It wasn't the sex: bloodletting fatal for Raphael, study claims
It wasn't the sex: bloodletting fatal for Raphael, study claimsRenaissance artist Raphael died aged only 37ROME - A feverish Raphael suffering from "a coronavirus-like disease" died after failing to tell his doctors he had been secretly visiting lovers on freezing cold nights, leading them to wrongly prescribe bloodletting, a new study claims. Raphael was sent off with high honours at a grand funeral at the Vatican, and his remains rest in Rome's Pantheon. "A medical mistake, and his own mistake in not faithfully recounting his history, contributed to Raphael's death," he said. "From what we know, Raphael died of a pulmonary illness very similar to the coronavirus we've seen now," he said. Despite his premature death, Raphael produced a vast ouevre of seminal work, much of it at the Vatican, whose museums include several rooms filled with his frescoes.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 18, 2020 01:41 UTC
Shut-in buyers boost Haier appliances
Shut-in buyers boost Haier appliancesMr Zhang (left) and Mr Thanes at yesterday's announcement of strategies to boost Haier's sales during the rest of 2020. Haier Electrical Appliances Thailand, an arm of Chinese giant Haier Group, expects sales to grow by a healthy 38% this year, boosted by home air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and freezers. Haier predicts sales to top 6.2 billion baht by the end of the year. Thailand's appliance market is estimated to be worth 69 billion baht in 2020, down 5% from last year. A marketing budget of 170 million baht is earmarked for boosting brand awareness and sales, revamping distributors' shops and providing other services.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:25 UTC
Get off the grass, it's for hospital use
Get off the grass, it's for hospital useMarijuana plants are grown in a greenhouse at Suranaree University of Technology in Nakhon Ratchasima to supply a hospital in Buri Ram where the plant will be turned into medical cannabis. The plants will be given to a hospital in Buri Ram to produce Thai herbal medicine on a commercial scale. The university built international-standard greenhouses, equipped with special cooling systems, to plant cannabis for medical purposes earlier this year and saplings were planted inside. The greenhouses were built on an area of 3,090 square metres to plant 5,760 cannabis plants. The first cannabis plants were duly harvested yesterday and their flowers will be collected next month.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Party split over healing divisions
It was reported the party was strained by divisions with those outside the party administration's circles being sidelined, which was suspected to be the reason why Mr Korn gave up on the party. Some of them had dropped by for a chat with a former Democrat key figure, Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, who is now with the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP). At which point, calls grew for the party administration to be open-minded and organise a meeting to listen to members in order to heal party divisions. The senior party members took note and booked a resort hotel where a Democrat get-together was held on Koh Samet in Rayong last weekend. Gen Prawit said he had entrusted three prominent party members with caretaker jobs to supervise the bolstering of party finances.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Onus on PM to help aged
Onus on PM to help agedMost elderly people in Thailand are living in poverty and hardship. Yet Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has been sitting on the universal pension draft bill for five months, preventing it from running its legislative course. The draft bill is yet to be scrutinised and contested against other versions of the bill from political parties before the eventual voting process. Now the prime minister, and former coup leader, must facilitate the democratic process, not hinder it. He can do that by putting the draft universal pension bill before parliament and letting democracy run its course.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Diversify is the name of the game
The trend will impact retail shops, which must gear up to transform themselves, Mr Pawoot said. "I choose to invest in local startups seen to be the first-movers in the fields with potential for long-term growth," Mr Pawoot said. Mr Pawoot predicts that more corporate venture capital firms and large corporations will enter the market to compete with local startups. Cockroach SMEs need to have a new mindset and differentiate their products and services, not just follow the market. Mr Pawoot stresses the importance of starting a business with passion and doing it immediately without wasting time.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Predee tapped for cabinet role
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has confirmed that he has approached banker Predee Daochai to join a new cabinet lineup. His name surfaced as a potential candidate for finance minister following the resignations of Uttama Savanayana and four other cabinet members, including Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak. Meanwhile, former central bank governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul has declined an invitation to join the revamped cabinet, said Gen Prayut. Asked whether Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon would swap cabinet seats with Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda, Gen Prayut said that Gen Prawit will still retain his post as deputy prime minister. "The party will not do anything until there is a signal from the prime minister," Mr Jurin said.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Q2 earnings will offer reality check
Q2 earnings will offer reality checkMarket perceptions of the prospects for a second-half earnings recovery in 2020 have outshone anticipation of weak second-quarter numbers, driving the recent recovery on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Even so, the year-on-year earnings slump in the second quarter of 2020 was vertiginous. The only sectors likely to report year-on-year core earnings growth for the second quarter are:Insurance. Despite heavier loan-loss provisioning, continued strong year-on-year loan growth should enable many firms to post year-on-year profit growth. A rebound in domestic demand in isolation means there is only moderate scope for upside to the consensus SET 2020 earnings projection in the months ahead.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Disease-control scrutiny of arriving envoys to be hiked
