Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Three cities in Thailand receive ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities Awards

PHUKET, 24 June 2014 (NNT) – Three cities in Thailand received awards for excellence in environmentally sustainability, with Chiang Rai Municipality receiving this year's overall ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities Award for its notable ability to dispose of waste and for green area management.


Mr. Noppadol Thiyajai, deputy secretary-general of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) said that ONEP is the main unit in managing the sustainable environmental resources for the country. ONEP also cooperates between ASEAN countries in order to develop indicators for air and water quality, waste, and green areas, so that cities will emit lesser carbon dioxide.

Three awards are given to cities for being able to reach the criteria in the area of Air, Water, Waste and overall environmentally friendliness. The award will set a standard and hopefully stimulate cities within the ASEAN region to follow the regulations and required indicators to meet Environmentally Sustainable City Standard. This year, Thailand hosted the award ceremony in Phuket Province, with 10 cities across the ASEAN Region receiving awards.

Chiang Rai received the ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities Award 2014 for its excellence in Green Area Management, Nakhon Sawan won the award for excellence in water management, while Roi Et received the award for excellence in Waste and Green Area management.

nntlogo.jpg
-- NNT 2014-06-24 footer_n.gif

  • Replies 75
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted

Cellphone Operator Waives 200,000 Baht 'Cookie Run' Bill
By Khaosod English

14035261761403527031l.jpg
Screenshot of the game Cookie Run

BANGKOK — Parents of the 13-year-old child who purchased over 200,000 baht in upgrades for the popular cellphone game Cookie Run will not have to pay the massive bill, says cellphone service operator AIS.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/736966-cellphone-operator-ais-waives-200000-baht-cookie-run-bill/

Posted

AFTER COUP
EU suspends mutual visits

The Nation

30236961-01_big.jpg
A heavily armed soldier stands guard during a search early yesterday morning at Min Buri Prison for illegal items such as drugs. The search, conducted by more than 400 officials, was part of a policy by the ruling junta against illicit drugs.

Says it won't sign partnership accord until elected govt is back in power

BANGKOK: -- The European Union yesterday reduced ties with Thailand by suspending mutual official visits and refusing to sign a partnership and cooperation accord with the country until a democratically elected government is in place.


The measures follow sanctions imposed on military cooperation by the United States and Australia after the coup on May 22.

At their meeting in Luxembourg, EU foreign ministers condemned the military seizure of power and agreed to take the punitive measures to back-up calls for an urgent return to democratic rule.

They expressed "extreme concern" about the situation in the country, urging the military to "restore, as a matter of urgency, the legitimate democratic process and the constitution through credible and inclusive elections".

They also called for restraint from all sides, the respect of human rights, the release of political detainees and an end to censorship.

Further, they urged military authorities to free all political detainees, refrain from any further arrests for political reasons and remove censorship.

Despite military junta chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha’s announcement of a roadmap and economic plan, the EU ministers said in their joint statement that "the military has yet to present the credible roadmap for a return to constitutional rule which the situation requires".

So, the EU was "forced to reconsider its engagement" with Thailand.

"Official visits to and from Thailand have been suspended; the EU and its member states will not sign the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Thailand until a democratically elected government is in place," they said.

They called for fully functioning democratic institutions be brought back to ensure the protection and welfare of all citizens. And they said other agreements could be affected and their member states were reviewing military cooperation with Thailand.

"Only an early and credible roadmap for a return to constitutional rule and the holding of credible and inclusive elections will allow for the EU's continued support," the ministers said.

They said the EU would keep its relations with Thailand under review, warning that further measures would be considered if needed.

Meanwhile, a Commerce Ministry source said Thailand may be banned from exporting products to EU countries.

The country has been closely monitored by the EU because of imports of raw fish products from the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, allegedly from illegal unregulated and unreported fishing.

