Prayut said the government was doing its best to relieve hardship, especially for poor people and businesses, adding that he did not expect the fuel-price crisis to end soon. He also asked government agencies to prepare long-term plans to deal with the rising oil price’s impact on energy and food prices. Meanwhile, an Energy Ministry source said talks with oil refineries on their contribution to the Oil Fuel Fund have not yet concluded. The source said refineries in which the government has a stake, such as Thai Oil, PTT Global Chemical, Bangchak Corporation and IRPC, will cooperate with the ministry on this issue. "However, the contribution [from Thai oil refineries] would not be high," the source said, adding that intervening in the market to negotiate with foreign oil refiners “posed difficulties”.

TAT hoping to woo 500,000 Koreans this yearTourists stroll along Phuket's Walking Street, which is known locally as 'Lard-Yai'. However, outbound tourists from Thailand are still encountering a glitch with the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) registration, according to the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA). South Korea was a major inbound source market for Thailand with over 1.88 million tourists, generating 75 billion baht, visiting in 2019. In 2022, Thailand expects to welcome 500,000 South Koreans and 1.3 million next year. On a Facebook forum for potential Thai travellers to South Korea, most visitors are curious about the details and duration of the process.

PTT app to cut food queuesMr Somyot introduces the new service which was officially launched last week. PTT Oil and Retail Business Plc (OR) has teamed up with a startup to launch a QueQ mobile application to help motorists manage their queues and reduce the time it takes to buy food and beverages at PTT petrol stations. The app also aims to facilitate delivery service providers which have to deal with a number of online food and drink orders. QueQ can be used with Pin Tho Pump, a new food takeaway and delivery service, as well as other food and coffee shops at PTT stations. Mr Somyot said OR expects the food service to match the new lifestyles of people living in the city.

EFTA, an intergovernmental organisation of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, was set up in 1960 for the promotion of free trade and economic integration between members. Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit met foreign and trade ministers from the four countries for lunch on Monday at a restaurant in the Icelandic town of Borgarnes. “Senior EFTA executives have been invited to an official meeting in Thailand from June 28-30 to further discuss free trade agreements as well as future socio-economic development projects between Thailand and EFTA members,” Jurin said. “We expect the free trade negotiations to be completed within two years.”Thailand’s trade volume with EFTA in 2021 came in at US$7.5 billion and the Commerce Ministry expects this number to more than double once the FTA goes into effect. The pact will reduce tariffs, promote multilateral trade cooperation and establish e-commerce platforms to facilitate international trade among contract parties.

Bill to limit households to 10 plantsA new bill being vetted by a House committee on cannabis and hemp will limit the number of cannabis plants which a household could grow to ten and require large-scale cannabis growers to pay a progressive levy to the government which increases with the size of the operation. A spokesman for the committee, Panthep Puapongpan, said the majority of the committee's members agreed to cap the number of cannabis plants allowed per household to ten, in order to limit the potential for abuse in the wake of the plant's recent decriminalisation. The committee agreed to cap the number of plants per household to ten to ensure households could still benefit from the private cultivation of cannabis, which the government is promoting as a cash crop, he said. At least 900,000 individuals have already registered to grow cannabis at home with authorities, according to the latest figures cited by Mr Panthep. The bill also seeks to introduce progressive levies on commercial cannabis growers.

Japan judo hits crisis point as bullied, burnt-out children quitChildren take part in a judo training session in Fukuroi, Shizuoka prefectureFUKUROI (JAPAN) - Japan is the home of judo but a brutal win-at-all-costs mentality, corporal punishment and pressure to lose weight are driving large numbers of children to quit, raising fears for the sport's future in its traditional powerhouse. Underlining the scale of the problem, the All Japan Judo Federation cancelled a prestigious nationwide tournament for children as young as 10, warning they were being pushed too hard. - Problem parents -Coaches who use corporal punishment can be stripped of their licences but parents are harder to control. "You have to treat each kid with care and have a long-term vision for the future, otherwise Japanese judo has reached its limit," she said. "Old-school coaches are scared that if we do away with the kids' competitions, Japanese judo will lose its strength.

Meanwhile, the commission’s deputy chairman, Kanok Wongtrangan, said the commission hadn't reached a conclusion on which laws should be amended yet. He said the commission's approval to allow a household to cultivate no more than 10 cannabis plants aims to allow people to grow and use cannabis to treat diseases. He added that the classification of entrepreneurs aims to determine the criteria for collection of fees. The Public Health Ministry removed cannabis from the list of prohibited narcotics on June 9, allowing it to be used for medical purposes and as a cash crop.

