Deputy Director General of the Lao Railway Department under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Mr Sonesack N. Nhansana, told Vientiane Times yesterday that authorities in charge are working toward organising a bidding process to seek a consultant firm and contractor to carry out construction at the expected date.

To be developed under the phase II, the extended line will be built over a distance of 7.5km to link the track from the outlying Thanalaeng railway station in Hadxaifong district to Khamsavat village in inner Saysettha district.

Laos now has only 3.5 km of rail line linking its capital with Thailand’s Nong Khai province via the Laos-Thailand Friendship Bridge. When the extension is complete, it will boast 11 km of track.

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith told the authorities in charge to work towards resuming construction of the extension in 2017 during his visit to Thanalaeng railway station in December 2016.

Mr Sonesack said finance was available to fund the project as Thailand had provided more than 203 billion kip (more than 900 million baht), of which 30 percent was in the form of a grant and 70 percent was a low-interest loan.

Once construction resumes, it would take about two years to complete the project, Mr Sonesack said.

He explained the project was previously suspended because Lao authorities wanted to study in detail how services of the 1-metre standard gauge Laos-Thailand track could be integrated with the 1.435-metre standard-gauge track width of the Laos-China railway, which is now under construction.

The authorities have now agreed that one of the stations planned for Vientiane as part of the 427-km Laos-China railway, which will link Vientiane to the Chinese border, will be built in Thanalaeng village so the two lines’ services are integrated.

Deputy Head of the Railway Management Division, Mr Khamphet Sisamouth told Vientiane Times previously that he was optimistic that once the extension was finished and operational, it would result in a significant increase in passenger numbers and tourist arrivals.

He justified that the planned railway station in Khamsavat village would be just 4km from the city centre (That Luang) and at 17km was shorter than travelling from That Luang to Thanalaeng railway station using the existing road network.

Thanalaeng railway station, the only station of Laos’ 3.5 km railway, handles 2,500 to 3,000 passengers a month, Mr Khamphet said, adding the station has registered growing numbers of passengers these days.

“Passengers keep asking why we don’t extend the track into the city centre,” he added.

Work on Phase II of the railway began a few years ago, including construction of a container yard, dormitories for staff, and a rail operations office, as well as improvements to the signals.

More than 173 billion kip (650 million baht) provided by Thailand was spent on this work, of which 30 percent was given as a loan and the remainder was a low-interest loan.

IN A factory in the north of Perth, a group of elderly West Australians make and assemble sturdy wheelchairs, which are sent to needy kids around the world.

These people are retirees – many of them volunteers in their 70s – happy to do occasional manual work for a charity that can transform life for disabled children in developing countries.

Just this week another container load of wheelchairs was loaded and dispatched to Thailand. The destination is a famous clinic on the Thai-Myanmar border.

The container is the second sent this year to Kanchana Thornton, a Thai-Australian nurse who has been doing inspirational things for some of the region’s most needy kids for over a decade.

Kanchana runs the Burma Children’s Medical Fund, a facility that operates from the Mae Tao Clinic set up by Karen refugee Dr Cynthia Maung.

Some of these wheelchairs have in the past gone to poor Thai families, but most are now destined for remote villages in Karen State in eastern Myanmar.

Thailand has very serious wealth inequality, but levels of poverty and hardship are far worse in ethnic areas across the border.

Myanmar has a medical system that for years received one of the

lowest outlays on healthcare anywhere in the world, and a ratio of health workers well below the global average. In 2013, just over 3 per cent of Myanmar’s budget was allocated to health, while funding for defence was more than 20 per cent.

Spending on health has risen since the Thein Sein administration, but

it is still way below demand – the country had one of the highest rates of out-of-pocket (private) spending on health in the world (82 per cent of total health spending) in 2015.

Cities like Yangon and Mandalay have undergone a boom in recent years, thanks to improved relations with the West and a surge in foreign investment. But there has been

limited change in ethnic areas in the north, east and west – particularly those plagued by conflict.