Thailand imports only about four per cent of its total imported fish products from those countries - US$48-million worth from Philippines and $52 million from Papua New Guinea.

nationlogo.jpg
-- The Nation 2014-06-24

  • Like 1
Posted

HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Groups plan to clear their 'smeared' reputation

Petchanet Pratruangkrai,
Erich Parpart
The Nation

Fishery producers want to hit back after US trafficking downgrade

BANGKOK: -- Eight seafood and fishery associations will today reveal their action plan on labour conditions and send a decisive message against the United States' decision to downgrade Thailand to "Tier 3" in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/736971-thai-fishery-producers-want-to-hit-back-after-us-human-trafficking-downgrade/

Posted

Public spending to lead economic growth in H2, KResearch says
Erich Parpart
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- All four economic engines - consumer consumption, business investment, government spending and exports - will propel growth in the second half of the year, spearheaded by the public sector, said Kasikorn Research Centre.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/736973-public-spending-to-lead-economic-growth-in-h2-kresearch-says/

Posted

SPECIAL REPORT
Scrapping martial law, other junta moves needed to achieve goal, tourism bodies say

Suchat Sritama
The Nation

30236949-01_big.jpg

The tourism industry needs some more action from the junta if it is to achieve the goal of contributing 10 per cent of the economy, experts say.

BANGKOK: -- "The lifting of martial law is the last step to entice tourists into returning to the Kingdom. To tourists, not having any threat is the best environment for travelling," Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, the inbound trade association, said yesterday.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/736975-scrapping-martial-law-other-junta-moves-needed-to-achieve-goal-tourism-bodies-say/?p=8011810

Posted

EDITORIAL
Diplomatic corps not a branch of the military

The Nation

The Foreign Ministry is making a mistake in seeking international cooperation to suppress critics of the junta

BANGKOK: -- By agreeing to ask for foreign countries' cooperation in hunting down exiled anti-junta activists and academics, the Foreign Ministry has lost its way.


The National Council for Peace and Order had already handed the ministry the tough task of explaining the reasons behind the coup to the international community and beseeching their understanding.

The ministry has done that job well so far. The most prominent foreign nations will never agree that a military coup against an elected government is justified, but the ministry has managed to get many of them to voice understanding, while others have declared support for reforms to restore democracy in Thailand.

Of course, there remain some countries - mostly in the West - that maintain a rigid stance, and some have imposed sanctions against Thailand. Though the Foreign Ministry is under no obligation to try and change that stance, it must employ the necessary resources to discourage further sanctions that would damage the country.

The ministry's task in normal times is to implement foreign policy and seek international recognition and build a good image and reputation for the country. The coup has done much to tarnish that reputation, damaging Thailand's image as a nation that respects democracy and rights. It is now the ministry's tough duty to reassure the world, without resorting to lies or obfuscation, that Thailand has not disavowed the democratic path but is working towards a stronger democracy.

However, taking on the additional job of hunting down the junta's enemies is a different story. The ministry was not set up to deal with such a task. Manhunts require the gathering of intelligence and other police work. No official at the ministry or at out diplomatic missions has been trained for such work. Some might support the coup and feel antagonistic toward the junta's enemies, but that is a personal matter, not a national one. The ministry should not be mobilising resources to track down activists who are abroad or attempting to go abroad.

Following the last coup in 2006, the junta and succeeding interim governments ordered the ministry to hunt for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his associates. The ministry, as the international "face" of Thailand, used a variety of means to pressure foreign governments in a bid to get Thaksin back. The result was unnecessary conflict with those that refused to cooperate. Thai ambassadors, consuls general and other diplomats gave higher priority to the search for Thaksin than seeking foreign cooperation in other national interests. In the end their effort failed anyway: no country agreed to extradition. The Kingdom lavished time and resources for nothing. Worse, it aggravated conflict both at home and overseas.

Overtly, the current military government is ignoring Thaksin and his political connections, but covertly it is repeating the mistake of the previous junta by pressuring the ministry into hunting down people opposed to the coup - including those linked to Thaksin.

