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Royal pardon cuts jail time for red shirts, ex-commerce minister (nationthailand.com)

Royal pardon cuts jail time for red shirts, ex-commerce minister

NationalDec 04. 2020

By The Nation

The Royal Gazette has announced that 30,000 prison inmates will be freed after being granted a Royal pardon to mark King Bhumibol’s birthday anniversary on December 5.

Another 200,000 convicts will have their jail terms reduced by the Royal pardon, including certain political convicts.

Red shirt leader Nattawut Saikua will gain early release after being jailed for organising the siege of Gen Prem Tinsulanonda’s residence in 2007 but will face further investigations by police.

Former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyaphirom has won early release from his 48-year jail term for corruption in the Yingluck-led government’s rice-pledging scheme.

Royal pardons have also been granted to red-shirt leaders Samrerng Prachamrua and Singthong Buachum, who were jailed for disrupting the 2009 Asean Summit in Pattaya. Both will have to attend a 15-day rehabilitation programme.

Meanwhile, former news anchor Sorayuth Suthassanachinda, in jail for embezzlement, was granted early release in March 2021.

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K-pop fans hit back at Skytrain, MRT over protest shutdown (nationthailand.com)

K-pop fans hit back at Skytrain, MRT over protest shutdown

NationalDec 04. 2020Photo credit: http://www.รถแห่.com 

By THE NATION

Thailand’s K-pop fan clubs have found a new vehicle to show their love for Korean superstars, in a protest against the BTS Skytrain and MRT train systems.

This week, posters of South Korean boy band BTS began appearing on tuk-tuk taxis in Bangkok, instantly grabbing the attention of social media users.

Fan clubs of Korean pop stars usually buy billboards in BTS Skytrain and MRT stations to celebrate their beloved artists or draw the attention of other fan clubs who admire the same artists.

However, after the BTS and MRT suspended services during student-led pro-democracy rallies, the fan clubs switched their promotional campaigns to tuk-tuks.

The new way of celebrating K-pop idols has caught the eye of netizens after being introduced on Tuesday (December 1). Social media users praised the idea as a creative way of helping tuk-tuk drivers at a time when tourists are scarce in Bangkok due to Covid-19.

However, others pointed out the fan clubs are mostly made up of students and working people who take the BTS or MRT, so the tuk-tuk campaign might not be so effective.

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Thailand’s jasmine 105 wins world’s best rice contest (nationthailand.com)

Thailand’s jasmine 105 wins world’s best rice contest

NationalDec 04. 2020

By The Nation

Thailand’s jasmine 105 has been named the world’s best-tasting rice this year at the 12th World Rice Conference, which was held online from Tuesday to Thursday.

The annual conference also includes a best-rice contest, and the 105 jasmine rice variety was added to the line-up this year by the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

The 105 variety won on all criteria, namely smell, taste, texture and shape, in a blind test conducted by the judges.

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Thai-Danish dairy products to be sold on AirAsia flights (nationthailand.com)

Thai-Danish dairy products to be sold on AirAsia flights

NationalDec 04. 2020

By The Nation

To build competitiveness and expand product distribution channels for Thai-Danish milk, the Dairy Farming Promotion Organisation of Thailand (DOP) plans to sell two types of dairy products onboard every AirAsia flight.

The products are: Thai-Danish sugar-free UHT milk, plain flavourless lactose, and UHT-free ready-to-drink passion fruit mixed yoghurt with konjac under the brand Chewdee.

DOP senior board member Arthit Petcharat said the new move was aimed at serving as a new sales channel, expanding customer base to penetrate the upper market segment — tourists and travellers — as well as increase consumption opportunities for more Thai-Danish dairy products.

The National Milk 2021 strategy targets earnings of at least Bt12 billion.

The company’s sales in the past one month appear to suggest that the response was satisfactory.

AirAsia has also launched Thai-Danish milk tea with konjac pearl by bringing Taiwanese milk tea, a popular menu of AirAsia, mixed with 100 per cent fresh cow milk, without milk powder, which is high in natural calcium to become a new item on the menu and available on every flight.

