Policemen stand guard Monday by the scene of an explosion at Sanam Luang.
BANGKOK — An explosion reportedly injured two people Monday night in Bangkok’s historic quarter, though police said it was not a bomb attack.
A loud bang was heard at about 8:40pm in front of the National Theatre, opposite to the Sanam Luang, where cremation rituals for His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol are being prepared.
Chanasongkram police station chief Col. Pitak Sutthikul said two people suffered minor injuries. He said the explosion was caused by lighting equipment failure, not a bomb.
“I can confirm to you that this is not a bomb attack,” Pitak said by telephone Monday night.
He added that Bangkok police commander Sanit Mahatavorn was at the scene and will give a formal statement to the press later.
Bomb squad officers were seen combing the area for evidence.
The incident came a month after a small explosive device went off at a garbage bin on nearby Ratchadamnoen Avenue, wounding two city cleaners. Police have yet to identify the perpetrators.
People fill out the form to register for the junta’s welfare program Monday at Government Savings Bank headquarters in Bangkok.
BANGKOK — Asked why she has waited until the last day to register for the junta’s welfare program for the lowest-income Thais, Sophawadee Phuipin laughed as she offered a timid answer.
“I didn’t have money to open a bank account,” the 45-year-old mother of two said.
Sophawadee was among many who went to the headquarters of the Government Savings Bank, or GSB, in Bangkok Monday as it was the last chance for the poorest in Thailand to register in order to receive government assistance.
Though registration has been open for over a month, the program’s actual benefits remain unclear. Officials have yet to announce whether it will offer direct cash assistance as it did last year. The military government has said instead of giving money, it will issue “welfare cards” for those who register that can be used to subsidize daily living expenses with free bus rides and discounted electricity bills.
Although a bank employee said it was unnecessary to answer the part of the registration form asking for a “bank account to receive government welfare,” those registering could not get a clear answer on how they could receive any future payouts. So many ended up opening new accounts in hope of receiving their subsidy quickly.
The GSB website said its minimum balance to open an account without fee was 1 baht. Staff at GSB headquarters today said the minimum was 200 baht.
Both staff and the website, however, agreed that if there is no activity in an account holding under 500 baht for a year, the bank will charge a 20 baht monthly fee.
Sophawadee Phuipin, 45, completes a form to apply for the junta’s welfare program Monday at the headquarters of the Government Savings Bank in Bangkok.
Sophawadee, the seamstress who said she earns less than 10,000 baht some months, ended up opening a new account today.
“I don’t know what will I get,” she said. “I just give it a try.”
Benefits Unclear
Without a clear idea of how the second round of their welfare program will be handled, the military government already has two figures ready to tout.
One was how much will be set aside for the program. The interim cabinet on Tuesday approved 50 billion baht to support the program, which it said will improve the lives of those in need.
The other number was an increase in the number of people who registered, which government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Saturday reflects trust in the military government.
The number of people to register since registration began April 3 through Thursday reached more than 12 million people and growing, an increase of four million over last year.
“It is believed that people trust the government will really take care of their welfare,” Sansern said.
In order to qualify for the program, one must be a Thai national, at least 18, earn under 100,000 baht annually and not possess over 100,000 baht in assets. Those who own land cannot own more than 1 rai (1,600sqm). If it is farmland, it must not exceed 10 rai (16,000sqm).
They must also be willing to share all their financial information with the government, including details on outstanding debts.
Last year, the government made two cash payouts to more than 7.5 million people. Each was 3,000 baht for those earning less than 30,000 baht per year, and 1,500 baht for those with annual incomes under 100,000 baht per year.
For the second round, they said the purpose was to create an in-depth database and issue cards to direct benefits only to those in need and prevent abuse by those who don’t.
Services to be limited only to those who register include free bus and train tickets.
In October, the existing free services will be terminated, and only card-holding welfare beneficiaries will get free rides.
At the bank, Sophawadee said she was a fan of the free bus service as travel costs were one of her major expenses.
“I spent 40 to 50 baht for round trips to send my daughters to school,” said the woman, who said she only eats one meal per day to save for her children. “I rarely go out myself. I sew at home.”
The Sakon Nakhon native said she did not know yet whether her two daughters would be able to receive rides as her dependents under the revised program.
Accompanying her husband to the bank today was Charoen Phumpan. The 62-year-old woman said she benefited from the 3,000 baht payouts last year and still preferred cash, as she was unlikely to benefit from the proposed discounted utility bills.