‘150 kids die in Myanmar every day’

A year after Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy took power in 2015, the Tatmadaw retains control of key ministries and is showing no sign of cooling military

campaigns that have displaced millions over the past 30 years. Her push for peace has made minimal progress – while the children of Myanmar pay a dreadful price for the military’s desire to crush their ethnic rivals.

Unicef, the UN’s agency focused on child welfare, sought to draw attention – prior to the second Panglong peace summit in May – to the plight of 2.2 million children suffering because of protracted crises in Rakhine, Kachin, Shan and Karen states.

Unicef’s deputy executive director Justin Forsyth met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander of the Myanmar Army, and visited camps for the displaced.

“Myanmar faces a real challenge in ensuring that children everywhere – not just in urban areas – gain from the country’s rapid development,” Forsyth said.

Families in IDP camps were

facing great hardship, he said. Many UN and non-government organisations were working hard to help these

people.

“But we need to solve some of the root causes of this problem.”

Forsyth said the 2014 census showed that up to 150 children under the age of five die every day in Myanmar, mainly from birth complications and infectious diseases. Nearly a third of all kids suffer

moderate or severe malnutrition.

Landmines are still a big problem. Nine of country’s 14 states and

divisions are contaminated with mines or remnants of war from past or ongoing conflicts. Unicef says every three days a person is a victim of

landmines, and on average, one of those three is a child.

AT the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, the lack of progress in the peace talks and lingering hardship in remote areas has surprised no-one. Ethnic groups have known for years that the military are indifferent to their

suffering, particularly near conflict zones.

Surveys by groups such as the Backpack Medics a decade ago indicated maternal and infant death rates as bad as areas in war-torn Africa. The figures have improved, but are still among the worst in Asia.

Nonetheless, there have been glimmers of hope. Kanchana, the BCMF director, is spending more time in Myanmar, meeting with

doctors and medical staff at various hospitals and clinics.

“People are much more open to discuss their situation,” she said. “They want to talk to you about getting help. Hospital doctors are also going to remote areas – on days off, to assess and treat patients.

“The medical profession is willing to talk, so we’re trying to work with them. And they’re happy to work with us.”

The BCMF has set up an office in Hpa-an, the capital of Karen/Kayin State, to build local capacity and work with partners such as the Ananda Myitta Clinic in Hpa-an, Karen State, and Mawlamyine Christian Leprosy Hospital in Mon State.

On the Thai Burma border more than 100,000 Burmese flock to the Mae Tao Clinic every year, as it treats most patients for free – migrant workers in Mae Sot as well as refugees from border camps such as Mae La, plus poor Karen and others from many parts of Myanmar.

For the past 10 years, the BCMF has sent a vanload of sick children to hospitals such as Suan Dok in Chiang Mai for surgery, which has often been lifesaving. It pays the cost of logistics and operations then brings the kids and their parents back, once they have recuperated at the Fund’s ‘Patient House’ in Chiang Mai.

Dr Cynthia, the BCMF and Mae Tao staff moved recently to new buildings further from the city centre. The Bt300 fare to get there, from Mae Sot town, has reduced the number of outpatients. But demand for free and affordable medical care from people in Myanmar has not abated; facilities over the border remain very basic and clinics often lack proper equipment and drugs.

The BCMF is now a major part of the clinic’s services, with 22 staff, including foreigners, Karen and Burmese interns, who help raise over half a million dollars in funds every year – from the US, Australia, Switzerland and Thailand, as well as donors in the UK and all around the world.

It operates five vans, and “every van is full and there are waiting lists for patients” wanting treatment, Kanchana said. They also support surgical projects, such as Operation Smile, eye screening, health education and stationary for “jungle schools”, give out mosquito nets, and of course, distribute the wheelchairs from Perth.

The big news is some cases are being referred back to Myanmar. Adults with heart problems have been sent to a cardiac surgeon in Yangon, while “simple cases” go to the Leprosy Hospital in Mawlamyine.

“But we [BCMF] help pay with surgical costs,” she said.

Kanchana, it seems, has found her life’s calling. Born in Bangkok, she

did a nursing degree and graduate diploma in child and family health at Sydney’s University of Technology after moving Down Under at the age of 14.

