3 Dead, 3 Critically Wounded in Shooting at Denmark Mall

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4 July 2022, 09:00

An ambulance and armed police outside the Field's shopping center, in Orestad, Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, July 3, 2022, after reports of shots fired. Photo: Olafur Steinar Gestsson / Ritzau Scanpix via AP

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping mall in the Danish capital Sunday, killing three people and critically wounding three others, police said.

A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested after the shooting, Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen told reporters, adding there was no indication that anyone else was involved in the attack, though police were still investigating.

Gun violence is relatively rare in Denmark.

Thomassen said it was too early to speculate on the motive for the shooting, which happened in the late afternoon at Field’s, one of the biggest shopping malls in Scandinavia and located on the outskirts of the Danish capital. When the shots rang out, some people hid in shops while others fled in a panicked stampede, according to witnesses.

“It is pure terror. This is awful,” said Hans Christian Stoltz, a 53-year-old IT consultant, who was bringing his daughters to see Harry Styles perform at concert scheduled for Sunday night near the mall. “You might wonder how a person can do this to another human being, but it’s beyond … beyond anything that’s possible.”

Thomassen said the victims included a man in his 40s and two “young people,” without giving details. Several others were injured, three of them critically, he said.

He said police received the first reports of a shooting at 5.37 p.m., and arrested the suspect 11 minutes later. Thomassen described the suspect as an “ethnic Dane,” a phrase typically used to mean someone is white.

Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts, a vest or sleeveless shirt, and holding what appeared to be a rifle in his right hand. “He seemed very violent and angry,” eyewitness Mahdi Al-Wazni told TV2. “He spoke to me and said it (the rifle) isn’t real as I was filming him. He seemed very proud of what he was doing.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Scandinavian country had been hit by a “cruel attack.”

“It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless,” she said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.”

Images from the scene showed people running out of the mall, and TV2 posted a photo of a man being put on a stretcher. After the shooting, an enormous contingent of heavily armed police officers patrolled the area, with several fire department vehicles also parked outside the mall.

Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR that he was in a clothing store at the shopping center with his family when he heard “three, four bangs. Really loud bangs. It sounded like the shots were being fired just next to the store.”

The shopping center is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway station for a line that connects the city center with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to the mall.

Organizers called off the Harry Styles concert, which had been scheduled at the nearby Royal Arena, by order of police.

On Snapchat, Styles wrote: “My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love H.”

The royal palace said a reception with Crown Prince Frederik connected to the Tour de France cycling race had been canceled. The first three stages of the race were held in Denmark this year. The reception was due to be held on the royal yacht that is moored in Soenderborg, the town where the third stage ended.

In a joint statement, Queen Margrethe, her son Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, Crown Princess Mary, said: “We do not yet know the full extent of the tragedy, but it is already clear that more people have lost their lives and that even more have been injured.”

“The situation calls for unity and care,” they said in a statement.

The shooting came a week after a mass shooting in neighboring Norway, where police said a Norwegian man of Iranian origin opened fire during a LGBTQ festival, killing two and wounding more than 20.

It was the worst gun attack in Denmark since February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police after going on a shooting spree in the capital that left two people dead and five police officers wounded.

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Story: Jan M. Olsen and Karl Ritter. Ritter reported from Unterseen, Switzerland.

Opinion: The Enigma of Chadchart: The Truman Show Bangkok Governor

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Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

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3 July 2022, 11:00

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt is livestreamed as jogs through Wachirabenchathat Park (Rod Fai Park) on July 3, 2022.

It’s been a month since Chadchart Sittipunt was elected as the new Bangkok governor in a landslide victory. The Chadchart fever is still very much alive and on Thai Twitterverse, the hashtag #ชัชชาติ (#chadchart) continues to trend almost daily. How do we explain the Chadchart phenomena?

Perhaps there is no one single answer but several factors involved. Here is my semi-educated guess.

First, there had been no Bangkok gubernatorial elections for nine years due to the disruption caused by the 2014 military coup and a good number of first-time voters grew up under the military junta of Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha who feel fed up with military dictatorship.

Asawin Kwanmuang was appointed as governor after Prayut exercised his absolute dictatorial power to removed Sukhumbhand Paribatra from office in October 2016. So, the situation was not that of electing just another Bangkok governor at all, but a chance to send a direct message to Prayut and co.

Second, Chadchart, who was formerly a transport minister under the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, resigned from the party and ran as an independent. Chadchart told me in an interview weeks before he was elected that he will take no order from the opposition Pheu Thai party or from ousted and fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the man who is widely regarded as the real party leader.

