Police had issued an arrest warrant for Suriyadit for allegedly hiring Jirapan Koisap, 35, and Yuthana Kularpmoung, 44, to attack Udom Deekrajang, the 59-year-old chief referee at the stadium. During that attack, Yuthana allegedly shot to death security guard Anuchom Pratumma, who tried to intervene and help Udom.

While Jirapan is in custody, Yutthana remains at large.

“This is a momentous victory following decades-long efforts by parents and public-health experts to protect the act of breastfeeding,” Thomas Davin said on Wednesday.

“The passing of this law marks Thailand’s milestone step in joining countries like the Philippines, India and Nepal in implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, an internationally-agreed measure to address the negative impact of aggressive marketing practices of formula milk on effective breastfeeding practices.”

Davin also cited medical findings that optimal breastfeeding could prevent more than 800,000 infant deaths each year, contribute to higher IQs of three points on average, and reduce the risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in mothers. “It’s our job to make breastfeeding the right and easy choice. But when breastmilk substitutes are often marketed as equal to or superior to breastmilk in nutritional value, it sends the wrong and misleading message to families. When formula companies market their products in healthcare settings, it undermines the role of healthcare providers in delivering fact-based support to mothers,” he said adding the Act would regulate the marketing of breastmilk substitute.

As Unicef has worked in partnership with the Department of Health and other partners such as the Thai Breastfeeding Centre Foundation for almost 20 years on this key legislation, Davin congratulated these partners on their commitment and effort for the children’s health. “We now need to work harder with communities and mothers to explain why breastfeeding is so critical for their children’s future… We need to work with private sector partners so lactating mothers can breastfeed or pump milk in a safe and clean room reserved to do just that at their workplace,” he said, adding they would also work with Thai authorities to expand maternity leave provisions so that lactating mothers can have more time with their infants and can be confident to still have a job when returning from their leave.

Ministerial permanent secretaries and the charter drafters met at Government House on Wednesday to discuss changes to the legal approach following the new charter.

Justice Ministry permanent secretary Charnchao Chaiyanukij said the charter’s Article 77 requires that any legislation be passed based on necessity. The authority must also listen to parties likely to be affected by any upcoming law, make the hearing result publicly available, and evaluate the outcomes of the said laws.

The Article also provides that any law deemed unnecessary may be either revoked or amended in line with the current context, Charnchao said.

Every month, all ministries will be required to report progress on their law drafting to the Justice Ministry’s website. The information will also be available to the public before being reported to the Cabinet, he added.

The THE Top 200 Young University Rankings 2017 were released on Wednesday.

While the Switzerland-based Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne remained No 1 on the list of best young higher-educational institutes, the next four are from Asia.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong was named second-best young university, followed by Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, Pohang University of Science and Technology of South Korea, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology of South Korea.

The 2017 Young University Rankings used the same 13 rigorous and demanding performance indicators as the overall World University Rankings but only well-performing universities that are 50 years old or younger can join the list, THE said.

“While the US dominates the World University Rankings, it claims less than 3 per cent of places in this young top 200 list. Even the most-represented nation in the table, the UK, only takes 13.5 per cent of positions. The result is that universities from 48 countries across Europe, Australasia, Asia, North America and Latin America make the table. This means the list represents a wider range of countries than any other THE ranking, except the flagship world rankings,” THE rankings editor Phil Baty said.

The UK is the most represented nation in the ranking with 27 universities, closely followed by Australia with 23. France, Spain, Germany and Italy come next with 16, 15, 11 and 10 institutions respectively.

Asia has also been doing well. Half of the top-10 places are led by Asian universities – the best result for the continent since the rankings began in 2012. Overall, more than a quarter (55) of the top 200 places are filled by universities from across 18 Asian countries including Thailand.

“It is no easy task to appear in the 2017 Young University Rankings… Institutions must demonstrate high standards of performance across teaching, research, international outlook and knowledge transfer,” Baty added.