THAILAND LIVE Thailand Live Friday 7 Oct 2016

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BAAC expedites financial assistance for rice farmers

  

BANGKOK, 7 October 2016 (NNT) - The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) is giving financial assistance to the farmers who grow rice in the 2016/2017 crop year. All of the farmers are expected to receive the money within this month. 

In Ubon Ratchathani, Provincial Governor Somsak Changtrakul on Thursday gave the financial assistance totaling 48 million baht to 5,228 rice farmers. In Mae Hong Son, 267 farmers recently received more than 1.7 million baht in total. 1,200 rice farmers in the province have been paid so far. 

Other provinces where rice farmers received the financial assistance, worth 1,000 baht per Rai, from the bank on Thursday included Sukhothai and Ratchaburi. Each of the farmers is eligible for the financial assistance for up to 10 Rai.

 

-- nnt 2016-10-07

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HONOLULU TRIP

THAI bill for Prawit trip in two months

THE NATION 

 

 

Airline takes action over ‘fake’ passenger list for junket

 

THAI AIRWAYS International will take two months to disclose its finalised bill for Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan's controversial chartered flight to Hawaii last week, its top executive told a press conference yesterday.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947435-thai-bill-for-prawit-trip-in-two-months/

 

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Fake instant coffee seized in godown in Pathum Thani

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Police seized about two million baht worth of fake instant coffee in raid of a warehouse in Pathum Thani province on Thursday.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947437-fake-instant-coffee-seized-in-godown-in-pathum-thani/

 

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UPDATE:

 

Government spokesman defends General Prawit’s Hawaii trip

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Government spokesman Lt-Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd led a team of spokesmen from the Defence Ministry and Thai Airways International to defend Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan’s use of THAI’s chartered flight service for the trip to Hawaii to attend the ASEAN-US defence ministers meet during September 29-October 1.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947435-thai-bill-for-prawit-trip-in-two-months/?do=findComment&comment=11218409

 

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Vendors try unsuccessfully to return to Siam Square as City Hall remains firm on its eviction plan

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Over 200 municipal police were deployed at and around Siam Square shopping district on Thursday as a group of pavement vendors tried to negotiate with city officials to return to the pavements to carry on with their trading practice.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947438-vendors-try-unsuccessfully-to-return-to-siam-square/

 

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Most of vegetables and fruits on sale in fresh and modern trade markets are laced with pesticide residues

 

 

BANGKOK: -- About 56 percent of fresh vegetables and fruits on sale in fresh markets, super markets and modern trade stores, including the so-called high-end gourmet markets are laced with chemical residues beyond acceptable standards, according to survey conducted by Thai-PAN, a pesticide alert network.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947439-most-of-vegetables-and-fruits-on-sale-in-fresh-and-modern-trade-markets-are-laced-with-pesticide-residues/

 

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Consumer’s confidence index grows three months in a row

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Consumer’s confidence index for the month of September increased to 74.2, representing an increase for the third month in a row and the highest in six months, according to the survey result of the economic and business forecast centre of the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947441-thai-consumer-confidence-index-grows-three-months-in-a-row/

 

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START-UP

Start-up tourism catches on

Phatarawadee Phataranawik
The Nation 

 

 

Entrepreneurs are guiding foreigners to the best of Thai culture

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947444-start-up-tourism-catches-on/

 

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ERAWAN SHRINE BLAST

Foreigner in custody may have links to terror networks

SOMJIT RUNGJAMRASRASSAMEE
THE NATION

 

BANGKOK: -- A FOREIGNER has been detained on suspicion of having links to terror networks or the gang providing fake passports to suspects involved in the Erawan Shrine bomb blast.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947408-arrested-foreigner-may-have-links-to-terror-networks/

 

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Three executives surrender over ‘zero-dollar’ tours

SUPACHAI PHETCHTHEWEE,
KESINEE TAENGKHIEO
THE NATION
 

 

