SUNDAY MORNING NEWS BRIEFING – All your local news in 3 minutes
One more sleep until Santa comes down the chimney. Not there are many chimneys in Phuket – perhaps leave the back door open instead. A final decision on the Thepa Coal Plant seems to be dragging on, a Chinese tourist drowned only an hour after arriving on the island, BKK police have seized 72 modified motorbikes and Toon’s close to the finish line. All in today’s Sunday news briefs. Here we go…
Power decision by March next year
It is necessary for more power generating plants to be built in the South of Thailand and the Energy Ministry will have to decide the locations of the plants and the types of fuel to be used with them in three months… this from the Thai Energy Minister.
Khun Siri says he’s instructed the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand to review the locations of power plants to be built in the South and the types of fuel to be used with them before March 31, 2018.
The Energy Minister’s comment came as environmentalist and some Songkhla residents continue to protest, for and against, EGAT’s coal-fired power plant in Songkhla’s Thepha district.
EGAT’s governor says the South Region has an urgent need for about 600 megawatts extra power supply in the next few years and is also looking at options from renewable energy sources.
Chinese tourist dies just an hour after arriving on the island
A Chinese tourist drowned at Patong Beach yesterday while waiting to check into his hotel.
Police say 26 year old An Huifeng drowned shortly after he and his girlfriend went into the water while they were waiting to check in. Police learned from the girlfriend that the two arrived in Phuket only an hour before as they were not scheduled to check into the Sri Boutique Hotel until noon. They planned to stay in the Patong hotel for two days, move to a Karon beach hotel for another two days and then fly to Chiang Mai. The man’s family has been notified.
BKK police seize hotted-up motorbikes
Bangkok police rounded up 95 teens and seized 72 motorcycles on suspicion that they were preparing to race on the city’s roads.
Metropolitan Police Bureau dispatched 400 police to set up road checkpoints and stopped and checked motorcycles and the teenagers on them. The 72 motorcycles were found to have been illegally modified for road racing. The riders and the passengers were arrested. One of the arrested teens was found to have seven methamphetamine pills and three others tested positive for drug use.
Arson suspected in the destruction of fishing boats
Six Vietnamese trawlers anchored at Songkhla lake pending a court trial were destroyed by a predawn fire in what local police suspect was deliberately lit.
The vessels were among a hundred fishing boats forfeited for allegedly entering Thai territorial waters illegally. Six boats were engulfed in fire early on Wednesday.
Police later found evidence of fire accelerators and suspect arson was a possible cause. Investigators said all the boat engines were missing as well as some important equipment which cost over a million baht for one vessel.
Curbing rubber exports to address price drop
Thailand will begin to curb exports of natural rubber next month in a bid to address declining global prices. The cut is in response to the decision of the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC), consisting of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, at the meeting in Thailand’s northern capital of Chiang Mai to restrict exports of natural rubber for a specific timeframe with the objective of addressing the current decline in natural rubber prices.
The meeting decided that, beginning January next year, Thailand will lower export of natural rubber by 230,000 tonnes, Indonesia 95,000 tonnes and Malaysia 20,000 tonnes.
The three countries produce nearly 70 percent of the world’s natural rubber.
Toon approaches the finish line
With injuries in his left shoulder, rocking runner Artiwara ‘Toon’ Kongmalai ended his 53rd day pounding the pavement in Chiang Rai’s Phan district as donations hit 985 million baht. The epic 2,191 kilometre run from Yala in the south will finish tomorrow in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai. The run has been raising money for 11 state hospitals and drawn approval from HM The King, PM Prayut and millions on social media.
Yesterday Toon was named as Thailand’s most Admirable Person for 2017 in a poll by Bangkok University, beating the country’s Prime Minister with 85 percent of the vote, compared to only 11 percent for the General.
