Thailand News
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Prawit plays down Senate appointees coming from NCPO and current cabinet
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has submitted a list of 250 senators to His Majesty the King, while Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan has commented that a new government won’t be set up until after a new PM has been named. This news is coming from the National News Bureau of Thailand and should be read in light of the source. The…
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Two dead, two injured from collision in Suphan Buri
PHOTOS: Samerkun Suphanburi Rescue Foundation Two people have died while another two people have sustained serious injuries after two pickup trucks colliided in Suphan Buri, north west of Bangkok. Samerkun Suphanburi Rescue Foundation was notified of the accident on Danchang – Baan Rai Road in Suphan Buri at 5pm yesterday (Sunday). Rescue workers arrived to find two damaged pickup trucks,…
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Digital dithering: TV operators exit stage right
Almost a quarter of the Thai digital TV industry want to return licences under a junta offer. Six commercial digital TV broadcasters are handing the seven licences they hold back to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. The move will leave about 1,000 people without a job. Returning the licences are Bright TV for its Bright TV Channel 20, Voice…
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Thailand slashes 2019 exports estimates as trade war escalates
by Phuwit Limviphuwat Thai exporters are expected to pay a heavy price as the ramping up of the US-China trade war continues. The US has now launched a new round of tariffs on Chinese imports. Last Friday US President Donald Trump tweeted: “Talks with China continue in a very congenial manner, there is absolutely no need to rush, as Tariffs…
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Vast majority of poll respondents oppose ministers and NCPO members joining Senate
PHOTO: Trying to explain the unexplainable Most Thais are unhappy with the party-list seat announcements and the perceived nepotism in the selection of parliamentary Senate members. A majority of respondents in a Suan Dusit Poll disagree with the ‘formula’ used to calculate party-list seats and with cabinet ministers and members of the military junta taking up new roles in the…
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And then there was three – a new bloc emerges from the political number-crunching
PHOTO: The latest political weapon – an adding machine A third possible bloc is emerging as the phones run hot with major parties trying to persuade the smaller parties and solo MPs to side with them. The magic number is 251 seats to form a workable majority coalition. Any fewer than 250 will mean they risk being defeated on any…
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Rising tide of concern over lifting ban on elephant exports
by Pratch Rujivanarom Animal rights activists, along with a strong voice of disapproval on social media, are complaining about the Commerce Ministry’s plan to legalise the export of live domesticated elephants. Somsak Soonthornnawaphat, head of Thai operations for the organisation World Animal Protection, strongly disapproves of the plan, citing the likelihood of the elephants suffering distress and even agony on…
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Prayut sacks the Lottery board and chief, Army Commander-in-Chief Apirat Kongsompong
Thailand’s Government Lottery Office board has been removed by an executive order issued by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha. The board was chaired by the ultra-loyalist Army Commander-in-Chief General Apirat Kongsompong. The same executive order appointed Mr. Patchara Anantasilp, director-general of the Excise Department, as the new board chairman. The order was made coming into immediate effect. Three other people were also appointed to the new…
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Prawit defends the PM’s brother being appointed to the new Senate
PHOTO: Thai Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan When the media are sceptical, get your wing man to back you up. The deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan has defended the appointment of retired General Preecha Chan-o-cha, the younger brother of PM Prayut, as a senator in the new parliament’s upper house. He said Gen Preecha is qualified as he was a member of…
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Massive corals off Rayong start bleaching
PHOTOS: Thon Thamrongnawasawat Massive and aged corals have started to bleach off the coast of Rayong in the Gulf of Thailand. Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat, assistant dean of the Faculty of Fisheries at Kasetsart University and a marine biologist says, “The coral in Rayong has started to bleach. From a bird eye view we can see clearly the white coral around…
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First batch of practitioners qualify to prescribe medical cannabis
Thailand is now certifying the first batch of 175 professionals who will be qualified to prescribe marijuana-based medication. Medical Services have released the names of the first 175 practitioners who successfully completed the two day course. According to The Nation, 192 attended the training, but only 175 had passed it. The successful professionals will become the first to qualify for handing…
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Forming the next Thai government – Bhumjaithai and Democrats will decide
The result of who becomes the next government won’t come down to Palang Pracharat, Pheu Thai or even Future Forward. The horse-trading, that has been ongoing since the first results emerged after the March 24 election, has come down to some very simple maths. The ‘swinging’ Bhumjaithai Party. Their votes will sweep either Pheu Thai or the Junta-in-civilian-clothing, Palang Pracharat,…
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27 deaths from Dengue fever already this year
27 people have died from dengue fever in Thailand so far this year. That’s the highest fatality rate, year on year, in the past five years. The Public Health Ministry deputy permanent secretary Dr Supakit Sirilak has reacted by sending an urgent letter to related agencies to prepare measures to prevent more dengue fever deaths. It’s estimated there will be…
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Election Commission’s ‘formula’ lands 27 parties in Lower House
The Election Commission has announced that a total of 26 parties have secured party-list MP seats in the new Lower House. 11 of the parties didn’t even win enough votes to be entitled to the seats under the guidelines announced before the election. The EC deputy secretary-general Sawang Boonmee refused to explain why the junta-appointed poll authority had chosen this controversial…
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The Election Commission awards 27 parties with seats in the new parliament
PHOTO: The Thai PM warms up for the next round of musical chairs in the new Parliament “Someone has moved the goal posts and changed the soccer ball to a golf ball.” The new Thai parliament has now officially become unworkable, and that’s before anyone even sits down to take a vote. Today the Election Commission awarded 26 political parties…
