Thailand morning news for August 22

Thailand morning news for August 22
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Thailand morning news30 cents: Keeping poor Thai children in school for 10 baht (HD video)
Thirty cents. There’s not much you can buy for $0.30 these days, but in Thailand the meagre amount multiplied by many willing people is allowing 230 children from desperately poor households to attend school.
— AEC News Today (video)

Prayut sets poll date for Feb 24
The general election has been tentatively set for Feb 24, marking the latest poll pledge by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha after a series of delays.
— Bangkok Post

Thai trade with FTA partners rises 14%
Thailand’s trade with free-trade agreement (FTA) partners rose by 14.2% year-on-year in the first half of the year.
— Bangkok Post

Thailand warns of fresh flood as major dam expected to overflow
A major dam in central Thailand’s Phetchaburi province is expected to overflow at Wednesday noon, triggering a fresh flood, officials said on Tuesday.
— Xinhuanet

2 volunteer teachers and tourist from Myanmar arrested in Pattani
Pattani authorities have raided a classroom to arrest two Myanmar volunteer teachers and one tourist who was merely observing the class.
— Prachatai English

Student charged for posting Pattaya pool sex clip
Police today (Aug 21) charged a 23-year-old student with posting on social media a sexually provocative video clip from a pool party at a local seaside hotel, and were looking for the videoed couple.
— Bangkok Post

Close eye being kept on rising Mekong River
Provinces across the northeast have begun 24 hour monitoring of the Mekong River, which is expected to rise significantly both in Lao PDR and Thailand this week, with Bueng Kan already hit by an initial overflow.
— NNT

Patong Police chief assures corruption officer suspects in exile, dissolves police volunteers unit
Patong Police Chief Col Anothai Jindamanee today confirmed that none of the officers transferred out of Patong while under investigation for alleged corruption have returned to their posts in Phuket’s busiest tourism town.
— Phuket News

B200bn Southern Corridor plan gets nod
The cabinet has approved in principle the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC), a scheme to link the Andaman Sea, the Gulf of Thailand and countries along the Indian Ocean rim.
— Bangkok Post

Thailand police release 4 abducted Malaysian fishermen
Satun provincial police have released and sent back four Langkawi fishermen who were allegedly abducted by a group of armed men in the waters of Pulau Langgun near the tourist island.
— New Straits Times

Phetchaburi River tipped to burst banks
Residents of downtown Phetchaburi, southwest of Bangkok, are being urged to brace for floods Wednesday after the Phetchaburi dam released more water into a major river in the province.
— Bangkok Post

Temporary Crisis Center keeping close eye on water situation
The Temporary Crisis Center has assured residents the situation is under control despite over two billion cubic meters of water flowing into the country’s dams in the past seven days due to the influence of tropical storm Bebinca and a southwesterly monsoon, saying that the north should not be overly concerned at widespread flooding.
— NNT

Japanese firms in Thailand eye wage hikes
Japanese firms operating in Thailand intend to carry out wage hikes this year, thanks to a brighter economic outlook in the kingdom.
— Bangkok Post

Thailand’s EGAT seeks LNG for first time as market liberalises
State-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand is seeking to directly import liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time, as part of a government plan to boost competition in the power sector.
— Reuters

Chinese feel at home in Thailand and Japan
Thailand is the second most welcoming country from the perspective of Chinese travellers, trailing only Japan, according to a recent study by Hotels.com.
— Bangkok Post

Thai Tourism Minister oversees Phuket masterplan for marine safety
Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, H.E. Mr. Weerasak Kowsurat, visited Phuket this past weekend to oversee progress made in improving marine safety and security for tourists around the popular resort island.
— TAT News

Japanese waiting on EEC calendar
Japanese investment in Thailand is expected to become more vibrant after the timeline of the government’s much-touted Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is clarified, says Kalin Sarasin, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
— Bangkok Post

Thailand’s B.Grimm Power speeds up expansion with Vietnam solar projects
Thailand’s B.Grimm Power PCL’s recent investments in two solar energy projects in Vietnam underline the company’s commitment to accelerate its overseas expansion through ventures with local partners and to increase its output in renewable energy.
— MarketsInsider