“I rent a home. The electricity and water fees are already included as a fixed cost in the rent,” Charoen said. “I don’t have a separate electricity meter. So I don’t know how I could use it.”
A Thai-language version of the WannaCrypt lock-out screen was shared online Monday by a Czech cybersecurity expert. Image: @JaromirHorejsi / Twitter
BANGKOK — As Thailand seemed spared the full force of a ransomware attack that has wreaked havoc throughout the world, a possible Thai variant of the program surfaced Monday afternoon.
More than 180,000 people in 150 countries so far have been affected by WannaCry, a viral piece of malware that locks down computers and holds their content ransom until the equivalent of USD$300 is paid in bitcoins. The government said Monday that measures have been implemented to prevent the spread in Thailand, though several security experts warn the risk of a more dangerous outbreak remains.
“The government is concerned about what happened. Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has ordered the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to closely monitor any problem that may happen,” ministry official Somsak Khaosuwan said Monday in a statement to the press.
“As for Thailand, currently we have not found any severe damage from the aforementioned malware infection,” he added.
Police spokesman Krissana Pattanacharoen said Interpol alerted the Thai police force on Saturday morning local time about the outbreak. No one has filed a criminal complaint over the issue so far, Col. Krissana said, adding that anyone who wishes to do so should contact the Technology Crime Suppression Division.
WannaCrypt, also known as WannaCry, takes control of computer systems by exploiting bugs in Windows operating systems using a method widely believed stolen from the NSA. Functionality is restored only if users pay the ransom demanded by attackers within a matter of hours.
On Monday, an IT security expert in Prague tweeted what appeared to be a Thai-language variant of WannaCry under development.
At least two high-profile companies in Thailand were hit by the malware.
The attack hit video game distributor Garena Online just as it was launching a new online game, Blade & Soul. About 100,000 players were reportedly active in the game when Garena had to shut it down because hundreds of its servers became infected by WannaCry.
A Garena spokeswoman said Monday that the servers were back online but would not say whether the company had paid the ransom to regain control of the compromised machines.
It also reportedly struck Blue Sky, a TV channel affiliated with the Yellowshirt movement.
According to an image posted on social media, the malware affect at least one video billboard at Witthayu Junction, where Sathorn and Rama IV roads intersect.
Unlike other countries in the region, there have so far been no reports of hospitals or banking systems being affected as of Monday afternoon.
Internet transparency activist Arthit Suriyawongkul said it’s hard to estimate the extent of WannaCry’s damage because Thai agencies routinely keep security breaches confidential rather than go public.
“They’re afraid that if they admit to being attacked, it might affect their organization’s image,” said Arthit of the Thai Netizen Network. “This idea is in contrast with some foreign countries. They don’t see it as a problem of any single agency, but a problem of everyone. The best way is to share information.”
Digital ministry official Somsak said a number of government agencies are working together to monitor the situation and provide advice to the public. Somsak said anyone affected by the ransomware should alert the Thailand Computer Emergency Response Team, or ThaiCert by calling 02-123-1212. The hotline is only available in Thai.
IT security consultant Pichaya Morimoto commended the government and ThaiCert for warning the public in a timely manner, which he said may have helped limit the outbreak.
However, he said negligence and failure to update operating systems could leave some Thai companies vulnerable, since the malware can quickly propagate between computers in a short space of time if they have not applied Microsoft security updates since March.
“If the IT department doesn’t take care of updating Windows, the entire system may be infected,” said Pichaya, who also administers a Thai-language cybersecurity page on Facebook.
Pichaya and Arthit also warned that widespread use of pirated software, which is often unpatched with the latest fixes, may pave the way for WannaCry and its like.
Computers running outdated versions of Windows at underfunded public agencies are also at risk, Arthit added.
“Just ask yourself how many state schools, hospital and universities are using Windows 10?” he said. “Many places still use Vista or even XP.”
An explosives team investigates a car that was parked under a busy overpass used by former PM Thaksin Shinawatra in a file photo from Aug. 24, 2006.
BANGKOK — The highest military court on Monday upheld convictions of three military officers on weapons charges related to an alleged 2006 assassination plot against then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The Military Supreme Court affirmed sentences for the three officers attached to a counter-insurgency force operating under the prime minister’s office for their involvement in the alleged plot. Manas Sukprasert and Surapol Supradit – both colonels in the Internal Security Operation Command, or ISOC – were convicted of possessing firearms, ammunition and explosives. It also upheld that of 1st Lt. Tawatchai Klinchana, whose sentence was reduced by the court of first instance to four years and six months for giving useful testimony.
