The event highlights health travel, massages and herbals, serving the trend of Wellness Tourism showing Thailand's potential as a Global Medical & Wellness Hub. HighlightsWellness Travel: Travel packages in five regions are available. Central, the original Thai massage, including royal massage or nuad chaleisak, hot wax candle massage, and Nuad Mai Tabong cudgel massage. Don't miss Thailand Hub of Health & Travel: Wellness Travel, Health Massage, Wellness Herbals. Thailand Hub of Health & Travel is held in tandem with the Amazing Thailand Safety & Health Administration (SHA) guidelines for hygienic safety standards.

Setthakij Thai Party leader Thamanat Prompow. Deputy Setthakij Thai leader, Wichit Plangsrisakul, said on Tuesday the defeat in the by-election showed that people disagreed with the party supporting the government. The two MPs on Tuesday submitted a letter informing the prime minister they want to resign from those roles with immediate effect. Setthakij Thai is home to 18 MPs, including Capt Thamanat, who were all expelled by the PPRP for acting as renegades. Pheu Thai Party leader Cholnan Srikaew previously said he expected the debate to last five days, probably from July 18-22.

Robbery suspects freed on bailThree men, including the son of a well-known motivational speaker, charged with detaining a foreign businessman and robbing him of a luxury car and other valuables worth 4.5-million-baht last month were freed on bail on Tuesday, police said. On Tuesday, the Criminal Court released all three men on bail. Bails for Mr Tharit and Mr Petch were set for 1 million baht each and Mr Thobthong for 500,000 baht. All three are barred from leaving the country, and Mr Tharit and Mr Petch must wear electronic monitoring bracelets. Mr Petch is the son of Thitinart na Phatthalung, a well-known motivational speaker and author of the once-popular Khem Tid Chiwit (The Life Compass) book, while Mr Petch is an executive of PRX Co, the developer of PRX Metaverse.

Setthakij Thai Party leader Thamanat Prompow in its meeting in March 2022. (Photo: Apichart Jinakul)Two MPs of the Setthakij Thai Party resigned as government whips on Tuesday after their party's loss in a by-election in Lampang province on Sunday. Phai Lik, MP for Kamphaeng Phet and Setthakij Thai secretary-general, and Boonyasing Warinrak, party registrar and list MP, resigned as government whips with immediate effect, according to media reports. Setthakij Thai leader Thamanat Prompow said his party lost the by-election in Lampang because its stance had been unclear. Setthakij Thai is home to 18 MPs.

For example, it has been reducing the cost of LPG gas prices for low-income people, street food vendors and the poor who hold state welfare cards. He said state welfare holders are eligible to buy cooking gas at lower prices since October last year until now. PTT has also provided crude oil to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand to help them lower the cost of generating power, Auttapol added. He said PTT has also granted 1.046 billion baht to help members of society affected by the Covid-19 crisis, through its “Same Breathe” programme. In total, PTT has spent 3.3 billion baht to help society via several measures from January to April this year, he added.

“A weaker baht will bring back foreign visitors as they need to spend less for the same amount of products and services,” ATTA president Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn said on Monday. “However, how much effect this has on the overall tourism industry is yet to be evaluated as several countries are still suffering from economic recession. “Again, most travellers will be big spenders, as they are probably not worried about having to pay extra,” he said. The Bank of Thailand reported that this year the baht rose to the highest at 32.83 baht to the US dollar in February, before dropping to 34.57 in May and 35.13 in June. On July 7 the baht dropped to 36.36 baht to the US dollar, the lowest so far this year.

The Public Health Ministry has urged people to continue taking precautions against Covid-19 so as to avoid the risk of contracting the disease during a five-day holiday starting on Wednesday. The situation will remain under control if people follow precautions strictly, said Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Despite the spread of BA.4 and BA.5 [Omicron subvariants], booster shots help prevent severe symptoms and death," Mr Anutin said. During the long holiday, travel and tourism are necessary to stimulate the economy though people are advised to continue to take personal precautions, Dr Chakrarat said. The Public Health Ministry has asked hospitals to collect samples from patients with lung inflammation for further analysis, Dr Supakit said.

Police discuss the child sex trafficking case in Surat Thani province in May. The deputy director-general, Mr Phisit, allegedly phoned children at the shelter and persuaded them to provide sexual services. Since then, a number of officials have been implicated in the case, including Mr Phisit, other state officials as well as soldiers, teachers and doctors in the area. Mr Phisit has been charged with obstruction of justice while Mr Suwat faces the same charge as well a charge of duress by physical abuse. Police said that Mr Saengroj will be remanded in custody at Surat Thani Provincial Court until the trial due to concerns over potential interference in the investigation.