Thailand’s Junta Leader Says Elections Are Likely on Feb. 24
Mark your calendars, but only tentatively: Thailand may have a general election on Feb. 24 after more than four years of military rule.
— Bloomberg

Thailand launches Southern Economic Corridor project
Thailand has launched a Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) project covering several of its southern provinces.
— Xinhuanet

Cybersecurity funding rising
The rise of big data analytics and digital transformation, the recent customer data leakage at two major banks and reckless cloud security practices by telecom operators are key factors driving cybersecurity…
— Bangkok Post

Thailand, Cambodia hold joint meeting on broadcasting, communications
Thailand and Cambodia held a joint meeting on the enhancements to cooperation in broadcasting and communications between the two neighboring countries.
— NNT

Thailand’s EGAT seeks up to 1.5 mil mt/year LNG for 4-8 years
State-owned power utility Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT, has issued a Request for Expression of Interest for importing 800,000-1.5 million mt/year of LNG for four to eight years starting March 2019, according to documents reviewed by S&P Global Platts.
— SpGlobal

Central on track for 12% growth in first-half
Rise in same store sales as well as expansion of its Thai and overseas subsidiaries also helped boost the group’s results.
— The Nation

Mercedes boss stresses infrastructure for EVs
TO ENSURE a smooth transition towards EVs (electric vehicles) in Thailand, the government needs to make sure that there is adequate and efficient infrastructure to serve the end-users, according to Michael Grewe, president of Mercedes-Benz (Thailand) Ltd.
— Bangkok Post

Thailand: Stockbroker Indicted in $24 Million Bitcoin Fraud Pleads Innocence as Victim
Prasit Srisuwan, a well known Thai stock investor who has been roped into the ongoing probe over a $24 million bitcoin fraud case has denied being a party to the fraud.
— CCN

SCB eyes September launch of digital lending to SMEs
Siam Commercial Bank, the country’s second-largest lender by assets, is set to introduce its digital lending service for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the SCB Easy mobile banking platform next month.
— Bangkok Post

B3 billion push to free up teachers
The Education Ministry has set aside a budget of 3 billion baht to recruit administrative staff for state-run schools to free up teachers so they can concentrate on teaching.
— Bangkok Post

More Phuket monkeys to be sterilised next month
The Director of the Natural and Wildlife Education Centre at Khao Phra Theaw has today confirmed that a further 250 monkeys will be sterilised as part of an ongoing project aimed at limiting the island’s growing monkey population.
— Phuket News

BoT digital currency scheduled for 2019
The first phase of the Bank of Thailand’s wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which will be used for interbank fund transfers, is expected to be completely developed by the first quarter of next year, says the central bank.
— Bangkok Post

TMB rolls out customer lures
TMB Bank plans to expand the primary customer segment by 10-15% annually over the next four years through higher deposit interest and online reward redemptions.
— Bangkok Post

Reform panels call for ban of herbicides, pesticide
National reform committees on public health and society support a ban on three hazardous chemicals in wide use by farmers — paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifosone.
— Bangkok Post

 

Feature photo @Nut_HS6OKJ

 

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Thailand morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Thailand news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

 

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John Le Fevre

Thailand editor at AEC News Today

John is an Australian national with more than 40 years experience as a journalist, photographer, videographer, and copy editor.

He has spent extensive periods of time working in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia, with stints in the Middle East, the USA, and England.

He has covered major world events including Operation Desert Shield/ Storm, the 1991 pillage in Zaire, the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 1999 East Timor independence unrest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the 2009, 2010, and 2014 Bangkok political protests.

In 1995 he was a Walkley Award finalist, the highest awards in Australian journalism, for his coverage of the 1995 Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Ebola outbreak.

Prior to AEC News Today he was the deputy editor and Thailand and Greater Mekong Sub-region editor for The Establishment Post, predecessor of Asean Today.

In the mid-80s and early 90s he owned JLF Promotions, the largest above and below the line marketing and PR firm servicing the high-technology industry in Australia. It was sold in 1995.

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