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Six Dead by Southern Thailand Floods

Debris and contents of houses in Narathiwat Province, southern Thailand. (AFP)
Debris and contents of houses in Narathiwat Province, southern Thailand. (AFP)
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Six Dead by Southern Thailand Floods

Debris and contents of houses in Narathiwat Province, southern Thailand. (AFP)
Debris and contents of houses in Narathiwat Province, southern Thailand. (AFP)

Floods in southern Thailand have killed at least six people and affected tens of thousands of households, authorities said on Wednesday.

The floods, which began on December 22, have hit more than 70,000 homes across the provinces of Satun, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, regional officials said.

Six people including an 89-year old woman and a toddler were killed in Narathiwat, deputy provincial governor Preecha Nualnoi told AFP.

Another person was still missing following days of intense rain, which sparked floodwaters that reached around three meters in height in some places, he said.

Local media footage showed streets submerged by the muddy deluge and residents taking refuge on rooftops.

Relief teams worked by night to hand out bottled water and snacks, as well as check buildings for damage or casualties.

Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said the water level had reduced on the morning of December 27.

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Mexico’s President Amused by Trump’s Order to Rename the Gulf of Mexico

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Mexico’s President Amused by Trump’s Order to Rename the Gulf of Mexico

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has an answer for US President Donald Trump about his idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”: he can call it whatever he wants on the American part of it.

Sheinbaum on Tuesday had been working through the raft of executive orders from Trump that relate to Mexico, emphasizing Mexico’s sovereignty and the need for dialogue, but when she got to the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“He says that he will call it the Gulf of America on its continental shelf,” Sheinbaum said. “For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico.”

Trump said in his inaugural address Monday that he will change the name, an idea he first brought up earlier this month during a news conference.

“A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” he said. Hours later he signed an Executive Order to do it.

Sheinbaum projected on a large screen at her daily press briefing Trump’s order called “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness.”

The order says that within 30 days, the US secretary of the interior will rename “the US Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.”

Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.

The first time Trump mentioned the idea of changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, Sheinbaum responded sarcastically suggesting instead renaming North America as “América Mexicana” or “Mexican America.”

This time, she just briefly insisted: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”