This collaboration between DOP and AirAsia is a major proactive marketing move for Thai-Danish dairy products at the end of 2020.

DOP has continually focused on researching and developing new Thai-Danish dairy products into the market to meet the changing needs of customers. Previously, DOP together with McThai distributed Thai-Danish UHT milk in all McDonald’s stores nationwide, bringing ready-to-drink dairy products in three flavours: plain, sweet, and chocolate, 200cc in size, to raise awareness about the Thai-Danish brand and the benefits of drinking 100 per cent pure cow milk among youngsters.

“For the marketing and distribution plan in 2021, DOP aims to continuously add new marketing channels from 2020 to strengthen the market by pioneering the online market through Lazada and Shopee, which are highly successful e-commerce platforms. Next year, there are plans to sell through the delivery system by facilitating the consumer by adding a delivery service. We are confident that it will push sales of Thai-Danish dairy products to surpass the target,” Suchart Chariyalertsak, deputy director-general of DPO, said.

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Another local case linked to Thai-Myanmar border sneak (nationthailand.com)

Another local case linked to Thai-Myanmar border sneak

NationalDec 04. 2020Dr Sophon Iamsirithaworn, director of the general communicable diseases department 

By The Nation

The Department of Disease Control has confirmed another Covid-19 case in Singburi, which can be linked to a Thai woman who sneaked across the border from Tachilek in Myanmar.

Dr Sophon Iamsirithaworn, director of the general communicable diseases department, said on Friday that the new patient, a 51-year-old Thai woman, had taken the same Nok Air DD8717 flight to Don Mueang as the 25-year-old woman, who had secretly crossed over. The 25-year-old then took another flight to Phichit.

The movements of both women are being tracked, Dr Sophon added.

Meanwhile, the two Thai nationals who have taken the legal route back home from Tachilek in Myanmar will join the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration daily press conference on Saturday to dismiss rumours that they had sneaked in.

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Rangsit Uni staff, students in lockdown after Covid scare (nationthailand.com)

Rangsit Uni staff, students in lockdown after Covid scare

NationalDec 04. 2020

By The Nation

Rangsit University students and staff have been ordered to self-isolate after one of its students was found to have travelled in the same public van as a returnee from Myanmar who later tested positive for Covid-19.

The university, located in Phatum Thani just north of Bangkok, revealed the timeline of the student: 

1. On November 29, the student spent two hours (1pm-3pm) in the same van as the Covid-19 case while returning to his/her hometown in Ratchaburi. 

2. On December 2, the student attended class at the university from midday to 5pm. He/she visited the second storey of Building 12/1 and the Student Affairs Office on the second storey of Building 14.

The university said the student is currently self-isolating at his/her residence to monitor symptoms.

“The university has urged all students and staff who came into contact with this student to self-isolate at their residence, said Rangsit University authorities. “Meanwhile all areas that the student visited have been disinfected.”

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No alcohol can be bought or sold online from next week (nationthailand.com)

No alcohol can be bought or sold online from next week

NationalDec 04. 2020Dr Niphon Chinanonwet 

By THE NATION

The Royal Thai Police and Public Health Ministry held a press conference on Friday to announce the enforcement of a new law that prohibits the sale or advertisement of alcoholic beverages via digital channels.

“From Monday, December 7, the sale and advertisement of alcoholic beverages online will be prohibited,” deputy police spokesman Pol Colonel Siriwat Deephor said. “Direct selling, persuading consumers, introducing products or other related services via digital channels that enable sellers to complete a sale without meeting the buyer face to face will be banned.”

This prohibition, however, does not include paying for alcoholic beverages via electronic methods at stores, restaurants or establishments that serve alcohol.

“Violators face up to six months in prison and/or Bt10,000 in fines,” Siriwat added.

