Rainstorms are set to lash most of Thailand from Wednesday to Friday this week (October 7-9) as a tropical depression covers the country.
The Meteorological Department said the depression is expected to become a storm on October 6 and reach Vietnam on October 7. It will move into the Gulf of Thailand on October 8.
Heavy rain will fall in the lower Northeast, as well as the East, Central and South regions, while waves in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf will whip up to between two and four metres.
Fishermen are warned to stay ashore from October 7 to 10 while people who suffer storm damage can contact the 24-hour national emergency hotline on 1182.
Parents of students who were assaulted by their teachers in Sarasas Witaed Ratchaphruek School filed a petition with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on Monday asking for protection.
Lawyer Ronnarong Kaewpetch, who is head of the Network of Campaigning for Justice, led the parents to the attorney general’s office, where their petition was accepted by deputy spokesman Prayut Petchkhun.
The deputy spokesman called on the prosecutors to strictly follow the case. The OAG was also scheduled to discuss the case with the Social Development and Human Security Ministry on Monday afternoon.
The case has 33 victims and 23 have taken legal action against 13 Sarasas Witaed Ratchaphruek School staff members who were captured on CCTV physically assaulting students.
Ornuma “Khru Jum” Plodprong, the first teacher who was accused of abusing students, recently filed a police complaint against a student’s parents for allegedly assaulting her.
The National Savings Fund (NSF) is inviting village health volunteers, subdistrict and village headmen to save money in a retirement pension scheme.
NSF secretary-general Jarulak Ruangsuwan said on Monday that village health volunteers, as well as subdistrict and village headmen can start their savings from Bt50 to the maximum of Bt13,200 per year, while the government will pay contributions depending on their age in which the maximum payment was 100 per cent.
“Those interested can check their eligibility or register via NSF smartphone application or the fund’s representatives, district offices, community financial institutions, provincial offices of the comptroller-general, four state-owned banks — Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, Government Savings Bank, Krungthai Bank and Government Housing Bank — counter service, Tesco Lotus, Big C, and Boonterm vending machines nationwide,” she said.
She added that NSF has cooperated with Phantawee Corporation to offer up to 10 per cent discount on agricultural products available in Phantawee mall, such as fertilizers and plant seeds by showing membership status, such as NSF application or Line official group @nsf.th.
Those interested can visit NSF’s website: www.nsf.or.th”, or contact 02-049-9000 for more information.
Four months since political exile Wanchalearm Satsaksit was abducted on June 4 in Phnom Penh, all that his family and friends can do is try to keep alive their dying embers of hope.
“Seven years ago, during an election in Bangkok where I worked for a candidate’s campaign staff, I met Tah [Wanchalearm] who was working on the data team,” Prakaidao Phurksakasemsuk, Wanchalearm’s former girlfriend, told The Mirror Foundation, a social development NGO.
“Tah was respectable and yet funny. I was the youngest and he took care of me,” she recalled, revealing that her father was an alleged lese majeste offender which drew her into the political route.
“Tah and I were both into politics, but he was more mature,” she said. “But no one knows that he was discouraged, sad and angered too.”
The year 2019 was a tough period for the two. They could not live a normal life because of the path that they had chosen. Wanchalearm was ready to sacrifice himself for his belief, while Prakaidao wanted to step back from all the risk.
“I lived with him there [Cambodia] for two years studying for my master’s degree in a collaboration project between French and Cambodian universities,” Prakaidao said.
“A political refugee means different things to each person,” she said, explaining that there were various types of Thai people who had lost their basic rights to live in the motherland.
“I think he did not leave for the third country because of me. Before we lived together, I flew to meet him every month. We had an argument about living in France.” She explained it would be harder for him to meet her and he had got used to an Asian lifestyle.
“I couldn’t sleep. I dreamed of him. I cried for him,” she said, even though they had broken up. The news of Wanchalearm’s disappearance still deeply pains her, she said.
Prakaidao still hopes that one day he would return because the love still lingers in her though they had broken up. Wanchalearm had asked her whether they could be together if he could return to Thailand. That was their last conversation.
“I want political refugees to have a better future,” she said. “I wish they could choose to stay wherever they like. I would love to see them return to fight with their people. It would be better if we were together if they were home. I don’t want to hear of forced disappearance anymore. It killed my youth and my dreams.”
A mother bear and her two cubs were finally captured on Sunday after they were first spotted by Chaiyaphum locals a week ago.
On September 28, a Kaset Somboon district resident posted on Facebook photographs of bear footprints in his sugarcane plantation, urging officials to catch the animals before they attack villagers.
Officials from Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary in Chaiyaphum’s Khon San district showed up that very day to investigate and identified the footprints as those of an adult bear and two cubs.