Opinions sought as Chana plan resumesProtesters from the Chana Rak Thin Network march to Dusit police station in Bangkok in January to acknowledge charges against them for a previous rally outside Government House. They want the government to halt the Chana industrial park project in Songkhla. (Photo: Nutthawat Wicheanbut)The government has insisted it is open to opinions from all stakeholders in the Chana industrial project in Songkhla, amid controversy over the cabinet's resolution to resume development. On June 21, the cabinet reversed a decision, as per its promise to the opposition group, to halt progress on the Chana industrial project until a SEA was completed. In June, Songkhla's Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking called on Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon to back the Chana project.

The July 6 event generated instant trade of 130 million baht, with another 11.5 billion baht expected during the rest of this year, according to Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) director-general Phusit Ratanakul Sereeroengrit. Hosted by the DITP and Board of Trade, the event drew representatives from 70 Saudi companies under the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, most of whom are in the food-and-beverage, construction, healthcare, retail, transport, gem and jewellery industries. “Saudi businesspeople expressed strong interest in ordering more products from Thailand, saying that Thai products are of high quality, meet international standards, and suit the needs of Saudi consumers,” said Phusit. He added that the Commerce Ministry is expanding the Saudi market for Thai products including rice, halal foods, and fruit by launching promotions in Saudi supermarket chains Manuel and LULU. These events will be held alongside social media campaigns to boost Saudi consumers’ awareness of Thai products, especially food, cosmetics, and industrial products.

Anutin said the distribution by the ministry was aimed at enabling Covid-19 patients to access treatment in line with their rights. He stressed that both Favipiravir and Molnupiravir are sufficient for Covid-19 patients and the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation can produce these drugs on its own. He also confirmed that all Covid-19 antiviral drugs procured by the government can treat the disease effectively and safely. "Currently, the usage of drugs is in line with the emergency decree, so the Department of Health Service Support will inspect hospitals that sell the drugs," he said. He added that there is no clear evidence about sales of Covid-19 antiviral drugs so far.

SCB X weighs options for $1.5bn asset management unitSCB X Plc is considering options including a sale of its asset management unit, people familiar with the matter said, amid growing industry consolidation in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. SCB X, formerly known as Siam Commercial Bank Plc, has been speaking with financial advisers to explore a potential transaction for SCB Asset Management Co, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Considerations are at an early stage and SCB X could still decide against pursuing any deal, the people said. “Given the strategic importance of asset management, the company regularly evaluates strategic options, proposals, and opportunities which may involve consultation with external advisors,” SCB X said in an exchange filing on Monday. SCB Asset Management was set up in 1992 and manages mutual funds, provident funds and private funds, according to its website.

1,811 new Covid cases, 24 more deathsPeople receive Covid-19 vaccine at Bang Sue Grand Station in Bangkok. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)There were 24 more Covid-19 fatalities and 1,811 new cases admitted to hospitals on Sunday, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) announced on Monday. This compared with the 22 coronavirus-related fatalities and 2,004 new cases admitted to hospitals on Saturday and reported on Sunday. Of the 1,811 new cases admitted to hospital over the 24 hours, there were 1,809 cases in the general population and two imported cases. Since the pandemic started in early 2020, there have been 4,546,854 Covid-19 cases, including 2,323,419 this year, with 4,491,919 complete recoveries to date.

JASIF owns fibre-optical cables spanning 1.6 million core kilometres, currently leased by TTTBB for its broadband internet service under the brand 3BB. True's revenue from fixed broadband business amounted to 7.32 billion baht in the first quarter of 2022. Third, the fixed internet broadband market has only 51% household penetration, meaning it is unsaturated, compared with 120% penetration in the mobile market. A telecom veteran says both the AIS-TTTBB acquisition and the True-DTAC merger should sail through checks by the NBTC. The True-DTAC merger seems to hinge on reducing expenses and operation costs, he said.

The plan is projected to add more value to hemp grown and harvested in Thailand by at least 20,000 baht per rai, he said. The hemp industry development plan is also consistent with the government's Bio-Circular-Green Economy policy, he said. OIE director Thongchai Chawalitpichet said the hemp industry operation plan currently consists of four main measures. The third measure deals with marketing promotion for locally made products in relation to logistics in the hemp product manufacturing sector, he said. The last measure deals with the improvement of laws and regulations aimed at improving convenience in the certification of hemp products, he said.