In 2001, following stints working at some of the biggest hospitals in Sydney she returned to Thailand with her husband Phil. She then travelled back as an Australian Volunteer, a vocational scheme funded by the Australian government’s AusAID that helped send hundreds of professionals to positions of need in the developing world each year.  After a few years at the clinic, there were so many complicated long-term medical cases she felt compelled to stay.

She said at that time: “There are many kids that need operations and it’s hard to organise transport to Chiang Mai. I just asked for an extension [as a volunteer], thinking ‘What will happen to all these kids if I go back?’

“I don’t think it’s fair to give them hope and dump them when you can resolve their problems.”

Thai health officials were understanding, she said. “I think they realise the clinic takes a lot of burden of patients that would otherwise go to their hospital and would be a big cost for them. Staff at the hospitals in Chiang Mai have a good understanding of the patients’ situation, she said.

“It’s the Thai authorities who let it happen by letting me take these kids to Chiang Mai, to let these kids have a chance to have a healthy life. And it’s not a big burden to the local

hospitals.”

Life and death decisions are made on a regular basis. Sometimes it comes down to money. BCMF is estimated to have saved about 2,000 children’s lives, but Kanchana realises there is a limit to what they can do.

“If an operation is too complicated and costs a lot, we can’t do it. It’s all due to the funding. We talk to the doctors in Chiang Mai and if the

prognosis is good, we try to do it.”

Mae Tao founder Dr Cynthia has won many awards, but the BCMF head has also been recognised. In 2007, Kanchana received the Paul Harris Medal from Rotary for her distinguished service. Then last month, she won US$50,000 (Bt1.7 million) from The One, a humanitarian award by Rotary International District 3450 in Hong Kong – money she intends to spend on solar panels and equipment for clean-water for “jungle

clinics” in Ler Per Her and other remote villages in Karen State.

But seeing chirpy kids and happy families seems to give her the greatest lift. “A little help can change their life,” she said.

With the Tatmadaw seemingly set on maintaining its power and influence, the border clinic and its vital service for kids could remain busy for many years yet.

Ukraine’s central bank, Kiev’s main airport, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site, and a string of multinational companies, including US pharmaceutical giant Merck, Russian state oil giant Rosneft, British advertising giant WPP and French industrial group Saint-Gobain, were among the victims.

The virus is similar in its demands to the WannaCry ransomware, which swept the world last month, hitting more than 200,000 users in more than 150 countries. WannaCry locked up files and insisted on payment to regain access to them.

Some IT specialists identified the newcomer as “Petrwrap”, a modified version of ransomware called Petya which circulated last year. But global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab described it as a new form of ransomware, and estimated the number of victims at around 2,000.

The virus is “spreading around the world, a large number of countries are affected,” Costin Raiu, a Kaspersky Lab researcher said in a Twitter post.

The precise method by which the intruder circulates — such as by email or through a “worm” — remains unclear, specialists said.

In France, the national cyber watchdog ANSSI said it was analysing the attacks and hoped to publish recommendations for users in a matter of hours.

‘Powerful’ attack

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman wrote on Facebook that the attacks in his country were “unprecedented” but insisted that “important systems were not affected.”

However, the radiation monitoring system at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear disaster site was taken offline.

“Our technicians are measuring radioactivity with Geiger counters onsite at the reactor as was done decades ago,” said Olena Kovaltshuk, spokesman for the government agency managing the exclusion zone around Chernobyl.

The attacks started around 2:00 pm Moscow time (1100GMT) and quickly spread to 80 companies in Ukraine and Russia, said cybersecurity company Group IB.

Victims were locked out of their computer and told to purchase a key to reinstate access. The cryptolocker demands $300 in the virtual currency Bitcoin and does not name the encrypting programme, which makes finding a solution difficult, Group IB spokesman Evgeny Gukov said.

Some Ukrainian banks were experiencing “difficulty in servicing customers and performing banking operations” due to the attacks, the central bank said in a statement.

