Old veggies, fruit can feed rescued wildlife, says ministry as it tackles cut funds
The minister lamented that though the budget has been slashed to practically nothing, the number of wild animals rescued has increased. He said the department normally requires about 55 million baht a year to take care of the animals seized in wildlife poaching cases. Varawut said the department is having to use funds set aside for other purposes and income from entrance fees to take care of these animals. Now, we have 46 of them and will have to feed them for the rest of their lives,” Varawut said. He added that some rescued animals, like wild elephants, are returned to the forest after rehabilitation.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
March 11, 2022 08:07 UTC
PTG aims for eight core businesses to become world’s ‘megatrends’
The company also expects 10 billion points will be redeemed while the number of members will increase to 30 million, both online and offline. “The company expects to invest 1.5 billion to 2 billion baht yearly on its non-oil business to reach the target. LPG sales are meanwhile expected to see growth of around 50 to 60 per cent,” Pitak believed. “For the non-oil business, the company is determined to keep adding more branches because it is one of the key drivers. “PTG has a goal to increase its gross profit proportion of its non-oil business to strengthen the company.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
March 10, 2022 21:00 UTC
Kingdom relegated after fighting play-off defeat to Latvia at home
Kingdom relegated after fighting play-off defeat to Latvia at homebrave effort: Prachya Isaro, left, and Thantub Suksomrarn in action against Ernests Gulbis and Robert Strombachs of Latvia in the doubles match. Thailand have been relegated to the Davis Cup World Group 3 after losing 3-2 to Latvia in the World Group 2 play-off tie at the National Tennis Development Centre, Muang Thong Thani, yesterday. Prachya Isaro and Thantub Suksomrarn revived Thailand's hopes after rallying to beat former world No.10 Gulbis and Strombachs in a three-set tussle. Prachya and Thantub took the hard-fought second second 7-5 before blanking their Latvian opponents in the third to reduce the gap to 2-1. Latvia will remain in World Group 2 while Thailand will be relegated to World Group 3.
Source:Bangkok Post
March 06, 2022 07:42 UTC
Evacuation of Ukraine port city delayed
A major evacuation of the port city of 450,000 began on Saturday morning. (Twitter @AyBurlachenko via Reuters)Officials in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, surrounded by Russian forces, on Saturday delayed an evacuation of the civilian population, accusing Moscow’s troops of breaking a ceasefire. It also said it had respected the ceasefire and accused Ukrainian forces of shoring up defences during the halt in fighting. The capture of Mariupol, a port city of 450,000 people on the Azov Sea, could enable Russian troops coming from annexed Crimea to connect with the forces of separatist-controlled Donbas. Russian forces have made their biggest advances in the south, where they captured their first sizeable Ukrainian city, Kherson, this week.
Source:Bangkok Post
March 05, 2022 13:00 UTC
TAT looks to short-haul markets
(Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul, Bangkok Post)The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) aims to attract at least 1.5 million tourists from short-haul destinations to compensate for the Chinese market by teaming up with airlines to spur demand. The current situation in East Asia has made it impossible to generate demand, unlike more promising markets such as Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australia, said Thanet Phetsuwan, TAT deputy governor of marketing for Asia and South Pacific. TAT estimated around 500,000 Indian travellers will visit Thailand this year based on 70% airline capacity. "Some 1.5 million tourists from short-haul markets are within our reach, but we still want to have at least 5 million arrivals from overall 10 million this year. On Wednesday, the TAT signed a letter of intent with Thai Vietjet (TVJ) for one year to generate demand in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam and Cambodia.
Source:Bangkok Post
March 03, 2022 05:03 UTC
SEC tightens custodial rules for digital assets
SEC tightens custodial rules for digital assetsThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed tighter rules on the custody of clients' assets in digital asset businesses to protect investors against misappropriation of assets as well as fraud. The revisions have three primary changes that will promote protection of digital asset investors, said the SEC. First, digital asset operators are strictly prohibited from using a client's assets, fiat money and digital assets for the benefit of another client or any other persons. Finally, digital asset business operators may not seek benefits from clients' fiat money, except from deposits with commercial banks. In the case of digital assets, seeking benefits for clients shall be prohibited, including deposit and lending to other persons, except in the form of digital asset investment with licensed digital asset fund managers.
Source:Bangkok Post
March 03, 2022 04:57 UTC
ExxonMobil, Apple, Boeing latest US giants to cut ties with Moscow
ExxonMobil, Apple, Boeing latest US giants to cut ties with MoscowApple was among the large US companies to announce moves to exit or freeze business in RussiaNEW YORK: Apple, ExxonMobil and Boeing announced Tuesday in rapid succession steps to withdraw or freeze business in Russia as more US corporate giants take action after the Ukraine invasion. Earlier, Apple said it would halt all product sales in Russia and limit the use of Apple Pay and other services in the country. "I appeal to you... to stop supplying Apple services and products to the Russian Federation, including blocking access to the Apple Store!" General Motors suspended vehicle exports to Russia, while Detroit rival Ford aid it was suspending its remaining operations in Russia, including commercial van manufacturing. Credit card companies including Visa, Mastercard and American Express announced they were blocking Russian banks from their payment networks following international sanctions.
