Migrant sex workers fear for the future
Migrant sex workers fear for the future“Bua” used to earn up to 40,000 baht a month as a sex worker in the northern province of Chiang Mai when the coronavirus forced entertainment venues to close, leaving her jobless. The coronavirus crisis has forced many sex workers to turn to new types of work, from selling goods to becoming waitresses. Left OutActivists say migrant or stateless sex workers are among the hardest hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus. The Service Workers in Group (SWING), a support organisation for sex workers, conducted a survey in May that found some sex workers in Bangkok were refused financial aid after they indicated they were sex workers. "The Thai state has had this ambivalence towards sex work and sex workers.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 10:30 UTC
US Ambassador H.E. Mr. Michael George DeSombre paid courtesy visit to NACC President
US Ambassador H.E. Mr. Michael George DeSombre paid courtesy visit to NACC President25 June 2020 – President of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Pol. Gen. Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, welcomed United State Ambassador to Thailand, His Excellency Mr. Michael George DeSombre, who paid a courtesy visit at the NACC headquarters on the occasion of his assumption of duty. On the prevention front, the President of the NACC also shared that the agency has developed five anti-corruption and integrity learning modules which were subsequently approved by the Cabinet in 2018. The NACC is presently collaborating with key ministries and public offices including the Ministry of Education to incorporate the modules into the public school curriculum.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 10:07 UTC
Man found dead in fire-gutted car near Bangkok temple
Man found dead in fire-gutted car near Bangkok templeA fire ravages a car parked at a yard opposite a temple in Bangkok's Nong Khaem district on Tuesday afternoon. A man sitting in the driver's seat was found dead. (Photo by a firemen team via FM91 Traficpro Facebook)A man was found dead inside a car which caught fire near a temple in Bangkok’s Nong Khaem district on Tuesday afternoon. Firemen were deployed to the scene after being alerted at around 1.10pm on Tuesday to douse flames ravaging the parked car. A man, aged around 30-40, sitting in the driver’s seat was found dead inside the gutted car.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 09:56 UTC
July 27 set as lieu day for Songkran
July 27 set as lieu day for SongkranThe cabinet has approved July 27 as a substitute holiday for Songkran it postponed earlier, creating another four-day holiday next month. Earlier, the cabinet put on hold three Songkran holidays this year at the height of the coronavirus outbreak to prevent people from travelling and spreading the disease. It has yet to assign the remaining two Songkran holidays it put on hold earlier. The other long weekend for the month is July 4-7 — Asarnha Bucha for Sunday, Buddhist Lent on Monday and lieu day for Asarnha Buch on Tuesday. For example, most companies have designated July 4-6 for the first long holiday of the month.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 09:56 UTC
Legal action over demolition of historical trading post
Legal action over demolition of historical trading postFine Arts officials at work on the reparation of the demolished 127-year-old former trading post building. Section 10 of the law prohibits anyone from demolishing an ancient monument without authorisation from the director-general of the Fine Arts Department. Section 32 prohibits anyone from trespassing on or damaging an ancient monument. The building was once the office of the Bombay Burmah Trading Company, which was granted a logging concession in the western Yom River in 1889. Fine Arts specialists are now working on restoring the building.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 09:45 UTC
Cabinet extends emergency decree till July 31
Cabinet extends emergency decree till July 31Members of the Democracy Restoration Group rally against the emergency decree outside Government House on June 18, 2020. The cabinet on Tuesday formally approved the extension of the emergency decree nationwide for another month, until July 31. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)The cabinet on Tuesday formally approved the extension of the emergency decree nationwide for another month, until July 31, as proposed by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat said. Ms Narumon said the CCSA proposed the extension because the coronavirus pandemic was still at serious levels in many parts of the world. Ms Narumon said the decree would be enforced along with the loosening of restrictions, without affecting people's way of life, amid efforts to keep the country's economy moving.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 09:45 UTC
Belgian king expresses 'deepest regrets' over DR Congo colonial past
Belgian king expresses 'deepest regrets' over DR Congo colonial pastSeveral statues of King Leopold II of Belgium have been vandalised by protesters over his actions in the CongoBRUSSELS - Belgium's King Philippe expressed his "deepest regrets" on Tuesday for the harm done during Belgian colonial rule in DR Congo, in a first for his country. "I want to express my deepest regrets for these wounds of the past whose pain is reawakened today by the discrimination still present in our societies," Philippe said. Historians say that millions of Africans from areas in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed, mutilated or died of disease as they worked on rubber plantations belonging to Belgium's King Leopold II. Through concession companies, Leopold II used forced labour to extract rubber in Congo, among other things. According to most historians the violence did not stop after Leopold II, and a regime of strict separation of blacks and whites, comparable to the apartheid of South Africa, was maintained for decades.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 08:47 UTC
Tourist arrivals to ‘plunge 80% this year’
Tourist arrivals to ‘plunge 80% this year’A view of an almost empty tourist street near the Chao Phraya river after the government eased some protective measures following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Bangkok, June 26, 2020. (Reuters photo)Thailand is expected to see at most 8 million foreign tourists this year, down 80% from a year earlier, as the coronavirus pandemic cuts global travel, a tourism body said on Tuesday. The tourist sector, a key driver of growth, is expected to recover in 2021, Chairat Triratanajaraspon, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, told reporters. Last year, the country had a record 39.8 million foreign tourists, whose spending accounted for about 11% of GDP.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 08:03 UTC
'Dirty' depiction of Kim's wife outraged NKorea: Russian envoy
'Dirty' depiction of Kim's wife outraged NKorea: Russian envoyAnti-North Korea leaflets launched from the South included 'dirty, insulting' depictions of leader Kim Jong Un's spouse, Ri Sol Ju (right), Russia's ambassador said. "The leaflets bore a special kind of dirty, insulting propaganda, aimed at the leader's spouse," Matsegora told Russia's TASS news agency on Monday. The Russian diplomat also dismissed speculation that Kim's younger sister was being trained as the next leader of North Korea. Despite her "serious political and foreign policy experience", Matsegora said Kim Yo Jong was "rather young". "I think that if you asked comrade Kim Yo Jong whether she was number two, she would answer with a strong 'no'."
