Thailand News Today – Tuesday, May 26

Bangkok woman dies of salmonella poisoning after eating ‘death dumplings’

Following the death of a Bangkok woman who fell ill after eating dumplings, lab tests have now come back proving there were detected traces of salmonella bacteria.

The Samut Prakan provincial health office confirms that several members of the woman’s family also fell ill after eating the dumplings, which were purchased from a local vendor. Around 2 dozen people ended up sick with 1 person dying sometime after they ate dumplings sold by a street vendor in Samut Prakan, a province south of Bangkok.

It’s understood police are now questioning the dumpling seller, but no charges have been filed as the investigation continues.

Dozens of plastic containers per person in state quarantine

Thailand started the year eco-friendly by banning single-use plastic bags. All good, but with “stay at home” orders and mandated quarantines, plastic waste has been increasing at an alarming rate.

One Thai artist, Henry Tan, who stayed in a state quarantine facility, added up all the plastic containers and bottles he used during his isolation. He ended up with more than 100.

He “says… I thought of this trash being multiplied by the thousands of people that had to go in state quarantine.”

“On Just my flight alone there were 200 people in quarantine, making 20,000 pieces of plastic waste.,” just from the one flight.

Evidence mounts against “bleach mum”

Officers of the Crime Suppression Division say text messages on the popular Line application show that a woman accused of forcing her two year old “son” to swallow bleach wasn’t the boy’s biological mother. Thai media is reporting that DNA tests prove that a young 2 year old boy is the biological son of a mother who allegedly made him drink bleach.

The boy was rescued and placed in a shelter for children in Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok, after he was treated at Thammasat University Hospital, where doctors alerted police to the suspected child abuse. The woman’s 4 year old daughter died last December from unknown causes at the time but it’s now believed she too died as a result of drinking bleach.

Nittha stands accused of deliberately making the boy ill to swindle donations from sympathetic viewers of her online videos. A check of her financial history found more than 20 million baht in several bank accounts, contradicting her claim of financial difficulties.

In 2018 the woman was sentenced to 3 years in prison in a fraud case involving online product sales.

Deputy PM says politics not involved in Emergency Decree extension

With the second month of Thailand’s national state of emergency coming to a close, Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan says fear of second wave of Covid-19 infections, and not politics, is behind the government’s need to extend the Emergency Decree.

Business closures and travel restrictions under the decree have produced huge economic hardship nationwide. His comments come as the cabinet is expected today to extend the emergency decree for a third month. But opposition and critics disagree with prolonging the decree, saying the Communicable Disease Act alone should be enough to control the spread of the virus.

They claim that PM Prayut Chan-o-cha’s administration has a hidden agenda, alleging they want to hold onto emergency decree powers for political reasons.

Two brothers shot dead after fight over pickup truck

Three brothers got into a fight over a pickup truck their deceased father left for one of the sons. It ended with two of them shot dead.

A witness says that the pickup truck was left behind for the 39 year old brother, but his older brother, Seri, took the truck. Witnesses say the two younger brother went to their older brother’s house on Sunday evening in Bangkok and started to fight. Gunshots were heard and witnesses say they saw Seri flee on his motorcycle.

The two younger brothers were found dead. The older brother remains at large.

Singapore warns of worst economic contraction since independence

Singapore’s embattled economy could shrink by as much as 7% this year, which would be the worst situation since independence in 1965.

The government says the coronavirus pandemic had throttled the country’s key export sector. The warning came hours before Singapore’s deputy PM is expected to unveil another stimulus package for the troubled city, which has been crippled by months of lockdowns.

Bloomberg announced last week that Thailand’s economy is forecast to tank by up to 6% for 2020.