Thailand’s capital has seen its coldest temperatures in three decades, as the normally balmy Southeast Asian country is experiencing one of its longest winter cold snaps in years.

Oparg Karankawinpong, deputy director of the Department of Disease Control, said Thursday that as many as 63 people in 24 provinces have died from cold-related ailments since the cool season began in late October, with the north and northeast being the country’s chilliest areas. He said hotter weather was expected to begin in mid-February.

Thai media quoted Songkram Aksorn, deputy director general of the country’s meteorological department, as saying that Bangkok’s temperature fell Thursday morning to 15.6 degree Celsius (60.08 degrees Fahrenheit), the lowest in 30 years. He added that the current cold season lasting almost three months was the longest in a decade.

It is not unusual for people living in northern Thailand to haul out coats and scarves to wear around the turn of the year, and tourists and locals alike wonder at frost found in mountainous areas. But in poorer communities it is necessary for blankets to be distributed by authorities. The cold weather also is a concern because it lowers people’s resistance to diseases, raising the risk of infections such as bird flu.

Toyota remained the top-selling automaker for a second year in a row, beating U.S. rival General Motors by some 270,000 vehicles in 2013, and set an ambitious target to sell more than 10 million vehicles this year.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it sold a record 9.98 million vehicles worldwide last year, up 2 percent from the previous year.

Toyota also outlined plans to sell 10.32 million vehicles and produce 10.43 million vehicles in 2014.

General Motors Co. sold 9.71 million cars and trucks worldwide last year, outselling Volkswagen AG of Germany at 9.5 million.

Toyota recaptured the global sales crown in 2012 from GM, which had been the top-selling carmaker for more than seven decades until being surpassed by Toyota in 2008.

A 30ft sculpture of Nelson Mandela has angered South African officials as the sculptors left a ‘signature’ on the artwork – a sculpted rabbit tucked inside one of the bronze ears.

The bronze memorial, which was unveiled outside the government complex in Pretoria, after Mandela’s funeral on December 16, is billed as the largest statue of the South African leader in the world.

Officials demand that the miniature rabbit is to be removed from the statue, claiming it mocks Mandela and his life’s work.

The giant work stands with arms outstretched, symbolizing Mandela’s devotion to inclusiveness, outside the Union Buildings, where the his body rests.
Paul Mashatile, arts and culture minister, said the sculptors have apologized for any offense to those who felt the rabbit was disrespectful toward the legacy of Mandela.

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