A man exposed a gang of crooks, who allegedly dress as monks to dupe people, after falling for their story himself.
He posted pictures of these so-called monks on Facebook, saying
He ran into them on a road in Phetchaburi province. Initially, the monks asked for water, before changing their request to ask for money.
The man’s post went viral when other victims shared their experience. It appears as if this gang of five usually target tourists and spend the money they get to buy snacks.
The man said he was afraid that this group of “fake” monks may commit violent acts in the future.
Huge flames engulfed homes in Samut Prakan province early on Friday and nearly killed a disabled woman who struggled to drag herself to safety.
Police were notified of the fire in Phra Pradaeng’s Bang Hua Suea sub-district at around 2.30am and eight fire-trucks were sent to extinguish the blaze.
The fire had spread to at least 10 homes, and it took firefighters about an hour to get the blaze under control.
Meanwhile, Narin Saekhow, 54, who suffers physical disabilities, said she woke up when she heard a crackling noise. Realising that the fire was heading towards her home, she struggled to get out.
She said though she did not have any time to grab any of her belongings, she was able to seek help just in time.
Police believe the cause of the fire may be a malfunctioning fuse box and will investigate further.
Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan visited the Metalex 2020 exhibition at Bitec Bangna on Friday to check out new, improved vehicles that can be used as school buses.
The new electric vehicles were developed in cooperation between the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) with state enterprises and private sectors such as the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, National Science and Technology Development Agency and Choknumchai Hi-Tech Pressing Co.
Nataphol said the purpose of his visit was to obtain information that can be used to enhance the quality of education in the country and providing convenient transport for students is an integral part of building an educated population.
“These are improved original BMTA buses. The newly developed vehicles are stable and powerful, and can run on both electric power and diesel. This idea may help us cover school transportation across the country. Currently we are in the process of conducting feasibility studies,” he said.
This is the 34th edition of Metalex, Asean’s top metalworking machinery exhibition.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Friday reported four new cases over a 24-hour period.
A 33-year-old female flew back from Germany on November 14 and tested positive on November 17 in a state quarantine facility in Chonburi province. She said that she had fever four weeks before travel and had lost her sense of smell and taste.
Two asymptomatic Thai masseuses aged 44 and 40 travelled back from the Czech Republic on November 14 and tested positive on November 18 at a state quarantine facility in Chonburi province.
A 24-year-old female freelancer who travelled back from Japan on November 18, and had fever, was found positive at the screening checkpoint in Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Meanwhile, three patients have recovered and been discharged.
The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand increased to 3,892 (933 in state quarantine), 87 are in hospital, 3,745 have recovered and been discharged and 60 have died.
According to Worldometer, as of 10am on Friday the total number of confirmed cases increased to 57.22 million (up by 647,637), 39.71 million have recovered, 16.15 million are active cases (101,817 in severe condition) and 1.37 million have died (up by 10,758).
Thailand ranks 151st for most cases in the world, while the US has the most number with 12.07 million, followed by India 9 million, Brazil 5.98 million, France 2.08 million and Russia 2 million.
Police would comply with Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s order to use all relevant laws against pro-democracy protesters who broke laws, Deputy Metropolitan Police chief Pol Maj-General Piya Tawichai said on Thursday.
Prayut on Thursday warned protesters that security agencies would use “all relevant laws” against escalating anti-establishment protests. His announcement came after pro-democracy protesters besieged Parliament on Tuesday only to be met by police water cannons and tear gas. The protesters are calling for General Prayut’s removal and reform of the monarchy.
“Police are reviewing evidence to pursue applicable legal actions against lawbreakers,” he said. “Police will not hesitate to enforce Section 112 if the offenders show clear intention of violating this specific section.”
Section 112 of the Criminal Code states that “Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years.
“As for the protest leaders who had received bail or temporary release order from the court, police are preparing to file an appeal to the court to revoke their bail if they violate the bail condition, as well as ask the court to prohibit them from joining future rallies,” Piya said.
Piya added that police are chalking out plans on dealing with upcoming rallies to be held on November 21 and 25, and vowed to increase intensity of law enforcement.
The baht opened at 30.37 to the US dollar on Friday, strengthening from 30.40 at close on Thursday.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 30.30 and 30.50, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, senior director of the chief investment office at SCB Securities.
On Thursday night, the S&P 500 index rose by 0.4 per cent, riding on tech stocks in the US market, especially Tesla which has reached a new high.
However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the global economy was still in crisis, and the rise in the stock market would be a risk in financial stability in the future. The initial jobless claims in the US lately increased by 742,000 positions, reflecting the slow recovery in the US market.
In the financial markets, the dollar strengthened, while the US Ten-Year Treasury decreased by 2.3 basis points to 0.85 per cent. These developments were in the backdrop of the Covid-19 situation, which has made several countries go for another round of lockdowns.
In Thailand, the baht weakened in a narrower range. In the short term, Jitipol advised investors to monitor Bank of Thailand (BOT)’s measures to deal with speculation on the baht. He said the baht would continue strengthening until 2021, if foreign investors still decided to invest in Thailand.
The Ministry of Labour aims to announce new regulations regarding benefits for employees of state enterprises within three months.
The Cabinet had recently approved in principle a proposal to amend benefits and criteria submitted by the State Enterprise Labour Relations Committee.
“The ministry aims to increase medical and funeral allowances for state enterprise employees who become ill or die due to reasons not related to work,” Department of Labour Protection and Welfare director-general Apinya Sujarittanan said.