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Court says party-list seat calculation is constitutional
FILE PHOTO In news unlikely to shock anyone, the Constitutional Court has ruled unanimously that Article 128 of the MP Election Act, regarding the calculation of the 150 party-list seat allocation, is constitutional. They’ve ruled that it does not conflict with Article 91 of the Constitution. The Charter Court’s ruling has been released in a statement which was timed to perfection before the Election Commission was set…
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Election Commission officially endorses 349 constituency seat winners
Five weeks after the country’s first general election since the 2014 military coup, the Election Commission has now officially endorsed 349 successful constituency candidates for the Lower House of Parliament, minus one. The EC’s deputy secretary-general, Sawang Boonmee says the vacant spot is for a Chiang Mai province constituency that will have a by-election later in May after the March…
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60 NLA members resign to become Senators in the new parliament
About 60 members of the National Legislative Assembly are expected to tender their resignations in the next two days to be ready to join the military-appointed Senate. NLA vice president Phirasak Porchit says that about 60 members of the assembly, himself included, as well as NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholachai, NLA vice president Surachai Liangboonlertchai, Somchai Sawaengkarn and Klanarong Chantik, had been handpicked to…
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NCPO to consider lifting old ‘orders’ passed after the 2014 coup
PHOTO: The Thai PM says, following the coronation, it’s time to revoke some of the old orders Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-gnam says that the junta and the government are meeting today to discuss the revocation of orders and announcements originally issued by the NCPO, but were no longer considered necessary. He noted that some of these orders were issued as…
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NCPO and NLA members resign to take up positions as senators in next parliament
Members of the current Cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly, who are hoping to become senators in the new parliament, are expected to resign as the NCPO prepares senatorial appointments for royal endorsement by the end of this week. Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam says that the NCPO will submit its list of 250 appointed senators by this Friday. He said…
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Prayut tentatively embraces China’s Belt and Road strategy for Thailand
Thai PM’s appearance at the second Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing last weekend suggests the luke-warm relations between China and Thailand persist. Whilst both nations portray a strong willingness to progress in their financial partnerships there is still a gulf between the two country’s preferred outcomes in the deals they are forging. Last time Beijing snubbed the Thai…
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Summer storms forecast for the central and north of Thailand
The Thai Meteorological is warning provinces in the North, Northeast, Central and East about the threat of ‘summer storms’ until Monday. The latest storm warning was issued at 5am today. The Thai department said the thunderstorms were being caused by a high pressure system from China that covers the upper part of the Northeast and the South China Sea, while…
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Thailand passes new laws to reduce begging
Thailand is aiming to purge itself of beggars in the latest laws to outlaw the practice. General Anantaporn Kanjanarat, head of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS), says his agency would co-ordinate with the National Office of Buddhism to ask for co-operation from temples to educate the public about appropriate merit-making and to stop them from giving…
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Thailand event round up – May
with The Sponsorship Experts Those with a love for shopping should head to Pattaya for the Thailand One Stop Shopping Expo Pattaya, on until May 5. With more than 47,000 square metres of floor space, TOSSE Pattaya is Thailand’s largest shopping expo with departments showcasing everything from Wedding, Electronics, Garden & Pet Baby & Family and Fashion. The Samui Regatta…
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Cabinet announces 13.2 billion baht handouts, also property and tourism stimulus
The Thai Cabinet has given the go ahead to 13.2 billion baht in social welfare spending to low income-earners. The payments would go to parents with children still in school, disabled people and farmers. The same meeting also announced tax packages to boost the real estate and tourism sectors. A spokesperson for the PM’s Office says that under the welfare card…
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Thailand’s first Rabies death for the year
PHOTOS: PR Office The first death from rabies this year was in Surin, north of Thailand. The Public Relation Department today reported that Dr. Suwannachai Wattanaying- Charoenchai, Director-General of the Department of Disease Control says, “We were notified that a 32 year old man in Surin has died from rabies.” “Before he died he was being treated for fever and was…
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Thai business sector drops 2019 export projections by 1%
The Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade are revising down Thailand’s 2019 export growth projections from 3.1% to 2.1%. They say several unfavorable external factors are contributing to the revised outlook. Thai PBS reports that Mr. Sanan Aung-ubonkul, vice president of TCC and BoT, says that, in order to maintain the 3.1% growth projection, the value of monthly…
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Phuket Airport passenger arrivals dip
by Bill Barnett, c9Hotelworks.com To date, 2019 is shaping up to be a slightly volatile year for tourism to the island. Passenger arrivals at Phuket International Airport rose 1% year-on-year in January, but took a step backwards in February with a substantial 6% decline. While we are still early in the year, overall visitor arrivals to Thailand on a country-wide…
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Thai Cabinet extends waiver of Visa On Arrival fees
Thailand’s Cabinet has extended the waiver of the fees for ‘visa on arrival’ for some foreign tourists to Thailand. The waiver of the 2,000 baht VOA fee will be extended to at least October 31. The fee had previously been waived until January 14 this year in a bid to boost tourism. It was then extended until April 30 and has…
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Buyback Option at VIP KATA Condominium by Phuket9
Phuket9 Company announces a buy-back option for VIP KATA Condominium Project with a rental return of 56% over 8 years. The first two buildings of VIP KATA Condominium were launched in July 2018. After one month in August 2018, Phuket9 commenced construction of the second phase – 2 more buildings including 209 apartments, 2 common swimming pools, rooftop gardens, restaurants and a kids club.…
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