Thaksin, his allies, activists and academics voice opposition to the military take-over, but the coup is now doing real damage for all to see. If the junta took power to restore peace and democracy, as it claims, its actions should silence the critics. It should not be pushing the Foreign Ministry to attempt an impossible task.

nationlogo.jpg
-- The Nation 2014-06-24

Posted

3 million Thai kids living with caregivers
Thiranat Sucharikul
The Nation

30236942-01_big.jpg

Children not with parents slow in language skill: Unicef study

BANGKOK: -- MORE THAN 3 million Thai children do not live with their parents - and the national ratio of 21 per cent of children who live with caregivers, such as their grandparents, has alarmed experts from overseas.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/736992-3-million-thai-kids-living-with-caregivers/

Posted

START-UP
Thailand has potential to become digital innovation hub

Jon Eddy Abdullah

BANGKOK: -- I believe if all mobile operators collectively support and hand start-ups an opportunity to create and develop applications or solutions that are useful and make our lives more convenient, easier and faster, Thailand in the near future could become a digital innovation hub.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/736994-thailand-has-potential-to-become-digital-innovation-hub/

Posted

Bt500 for tip-offs on planned protests
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The police will reward Bt500 to anybody who provides information or evidence of people planning to stage a flash protest against the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), deputy national police chief Lt-General Somyot Poompanmoung said yesterday.

General Udomdej Sitabutr, who is NCPO secretary-general and deputy Army chief, said the NCPO had instructed security officials to exercise proper judgement on whether to arrest those who stage quiet protests by publicly reading books or eating sandwiches.

He said these protesters can either be arrested immediately on the assumption that the situation may get worse, or they could photograph them and round them up later to avoid public commotion.

Somyot said the evidence provided could be either a video clip or photographs, adding that the reward would be given if these tips result in prosecution.

Though police have cut down on security as there have been no major protests against the military, plainclothes officers were still being dispatched to areas where protests may be staged, he said.

Somyot added that police would still detain groups of five or more if they gather with a political motive.

Meanwhile, the military court has issued arrest warrants for 28 people for failing to report to the NCPO as ordered.

The 28 include lese majeste suspects such as former PM's office minister Jakrapob Penkair and Giles Ungpakorn, a former academic at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Political Science, - both of whom live in self-impose exile overseas - and former vocational student activist Ekkapob Luara aka "Tang Acheeva". They are also targeting red-shirt Chatwadee "Rose" Amornpat who lives in the UK.

The penalty for defying the NCPO's summonses is up to two years in jail and/or a fine of up to Bt40,000.

However, the court yesterday revoked the arrest warrant against Khanchai Boonparn, chief executive of the Matichon Group. Pol Colonel Prasopchoke Prommoon, deputy chief of the Crime Suppression Division, said Matichon Plc's managing director submitted a medical certificate to show that Khanchai was undergoing a heart operation in Bangkok. Prasopchoke said police had been told about his circumstances and the Matichon boss showed no intent to escape.

nationlogo.jpg
-- The Nation 2014-06-24

  • Like 2
Posted

Thai ex-lawmakers vow 'fightback' against coup



BANGKOK, June 24, 2014 (AFP) - The former president of the toppled Thai ruling party on Tuesday launched the first official opposition group to the nation's coup-making junta, bidding to draw together dissidents within the country and outside its borders.



Jarupong Ruangsuwan, who was president of the Puea Thai party as well as a senior minister, will lead the "Organistation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy" from self-exile in an unnamed country, according to a declaration marking the group's founding.



Thailand's junta has muzzled dissent within the country, summoning and detaining hundreds of people, the majority linked with the deposed government of ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra and her administration's "Red Shirt" supporters.



In a statement by the group signed by Jarupong, and seen by AFP, he decried the coup as "grand larceny".