Dr Niphon Chinanonwet, director of the Department of Disease Control’s Alcohol Control Committee, said these controls are being introduced because it is difficult to check if the sale of alcohol online is in compliance with legal limits, such as age, in line with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act.

“This prohibition applies to all retailers and wholesalers, regardless of the size of company,” he said. “This law is not a ploy to cut off sales channels for small businesses as some say.”

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Five brands responsible for most of Thailand’s plastic pollution: Greenpeace (nationthailand.com)

Five brands responsible for most of Thailand’s plastic pollution: Greenpeace

NationalDec 04. 2020

By The Nation

Greenpeace Thailand also revealed the results of its 2020 plastic waste audit on Thursday.

It showed the brands that produce the most plastic waste are Charoen Pokphand Group (CP), Dutch Mill, Osotspa Group, TCP, and Lactasoy Group. The audit was based on samples collected in Chiang Mai (Doi Suthep) and Chonburi (Von Napa Beach) in October.

More than 70 volunteers in Thailand collected 13,001 pieces of plastic, the most common being food packaging (8,489), followed by household products (3,273).

The plastic item most commonly found was bags (2,647), followed by snack bags (2,099), plastic bottles (1,137), drinking straws (1,063), plastic labels (895),bottle caps (764), yoghurt cups (692), plastic scrap (691), beverage cartons (670) and bottle lock rings (588).

The brand audit is part of the “Break Free From Plastic” campaign launched in 55 countries around the world. Globally, the three most common brands of plastic waste are Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé.

Greenpeace says manufacturers must reduce the plastic packaging they use, since recycling is not doing enough to reduce the mountain of daily plastic waste.

One way to make manufacturers responsible for the waste is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law.

The EPR law has been adopted on a voluntary basis across the world as a guideline for manufacturers to take environmental impacts into consideration, from design, and distribution, to return, collection, reuse, and treatment of their products.

However, in Thailand the government is not taking EPR law seriously, said Penchom Saetang, executive director of the Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand (Earth) NGO. Pushing this law will encourage manufacturers to change packaging practices and reduce the use of plastic, he said.

Meanwhile waste from Thailand’s food delivery services has increased 15 per cent from 5,500 tonnes to 6,300 tonnes per day in the “new normal” era, with up to a 12 times increase in online orders, according to Greenpeace Thailand.

Only about 25 per cent of the waste is recycled, while the rest adds to the country’s growing plastic pollution problem, says the NGO. It also warns that using plastic once and then throwing it away is becoming a new-normal way of life for Thai people.

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Govt’s senior housing up to 15 times overbooked, triggering lottery (nationthailand.com)

Govt’s senior housing up to 15 times overbooked, triggering lottery

NationalDec 04. 2020

By The Nation

Most units at the government’s first Senior Housing Complex are overbooked less than a month after it opened for reservations, said the Treasury Department on Friday.

The housing project for the elderly in Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district is a collaboration between the Treasury Department and Ramathibodi Hospital, which is building an Elderly Care and Hospice Complex on the plot.

Units priced Bt1.82 million are overbooked by 150 per cent, Bt2.10 million units by 200 per cent, Bt2.80 million units by 300 per cent, and Bt2.99 million units by a whopping 1,500 per cent (15 times overbooked). 

However, units priced at Bt1.99 million are still available for reservation. 

A lottery will now be conducted to decide who gets to move into the complex.    

“The department will end the reservation period today [December 4] to check the eligibility of people who have booked units,” said Yuttana Yimgarund, director-general of the Treasury Department. “The department will then place their names into a lottery.”

Sixty per cent of reserved units will be paid for in cash, 40 per cent via loans.

“The project is expected to start construction in April next year and open at the end of 2022,” Yuttana said. 

Talks on another 50-rai senior complex nearby will be conducted by Ramathibodi Hospital and the Government Housing Bank on December 8, he said.

The senior complexes are part of the government’s policy to address Thailand’s rapidly ageing society.

Separately, Yuttana said 141 rai of state land in Phuket will be used to build a comprehensive health centre to promote the holiday destination as a world-class medical tourism city.