“Furthermore, we aim to increase child support and child education subsidies to be provided to state enterprises employees to suit their current economic status.”
Apinya explained that the increase in benefits would enable more than 306,000 state enterprises employees to receive additional medical services for free, such as medical check-up, as well as increase the cover for treatment at private medical institutions. “Furthermore, for each child they have, the employees would be entitled to child support at Bt200 per month instead of Bt50, as well as increased educational subsidy until they graduate with a bachelor’s degree,” he added.
“The ministry expects that it would take around three months for the Ministry of Finance to approve the budget and announce the new regulations in the Royal Gazette,” said Apinya.
The Ministry of Finance will next week propose to the Centre for Economic Situation Administration (CESA) details of the second phase of the economic stimulus campaign “Khon La Khrueng” (Let’s Go Halves).
Supak Chaiyawan, deputy director of Fiscal Policy Office, said that it would like registration to start within December, so that people would have money to spend during the New Year festival.
In the first phase of the scheme, which began on October 23 and runs until December 31, about 10 million citizens are offered discounts of up to Bt150 per day on purchases at participating stores, capped at Bt3,000 throughout the period.
The government, via Krungthai Bank, transfers the discounted amount to registered merchants via the Thung Ngern application.
“This week we have opened registration for an additional 720,000 participants to fill the 10 million people target in the first phase after some who had previously registered forfeited their rights by not spending within the 14 days,” she said. “Those who could not register in time are advised to wait for the second phase. Details should be announced next week.”
Supak added that the ministry is working on details of another economic stimulus project, aiming to add cash benefit to 14.5 million holders of state welfare cards.
“This project will serve as economic stimulus to low-income earners, which would complement the Khon La Khrueng campaign that is aimed at middle-income earners,” she added.
The Thailand Meteorological Department said on Friday that a weak high-pressure system covers upper Thailand, causing cool weather with fog in the morning. All transport should move with caution due to poor visibility.
The easterly wave prevails over the Gulf and the South, resulting in isolated heavy rain in some areas. People in the lower South should beware of heavy and accumulated rain, the department said.
During November 21-23, a moderate high pressure from China will extend to cover upper Thailand and South China Sea, bringing isolated rain and a drop in temperature. The moderate northeast monsoon will prevail in the Gulf and the South, bringing more rain and isolated heavy rain in the areas, the department said.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours:
North: Cool weather with fog in the morning; minimum temperature 19-23 degrees Celsius, maximum 32-36°C.
Northeast: Cool weather with light fog in the morning; minimum temperature 20-22°C, maximum 34-35°C.
Central: Partly cloudy with fog in the morning; minimum temperature 23-24°C, maximum 34-35°C.
East: Mostly cloudy with rain in 10 per cent of the areas; minimum temperature 23-26°C, maximum 33-36°C; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres offshore.
South (east coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 60 per cent of the areas and isolated heavy rain; minimum temperature 23-24°C, maxinum 20-34°C; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 40 per cent of the areas; minimum temperature 23-25°C, maximum 32-34°C; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres during thundershowers.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Partly cloudy with light fog in the morning; minimum temperature 25-26°C, maximum 34-36°C.
ThanapongphanThanyarattakul, a best-selling author on the subject of digital transformation and founder of the Digital Transformation Academy, has collaborated with Bundanjai by SE-ED to launch English and Thai versions of “Digital Transformation Canvas” and “Digital Transformation in Action” (revised edition) in e-book format. The aim is that they will become a tool that helps revive the business world and spurs new growth.
Thailand is not among the leading countries in digital strategies and digital transformation, ranking even lower than India despite having far higher GDP.
According to Bloomberg NEF’s 2020 National Industrial Digitalisation Ranking, the top 10 countries in digital strategies and digital transformation are South Korea, Singapore, Germany, the UK, China, Japan, the US, France, Canada and Sweden.
Digital success and transformation are crucial factors in today’s world, as illustrated by the IMD World Competitive Yearbook 2020 that ranks Singapore, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, and US as highly competitive countries. Thailand dropped to 29th in this year’s report after ranking 25th in 2019.
Thanapongphan said the e-book launch of English and Thai versions of “Digital Transformation Canvas” and the 2021 edition of “Digital Transformation in Action” aimed to help the business sector by spreading knowledge and practical how-to solutions in digital strategies and digital transformation on a national scale. The publication of the three e-books is intended to reach not only large private enterprises but also SMEs, start-ups and government departments. The e-books will be distributed nationwide on SE-ED’s e-book platform and internationally on Amazon.
Thanapongphan said that 2021 trends in digital transformation will include 5G, smart home, smart city, artificial intelligence, digital currency, blockchain, industry 4.0, digital health, cybersecurity & privacy, quantum & supercomputer. All of these technologies will become a “new normal” globally and locally in Thailand.
“Only 16 per cent of organisations successfully complete digital transformation. The remaining 84 per cent might fail for many reasons. They might only incorporate an IT system or digital marketing in their business operation. These approaches are merely part of business transformation. The most important question is how do we become part of the successful 16 per cent?”
“Digital Transformation in Action” offers ideas and principles about organisational transformation through digital processes. The book covers basic principles and clarifies key issues such as the fact that today’s competitors may come from other industries or “disruptor” start-ups. It points out that Adobe, for example, was originally a software licensing business before it switched to the subscription model and eventually became the world leader in MarTech (marketing technology).
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