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 07:41 UTC
Hospital quarantine facilities being readied for medical tourists
Hospital quarantine facilities being readied for medical touristsBumrungrad hospital is recognised as a leading medical tourism destination. (Photo supplied)New in-hospital quarantine facilities are being prepared to allow uninterrupted treatment for medical tourists, according to the Public Health Ministry. Thai patients coming from abroad for medical treatment will be taken to hospital quarantine facilities where they can claim their health welfare rights, and then pay the balance. Foreign patients and their companions will go to alternative hospital quarantine facilities, where they will have to pay the total cost, Dr Tares said. Representatives of the government and the private sector attended the meeting to discuss generating national income from medical tourism, he said.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 07:41 UTC
Uber in talks to buy food delivery app Postmates
Uber in talks to buy food delivery app PostmatesUber has been looking to boost its growing food delivery service Uber Eats during the coronavirus pandemicSAN FRANCISCO - Uber is in talks to buy food delivery app Postmates in a multibillion dollar deal, US media reported. The San Francisco-based company has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic -- last month cutting a quarter of its global workforce -- and has been looking to boost its growing food delivery service Uber Eats. The deal would bolster Uber and help Postmates, a nine-year-old firm that has struggled against larger food delivery rivals, the New York Times noted on Monday. A $6 billion Uber offer made last month to acquire Grubhub -- another US food delivery app -- fell through. The rideshare giant noted, however, that it was seeing strong revenue growth for its Eats food delivery operation.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 06:56 UTC
Accused sex-trade procurer arrested
Accused sex-trade procurer arrestedPlainclothes police serve an arrest warrant on the 40-year-old woman accused of procuring young girls for the flesh trade in Ratchaburi, in Amphawa district of Samut Songkram province on Monday. (Photo supplied)A woman accused of procuring young girls for the flesh trade in Ratchaburi province for 10 years has been arrested in Samut Songkram province. The woman was named in an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court on June 15 for human trafficking by procuring girls aged below 15 years for prostitution. Trafficking suppression police launched a crackdown on major sex procurers in Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces on June 9-11. She had allegedly procured girls to provide sex services to customers in Ratchaburi province for more than 10 years.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 06:45 UTC
Singapore PM’s brother backs opposition but won’t seek election
Singapore PM’s brother backs opposition but won’t seek electionLee Hsien Yang, the brother of Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, sits for a coffee after been presented membership to the opposition Progress Singapore Party at at an event at the Tiong Bahru Market in Singapore on June 24, 2020. While the prime minister has largely avoided government scandals since he took office in 2004, the family drama has been brewing in recent years. This will be the first election for the Progress Singapore Party, which was founded last year by former ruling party members who became disgruntled with the government. If there are fewer than 12 opposition members elected, non-constituency MPs will be chosen from the opposition candidates who received the most votes. Five constituencies are expected to be hotly contested, mostly between the PAP and the Workers’ Party -- the main opposition force.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 06:22 UTC
Court orders by-election in Samut Prakan
Court orders by-election in Samut PrakanEC secretary-general Pol Col Jarungwit Phumma. (file photo)The Supreme Court has ordered a by-election in constituency 5 of Samut Prakan province after Krungsiwilai Suthinphueak of the Palang Pracharath Party was yellow-carded for vote-buying, Election Commission secretary-general Pol Col Jarungwit Phumma said on Tuesday. Mr Krungsiwilai was later elected. The EC gave Mr Krungsiwilai a yellow card, which stripped him of his MP status, and asked the Supreme Court to order a by-election. The EC would ask the cabinet for a royal decree calling the by-election, and would later set the date, Pol Col Jarungwit said.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 06:22 UTC
Prawit: Narumon to lead policy-writing team
(Photo: Chanat Katanyu)Palang Pracharath treasurer Narumon Pinyosinwat will head the party's economic policy-writing team, new PPRP leader Prawit Wongsuwon said on Tuesday. Reports that Ms Narumon would head the PPRP's economic team were wrong, he said. MPs need to take part in policy drafting," Gen Prawit said. Asked about Ms Narumon, the government spokeswoman and party treasurer, Gen Prawit said she would be supervising the policy-writing team. He denied reports she would be made head of the party's economic team.
Source:Bangkok Post
June 30, 2020 06:00 UTC