Rosneft said its servers suffered a “powerful” cyberattack but thanks to its backup system “the production and extraction of oil were not stopped.”

In the United States, Merck was hit as was New York law firm of DLA Piper.

“We confirm our company’s computer network was compromised today as part of a global hack. Other organizations have also been affected,” Merck said on Twitter.

In Amsterdam, the Dutch parcel delivery company TNT, which operates in 200 countries around the world, said its systems had been affected.

“We are assessing the situation and are implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible,” the company, part of FedEx, said in a statement to AFP.

Vulnerabilities

Sean Sullivan, a researcher at the Finnish cybersecurity group F-Secure, said the attack “seems to be done by professional criminals,” with money as the motivation.

Unlike the recent WannaCry attack, the new attack had sophisticated elements that could make it easier to rapidly infect many more systems, he said.

Experts also said this latest attack could heighten fears that companies may be more vulnerable to cyberattacks than suspected, potentially putting personal data at risk.

“This will undeniably affect trust in these organisations and raise questions of competency,” said Louis Rynsard, a director at the corporate communications agency SBC London.

“The long-lasting impact of a cyberattack cannot be overstated,” he said.

The fight against cyberattacks has sparked exponential growth in global protection spending, with the cyber security market estimated at $120 billion this year, more than 30 times its size just over a decade ago.

But even that massive figure looks set to be dwarfed within a few years, experts said, after ransomware attacks crippled computers worldwide in the past week.

Kerr handed over the jewelry — given to her by Malaysian financier Jho Low — last Friday to federal agents in Los Angeles, a spokesman for the model told AFP.

“From the start of the inquiry, Miranda Kerr cooperated fully and pledged to turn over the gifts of jewelry to the government,” he said.

“Ms Kerr will continue to assist with the inquiry in any way she can,” he added.

Kerr is among a number of celebrities who have been sucked into the scandal involving the Malaysian fund called 1Malaysia Development Bhd, or 1MDB.

Earlier this month, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio turned over an Oscar won by Marlon Brando, along with other gifts given to him by Low, who allegedly laundered more than $400 million stolen from 1MDB through an account in the United States.

Neither Kerr nor DiCaprio are defendants in civil-forfeiture lawsuits filed by the justice department in the case.

The scandal has rocked the Malaysian governing class, exposing Prime Minister Najib Razak to allegations of corruption, which he has denied.

Razak created the 1MDB fund shortly after coming to power in 2009, saying it would help modernize the country.

1MDB now carries debt of some 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion). The prime minister and fund officials have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The State Department downgraded China in its annual “Trafficking in Persons Report,” saying Beijing is doing little to combat the phenomenon or protect its victims.

It pointed to ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority in China’s west, being coerced into forced labor, and to Beijing’s wholesale repatriation of North Koreans without checking to see if they were trafficking victims.

Beijing “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” said the report unveiled in Washington by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

It marked the first significant rebuke of China’s rights record by the Trump administration, which has avoided harsh criticism of Beijing as the president seeks to establish a working relationship over deep trade differences and North Korea’s nuclear program.

The release of the annual report also appeared to signal the Trump administration’s closer embrace of human rights issues as an integral part of its foreign policy. The five-month old government has been reticent to highlight rights issues, keeping its focus on more narrowly defined security and economic interests.

Speaking at the report’s launch, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and White House assistant, said all governments have the responsibility to prosecute human traffickers.

“Human trafficking is a pervasive human rights issue,” she said. “Ending human trafficking is a major foreign policy priority for the Trump administration.”

North Korea singled out

The State Department report placed Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea and Mali on its list of 23 “Tier 3” countries with the worst human trafficking records, which also includes Russia, Iran, Syria and Venezuela.

The DR Congo and Mali were singled out for not taking action against the use of child soldiers; Congo Republic was named as a key source and destination country for the trafficking of children, men and women into forced labor and sex networks.

Tillerson said around 20 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking, benefitting rogue governments, organized crime, and even established businesses unaware of forced labor in their supply chains.

“When state actors or non-state actors use human trafficking it becomes a threat to our national security,” Tillerson said.