BANGKOK: -- THREE executives of tour operators surrendered to police yesterday in response to arrest warrants for their alleged role in a “zero-dollar tour” network, which is deemed illegal and damaging to the Thai tourism industry.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947445-three-executives-surrender-over-‘zero-dollar’-tours/

 

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Thai and US cops hunt for sex-trafficking ring

THE NATION, 
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 

 

Srivara

 

BANGKOK: -- THAI POLICE are cooperating with their US counterparts in the hunt for a group involved in a “large-scale highly sophisticated sex-trafficking scheme” in which hundreds of Thai women were forced to work as prostitutes in the US.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947446-thai-and-us-cops-hunt-for-sex-trafficking-ring/

 

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Pathum Thani scavengers in fear after slayings

ANAN WICHITPRACHA, 
PONGSATHAT RUJIPHUTTANYAPHAT,
SURIYA PATATHAYO
THE NATION 

 

A policeman inspects the scene of three murders under the Don Muang Tollway in Pathum Thani yesterday.

 

BANGKOK: -- SCAVENGERS in Pathum Thani province are living in fear after the body of a third man was found yesterday with both hands tied behind his back and his throat slit.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947447-pathum-thani-scavengers-in-fear-after-slayings/

 

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Special team to tackle unrest in South set up scope for work

Jitraporn Senawong
The Nation 

 

Udomdej

 

BANGKOK: -- A SPECIAL “ forward minister ” team divided tasks among themselves to help tackle unrest in the deep South in their first meeting in Bangkok yesterday, Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdej Sitabutr said.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947448-special-team-to-tackle-unrest-in-south-set-up-scope-for-work/

 

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BURNING ISSUE

Thai auto industry not ready for EV revolution

Sasithorn Ongdee 
 

Photo From www.greens.org.au

 

BANGKOK: -- Thai authorities have put the cart before the horse when it comes to electric vehicles (EVs). Excited by the huge potential of the new technology, they have neglected the structural economic changes necessary to its realisation here.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947449-thai-auto-industry-not-ready-for-ev-revolution/

 

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Attorney-general denies order to transfer his deputy came from on high

KESINEE TANGKIEW
THE NATION 

 

Pongniwat

 

BANGKOK: -- ATTORNEY-GENERAL Pongniwat Yuthapanboriparn yesterday denied bowing to pressure from “those in power” in the transfer of his deputy after his deputy

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947450-attorney-general-denies-order-to-transfer-his-deputy-came-from-on-high/

 

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US Consulate General Chiang Mai Goes BioChar After Conference with Warm Heart

by CityNews

 

 

CityNews – The US Consulate General Chaing Mai has declared that it will go fully BioChar after a conference today with Michael Shafer from Warm Heart introducing the facts and theory behind the burning technique, followed by a demonstration to officials and a training program for the gardeners at the consulate.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947451-us-consulate-general-chiang-mai-goes-biochar-after-conference-with-warm-heart/

 

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Two Burmese Vending Machine Robbers Arrested

by CityNews

 

 

CityNews – This morning, Police arrested two Burmese nationals who had have been accused of stealing money from gas vending machines in Chiang Mai and Lamphun areas.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947452-two-burmese-vending-machine-robbers-arrested-in-chiang-mai/

 

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Unidentified Woman Crashes into Tree, Dies

by CityNews

 

 

CityNews – A 22-year-old woman was found dead in her car at 1.30am on October 6th after her car was found crashed into a tree in the middle of a road island.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947453-chiang-mai-unidentified-woman-crashes-into-tree-dies/

 

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Japanese man held for talking an investor into buying bogus machine for Bt40m

Dollawee Sudphum
The Nation 

 

BANGKOK: -- A Japanese national was arrested yesterday in Bangkok’s Thonglor area for allegedly duping an investor of more than Bt40million.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947454-japanese-man-held-for-talking-an-investor-into-buying-bogus-machine-for-bt40m/

 

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Frozen body identified as American publisher

By Teeranai Charuvastra, Staff Reporter -

 

Rescue workers load a body found in a Phra Khanong shophouse on Sept. 23 in Bangkok. Police now believe the body was that of an American man named Charles Edward Ditlefsen.

