shin Corp from the family of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.

But Nok chief executive Patee Sarasin insisted that the directives adopted by Nok’s board were not meant to counter THAI’s criticism and did not signal opposition to the formation of TTA, but rather were intended to support Nok’s own organic growth.

Nok’s fleet expansion will largely serve domestic air travel demand which has shown healthy growth and a good future outlook.

“Our objective, as we reaffirmed to THAI, has remained clear, that we will continue to consolidate our position in the domestic market, not repeating the past mistakes. We will not go to regional markets until we are ready, probably in the next one or two years,” Mr Patee told the Bangkok Post.

TTA is expected to start flying in the first quarter of next year with five new Airbus A320s leased from Tiger Airways before another five joining the fleet a year later.

TTA plans initially to operate eight routes out of Suvarnabhumi Airport to Phuket, Chiang Mai, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Macau, Chennai, Shenzhen and Phuket-Chiang Mai.

According to Mr Patee, the four B737-800s, more advanced and with greater fuel efficiency than the B737-400s currently used by Nok, could start joining Nok’s fleet as early in October and remain in the fleet for a few years.

Nok has been in discussions with the aircraft leasing firm Gecas to lease the four B737-800 jets to serve its expanding domestic network and frequencies. Two of the current six B737-400s were leased from Gecas and the rest from THAI.

In addition, Nok is seeking to lease four additional French-made ATR72 propeller planes to operate on secondary domestic routes. Its two current ATRs are leased from the Thai flag carrier.

Nok reportedly made 445 million baht in net profit for the first half of this year. It is optimistic of earning up to 700 million baht for all of 2010, compared to 364 million baht last year.

“Our business is looking bright and secure,” Mr Patee said, assuring Nok will not be moved by the controversies involving the creation of TTA.

Read More http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviation/189858/nok-undaunted-by-thai-tiger-deal

The artists featured are Saksit “Tor” Vejsupaporn, Apiwat “Stamp” Eurthavornsuk, Voravej “Dan” Danuwong , Chalatit “Ben” Tantiwut, Cutto of Lipta, Q Flure, First of Slot Machine, Muey of Scrubb, Tu Phobthorn and Krissada Sukosol Clapp.

The concert will be held at Impact Exhibition Hall 1 on September 11, at 7pm. Tickets go on sale on Thursday and can be purchased at http://www.thaiticketmajor.com. Tickets range from 2,500 to 800 baht.

Read more http://www.bangkokpost.com/entertainment/music/189029/all-star-concert

By 2015, Thailand will increase its spending on research and development from 0.25 percent to 1 percent of gross domestic product, said Pichet Durongkaveroj, Secretary General of the National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office.

To date, the kingdom has spent 18 billion baht on R&D, or 0.25 percent of GDP, which still below the average at the global level of around 1.04 percent according to The International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) competitiveness ranking of 58 countries.

However, the government should have more aggressive strategies to boost R&D activities, especially through Government Procurement, National Projects to get the benefit by training people related with those projects and technology transfer.

Climate change, energy, healthcare, agricultural and food safety, tourism and original design manufacturing are all targeted strategic areas for National Policy and Plan for Science Technology and Innovation 2010-2020.

All these strategic areas will be guideline frameworks for committees to grant research budgets to the research projects. This will help the country reduce overlapping projects and focus on serving policy and preparing the country from the impact of globalisation, especially from free trade agreements allowing a free flow of workers.

Thailand should find its way to collaborate in S&T with Asean Plus 6. For example, S&T education with Cambodia, Laos Myanmar and Vietnam, and halal food co-operation with Malaysia and Indonesia. The kingdom must boost research spending equally in both the public and private sectors, but currently 55 percent of R&D spending comes from the government. And it needs to encourage research institutions to focus more on upstream technology rather than dominate in processing and trouble-shooting.

Moreover, there is a need to motivate the younger generation to learn Science and Technology (S&T) in order to increase the researcher rate from 6.75 researchers per 10,000 to 10 researchers per 10,000. Currently, in Thailand, only 20 percent of students choose to learn S&T, compared to Korea, where 70 percent of students choose to learn S&T.

“The aim is to produce graduates with an academic background and high technology skills by project-based teaching and learning methodology. Students are to discover their capability of applying their technology-inventing skills in their careers or in higher education,” Pichet said.

Manoo Ordeedolchest, Chairman of ICT policy at Sripathum University, said that the government can leverage use of social network sites to motivate the young generation to learn S&T aggressively by providing interesting science tips and contents that show the application of science to daily life and how it can change the world.

Meanwhile Dr Dundar Kocaoglu, President and CEO of Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), also suggested that Thailand move towards being an innovative country by changing its education system from a model based on rote learning to a new model based on inquiring and applying knowledge as well as creating more research universities.