“We hope the 21st century will be the last century of human trafficking.”

Tillerson singled out North Korea as one of the most egregious offenders, noting the country has forced 50,000 to 80,000 people to work abroad, mainly in China and Russia, while their pay goes directly to the government.

“The North Korean regime receives hundreds of millions of dollars per year from the fruits of forced labor,” he said. He tied China’s downgrade in part to its acceptance of laborers from North Korea.

“Responsible nations cannot allow this to go on,” he said.

Meanwhile Afghanistan was upgraded for its crackdown on the abuse of boys for social and sexual entertainment, and providing shelters for rescued children.

Myanmar, heavily criticized in the past for its large numbers of child soldiers, was removed from among the worst offenders to the “Tier 2 Watch List” for its efforts to halt the practice.

But the elimination of both Myanmar and Iraq from a special list of countries which use child soldiers brought a strong condemnation from Human Rights Watch, which called the State Department’s claim of their improvement a “lie”.

The move “flies in the face of evidence that both governments are still complicit in child soldier use,” said Jo Becker, HRW’s advocacy director for children’s rights.

“The US provides Iraq with billions of dollars of military assistance each year; in exchange, it should insist the government put an end to child recruitment by its units. Instead, the State Department isn’t even acknowledging Iraq has a child soldier problem,” she said.

The three were stopped as they travelled back from a drugs-burning ceremony organised by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in the eastern state of Shan to mark the UN’s anti-drug trafficking day.

They included reporters from The Irrawaddy and DVB, two publications that for years challenged the then-junta with their independent reporting from outside the country.

“They are under interrogation,” ministry of information spokesman Ye Naing told AFP.

“Based on the result of their interrogation, we have to consider how to proceed,” he added, declining to give any more details.

The military said on Monday they were stopped near Phayargyi village in Namhsham township. A TNLA source on Tuesday confirmed they were still being held in the area.

They may now face charges under the Unlawful Associations Act, a law used by the former military government to silence dissent during its half-century in power.

The legislation, which carries a maximum three-year prison sentence, was regularly used against anyone who made contact with the armed insurgent groups which have been fighting the state for decades.

The latest arrests were widely condemned, with the US embassy in Yangon expressing “concern” for the reporters and adding that a “free press is essential to Myanmar’s success”.

“Their arrests send a chilling message to Myanmar’s already embattled media,” said Amnesty International’s director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, James Gomez.

Myanmar Journalists Association called for “prompt measures” to be taken to ensure the three men are freed.

The arrests come amid a groundswell of activism among Myanmar’s journalists aimed at quashing a controversial online defamation law which critics say is being used to stifle press freedom.

Pressure has mounted since last month, when the army sued the editor in chief of The Voice and a satirist for uploading a link to an article poking fun at the military’s leaders.

The reporter has been released but the editor, Kyaw Min Swe, is being prosecuted under a broadly-worded telecommunications law which forbids the uploading of false of defamatory information.

Prosections under the law have surged since Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy came to power last year, with social media satirists, activists and journalists increasingly targeted.

Hard-charging European Commission competition chief Margrethe Vestager said the tech giant “abused its market dominance” as the world’s most popular search engine to give an advantage to its Google Shopping service.

“What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” Denmark’s Vestager told a news conference in Brussels.

“It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation.”

Google now has 90 days to “end this conduct” or face further fines, Vestager said. These could amount to five per cent of Google’s daily revenue, she added, a penalty of roughly $14 million a day.

The fine broke the previous European Union record for a monopoly case against US chipmaker Intel of 1.06 billion euros in 2009.

Google said it “respectfully” disagreed with the EU decision, which followed a seven-year investigation, and may appeal.

“When you shop online, you want to find the products you’re looking for quickly and easily. And advertisers want to promote those same products,” Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.

“That’s why Google shows shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large and small, in ways that are useful for both.

“We will review the Commission’s decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case.”

– ‘Game-changer’ –

Google Shopping shows the images and prices of products in response to searches about shopping when someone uses the search engine.

Brussels accuses Google of giving its own service too much priority in search results to the detriment of other price comparison services, such as TripAdvisor and Expedia.

