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Public Health Ministry hopes to cut salt, sugar consumption in Thailand by 30% within 2022 (nationthailand.com)

Public Health Ministry hopes to cut salt, sugar consumption in Thailand by 30% within 2022

NationalNov 26. 2020Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit 

By The Nation

The Public Health Ministry’s steering committee on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases has launched the “Together Fight NCDs” campaign in a bid to cut sugar and salt consumption in Thailand by 30 per cent in the next couple of years.

Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, the ministry’s permanent secretary, told the press on Thursday that the aim is to reduce the number of hypertension and diabetes cases, as well as obesity, in the country.

The committee will start off by launching an app, which people can use to assess the health risks they face.

Health promotion campaigns will also be launched in the public and private sector in a bid to boost people’s health at the corporate level.

A survey conducted by the Department of Disease Control (DDC) in 2019 showed that 43.1 per cent of the respondents did not know they had diabetes, 2.7 per cent did not seek treatment, while 30.6 per cent who underwent treatment did little to control their blood sugar levels.

It also found that 44.7 per cent did not know they have hypertension, 6.1 per cent were not seeking treatment and 19.5 per cent who were undergoing treatment did not control their blood pressure.

A DDC report released in 2014 showed that 8.9 per cent or 4.8 million of the Thai population has diabetes, while 24.7 per cent or 13.3 million people suffer from hypertension.

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Thailand must overhaul sugar industry to solve WTO problem, TDRI warns (nationthailand.com)

Thailand must overhaul sugar industry to solve WTO problem, TDRI warns

NationalNov 26. 2020

By THE NATION

Planned changes to the Sugar Cane and Granulated Sugar Act will not solve Thailand’s problems at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) warned on Thursday.

The law is being amended after Brazil complained to the WTO in 2016 that Thailand’s subsidy measures had led to dumping of Thai sugar in foreign markets, violating WTO rules. The measures cited by Brazil include the sugarcane price guarantee scheme, soft loans to farmers, and the ethanol subsidy scheme, which uses molasses as a major ingredient.

Since 2018, Thailand’s Sugar Cane and Granulated Sugar Committee has issued five measures to regulate the sugar price, says Viroj Naranong, Health Economics and Agriculture Research director at TDRI.

“As a result, in almost three years, the price of sugar in domestic markets has drastically gone down, which has greatly affected the revenue of sugarcane farmers.”

A draft amendment proposed by government MPs to remove sugar subsidies would not solve Thailand’s dumping dispute at the WTO, warned Viroj. Nor would a proposal by opposition MPs and farmer associations to add molasses and other byproducts as factors in the sugarcane price calculation to increase domestic prices.

“These amendments may not solve the low sugar price problem as they do not focus on restructuring the sugar industry and profit-sharing scheme, which is the biggest challenge Thailand faces in trying to comply with WTO regulations.”

Instead, the domestic sugar price could be lifted by applying a price calculation formula that uses standardised criteria instead of different byproducts that might have no acceptable reference prices,” said Viroj.

“There should also be an independent fund for maintaining sugar price stability that has separate regulations and sources of money than the Sugar Cane and Granulated Sugar Fund.”

This should serve as emergency fund to compensate sugarcane farmers when necessary, he said. It could be supported by government budget or loans from state backed banks, he added.

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Probe conducted by protesters reveals Wednesday night shooters were royalists (nationthailand.com)

Probe conducted by protesters reveals Wednesday night shooters were royalists

NationalNov 26. 2020

By The Nation

While the police are putting Wednesday night’s shooting down to pro-democracy protesters, Thai netizens have connected the dots and found that the offenders were royalists.

Deputy Metropolitan Police Bureau commissioner Piya Tawichai issued a statement on Thursday blaming Ratsadon guards for the shooting and injuries at the protest site on Wednesday.

However, refusing to accept the claim, protesters collected footage at the scene until they found the faces of the offenders.

These offenders had allegedly taken photographs claiming they supported the pro-democracy movement, but netizens compared these faces and found they matched those of royalists.

Meanwhile, Thairath TV has apologised for blindly accepting the police statement and reporting it was the pro-democracy protesters who generated the violence.

Netizens have told media to be more careful when reporting, saying misinformation will only lead to unnecessary damage.

Separately, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered an investigation into the shooting, saying the government may be blamed for the attack as the authorities were only tasked with maintaining peace in the rally.

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Subsidies to be doled out to rice farmers on Dec 1 (nationthailand.com)

Subsidies to be doled out to rice farmers on Dec 1

NationalNov 26. 2020

By The Nation

Rice farmers will receive subsidies of Bt500 per rai, up to a maximum Bt10,000, on December 1 this year, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) said on Thursday.

The measure was approved by the Cabinet during its mobile meeting in Phuket on November 3. More than 4.5 million farmers applied for the subsidy.

“According to the Department of Agriculture Extension information, 4,576,586 rice farmers with 60,817,850.83 rai of cultivated areas registered for benefits under the measure,” the bank said.

Rice farmers can check their subsidy transfer status at the website chongkho.inbaac.com by using their ID card number.

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Army chief denies Twitter ‘IO’ campaign after documents leaked (nationthailand.com)

Army chief denies Twitter ‘IO’ campaign after documents leaked

NationalNov 26. 2020Narongphan Jitkaewtae 

By The Nation

Army chief Narongphan Jitkaewtae has denied that the military hired a private company to spread pro-government propaganda through hundreds of Twitter accounts. He was responding to a leak of documents that apparently show details of the contract between the Army and the company.

On October 8, Twitter announced it had removed 926 accounts that had concealed links to the Army. Members of the opposition said they had already been collecting information on the Army’s information operation (“IO”) activities. Pannika Wanich, former spokeswoman for the now-dissolved Future Forward Party, said they planned to sue the Army for “using tax money to cause divisions and hatred among Thais”.

