His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej was born on December 5, 1927 and passed away on October 13, 2016. Also present at the ceremony were HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and the King’s daughters Princess Bajrakitiyabha and Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana.

Photos courtesy of the Culture Ministry

The performances are part of a year-long celebration of khon, which was recently added to Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Photos courtesy of the Culture Ministry

Fine Art Department will stage the Ramayana’s episode “Hanuman Charndej” on January 6 and February 3 at 2pm. Tickets for Bt100, Bt150 and Bt200 are on sale from December 21 at the theatre.

The ministry also plans to present an animation on the Ramayana with an exhibition, workshop and seminars on khon throughout the kingdom and overseas.

Photos courtesy of the Culture Ministry

Photos courtesy of the Culture Ministry

The system will cut processing times to minutes and is seen as key to halting the recent decline in Chinese visitors.

The service is run by Thai Immigration in cooperation with the SAMART Group, who recently shared a video explaining how the process works.

It is available to nationals from China and India who arrive at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket and Chiang Mai airports and is also expected to be made available at Krabi airport in the coming months.

Applications can be made at https://www.evisathailand.com/

Currently, the E-VOA is available to nationals from Andorra, Bhutan, China, Ethiopia, Fiji

India, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The British and French are amongst the next to be offered e-visas.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this week announced that in addition to E-VOA, Thailand will start accepting online visa applications from next year.

From February 15 the e-visa service will be available in Beijing and then in other Chinese cities from March 1.

From April 1 the E-VOA will be launched in Britain and France before being rolled out to all Thai embassies and consulates within the next three years.

The service will enable foreigners to apply for 60-day tourist visas online with payments made by card, QR code and internet banking, with Thailand’s K-Bank providing payment support.

When launched, e-visa applications will be made at https://www.thaievisa.go.th/ but foreigners will also still be able to apply for a tourist visa at an embassy or consulate.

The requirements for a tourist visa:

– Passport with a validity of six months

– Completed visa application form

– One recent 4x6cm photograph of the applicant

– Evidence of onward travel out of Thailand

– Proof of financial means (Bt20,000 per person/Bt40,000 per family)

See VDO clip:

Source: thaivisa.com

The raid in Bang Plee district netted 70 kilograms of cannabis tincture, six kilograms of hashish and some equipment.

The facility was reportedly backed for the most part by a Japanese investor and had reportedly succeeded in smuggling five tonnes of cannabis tincture to Belgium in March.

The detection in Belgium of the cannabis tincture hidden in pressed coconut coir fibre led Thai police to investigate the case until they zeroed in on the Samat Prakan site as the source.

The operation also arrested four suspects, said police. British man Joseph Toole, 67, who allegedly trained workers and performed quality control, was nabbed in Chon Buri’s Bang Lamung district. Canadian investor David Kulik, 65, was apprehended in Chon Buri’s Muang district, while Thai man Suriyan Suwanchairop, 34, was nabbed in Sakhon Nakhon, and another Thai, Supakit Kaewma, 54, arrested in Bangkok.

The police probe found that raw materials were supplied from Thailand-based drug-trafficking groups as well from others based in Laos, Chalemkiat said.

This case was announced to the press as one among seven recent drug busts that police netted a total of 21 suspects and seized drugs worth Bt440.5 million. The seized drugs comprised 2.9 million methamphetamine pills, 70 kilograms of cannabis tincture, 6.6 kilograms of hashish, 600 kilograms of dried marijuana, three kilograms of crystal meth (“ice”) and six ecstasy pills.

Other interesting busts include the arrest of five male suspects along with one million methamphetamine pills on December 2 in Ang Thong, as they transported the illicit drugs in two pickup trucks from Chiang Rai heading towards Bangkok.

Two Thai male suspects in their 40s were arrested and 780,000 methamphetamine pills seized during a drug delivery on December 1 in Chiang Rai. Another operation saw the arrest of four suspects, and seizure of 599 kilograms of dried marijuana in Sara Buri on December 2.

Six out of 32 witnesses for the plaintiff, including Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary chief Wichien Chinnawong, have already testified at Thong Pha Phum Provincial Court in Kanchanaburi during the first round of interviews last month.

Seub Nakhasathien Foundation said that the remaining witnesses for the plaintiff will be interviewed before the court hears the testimony of 17 witnesses from the defendant side.

The next witness interrogation sessions on the plaintiff side will be from next Tuesday to Thursday and then on December 18.

The National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department and the official investigation team has charged Italian-Thai Development president Premchai and his three associates, Yong Dodkrua, Thanee Thummat and Nathee Riamsaen, with illegally hunting black leopard and other wild animals inside Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary on this February.

Six allegations, including illegally carrying firearms in public, hunting the protected wildlife, and poaching inside the wildlife reserve, were laid against Premchai, while Thanee, Yong, and Nathee are facing eight, seven, and five allegations respectively.

The 17 defendant witnesses are scheduled to testify during six sessions from December 19-21 and December 25-27.

Following his request, Premchai will not attend the court until the witness interviews for the plaintiff.

City police chief Pol Lt-General Sutthipong Wongpin said on Thursday that Nannalin Pakawatsuwan was nabbed on Wednesday night at the Rom Klao Housing Estate in Lat Kra Bang district.

The arrest stemmed from a police complaint filed last month by businessman Sorachat Polwattana.

He said a Thai woman nicknamed “Kwan”, who he had never met in person but had befriended through a  dating website, had borrowed money from him in various occasions,  totaling Bt98,000. She failed to return the money, he said.

A police investigation found that the woman had used another woman’s photo to lure Sorachat without the photo owner’s knowledge. The woman also filed a police complaint in Bangkok that her photo was used in a fraudulent crime that she knew nothing about.

Following her arrest, Nannalin reportedly confessed to police that she had committed the fraud against Sorachat.

The case made headlines on Thai social media as the businessman’s action was criticised as too trusting although he attracted many people’s sympathy.

The businessman also appeared on a Thai TV show to give his side of the story and the TV host brought out the woman whose photo was used to lure him.

This prompted many social media users to cheer for both and wonder if they might date.

Rattapoom, 33, along with two other executives of the group, Thanet Jattawapornvanich, 43, and Poomipat Prasertwit, 38, were each initially sentenced to a one-year imprisonment and a Bt100,000 fine.

The court initially halved the punishment to a six-month jail term and a Bt50,000 fine due to their confession during trial.

The court then further reduced that punishment for each of the three men to a two-year suspended jail term and a Bt50,000 fine and 24 hours of social service, to give them a chance to turn over a new leaf. Payall Group was also fined at Bt100,000.

Public prosecutors filed the lawsuit against the Payall Group and authorised signatory directors Saravuth Nonthapa, Rattapoom, Thanet, and Poomipat for operating e-Money services without a proper licence from October 2016 to February 2017.

The four defendants were in court to hear the verdict.