Rapidly changing technology is increasing competition among businesses and the country needs to use innovation not only in the world of business but the government should create awareness and facilitate an environment of innovation such as boosting high tech manpower and recognition for researchers and higher education. South Korea places great emphasis on innovation while Taiwan is known for its entrepreneurial spirit.

Read more http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/technews/188208/calls-for-boosting-r-d

According to DLT director-general Chairat Sanguansue, the department has offered the smart RFID technology as an option on the annual tax payment badge to pave the way for connecting vehicle data with other organisations.

“The RFID program is not compulsory, but the department will provide it to the public on a voluntary basis. The vehicle owners are required to pay an additional 120 baht for tax if they prefer to have the annual tax payment badge with the RFID system,” he said.

The RFID system comprises two parts: the smart tag which is the RFID chip to attach on the front mirror of the vehicle, and the smart pass which is the RFID chip to attach to the front light of the vehicle.

The RFID system will function once the reader transceiver the data from the tag via radio frequency and sends the data to the computer centre. The data will then decode the vehicle’s tax mark which is attached on the vehicle’s mirror.

The director-general noted that the department is now connecting the data system with the Royal Thai Police and in the future it will be linked with other organisations such as the Department of Corrections so that there will be data of criminal records and drivers’ records.

The smart RFID will be officially provided to the public on August 11, and the department will offer the service free of charge from August 11-30.

Chairat said that the DLT did not spend the budget for the project, but it was invested by the private sector company, Kolakorn Co, Ltd.

The company plans to install at least 450 chip readers in the first phase, within September 2011, which will cover the main roads including state highways, provincial highways and the expressway and will then expand into the districts, tambons and villages if the requirement is complete to 100 percent.

The director-general added that car-leasing companies and insurance firms will benefit from the project. “We expect that there will be some 15-20 percent of the total number of vehicles and all of the new cars to apply for the RFID tag because more than 90 percent of new cars are paid for by credit payment and this new kind of technology is very helpful to the financial institutes as they just pay 120 baht, but get better security in pursuing the vehicles,” he said.

According to Somapa Information Technology managing director, Namchoke Somapa, as the RFID project’s system developer, the RFID reader can function at a distance of 200 km per hour.

With a capability to contain some 60 letters, the smart tag encompasses the vehicle’s data including the colour, brand, plate number, machine number and the expired date of tax.

This project is going to create the logistics standard of the country, he said, noting that this project has been developed with open standard technology in order to have other organisations integrate with the system in the future.

Apart from the leasing companies and insurance firms, Namchoke said the organisations associated with transportation can more systematically manage the traffic, the security agencies will be able to examine the vehicle use in cases of crime, while those involved with the logistics can precisely check the transportation procedure.

Namchoke noted that the project targets to have some 1-2 million cars, in the mass transport group, to apply the RFID system. “We would like to have a collaboration of the public and private sectors on this project and acknowledge that this technology will help the country to do better planning on logistics,” he said.

The insurance companies will be the first target of the project and then it will expand the benefits to other groups including individuals and real estate developers as they can apply the RFID tag instead of the authorised passing card.

The smart RFID project can be applied for a variety of purposes including smart parking, access control, authorised access, electronic-claim, e-toll collection, tracking, real-time traffic monitoring and vehicle identification.

Ever since the latest Honda Civic rolled into the Thai market, it has set benchmarks in performance, interior space and ergonomics. It was also an easy car to drive, if not the best handler.

Mazda came out with the 3 that scored on style and handling. But as we found out during a shootout between the 3 and Civic, the Mazda still isn’t better overall as it lacked performance and comfort.

Another contest for the Civic was challenged by the Toyota Corolla. But it appeared that the utterly comfort-oriented Toyota simply lacked spice in aesthetics and driving experience to be a true range-topper.

Read more http://www.bangkokpost.com/auto/autoreview/188593/prime-compacts

BMW 5-series GT
Despite being the nearest rival to the A7, Munich says the GT highlights the lofty ride height of an SUV and isn’t putting the coupe’ factor into equation. In other words, the GT is for the elderly who don’t want to bend down too much when getting in and out of the car. BMW (Thailand) is saying no to the GT.

Mercedes-Benz CLS
The gentlemen in Stuttgart persist on calling the CLS a coupe’ when in fact it has four doors; the 2+2 seating layout might be a saving grace. Unlike the others here, the CLS has a booted rear-end like in traditional saloons and has become a success – also in Thailand. Second-gen model due to be announced any time.

Porsche Panamera
Zuffenhausen’s latest four-door may look like either a saloon or hatchback, but it’s best to call it a five-door fastback due to its rakish rear windscreen. It’s arguably the most dynamic car to drive here, but it’s also the most expensive in this crowd with prices way over B12m in Thailand for the basic V6 version.

read more http://www.bangkokpost.com/auto/autopreview/188592/audi-a7-sportback