Charges of attempted assassination were thrown out earlier by a lower military court.
The three were arrested in relation to what appeared to be a plot to kill the former prime minister on Aug. 24, 2006.
On that day, Thaksin’s security detail found a suspicious grey Daewoo car parked along Thaksin’s usual route not far from his home on the Thon Buri side of Bangkok, ahead of his motorcade. Tawatchai was arrested inside the car. A variety of explosives including TNT, C4 and a tank containing a mixture of benzene and fertilizer was found inside the vehicle.
Rumors of a military coup against Thaksin had been mounting since early that year, and four weeks after the apparent car bomb plot was discovered, the military launched seized control while he was in New York City.
The three were directly taken to a military prison at the 11th Military Circle after the verdict was read.
Miss District of Columbia USA Kara McCullough, at center, reacts with fellow contestants after she was crowned at the Miss USA contest Sunday in Las Vegas. Photo: John Locher / Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Kara McCullough, a scientist working for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has been crowned Miss USA.
McCullough, who represented the District of Columbia in the decades-old pageant, was born in Naples, Italy, and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She said she wants to inspire children to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“I love science,” McCullough said after the Sunday event. “I look at this as a great opportunity to … get to experience worldwide culture, as well as just having the opportunity to be impacted by so many children, hopefully in the math and sciences.”
McCullough bested 50 other contestants and will represent the U.S. at the Miss Universe contest.
This was the second year in a row that the representative of the nation’s capital won the Miss USA title. Last year, District of Columbia resident Deshauna Barber became the first-ever military member to win Miss USA.
This year’s top five finalists were asked questions that touched on the pros and cons of social media, women’s rights and issues affecting teenagers. McCullough was asked whether she thinks that affordable health care for all U.S. citizens is a right or a privilege. She said it is a privilege.
“As a government employee, I’m granted health care, and I see firsthand that for one to have health care, you need to have jobs.”
McCullough said she will be discussing with her supervisor whether she will take a leave of absence from her job at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during her one-year reign.
Miss New Jersey Chhavi Verg, who studies marketing and Spanish at Rutgers University, was the runner-up at the event held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on the Las Vegas Strip.
Miss New Jersey USA Chhavi Verg walks up the stage during the Miss USA contest Sunday. Photo: John Locher / Associated Press
Verg was one of five women who participated in the pageant who told The Associated Press they immigrated to the U.S. with their families at a young age. Verg and the women representing Florida, North Dakota, Hawaii and Connecticut described the challenges and opportunities they faced as immigrants.
Verg told The AP that she and her parents immigrated from India to the U.S. with only USD$500 (17,000 baht) in their pockets when she was 4. Her first winter she did not have a winter coat and the family struggled to adjust.
“I want to show Americans that the definition of what it means to be American is changing,” the 20-year-old said. “It’s not just one face. There are many different people who are Americans, and I feel like Asian-Americans often times are left out of the conversation.”
The contestants’ remarks contrast with the controversy that surrounded the pageant in 2015, when then-part owner and now U.S. President Donald Trump offended Hispanics when he made anti-immigrant remarks in announcing his bid for the White House.
Trump co-owned The Miss Universe Organization with NBCUniversal, but the network and the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision quickly cut ties with him, refusing to air the show. Trump sued both networks, eventually settling and selling the pageant to talent management company WME/IMG.
BANGKOK — Snorkeling, diving and swimming in several national marine parks in the glittering Andaman Sea will be forbidden for five months during monsoon, starting Tuesday.
The national parks department announced the annual closure of many tourist-favorite destinations in the Andaman national marine parks due to unsafe monsoon conditions and to allow the locales to recover after welcoming an overwhelming number of tourists all year long.
The parks include Mu Koh Surin and Mu Koh Similan in Phang-nga province; the Koh Hin Daeng – Hin Muang, Koh Ha and Koh Rok diving sites located in Krabi’s Mu Koh Lanta park; Hat Chao Mai in Trang; and the islands of Lipe, Adang and Rawi in Satun’s Tarutao National Marine Park.
More than 1 million people visited those five parks alone in 2016, according to the department.
During the closure, officials will evaluate conditions at the park with the aim of setting limits on the numbers of tourists allowed to visit the parks in the future.
The Andaman national marine parks will welcome visitors again Oct. 15.
