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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017203

Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) technicians inspected electricity posts on Chakkrawat Road in Sampheng in Bangkok’s Samphanthawong district on Wednesday and reorganised power lines to prevent another electrical fire and increase power stability in the area.

“Officials removed unused cables from the posts and at the transformers, and untangled existing cables to improve safety and stability of the power grid,” said deputy MEA governor and spokesman Jaturong Suriyasasi.

“The MEA has been working with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, which is responsible for communication infrastructure, to organise both power and communication cables in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan to improve safety and scenery of the city,” he said.

The MEA move came after a fire broke out at a 3-storey shophouse in Sampheng last Sunday, killing two persons and injuring eleven others. A preliminary inspection revealed the fire was caused by an explosion from a transformer in front of the building.

The owner of the building said the transformer had exploded several times before and he had in fact warned the MEA about it just last week.

“The MEA will continue to maintain power lines and electrical equipment in our areas of responsibility, as well as record the location on the geographic information system to ensure efficient monitoring of cables and equipment,” Jaturong said.

To report damaged power lines or other electrical equipment faults, contact MEA branch offices or MEA Call Centre 1130, or Facebook page @Metropolitan.Electricity.Authority; Line: MEA Connect; Twitter: @MEA_news, or download the MEA Smart Life mobile app, available for both Android and iOS users, at https://onelink.to/measmartlife.

Published : June 30, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017199

A House of Representatives committee considering the opening of legal entertainment complexes plans to ask the government to open legal casinos in five regions.

“The move aims to increase state income from casino tax and to combat illegal casinos and gambling houses,” Phichet Cheumuangphan, vice president of the committee and Pheu Thai member of parliament for Chiang Rai, said on Wednesday.

“After about a year of studying the possibility and locations, we narrowed down the areas to these suitable locations:

– North: Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai

– East: Pattaya City

– South: Phuket, Phang-nga or Krabi

– Northeast: Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani or Khon Kaen

– Greater Bangkok.

In the trial phase there will be only five legal casinos nationwide, which will feature both traditional and international gambling, as well as gambling via online channels, Phichet said.

Private partners will be allowed to invest in the business, with the government collecting 30 per cent of casino tax, on top of land maintenance tax from the establishments.

“Only persons over 20 years old will be allowed to enter these casinos, and they have to present their financial status before playing,” he said.

“Government officials are not allowed to enter these establishments, except for those with permission.”

The committee has been studying legal casinos in Singapore and Malaysia and has adjusted the format of operations to suit Thailand.

“The establishment of legal casinos will come under an amendment of the Gambling Act to allow the establishment of state-run casinos. The committee will present the draft to the House of Representatives by November,” Phichet added.

Published : June 30, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017197

Ministry of Public Health reported on Thursday (June 30) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 2,695 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, five of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.

Death toll increased by 14, while 1,779 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.

Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 2,299,480.
 

The country’s total caseload from Covid-19 stands at 4,522,915 – 4,468,336 of whom have recovered, 23,931 are still in hospitals and 30,648 have died.

Separately, another 7,489 people were given their first Covid-19 shot in the last 24 hours, 13,568 their second shot and 48,856 a booster, bringing the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide to 139,752,058.

According to Worldometer, confirmed cases globally had risen to 551.87 million on Thursday, 527.38 million of whom have recovered, 18.13 million are active cases (36,875 in severe condition) and 6.35 million have died.

Thailand ranks 26th in the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 89.23 million, followed by India with 43.45 million, Brazil with 32.28 million, France with 30.95 million and Germany with 28.18 million.

Published : June 30, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017196

Kaiwan Wattanakrai, a well-known Thai voice actor who lent his voice to many Japanese cartoon characters, such as Master Roshi and Vegeta in “Dragon Ball Z”, and Roronoa Zoro in “One Piece”, died at 71 due to acute liver failure on Tuesday.

“Kaiwan died peacefully at 71 years old at Samchuk Hospital in Suphan Buri,” the actor’s grandson Wattanapol Wattanakrai said on his Facebook page.

He thanked the voice actor’s fanclub for their love and concern for his grandfather.

Meanwhile, Nirun Boonyarattaphan, another well-known voice actor, who is also known as “Natoi Senbei”, said on his Facebook page that he was sad at losing the voice actor behind Vegeta, while he was using his voice as “Dragon Ball Z” protagonist Son Goku.