Meanwhile, the Army chief refused to say whether martial law would be imposed if ongoing pro-democracy protests escalate.

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Arnon unfazed by double summonses over lese majeste charges (nationthailand.com)

Arnon unfazed by double summonses over lese majeste charges

NationalNov 26. 2020

By THE NATION

Human-rights lawyer and protest leader Arnon Nampa said in a Facebook post on Thursday morning that two summonses have been issued against him over the alleged violation of the lese majeste law.

One summons was issued by Bangkok’s Chanasongkram Police Station for Arnon allegedly violating Article 112 (lese majeste law) when he participated in the September 19-20 rally in Sanam Luang. The second summons was issued by the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) for participating in the November 8 rally near Democracy Monument.

Arnon, who is scheduled to visit Chanasongkram Police Station and TCSD on November 30 and December 2, respectively, said he is not bothered by the charges.

Apart from Arnon, other prominent activists, namely Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, Patsaravalee “Mind” Tanakitvibulpon, Juthathip Sirikhan, Piyarat Jongthep, Thatthep Ruangprapaikijseree, Atthaphol Buaphat, Chukiat Saengwong and Sombat Thongyoi, also reportedly face summons over the alleged violation of Article 112.

Article 112 of the Criminal Code states that “whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the heir-apparent or the regent, will be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years”.

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Heavy rains set to blow in from the Gulf in South (nationthailand.com)

Heavy rains set to blow in from the Gulf in South

NationalNov 26. 2020

By The Nation

The Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR) has announced that eight provinces in the South of Thailand may suffer severe flooding and landslides between Thursday and Sunday.

The Northeast monsoon is expected to cross the Gulf of Thailand along with a depression from the South China Sea and will hit eight provinces in the South with heavy rain.

The provinces to be affected are Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Trang, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

ONWR has called on all relevant agencies to strictly monitor the situation and urge residents to move to higher ground.

Water management systems will be adjusted likewise, ONWR said, adding that levels in small sources will be maintained at 95 per cent to avoid an effect on reservoirs.

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The Reporters suspends male staffer over alleged sexual harassment (nationthailand.com)

The Reporters suspends male staffer over alleged sexual harassment

NationalNov 26. 2020

By The Nation

Online news agency The Reporters has suspended a male reporter who allegedly sexually harassed a woman four years ago.

The Reporters founder Thapanee Eadsrichai made the announcement on her Facebook page “to show responsibility” after the allegation went viral.

She insisted the agency did not ignore the case and had interrogated the two, particularly the female victim.

The incident allegedly took place before the reporter started working for the agency.

The allegation has not been proven yet, but there will be a platform to discuss and find the fairest solution for everyone, Thapanee wrote.

The male reporter has been suspended for a month since Wednesday.

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Ratsadon’s ‘duck’ currency violates Currency Act: activist (nationthailand.com)

Ratsadon’s ‘duck’ currency violates Currency Act: activist

NationalNov 26. 2020

By The Nation

The Ratsadon group’s “duck” currency violates the Currency Act BE 2501 (1958) and Criminal Code, Srisuwan Janya, an activist and secretary-general of the Society for Defence of the Thai Constitution, said on Thursday.

He explained that pro-democracy protesters under the group handed out 3,000 duck banknotes for use in about 10 stores during the protest at Siam Commercial Bank headquarters on Bangkok’s Ratchadapisek Road on Wednesday.

Srisuwan also said the banknotes feature a picture of the Democracy Monument, fried meatballs, a white pigeon, Ratsadon’s 2020 coup memorial plaque and inflatable rubber ducks with a value equal to Bt10.

He said persons who produce, deliver, use or receive the duck currency face a jail sentence of up to three years or up to Bt50,000 in fine or both under Section 9 of the Currency Act BE 2501, which says that “no person should make, issue, use or put into circulation any material or token for money except by authority of the Finance Minister”.

“Besides, they would be punished under Section 240 and 244 of the Criminal Code,” Srisuwan said.

Section 240 of the Criminal Code says that “whoever counterfeits currency, irrespective of whether to make as a coin, banknote or any other that is used or authorised to be used by the government or to counterfeit government bonds or interest coupons attached to such bonds, such a person is said to commit the offence of counterfeiting currency and shall be punished with life imprisonment or 10 to 20 years imprisonment and fined Bt200,000 to Bt400,000”.

Section 244 says that “whoever possesses anything obtained by him, which he knows to be counterfeited according to Section 240 or altered according to Section 241, shall be punished with imprisonment of 1 to 15 years and fined Bt20,000 to Bt300,000”.

“Therefore, police officers can take legal action against protesters and stores for using such currency,” Srisuwan added.

Meanwhile, Phaholyothin police have threatened to charge protesters with lese majeste and violating the Currency Act for using mocked-up currency carrying a picture of a duck wearing a crown at Wednesday’s rally.

The lese majeste law (Section 112) carries prison terms of three to 15 years.

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Ten passengers hurt after bus ploughs into tree in Phitsanulok (nationthailand.com)

Ten passengers hurt after bus ploughs into tree in Phitsanulok

NationalNov 26. 2020

By The Nation

Ten passengers were injured when a Bangkok-Chiang Khong omnibus crashed into a tree on the side of a road in Phitsanulok province on Thursday.

Bang Rakam police were notified of the accident at 2.50am and rushed to the scene with volunteer rescuers.

They found 10 injured passengers at the spot. The ten were taken to Naresuan University Hospital and Pitsanuvej Hospital.

The police were questioning driver Suriyan Kajai, 44.

The driver reportedly lost control of his vehicle before it crashed into the tree.