The EU alleges that in 2008 Google embarked on a “fundamental change in strategy” by devoting top of the page priority to Google Shopping, pushing rivals further down the page.

“This decision is a game-changer,” said Monique Goyens, head of the European Consumer Organisation which was also involved in the case.

“Google’s market dominance has given the company power to decide the fate of all but the biggest online service providers — in other words nearly every company,” said Fairsearch, a lobby of complainants, in a statement.

The verdict comes less than a year after Vestager shocked Washington and the world with an order that iPhone manufacturer Apple repay 13 billion euros in back taxes in Ireland.

The Google fine could also set an important precedent for other Google services, such as for images, news and travel that have also received complaints from rivals.

While an EU record, the amount is below the maximum possible of more than 8 billion euros or 10 per cent of Google’s total revenue of $90 billion last year.

 – ‘No bias’ –

The case, launched in 2010, is one of three against Google and of several against blockbuster US companies including Starbucks, Apple, Amazon and McDonalds.

In the other Google cases, the EU is examining Google’s AdSense advertising service and its Android mobile phone software.

Vestager said “preliminary conclusions” in the Android and AdSense cases showed Google also breached EU rules.

The cases have stoked tensions with Washington and could now face the wrath of Trump, the tycoon who won office on his “America First” slogan and has previously hit out against the EU.

But Vestager denied any anti-US prejudice.

“I have been going through the statistics… I can find no facts to support any kind of bias,” she said.

The decision come after a long negotiation period with many twists and turns.

Vestager’s predecessor, the Spaniard Joaquin Almunia, made three attempts to resolve the dispute amicably but each time pressure by national governments, rivals and privacy advocates scuppered the effort.

The Google fine will almost certainly face a gruelling appeals process through the EU court in Luxembourg.

The 2009 fine against Intel is still snaking its way through the court, with an appeal decision not expected until next year.

If you need to look up any of those words, the unofficial custodian of the English language now has the answers.

In its latest update, the Oxford English Dictionary identified more than 600 words, phrases and senses that have entered common parlance.

They include “zyzzyva”, a genus of tropical weevils native to South America. The word replaces zythum — an ancient Egyptian malt beer — as the OED’s final entry.

The name was apparently coined by the US entomologist Thomas Lincoln Casey, who described it in a 1922 work, the OED said.

“In any case, zyzzyva owes much of its currency in English to its notoriety as the last entry in various dictionaries, the ranks of which now include the OED,” it said.

The quarterly update includes “post-truth”, previously announced by the OED as its word of the year for 2016 following Britain’s Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s presidential victory.

“Brexit” itself also made into the dictionary last year, meeting the OED’s criterion that a new word, phrase or sense of a word must have featured in a variety of printed sources over several years.

Other new senses this time include “thing”, as in “a genuine or established phenomenon or practice”, often used when you’re incredulous about something.

The OED said the earliest citation of this new sense was from a 2000 episode of the US TV drama “The West Wing”: “Did you know that ‘leaf peeping’ was a thing?'”

Just in time for this year’s Wimbledon tournament are 50 new terms relating to tennis, such as “forced error”, “chip and charge” and “career slam”.

Further additions to the English lexicon are chana dal, the Hindi phrase for chickpeas, and doenjang, a paste made from fermented soya beans used in Korean cookery.

A gin daisy is a cocktail made with gin, lemon juice and (usually) grenadine.

Drink enough gin daisies and you may well be overcome by hygge, the Danish term for “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being”.

The mini and full rehearsals for the funeral procession and other requirements have to start next month, he said.

The issues were discussed and agreed during the second meeting of the funeral panel that was chaired by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

“The preparations for the Royal funeral have progressed about 60 to 90 per cent. All the things would be ready in September,” Prayut said.

The Royal funeral for HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej will take place from October 25 to 29 while the cremation will take place on October 26.

His Majesty the King has been informed of the progress of the work, Prayut said.

From next month, we will enter full-rehearsal mode, Prayut said. The rehearsals would have to start today because the procession of 800 meters (to parade the Royal Urn from Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall to the Royal crematorium in Sanam Luang) would last about two hours.