Nirun got his nickname as a voice artist from the character Norimaki Senbei from “Dr Slump”, which made him famous amongst young cartoon fans.

Kaiwan was suffering from an underlying illness for a long time, but he didn’t have the intention to stop his work for Japanese cartoons he loved, his grandson said.

“He was very happy when he attended many Japanese cartoon-related events and received a warm welcome from his fans,” he said.

“Kaiwan always humbly said he is just an ordinary cartoon voice actor who nobody remembers, but I believe no one thinks like that,” he said. “For us, he is one of the legendary voice actors.”

Nirun’s Facebook post has received more than 55,000 likes, 3,000 comments and 25,000 shares from Japanese cartoon fans in Thailand as of Wednesday.

Kaiwan, also known as “Na Kai” (Uncle Kai), was born on April 8, 1951, in Samchuk district of Suphan Buri province. His more than 40 years of experience in voice acting enabled him to become one of the most talented voice actors in Thailand.

Apart from “Dragon Ball Z” and “One Piece”, his memorable voice acting includes Duo Maxwell in “New Mobile Report”, Gundam Wing, Cygnus Hyoga and Phoenix Ikki in “Saint Seiya”, Megure Juzo and Hattori Heiji in “Detective Conan”.

He also lent his voice to characters in Japanese live action films, such as Shin Hayata in “Ultraman” and Takeshi Hongo in “Kamen Rider”.

By Jarupong Krisanaraj

Published : June 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017195

Thailand is a car that encourages 70 million Thai and foreign citizens to get in and move on to the international stage, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Wednesday.

The PM made the metaphorical remark while presiding over the exhibition “FTI Expo 2022” at the Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Centre. The exhibition is being organised by the Federation of Thai Industries until Sunday.

He said it was not easy to make this car move forward and faciliate its passengers due to difference in careers, ages and abilities.

“The first thing we can do is prepare a good car and encourage the passengers to get into the car,” he said.

He said the government had spent a lot of money to take care of the citizens’ health amid the Covid-19 crisis, because good health is important.

He stressed that he wants to reduce the energy price as it had caused transportation, production and service costs to increase, as well as inflation.

He vowed to maintain the country’s financial stability in a bid to gain confidence of countries worldwide.

“Even though we have borrowed loans, Thailand still has strong financial stability,” he said.

He also wished to see the Asean region as a peaceful place with plenty of food resources for the rest of the world.

He encouraged people to continue wearing face masks when going outdoors without fear of being ridiculed by others, as it can protect them from Covid-19.

“If we help together, Thailand’s economy will move in a positive trajectory,” he said, “Hence, the most important thing is love, unity and stability as we can’t keep fighting against each other anymore.”

He added that he too did not want to fight against others.

Published : June 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017193

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt on Wednesday promised to hold talks with the city’s Skytrain operator to revive monthly discounted tickets for adults and students.

Chadchart gave the pledge to Saree Ongsomwang, the secretary-general of the Thailand Consumers Council (TCC), after he held a meeting with her at the Rama Gardens Hotel on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road to hear her proposals regarding the Skytrain fares.

Chadchart said he would talk to the operator, Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC), and ask it to sell discounted monthly tickets for adults and students as proposed by Saree.

The TCC submitted five demands to Chadchart:

– Capping the price at 59 baht for the entire route must be cancelled but the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration may start collecting fares for extended routes of the Green Line.

– Cap the entire route fare, excluding extensions on both sides, at 44 baht

– Bring back monthly discounted tickets.

– Make public details of the BMA’s contract on extending BTSC’s concession to operate the trains until 2042, after expiry of the current base route contract in 2029. The BMA must not extend the concession contract but turn it into a private-public partnership contract.

– Make public details of the BMA’s concession contract that the BTSC claimed would allow it to raise fare cap to 65 baht.

Chadchart thanked the TCC for allowing him to meet its representatives to discuss the BTSC fare.

The Bangkok governor explained that the 59-baht fare for the entire route would cover the extensions while the BTSC is currently collecting a maximum of 44 baht for its base route.

He said if the fare is capped at 44 baht for the entire route, including the extensions, the BMA would receive no money from fare for the extensions on both sides.

He said the BMA would also have to consider how much it would have to subsidise the fare if the city administration caps the fare at 44 baht for the entire route.

Earlier, the Thailand Development Research Institute had recommended that the BMA start collecting fares for the extensions so that it would have money to repay its debt to the BTSC.