"The junta has violated the rule of law, abused democratic principles, and destroyed your rights, liberties, and human dignity," he said.



The group will fight to restore democracy and resist any moves by the establishment-backed junta to rig the political system in its favour, he added.



A coalition of former lawmakers, academics, Red Shirt figures and other opponents of the May 22 army power grab, have also joined the group -- which will be based outside of Thailand in an unnamed country.



"The people are demanding a fightback," group spokesman Jakrapob Penkair, a former government minister and founding member of the Red Shirt movement, told AFP via Skype from London on Monday.



"We will provide psychological support for all anti-coup, democratic groups inside and outside Thailand. We will provide assistance and encouragement to all demonstrators against the coup... but not of the violent kind."



"This is just the start," he said, adding the billionaire former premier and Red Shirt hero Thaksin Shinawatra had not joined the group.



Thailand has suffered a political rupture since Thaksin, Yingluck's older brother, swept to power in 2001 on a wave of support from the nation's rural, poor north and northeast.



The Shinawatras' electoral success sent panic through the Bangkok-based royalist elite -- and its supporters in the military -- who accuse the family of abusing democracy to sponsor massive graft and cronyism.



Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 coup and lives in self-exile to avoid jail for a corruption conviction, although his political affiliates have continued to sweep the polls.



His sister was deposed by a controversial court order shortly before May's coup, which the army said was necessary to restore order following several months of sometimes-deadly street protests in Bangkok.



Coup-leading Army Chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha has smothered dissent, imposing sweeping controls of the media and detaining or warning hundreds of people to aver protest and political action.



Thai police on Monday offered a $15 reward to anyone providing photographic or video evidence to help convict anti-coup protesters who have gathered in small but increasingly creative flashmobs.



In the latest strike on freedom of expression, a lone man reading George Orwell's anti-authoritarian novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was arrested on Sunday.



afplogo.jpg
-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-06-24


Posted

5 KG of ICE worth 9 million baht seized in Suratthani Province

SURATTHANI, 24 June 2014, (NNT) - Maritime Police in Suratthani Province have apprehended 3 suspects for possessing narcotic substances, seizing 5 kg of ICE worth about 9 million baht.


The 3 suspects were identified as Mr. Arun ‘Boy’ Mepho, Mr. Anucha ‘Tik’ Khampuang, and Sunthon Pimpakhan. The officials conducted a sting operation on June 22nd and were able to arrest one of the suspects, Arun, who shortly later implicated his 3 accomplices, Anucha, Sunthon, and Master Sergeant Supoj Theerasilp. The last one took his own life by hanging himself in the restroom after he was arrested.

The suspects later admitted that they were smuggling the drugs from agents of a Myanmar drug ring to Suratthani for distribution. Authorities said they would arrest the rest of the gang based on the information provided.

nntlogo.jpg
-- NNT 2014-06-24 footer_n.gif

Posted

Runaway Jarupong declares free-Thai organisation to counter coup

BANGKOK: -- Fugitive ex-Pheu Thai party leader Jarupong Ruangsuwan on Tuesday declared establishment of a free-Thai organisation to fight against coup makers.

He said in a YouTube clip that "The Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy" or FT-HD is founded to show rejection of the military junta and consequences. He was appointed as its secretary general.

The establishment was done in the morning of June 24, the same day in 1932 when Thailand was changed from absolute monarchy to democracy and constitutional monarchy.

nationlogo.jpg
-- The Nation 2014-06-24

  • Like 1
Posted

Police seize Counterfeit Branded Items at North Pattaya Warehouse



fake-3.jpg



PATTAYA: -- A press conference was held at Banglamung Police Station on Monday Morning by the Acting Region 2 Police Commissioner who announced the results of a search which took place at a warehouse in North Pattaya, suspected of storing thousands of counterfeit branded items destined for shops around the Pattaya area.



Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/737021-police-seize-counterfeit-branded-items-at-north-pattaya-warehouse/


Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...