“All the works are very informative so the rehearsals would be in full function from next month,” he said.

He reiterated that the special public holiday will fall on October 26 only, not all the five days of that week as claimed on some social networks.

Titled “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China,” the work has drawn worldwide readers to the mysteries of its popularity and left a profound impact on the world.

A selection of 79 chapters of speeches and notes made by Xi from his election as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in 2012 to June 2014, the book is known for being a “window” to the Chinese leadership and a “key” to China’s development success.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen requested a digital version to read on cellphone; Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recommended it to cabinet members.

Russian scholar Yuri Tavrovsky introduced Xi’s innovative reform measures to Russian readers in a recent book, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg not only has one for himself but has bought more for his colleagues so that they would “understand Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.”

Photo taken on Nov. 4, 2015 shows the Vietnamese version of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s book on governance, which is released in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi. (Xinhua/Le Yanna)

Though nearly three years have passed since the first launch of the book, the demands for local language versions are still growing.

A dozen of the existing 22 language editions were released at the request of foreign countries, and by the end of 2018 another 13 language versions are expected to add to the series, said Xu Bu, president of Foreign Languages Press, the book’s publisher.

Speaking of the charm of Xi’s book, Seubpong Changboonchu, a teacher at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University and one of the translators of the Thai version, said the Chinese president reminded him of famous Japanese football cartoon “Captain Tsubasa.”

“The main character was a resilient person who worked really hard to make his dreams come true,” he said, referring to Xi’s elaboration on the Chinese dream of great national rejuvenation.

Instead of painting an illusionary picture, Xi drove home his belief that “hard work makes dreams come true.” He went to great lengths to address “all-round and deeper-level reform,” listing over 330 major measures in 15 fields, including fighting corruption and improving the judicial system.

“Xi’s thoughts are focused on the fundamental problems occurring during China’s transition from a big country to a strong country, and his governance practice is aimed at accomplishing the historic tasks that come with this period,” said Han Qingxiang, a professor of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

In the past five years, thanks to its strong determination and effective execution, China has lifted over 60 million people out of poverty, created 64 million new jobs in urban areas, universalized nine-year tuition-free compulsory education, and established the world’s biggest healthcare and social security system.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expressed confidence in separate reports in China’s economic outlook, which was also a vote of confidence in China’s economic reform.

Impressed by the success of the Chinese path, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in his foreword for the Uzbek edition, said Xi’s book offers important inspiration and guidance on governing a country, developing a market economy that fits national features, and protecting public interests.

In about two years, Pakistan issued both the English and the Urdu versions of the book. Chairman Mushahid Hussain of Pakistan’s Senate Defense Committee, who attended both publishing ceremonies, told Xinhua that he had learned a lot from Xi’s experience of communicating with the people when he worked as party chief in an eastern Chinese province.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the opening plenary of the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 17. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

Xi’s confident governance style has inspired many more developing countries to seek a development path that suits their national conditions, observed Han, the Party School professor.

With the West haunted by terrorism, refugee waves, financial crises and political deadlocks, more and more countries are joining China’s initiatives such as the Belt and Road and the building of a community of shared future for mankind.

French author Sonia Bressler first read the book two years ago and was fascinated by Xi’s thoughts on “peaceful development.” Having recently reread the work, she commented that China’s aim for “mutually beneficial cooperation” is just as relevant to today’s world as ever.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and British sociologist Martin Albrow, two renowned strategic thinkers, both saw new conceptions from Xi’s book that could help improve the current world order.

“At a time when some countries wrestle over global governance reform, China sticks to a more open and inclusive path forward, which answers the call of history and accords with international public opinion,” said Qin Yaqing, president of China Foreign Affairs University.

“It is an important reason both behind the growing global support for Chinese initiatives and behind the lasting global attention on Xi’s book,” he added.

(Xinhua reporters Ying Qiang, Wei Zhongjie, Yang Zhou, Liu Tian, Zhang Jianhua and Liang Nini contributed to the story.)