Disease-control scrutiny of arriving envoys to be hikedDisease-control measures are being tightened for arriving foreign diplomatic staff, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday following reports that a Western envoy was refused entry at a condominium in Bangkok on Thursday night. However, Mr Cherdkiat said due to recent public concerns, the disease-control measures for diplomats are being reviewed and the ministry will inform arriving foreign delegations to strictly observe the new protocols during the transition period. He said the ministry will ask embassies to consider using isolated facilities as quarantine residences for the arriving diplomats and for the envoys to wait for rapid test results at the airport before leaving for their assigned residences. "The ministry is working with agencies concerned in tightening disease-control measures, and we are in a transitional period." He confirmed that foreign diplomats must go into quarantine upon arrival in Thailand.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Ferries That 'Fly' Could Make It Easy--and Fast--to Travel by Boat
The regatta centers around a design competition, and in 2017, Mr. Tornqvist's Artemis Racing produced one of the fastest sailboats on record. In concept drawings and videos, this boat is a sized-up version of the team's Cup racing boat--a twin-hulled, ultralight, flying catamaran, almost 150 feet long. When the breeze falls, the stored electricity would drive propellers that move the boat faster than many boats travel today. The America's Cup boats required both exceptional seamanship and new, computerized control systems similar to those that help pilots land jumbo jets. "So far, it's only pros with helmets," says Peter Melvin, of California-based Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering, who helped pioneer hydrofoiling Cup boats with Emirates Team New Zealand.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Split over healing divisions
Some of them had dropped by for a chat with a former Democrat key figure, Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, who is now with the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP). The senior party members took note and booked a resort hotel where a Democrat get-together was held on Koh Samet in Rayong last weekend. Gen Prawit said he had entrusted three prominent party members with caretaker jobs to supervise the bolstering of party finances. They were Santi Promphat, the deputy finance minister; Thamanat Prompow, the deputy agriculture minister; and Suriya Jungrungreangkit, the industry minister. All were recently named among a list of 10 deputy PPRP leaders.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
RIP 'Big Jack': A true giant of the game
RIP 'Big Jack': A true giant of the gameWhen a young Northumberland lad and son of a miner decided at an early age that making a living playing football would be more enjoyable than a life in the pits, he made a very smart decision. That's why people in two countries are mourning the passing away of Jack Charlton. Johnny Giles, who was a teammate in the 1960s, observed: "Jack wasn't always right, but was never wrong." Big Jack later remarked: "Soccer is a man's game, not an outing for namby-pambies." In 1994, they were in the World Cup again and caused a huge upset by beating Italy in the group stage.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Resignations a sign PM 'is losing power'
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha looks at an army of reporters as he is leaving Government House on Friday. Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana, Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong, Higher Education, Science and Innovations Minister Suvit Maesincee, and Kobsak Pootrakul, deputy secretary-general of the prime minister, submitted their resignations on Thursday, a day after Somkid Jatusripitak resigned as deputy prime minister of the economic team. These cabinet seats are believed to have been the prime minister's quota, so the fact the trio relinquished them showed Gen Prayut was losing his bargaining power, according to Mr Somjai. Following the resignations, Gen Prayut admitted he had approached "outsiders" to join the economic team and fill his quota of cabinet seats. Mr Kan is tipped to fill the seat left vacant by Mr Somkid and Mr Preedee for the finance portfolio.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 23:03 UTC
Germany's 'Black Forest Rambo' nabbed after six-day manhunt
Germany's 'Black Forest Rambo' nabbed after six-day manhuntPolice caught the man dubbed the 'Black Forest Rambo' after days of searchingBERLIN - After a huge six-day manhunt, German police said Friday they have caught the "Black Forest Rambo", a heavily armed suspect accused of stealing officers' weapons and going on the run in the woods. Rausch was slightly injured in the arrest, as was a member of the special forces who was cut with the axe. Rausch had fled into the forest on Sunday after he managed to disarm four police officers, sparking a huge search operation. More than 2,500 officers combed the area with the help of special forces, helicopters, sniffer dogs and thermal imaging cameras for the fugitive, nicknamed "Black Forest Rambo" by the German press after pictures emerged of him dressed in combat gear. He then reportedly lived in his car by the local swimming pool for a while before moving into the hut at the edge of the forest.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 20:03 UTC
'No solution today' for Tokyo Olympics as Bach announces re-election bid
'No solution today' for Tokyo Olympics as Bach announces re-election bidThomas Bach admits there is no 'solution' at this point to the challenges posed by coronavirus to the postponed Tokyo OlympicsLAUSANNE - Thomas Bach said Friday he will stand in 2021 for a second term as president of the International Olympic Committee, admitting however there is "no solution today" to the challenges posed by coronavirus to the postponed Tokyo Games. Turning to the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed in March until July 2021, Bach expressed hope that they could be "a unique milestone for the entire world". But Bach warned that the unprecedented health situation meant multiple scenarios were being considered in planning the format for Tokyo. "There is no solution today, it is too much (to be) expected," he said. Bach also came under fire for reinstating the Russian National Olympic Committee after the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics despite failed drugs tests there.
Source:Bangkok Post
July 17, 2020 17:03 UTC