Thailand English-language News for November 29

In Thailand English-language News for November 29, 2017, Newsline presenter Cholaphansa Narula tells us about:

00:43 | Following a mobile Cabinet meeting in Southern Thailand marred by heavy-handed security and complaints, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has announced that the 14 southern provinces will be given development priority.

Meanwhile all of the development projects for the southern provinces proposed to the PM during his visit have been approved by the Cabinet, including the construction of transportation hubs, and the construction of an undersea water pipeline from Surat Thani to Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.

The Cabinet meeting also discussed the establishment of a waste water treatment system on each island of the country, and the use of tax incentives to encourage private sector tap water manufacturing on each island.

04:18 | The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has explained that the reason two committees have been established to review the last two draft organic laws is to share the workload of the legislature members, especially seeing that there are a number public holidays in December.

05:39 | The Political Reform Committee plans to hold a series of focus groups to hear feedback and suggestions from all political and related parties. Summaries of the discussions will be sent to all reform committees and the National Strategy Committee in December.

06:45 | The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has held a meeting to follow up on the progress of its policy to stimulate the economy through specialised programmes from state-run financial institutions in 2018. The programmes include low-interest loans for fisheries, a reverse mortgage program for the elderly, a special credit programme for registered low-income citizens, a credit programme to assist those with informal debt, and a programme to educate SMEs on financial planning.

10:27 | The Department of Airports (DOA) has laid out a five-year plan to ensure its 29 airports can accommodate 30 million people per year by 2025 and 58 million by 2035. The plans include enhancing connectivity in all regions, ensuring compliance with international safety and environmental standards, enhancing operational efficiency, promoting good governance, and effectively managing human resources.

11:21 | The Safe and Creative Media Development Fund (SCF) has launched a mobile application called Media Watch‘ to allow people to report inappropriate websites to authorities. The app also provides information on public complaints to media organisations and government agencies, such as the Ministry of Culture (MoC) and the National Broadcasting Telecommunication Commission (NBTC), to ensure that they stay updated.

12:19 | Newsline repeats a story from November 9 on a campaign by the Department of Livestock Development (DLD), Orion Machinery Co. Ltd., and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to boost the Thai dairy industry.

According to Toru Kaneko, a representative of Orion Machinery, an automatic milking system will be installed in three demonstration farms in Nakhon Ratchasima, Chiang Mai and Sa Kaeo Province starting in October this year to educate farmers and collect data to see how to improve Thai dairy performance.

17:06 | The Pollution Control Department (PCD), Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), and 12 private organisations have signed a public-private collaboration agreement to deal with electronic waste.

According to PCD director-general, Sunee Piyaphanpong, in 2016 Thailand had to deal with some 600,000 tons of hazardous electronic waste, a 2.57 per cent increase over 2015.

18:29 | Ministry of Justice (MoJ) inspector general, Permpoon Puengprasit, and his team have inspected the progress of DNA tests of ethnic Mani and other stateless people in Langu District of Satun Province aimed at helping those eligible to gain Thai citizenship.

Thirty five Mani people and one stateless person have had DNA tests taken with the results to be available in six weeks time.

19:49 | Newsline takes a look at the southern district of Betong and the new Immigration Checkpoint office.

• 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. AEC News Today publishes Thailand English-language News M-F.