Source:Bangkok Post
March 02, 2022 18:03 UTC
Neutral on Russia-Ukraine: PM
(Photo: Foreign Ministry)Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has insisted Thailand will maintain its neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a government source said. Gen Prayut told the meeting that the long-standing relations between Thailand and Russia must be taken into account and Thailand must tread carefully, the source said. Thailand must maintain a neutral stance and bring Thais in Ukraine back home quickly," the source quoted the PM as saying. Asked by reporters to comment on the matter on Tuesday, Gen Prayut insisted that Thailand has to follow Asean's stance on the matter. The topics discussed included the 125th anniversary of Thailand-Russia relations and plans to establish broader relations between Phuket and Russia's Far Eastern federal district of Kamchatka.
Source:Bangkok Post
March 02, 2022 17:54 UTC
Drugmakers Reap Billions Meeting Covid-19 Needs
Diagnostic sales also have been strong for companies including Abbott Laboratories, which had $7.7 billion in Covid-19 test sales last year. Last week, Moderna reported $17.7 billion in sales of its Covid-19 vaccine Spikevax for 2021, and predicted it would generate at least $19 billion in Covid vaccine sales this year. The company is developing a combination flu and Covid vaccine, and is testing experimental vaccines against other viruses in late-stage studies. The expected Covid-19 sales could push Pfizer's total company sales over $100 billion for the first time in its history. AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine was its second biggest seller in 2021, at $4.1 billion in revenue.
Source:Bangkok Post
February 28, 2022 06:14 UTC
South African drug convict seeks extradition
Oosthuizen left South Africa to teach English abroad shortly after finishing high school in 2018. It was addressed to Dave Rensburg in Moo 6 Bophut, Koh Samui, Surat Thani, Pol Col Yutthana said. Inside, authorities found a plastic packet containing about 260 grammes of brown crystalline substances, Pol Col Yutthana said. She denied any involvement during the examination, Pol Col Yutthana said. She said Mr Rensburg had nothing to do with any illegal wrongdoing at the property, according to Pol Col Yutthana.
Source:Bangkok Post
February 28, 2022 04:33 UTC
GPO rejects claim of Favipiravir shortage, says 84 million in reserve
In the Facebook post, RDS claimed no Favipiravir tablets were available outside Bangkok and accused the GPO of monopolising the market. As of Sunday, Thailand confirmed 24,719 new Covid-19 cases and 42 deaths, bringing the cumulative total of Covid-19 infections since early 2020 to 2,869,616 and deaths to 22,894.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
February 27, 2022 18:48 UTC
Impressive Chan Shih-chang keeps hold on lead
Chan Shih-chang has actually missed the cut in three out of the four events played since Blue Canyon so victory on Sunday will be an impressive turnaround in form. “In the first two rounds my driving was very good, I only missed one fairway for two days. But my putting was good today and it helped me a lot. The Royals’ Cup 2022 is one of the country’s professional golf tournaments. Such great support shows how great the Royal’s Cup is.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
February 27, 2022 07:43 UTC
Covid-19 funding pulls small public hospitals out of financial crisis
Normally, he said, hospitals are granted funds based on the number of patients they treat over a year, and medical facilities in remote areas usually get small sums due to few patients. On a scale from one to seven based on the severity of financial problems, 39 small public hospitals were at level six in 2020, but this reduced to eight last year and zero this year, Kiartiphum said. There were 15 hospitals at the worst level of financial crisis in 2020, and the number reduced to one last year and zero this year. He added that up to 829 or 92 per cent of 900 public hospitals in Thailand had a good financial standing in the first quarter of this year.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
February 25, 2022 08:59 UTC
Việt Nam to receive mRNA vaccine technology transfer from WHO training hub
Việt Nam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Serbia will receive support from the hub in South Africa, the WHO said in a press conference late Wednesday. “Those countries were vetted by a group of experts and proved that they could absorb the technology and, with targeted training, move to production relatively quickly,” according to the WHO. During the event, the WHO also announced the establishment of a similar hub in the Republic of Korea. These hubs will serve all low- and middle-income countries wishing to produce biologicals, such as vaccines, insulin, monoclonal antibodies and cancer treatments. “One of the key barriers to successful technology transfer in low- and middle-income countries is the lack of a skilled workforce and weak regulatory systems,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
February 25, 2022 05:48 UTC
We didn’t ask govt for THB400m for Man Utd-Liverpool match: Fresh Air Festival
Vinij said he did ask the government for support but he did not mention how much or what he wanted. The CEO said he made the request for unspecified support in November 2021 and he had almost forgotten about it now as he had not received any reply. He said he usually got feedback quickly – in a few weeks. However, he had not received a reply for around four months now. Also, a number of countries wanted to organise such a match but have not been able to.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
February 24, 2022 13:03 UTC