TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said recently that the idea would be in line with CNN’s listing of Bangkok as the city with the best street food in the world.

The festival will be held in some major roads of the capital such as Khao San, Yaowarat and Pratunam area. Details will be discussed later, the governor said.

He denied reports that all street food will be banned from Bangkok, saying the moves afoot were just aimed at regulating the business to ensure order and food hygiene.

The information was revealed by NACC commissioner Preecha Lertkamolmart on Sunday following a probe on Tarit’s alleged unusual wealth.

In March, the NACC voted unanimously to endorse the finding that Tarit had unlawfully amassed assets worth Bt346.65 million. The anti-graft body freezed Bt90 million of Tarit’s assets.

[Tarit fired for being ‘unusually rich’, vows to fight on]

Preecha said the agency would conduct a further probe into the matter.

If the former DSI chief could provide documentation supporting the legitimacy of his assets, his assets would be returned to him, he said.

Tarit was sent to an inactive post at the PM’s Office by the National Council for Peace and Order on May 24, 2014.

CUPT also approved the requirement for a successful candidate to confirm a seat at a university’s department after being accepted in the first admission process, said CUPT chairman Suchatvee Suwansawat following the agency’s meeting at Thammasat University’s Rangsit Campus on Sunday.

A candidate must now give up the seat if they want to try their luck via another admission method.

In the past successful candidates could confirm multiple seats to keep their options open and decline them later once they secured their preferred place, which unfairly deprived other students of opportunities.

The full details of the admission methods will be revealed on June 1 on the Central University Admission System website, Suchatvee said.

The five rounds to be implemented are:

Admissions via a quota system without written exams will result in universities directly taking student applicants’ records and portfolios for consideration.

There will be two rounds for this method.

The first round will occur between October 1 and November 30, with the results revealed on December 22.

The results of the December 22 to February 28, 2018 round will be revealed on March 26, 2018.

There will be admissions via a quota system with written exams within a university’s jurisdiction as well as for gifted programmes.

Universities will directly take applications and conduct the selection process between December and March 2018, with the results revealed on May 8.

Joint-direct admissions require students to apply to the CUPT and undertake a central admission exam for four preferred university departments.

The central exams will take place on the same dates and are open for applications between May 9-13, with the results known on June 8.

General admissions involve students applying at four preferred university departments between June 5-10, and undergoing similar central exams. Those results will be available on July 13.

Independent direct admissions involve universities using their own criteria to recruit students, a process ending in July.

Suchatvee said the general aptitude test and the professional aptitude test would be held between February 24-27, 2018, while the ordinary national educational test would be held on March 3-4, and the nine core subject examinations were set for March 17-18.

In a joint statement approved by the Cabinet last week, the two countries also pledge to strengthen ties in political and economic affairs, human security, public health and aviation.

Bilateral talks will be held on Tuesday, when Prayut is scheduled to meet Bahraini PM Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who had invited Prayut to visit the country.

Prayut will also pay a courtesy call to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on the same day.

The Thai delegation also includes Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya and Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn.

The first Middle East country to be visited by Prayut, Bahrain celebrates the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Thailand this year.

The average annual value of trade between Thailand and Bahrain during the past five years was Bt15.48 billion.

In the capital, the mercury peaked at 39 degrees, according to the Meteorological Department.

It warned the public to brace for continued severe weather conditions, with increasing thundershowers and gusty winds expected in the North, the Northeast, the Central regional, the East and the South during the next few days.

In Sakhon Nakhon province’s Muang district, the body of day labourer Wisanukorn Onsritha, 39, was found in a hammock under a tree near Soi Chumchon Khamsa-ard 4 on Sunday evening.

He had suffered a heart attack.

His aunt, who was only identified as Boonkerd, 59, told police that Wisanukorn, who had separated from his wife in Trat province and returned to hometown a year ago, would sit in the area along with other day laborers to wait for jobs.

His fellow workers told police they returned to the spot at noon on Sunday following a goods-delivery job and Wisanukorn, who looked exhausted, went to sleep in the hammock under the tree.

As no more jobs came their way in the afternoon, they went home and left Wisanukorn to sleep there until someone tried to wake him up in the evening and found that he was dead.

The medical examiner said he died of a heart attack about four hours before his body was discovered.

PM’s Secretary General Vilas Arunsri said in a statement that Tarit was fired on April 3 after the PM’s Secretariat was informed of the NACC’s finding.

Tarit told The Nation on Monday that he would fight against his dismissal in line with the justice process.

He said he did not want to give an interview about his dismissal.

Vilas explained in the statement that the firing of Tarit came after the PM’s Secretariat had discussed the case with the NACC, the Office of the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Council of State.

Vilas said the three agencies affirmed with the PM’s Secretariat that it was the authority of the secretariat to dismiss Tarit from government service.

The statement said Tarit had been found to have acquired unusual wealth of Bt346.65 million when he was DSI director general, so the PM’s Secretariat was required by Article 80 (4) of the 1999 Corruption Prevention and Suppression Act to dismiss him from government service.

Tarit was sent to an inactive post at the PM’s Office by the National Council for Peace and Order on May 24 0214.

On June 27, 2014, he became an adviser attached to the PM’s Secretariat, so the secretariat was the agency with the authority to remove him from government service, Vilas said.

“If the government opens up the opportunity for foreign buyers to hold residential leases for up to 99 years, like Singapore and Malaysia do, it will boost residential demand as the country is the gateway to the Asean Economic Community [AEC],” said Thai Condominium Association president Prasert Taedullayasatit, who is also president of Premium Market at Pruksa Real Estate Plc.

He said longer lease contracts for both residential and commercial property were better for businesses because foreign investors would have confidence to expand on investments in Thailand.

“Although the current law allows a 30-year lease contract and a renewal for another 30 years, long-term leases are more reassuring for foreign investors,” he said.

Suphin Mechuchep, the managing director of the property agency Jones Lang Lasalle (Thailand), agreed recently that the plan would boost foreign investors’ confidence to expand property investments in the special zones.

Renewal option

The government’s plan would extend leaseholds in the special economic zones of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) from 30 to 99 years, with an initial lease of up to 50 years and a renewal of up to 49 years.

When foreign investors have leasehold contracts for only 30 years, they are concerned about the future even though landowners may promise them that they can renew for another 30 years, real estate experts have said.

There is always uncertainty because of the possibility that landowners will change their mind |in the interim period.

Issara Boonyong, chief executive officer of Kanda Group and an |adviser of the Business Housing Association, said the extended leasehold contracts from 30 years |to be 99 years, which is limited to the EEC zones, would be seen by foreign investors as a key reason to expand their investments.

It will not have any effect on local investors because the leaseholds would not involve the sale of land to foreigners, Issara said.

However, Issara warned that |conditions attached to the leases in regard to what foreigners are permitted to do must be clarified.