Prior to closing, fishery officials reintroduced an annual ban on trawlers, drag and gill nets April through June to reduce the impact on spawning season in Krabi, Phuket, Phang-nga and Trang provinces.
Deputy Customs Director, Abdul Wahid Sulong shows off seized Ploughshare, right and Indian Star, left, tortoise after a press conference at Customs office Monday in Sepang, Malaysia. Photo: Daniel Chan / Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian authorities say they have seized 330 exotic tortoises from Madagascar worth 1.2 million ringgit (USD $276,721) in the latest heist of illegal wildlife and animal parts being smuggled into the country.
Deputy customs director Abdull Wahid Sulong said Monday that 325 Indian Star tortoises and five Ploughshare tortoises were packed into five boxes and labeled as stones. He said the live tortoises, usually kept as pets, arrived via Etihad Airways from Antanaviro Airport in Madagascar on Sunday.
He said customs officials found the boxes at the Kuala Lumpur airport cargo warehouse on the same day based on a tip.
Two weeks ago, airport customs officials seized African pangolin scales worth USD $2.1 million. Last month they confiscated 18 rhino horns worth USD $3.1 million believed to have been smuggled in from Mozambique.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin, known for his passion for the outdoors, showed off his softer side during a visit to China when he sat down to play the piano Sunday.
Putin is in Beijing on a state visit to discuss a USD $1 trillion infrastructure plan that strives to revive the ancient Silk Road.
After speaking at the summit in the morning, Putin headed to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at his residence.
Putin is habitually late for meetings, but this time he was the one who was made to wait, Russian news agencies said.
So, Putin played some songs on Xi’s piano. Russian state television showed excerpts of at least two tunes he played – “Moscow Windows” and “City on the Free Neva” – both Soviet classics.
Putin has demonstrated his music talents before. In 2010, he took the stage at a charity concert with a jazz band to play and sing “Blueberry Hills.”
But in recent years, Putin – occupied with the annexation of Crimea, the crisis in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s role in Syria – preferred to demonstrate his virile side in Kremlin-distributed pictures of him hunting and fishing.
Police escort Napapa ‘Patt’ Tantrakul, center, at the headquarters of anti-narcotics bureau on Monday.
BANGKOK — A celebrity charged with money laundering turned herself in Monday to police to hear charges she aided a transnational drug ring in laundering money, which she denied.
Napapa “Patt” Tantrakul told police she wasn’t aware the 1.9 million baht in her bank account was linked to the Thai-Laotian cartel whose alleged leader was arrested in Bangkok earlier this year. The 30-year-old actress met with police after ignoring an earlier deadline set last week.
“She denied the charges,” Sommai Kongwithaisook, commander of the narcotics police, said by telephone. “She said she received the money from Benz. She didn’t know where it came from.”
Lt. Gen. Sommai was referring to her husband, Akarakit “Benz” Worarojcharoendet, who is also accused of aiding the Laotian drug lord Xaysana Keopimpha’s money-laundering scheme. Like his wife, Akarakit denied the allegation.
Sommai said her claim is plausible.
“It’s possible that she wasn’t aware of it,” Sommai said. “All she knew was that her husband gave her the money.”
Napapa was charged with two counts related to her alleged involvement in helping to conceal Xaysana’s illicit wealth through purchase of a 20 million baht Lamborghini.
Since Xaysana was arrested at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in January, police have implicated over a dozen suspects, including businessmen and police officers.
Xayasana is described as having been the biggest drug kingpin in northeast Thailand. He’s currently held in prison and police say they aim to try him in Thailand.
Sommai, the drug task force commander, added that police will not seek to keep Napapa in custody when she’s brought to court later today.
A PetroChina station in 2007 in Xinjiang, China. Photo: Otebig / Wikimedia Commons
LONDON — Chinese state media say more than 29,000 institutions across China have been infected by the global “ransomware” cyberattack.
Xinhua News Agency reports that by Sunday evening, 29,372 institutions had been infected along with hundreds of thousands of devices. It cited the Threat Intelligence Center of Qihoo 360, a Chinese internet security services company.
It says universities and educational institutions were among the hardest hit, numbering 4,341, or about 15 percent of internet protocol addresses attacked. Also affected were railway stations, mail delivery, gas stations, hospitals, office buildings, shopping malls and government services.
Xinhua says the system used by PetroChina’s gas stations was attacked, meaning customers could not use their cards to pay. Most stations had recovered.
