Thailand News Today | Thailand ranked 4th for least corrupt country in Asia
Starting off with some incredible news, Thailand is ranked 35th in the world and 4th in Asia in the U.S. News‘ “Least Corrupt Countries” list.
Yesterday, American media company U.S. News released its annual “Best Countries” ranking, featuring 73 countries all over the world. Data was collected from a worldwide survey with more than 17,000 participants.
Countries are ranked from best to worst based on ten sub-rankings including, “adventure, agility, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power, quality of life and social purpose.”
Thailand was also rated the 13th best country for capitalists by global respondents because it was perceived as not corrupt and business-friendly.
The top three least corrupt countries in the world are Sweden, Australia, and Canada, according to the global survey.
The top three least corrupt countries in Asia are Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.
For the overall ranking, Thailand was, as same as last year, ranked as the 28th “best country in the world” with a score of 47.7. The top three best countries in the world this year are Switzerland, Germany, and Canada.
The Department of Land Transport received 93,474 complaints about public transport in Thailand this year. ….Taxi drivers were complained about the most, receiving all together 14,158 complaints.
Most of the complaints were about bad manners, dangerous driving, refusing passengers, illegal licenses, and illicit taxi metres.
Between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2022, the department’s Passenger Protection and Complaint Centre received 93,474 calls via their hotline 1584.
In the same period the previous year, the hotline received a minuscule 8,980 complaints, comparatively. The centre said complaints have shot up given the ease of Covid-19 restrictions. More people are back at work and using public transport this year.
Taxi drivers faced the most complaints of anyone at 14,158.
The Department of Land Transport promised passengers that they would investigate taxi drivers and solve the issues as soon as possible to provide safe and quality service to residents.
Seven people died and two more are injured as a result of floods in the southern provinces of Thailand. The water level has gradually decreased yesterday.
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) reported today that heavy rain and strong winds from December 18 to 21 caused flash floods and landslides in nine provinces including Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Phattalung, Satun, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat.
A total of 205,775 households in the area were affected. From the latest update, two people were reported dead in Phattalung province, one died in Yala province, and four died in Narathiwat province. Two more people are reported to be injured.
Several stretches of railway were flooded leading the State Railway of Thailand to suspend 16 trains on seven routes from Bangkok to the southern provinces from December 20 onwards
The DDPM advises locals and tourists to keep updated on the situation. The latest flood updates can be found on the mobile application Thai Disaster Alert.
Police arrested seven Thai men over the robbery of a Chinese man and his Thai wife’s house in Pattaya earlier this month. The suspects said they were hired by three Thai men who believed the Chinese man was keeping 200 to 400 million baht inside the house.
The robbery occurred on the night of December 11 at the couple’s house in Land and House Village in Pattaya’s Bang Lamung district.
Nine burglars broke into the house and tied up the hands and feet of the Chinese man and his wife and seized their mobile phones.
The assailants attacked the Chinese man until he revealed the password to his safe. The thieves took 700,000 baht in cash, ….210,000 baht’s worth of gold necklaces,…. a pistol …then fled the property.
After the couple filed a police complaint, police investigated and issued arrest warrants for nine men, where the police arrested 7 in total.
Police are still investigating the case.
And we are ending the program with some fun facts for you. Did you know that today is the shortest day of the year in Thailand?
That’s right, Thailand will see just 11 hours of daylight today as the Winter Solstice graces the world’s northern hemisphere. It is the shortest day – and longest night – of the year.
Today, December 22, the Earth’s poles reach their maximum tilt away from the sun.
From today onward, the days will gradually get longer until the Summer Solstice on June 21, 2023, which will be the longest day of the year in Thailand.