 

BANGKOK — Police on Thursday were waiting for American officials to formally confirm the identity of a body found in the freezer of a passport forgery den

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947455-frozen-body-identified-as-american-publisher/

 

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Siam, Silom, Sukhumvit street markets shut down

By Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter -

 

Sandals were hung on the railing of a bank branch on Sukhumvit Road on Wednesday night by Pornthipa Boonmart, 49.

 

BANGKOK —Instead of staying home like most of her friends, Pornthipa Boonmart on Wednesday went to her spot on Soi Sukhumvit 5 where she has sold goods to passers-by for over 30 years.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947456-siam-silom-sukhumvit-street-markets-shut-down/

 

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Russia ‘ready’ to cooperate with US on Syria ceasefire

 

 

MOSCOW: -- Russia said on Thursday it would study a draft French resolution on a ceasefire in Syria, and was ready to cooperate with the United States through multilateral talks.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947457-russia-‘ready’-to-cooperate-with-us-on-syria-ceasefire/

 

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VIDEO: Hundreds of migrants arrive in Sicily

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947458-video-hundreds-of-migrants-arrive-in-sicily/

 

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Guterres “grateful and humble” for UN nomination

 

 

LISBON: -- Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres is a step closer to being officially invested as the next Secretary General of the United Nations.
 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947462-guterres-“grateful-and-humble”-for-un-nomination/

 

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'Not going to take any chances': Hurricane menaces Florida

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and KELLI KENNEDY

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Leaving more than 100 dead in its wake across the Caribbean, Hurricane Matthew steamed toward Florida with potentially catastrophic winds of 140 mph Thursday, and 2 million people across the Southeast were warned to flee inland.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947463-not-going-to-take-any-chances-hurricane-menaces-florida/

 

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Eastern Aleppo faces annihilation says UN special envoy to Syria

Chris Cummins

 

 

UNITED NATION: -- The UN special envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura has said eastern Aleppo faces total destruction that will result in the deaths of thousands of civilians.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947464-eastern-aleppo-faces-annihilation-says-un-special-envoy-to-syria/

 

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UKIP MEP collapses outside EU parliament

Catherine Hardy

 

 

STRASBOURG: -- Steven Woolfe, the favourite to become the next leader of UKIP, is in hospital after collapsing outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947466-ukip-mep-collapses-outside-eu-parliament/

 

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Pakistan's lawmakers toughen penalty for 'honor' killings

By KATHY GANNON

 

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Despite objections from religious hard-liners, lawmakers Thursday took the first significant move to curb mounting numbers of "honor" killings in Pakistan, stiffening the penalties and closing a loophole that allowed such killers to go free.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947467-pakistans-lawmakers-toughen-penalty-for-honor-killings/

 

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Husband fights for evidence to help US wife accused in China

By LOUISE WATT

 

BEIJING (AP) — Nine days had passed since Jeff Gillis, at home in Houston, Texas, had last heard from his wife. During that phone call, she told Gillis she was extending her business trip in China, but he grew anxious. He filed a missing person's report with U.S. consular officials whose response left him flabbergasted: His wife, a business consultant, had been detained by Chinese state security agents almost two weeks earlier.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947468-husband-fights-for-evidence-to-help-us-wife-accused-in-china/
 

 

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Report faults top Pentagon aide's behavior at overseas clubs

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Ash Carter's former senior military aide used his government credit card at strip clubs or gentlemen's clubs in Rome and Seoul, drank in excess and had "improper interactions" with women during business travel with Carter, according to a report released Thursday by the Defense Department inspector general.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/947469-report-faults-top-pentagon-aides-behavior-at-overseas-clubs/