After they failed to capture the bears by placing traps and shooting sedatives from drones overhead, the officials returned on Sunday to surround the bears and hit them with sedative darts.
Once sedated, the bear family were released in Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary. The bears were identified as buffalo bears, not honey bears as believed initially.
Nakhon Phanom police were on Monday waiting for the provincial court to release an arrest warrant for a man who kidnapped his former girlfriend last week.
On September 29, Panya Komolsri, 38, abducted his ex-girlfriend Sumonthip Tunklin, 18, with the help of his 17-year-old daughter.
The kidnapping was witnessed by Sumonthip’s sister, Siriporn Sornsilp, 22, and took place at the home of Siriporn’s boyfriend in Nakhon Phanom’s Phon Sawan district.
On the same day, Panya allegedly created a fake Facebook account and posted photographs of Sumonthip in a dark room with her arms handcuffed to the wall behind her.
He also posted a message threatening Sumonthip’s family, saying they stood to lose their lives if they reported the case to police.
This case came to light when Sumonthip’s cousin, Kannika Duanggkun, 19, raised an alarm on Facebook and succeeded in grabbing the attention of police.
Initial investigation tracked the signal of Panya’s phone to Sakon Nakhon’s Phanna Nikhom district.
On Friday, in a voice clip acquired by Kom Chad Luek newspaper on Friday, Panya can be heard saying that Sumonthip had a new boyfriend and he cannot let her get away because she knows of his illegal dealings.
On Saturday, Panya released Sumonthip in Sakon Nakhon’s Muang district and escaped. The girl was taken into protective custody by the police.
After interrogating Sumonthip, Kannika and Siriporn, police decided to file for an arrest warrant charging Panya of abduction and unlawful detention.
Panya faces an earlier arrest warrant over allegations of drunk driving and forgery in Nakhon Phanom province.
The Commerce Ministry has banned the import of 428 e-waste items as of September 15, and violators can face up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of five times the price of the shipment.
Kirati Ratchano, deputy director general of the Department of Foreign Trade, said the aim of the ban is to systematically integrate the management of electronic waste and plastic scrap that has been imported since 2018 with environment conservation in mind.
The ban has also been also been put in place to encourage businesses and related agencies to efficiently manage electronic waste brought into the country.
Disabilities Thailand (DTH) will file a petition on Tuesday morning demanding that the government make all disabled Thai nationals in the country eligible for the Bt1,000 monthly allowance.
Some 1.22 million disabled people are eligible for a monthly allowance of Bt1,000 because their disability is identified in the national ID and their disability card.
However, 800,000 people whose disability is not identified in their identity cards stand to get Bt800 per month.
DTH said this is unfair, especially since people are suffering from the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, adding that the government should allocate more funds to support this group in society.
People in Bangkok and its vicinity, Samut Songkhram province and nearby areas have been advised to retune their signal receivers after the Office of The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) adjusted terrestrial digital TV channels frequency in the 700MHz band on Monday.
This move follows digital TV broadcasters’ plan to switch to a new spectrum band from the current 700MHz band because this band has been auctioned off to telecom operators.
Viewers were unable to watch some channels from 6am onwards, namely Nation, GMM25, Mono29, Amarin TV, PPTV, and DLTV10-12.
However, NBTC’s move will not affect viewers who have subscribed to cable TV or satellite TV.
The NBTC advised people to retune their digital TV as follows:
1 Press Menu
2 Go to Setup or Installation
3 Select Search for channels automatically
4 Press OK or Search
Details about the dates of retuning and instructions can be found at http://700.nbtc.go.th or by calling (02) 070 0700.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported five new cases in quarantine facilities on Monday.
Two Indian nationals aged 27 and 33 tested positive at an alternative state quarantine hotel in Bangkok.
A 50-year-old Bahraini businessman also tested positive at an alternative state quarantine hotel in Bangkok.
A 34-year-old Portuguese flight attendant, who had travelled from Malaysia, tested positive at an alternative state quarantine hotel in Samut Prakarn.
A 55-year-old businesswoman returned from Japan and tested positive in a state quarantine hotel in Chonburi.
Meanwhile, two patients have recovered and been discharged.
The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand increased to 3,590 (652 in state quarantine), of whom 141 are in hospital and 3,390 have recovered and been discharged. The death toll remains unchanged at 59.
According to Worldometer, as of 10am on Monday, the total number of confirmed cases increased to 35.39 million (up by 249,546), 26.61 million have recovered, 7.73 million are active cases ( 66,505 in serious condition) and 1.04 million have died (increasing by 4,013).
Thailand ranks 139th for most cases in the world, while the US has the most number with 7.63 million, followed by India 6.62 million, Brazil 4.91 million, Russia 1.21 million and Colombia 855,052.