The current House is due to end its four-year term in March next year. Chuan said Parliament police officers themselves wanted to change their uniforms after Parliament surveyed their opinion. The speaker said the House cannot order police to change their uniforms as everything has to proceed in accordance with a provisional regulation that requires the use of current uniforms to continue until the current term of the House expires.

Pol Gen Roy introduced the use of facial recognition technology to compare images of criminals in tourist areas with driving licence photos to deter crime. Pol Gen Roy's ascent up the ranks continued when he was appointed deputy commissioner of the CIB, later becoming commissioner of the Special Branch Bureau. He was made an assistant national police chief in 2018 and last year was promoted to deputy national police chief. Regarding migration, Pol Gen Roy said it is normal for people to move to new countries seeking better lives for themselves and their families. Some claimed they were mistreated and asked Thai authorities for help getting home," Pol Gen Roy said.

He added that the baht may fluctuate and weaken to test its resistance level at 35.40 to the dollar because foreign transactions are flowing out of the country. This is because the market is in a risk-off state, while the dollar is not weakening easily until the market is confident that the US Federal Reserve will not increase the interest rate too high. He added that the baht’s weakening may be limited if the gold price rebounds, which will encourage investors to sell gold. The baht may also not weaken to the new resistance level of 36 to the dollar unless a new lockdown is enforced in China, forcing investors to dump assets in emerging Asian markets. He speculated that the dollar may strengthen as the market fluctuates due to concerns over a recession.

Residents in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh are struggling to cope after they were hit with the worst monsoon floods in the country’s recent history on Sunday. Monsoon rains swamped huge areas of the country, leaving millions of homes underwater. Lorries and cars struggled on the roads, while journeys by rickshaw or motorbike journeys proved to be challenging for all but the bravest. Thousands of policemen and army personnel have been deployed to parts of the country to help search and rescue efforts. About 105,000 people have been evacuated so far but police officials estimated that over four million were still stranded.

MHESI Minister Anek Laothamatas signed an announcement aimed at controlling the use of cannabis on those premises, with immediate effect. University students and agency staff are not allowed to use cannabis recreationally, while university executives and agency chiefs are instructed to ban the sale of food and drinks with cannabis as an ingredient; the items also cannot be brought into universities and agencies, it said. The use of cannabis for medical purposes must be supervised by medical professionals and research on the plant must be closely monitored by university executives, according to the ministry. University executives and agency chiefs may also issue additional measures to prevent adverse effects of the use of cannabis. The use of cannabis and hemp as an ingredient is forbidden, as is the advertising of cannabis-based products, an announcement said.

The SLD has long been regarded as one of the top security meetings in the Asia-Pacific region. Rather, Washington knows that it should opt for a subtle approach via diplomacy. No pressure: Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha walks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Defence Council. In terms of political and military strategies, Thailand can create advantages for countries engaged in conflicts in the region. He denied claims about Thailand subscribing to the so-called "Nato 2" or "Nato of Asia" US-led military alliance.

Most agree with removal of cannabis from narcotics list: pollA teacher at Ban Bang Kapi School in Bang Kapi district of Bangkok posts a sign reading the school is free of cannabis and hemp on Thursday. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)A majority of people agree with the removal of cannabis from the Category 5 narcotics list, saying the plant can be used for economic gain and medical purposes, but are still concerned it can be inappropriately used by children and youths, according to an opinion poll. Asked how they viewed the removal of cannabis from the drug list, a move which has legalised cultivation and use of the plant with conditions, a majority - 58.55% - agreed with it. Of them, 34.81% strongly agreed, saying it is an valuable plant that can generate income and be used for medical purposes. Asked how Thai people would use marijuana in the future, 34.05% chose medical purposes; 31.15% recreational purposes; 22.21% for use in food and drinks; and 12.59% for various commercial products.

Thailand is competing with four other countries – the US, Argentina, Serbia and Spain – to host the expo. Specialised Expos are meant to respond to a specific challenge facing humanity and usually take place in the interval between two World Expos. Team Thailand will give the three-day presentation until Tuesday at the headquarters of the Bureau of International Exposition (BIE), the inter-governmental organisation in charge of organising non-commercial international expos.