Thailand English-language News For September 27

In Thailand English-language News for September 27, 2017, Newsline presenter Cholaphansa Narula tells us about:

00:58 | The period for Thais to mourn the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej has been extended until midnight on October 5 as the number of people going to the Grand Palace to pay their respect to the late monarch shows no signs of abatement.

02:48 | Volunteers in the ‘we do good deeds with our hearts’ programme have begun attending to visitors at the Grand Palace. Thais inside and outside of the country can register to be volunteers in the programme until September 30.

03:43 | The World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB), the Royal Thai Embassy (RTE) in Paris, and Thai representatives at Unesco have organised the International Peace Conference 2017 (IPC) in honour of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Newsline takes a closer look at the conference proceedings and the tributes paid to the late monarch.

09:03 | Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will lead a delegation of high-ranking Thailand officers on an official visit to the White House between October 2 and 4.

10:06 | The Cabinet has approved the extension of free bus and train services for one additional month to assist the public in participating in the royal funeral ceremony. The extension of the programme is said to cost the government Bt409 million (about US$12.3 million). Additionally, the Minister of Industry (MoI) has approved an additional budget of Bt500 million ($15 million) to enhance the competitiveness and education programmes to enable SMEs to be better prepared to cope with foreign exchange risks.

11:21 | The Government has expressed confidence in the ultimate success of peace talks aimed at ending the conflict in Thailand’s southern border region following a meeting of relevant agencies yesterday to discuss the Southern peace promotion plan for 2018.

14:03 | The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has applied D-SIB measures to five major banks, requiring them to increase their tier 1 capital ratio by 0.5 per cent in 2019 and 1 per cent more in 2020. The measures will help banks to improve their capability to react to damages caused by their operation, as well as increase security for people’s deposits.

15:04 | Newsline takes a look at how Chiang Rai Province is handling illegal migrant workers who are trying to go back to their home country to legalise their paperwork.

18:40 | Governors from border areas of Thailand and Lao PDR have held the tenth annual cross-border cooperation meeting to further boost cooperation among the two countries. Issues discussed in the meeting included cross-border security, economics, social affairs, and culture.

19:30 | The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast strong economic growth for the Asian region, with 2017 Thailand GDP expected to increase by 3.5 per cent, while 2018 Thailand GDP is forecast to increase by 3.6 per cent

• and more.

Newsline is a daily Thailand English-language news and current affairs programme produced by the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNBT) under the Thailand Government Public Relations Department (PRD) for *NBT World, the NNBTs 24/7 English language television service delivering Thailand government news and information to the Thai, Asean, and wider Asian communities via cable and satellite. It is also available via android and iOS apps. AEC News Today publishes Thailand English-language News M-F.