Chardchart has said he wanted the BTSC to start collecting the fare on the extensions at 15 baht but the entire route fare must not be over 59 baht. The BTSC replied that it would need a month to make preparations and reinstall price calculation software accordingly.

Regarding the call for the BMA to announce details of the concession contract and the contract to hire the BTSC to operate the trains for extended routes, Chadchart said the city administration has to first study whether the contracts allow it to make the details public.

Chadchart said the main concession contract expires in 2029 but a previous city administration had already signed another contract to hire the BTSC to operate the route from 2029 to 2042. This poses a legal hurdle for his administration to handle the train operation and fare rates.

He added that the hiring contract would result in the BMA paying over 10 billion baht to the BTSC each year.

Chadchart said he was studying a way to cancel the 2029-2042 hiring contract so that the BMA would be able to reduce the Skytrain fare to a maximum of 25 baht after the concession expires in 2029.

Published : June 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017192

The Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA), the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Metropolitan Police Bureau will work with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in addressing problems submitted by citizens through the “Traffy Fondue” mobile application.

The chiefs of the three authorities met with Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sitthiphan on Wednesday to discuss ways to work together seamlessly and how to use the Traffy Fondue platform efficiently.

The application, jointly developed by BMA and a team of Thai researchers, aims to serve as citizen engagement and empowerment platform to make Bangkok metropolitan a smart city. People can submit problems at any time via the mobile application or to Line chatbot, and the system will forward them to responsible agencies as well as report the progress in real time.

During the meeting on Wednesday, MWA governor Kawee Areekul accepted Chadchart’s request to set up drinking water dispensers for pedestrians on selected Bangkok roads. He also asked the Bangkok governor to tidy up underground communication cables below several footpaths in Bangkok, which are hindering the maintenance of waterpipes by the MWA and therefore causing water leaks. Chadchart promised he would forward the issue to BMA’s agencies responsible for footpath maintenance.

Published : June 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017188

Thai Airways has sold 11 of its aircraft after Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob approved the sale.

The airline’s acting president, Chansin Treenuchagron, who heads its rehabilitation plan, said Saksayam had given Thai Airways the go ahead to sell one Boeing 737-400 earlier on and recently 10 Boeing 747-400 planes.

Thai Airways had previously found buyers for the 11 aircraft but these could not be sold or transferred according to its Civil Air Operating Licence unless authorised to do so by the minister in charge.

The airline filed an application for the purpose in 2021 and Saksayam gave it the approval to sell the Boeing 737 on April 5, 2022.

The minister only recently approved sale of the 10 Boeing 747 planes because documentation was not completed earlier.

Permanent secretary for transport Chayatham Phromsorn had sent a letter to Thai airways in April asking the airline to submit more documents.

Chansin said THAI tried to recover by reducing expenses, reforming the organisation, reducing personnel, and selling unnecessary secondary assets.

The airline also sold land, buildings and stocks in Bangkok Aviation Fuel and Nok Air.

Chansin added that THAI has sold around 9 billion baht in assets to aid its recovery.

Published : June 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017187

The Medical Services Department has warned staff at public hospitals to protect themselves if a patient with a new Omicron subvariant is admitted.

The department issued the warning on Tuesday and circulated the warning to all of its public hospitals.

Medical Services director-general Somsak Akksilp said the warning was issued because more patients were coming to hospitals run by the department for treatment and the new BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants were detected among the patients.

Since the department runs public hospitals in Bangkok and suburban provinces, it has to ensure that hospital personnel protect themselves against the virus so that the services would not be disrupted, the letter said.

The staff were warned to strictly comply with Covid-19 universal prevention measures and always wear protective face masks during work and always clean their hands with alcohol-based sanitisers.

The staff must also ensure that outpatients always wear protective face masks inside the hospitals, the letter said.

Hospital managements have also been told to survey whether their personnel had received a Covid-19 vaccine dose more than four months ago. In such cases, the staff should be convinced to get another dose of vaccine on a voluntary basis, the letter added.

The staff were also told to check whether patients and their relatives had been vaccinated properly and provide advice accordingly.

Published : June 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017183

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration recently announced it would scrap the Thailand Pass entry system for foreign tourists from July 1.

Meanwhile, the mask mandate has already been lifted but passengers in crowded areas including those using public transport are urged to keep wearing face masks.

Here is a summary of the updated entry measures effective from July 1.

Published : June 29, 2022

By : THE NATION