Chadchart spoke about how he wished the color-code political division would end. That means some people who are not outright anti-Thaksinite would have little or no problem seeing him as governor for all, as Chadchart has vowed to leave the toxic national politics behind and have so far succeeded in doing so.

The fact that he’s very well educated, a former university lecturer, and came from a prominent royalist family also helps many educated Thais to accept him, particularly when compared to some half-baked former junta leaders still roaming around the corridors of power.

Third, Chadchart was directly elected, unlike the Thai prime minister who had to be chosen by the parliament. This means many of his supporters feel greater affinity. They feel they have chosen him, and the choice was clear cut, unlike that of prime minister in which the party with the highest number of MPs may not, in the end, be able to ensure that their PM choice will definitely become the prime minister.

Fourth and last, is the Facebook Live effect.

Over 1.3 million Bangkokians voted for Chadchart, but he now has over 2.5 million followers on his Facebook account where one can watch Chadchart working on a near daily-basis from dawn to well past dusk.

On Friday night, he was attending to a flood problem somewhere in Bangkok at 10pm. The next morning, before 6am, he is already up and jogging live on Facebook at Reignwood Park Run, covering a distance of 10 kilometers. The pre-dawn jogging Facebook Live episode received more than 50,000 Likes and Loves, 1.600 shares, 7,400 comments, and 404,000 views just hours after!

This is an unprecedented real time live reality political show on a near daily basis – the first in Thailand. Chadchart has a dedicated team to cover his activity. In the era of social media, this is a game changer, and Chadchart has proven to be ‘natural’ when it comes to engaging with people on Facebook Live.

Basically, what you see is what you get, and you can watch your governor working (hard) real time from before dawn to well after dusk – almost cunningly like The Truman Show as his activities are limited to the confines of a city called Bangkok.

Some say this is more like a political showbiz and Chadchart does not need to really be everywhere on Facebook Live, every day, but should instead focus on the big pictures, make decisions, and relegate works for many other of his staff. Such criticism is not invalid and what is more, Chadchart’s Facebook Live is turning the electorates into more of a fan club of the governor instead of someone more equal in a normal political relationship.

It is now to be seen if any other politicians will be able to capitalize on this new medium called Facebook Live (every day) like Chadchart the Truman Show Governor or not.

CP Foods showcases innovation and hi-tech food production at FTI EXPO 2022 in Chiang Mai

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Contributor

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30 June 2022, 16:58

Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CP Foods) demonstrates its innovation and advance technology at the FTI EXPO 2022, the exhibition is held at the Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Centre during 29 June to 3 July 2022. This year, CP Foods showcases sustainable business under the concept of “CP Smart for Bio Circular Green for a better tomorrow” in line with BCG Economy model as the “Kitchen of the World” vision.

The FTI EXPO 2022, hosted by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), is an exhibition of Thai industrial products and innovations that bring Thai industrial sector, the government sector and the private sector altogether in order to drive BCG Economy under the theme “Shaping Future Industries for Stronger Thailand”

The opening ceremony was presided over by General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Prime Minister, who also visited CP Foods’ booth at the event where he was welcomed by Mr. Peerapong Krinchai, Executive Vice President – Corporate Engineering at CP Foods.

Mr. Peerapong said that CP Foods has showcased cutting-edge food innovation at The FTI EXPO 2022, displaying advanced techs throughout the company’s supply chain such as Smart Feed Mill, Smart Farm, Smart Factory, Waste to energy operation and Food for A Better Tomorrow.

He explained that Smart Feed mill applies automation and robotic technology in the production. Moreover, data are collected by the mill for analysis and used for production planning to improve the efficiency and reduce production errors as well as waste generated in process.

Meanwhile, CP Foods’ Smart Farm has implemented a sensor system to measure the amount of food for feeding the chickens and notify the amount of food remaining supply in the silo. The system helps the company to reduce the manpower. In addition, the animal’s data and living environment is digitally monitored. Meanwhile, the eggs are counted and transport via automatic belt. The efforts are to minimize human contact.

In term of Smart Factory, CP Foods presented green building design that takes into account energy efficiency and minimize environmental footprint. The waste to energy project is part of the smart factory that waste from the production lines is converted to energy in a sustainable way, such as the biogas system can simply be turned into electricity.

In addition, CP Foods also showcased “food for the future”, Meat Zero, a plant-based product that research and develop by CPF RD Center with world-class experts from many countries. The alternative meat is made from plants and manufactured to feel, taste, and appear like real meat thanks to “PLANT-TEC” innovation. Meat Zero also won multiple awards in Thailand and Overseas such as Food Innovation Award from THAIFEX-ANUGA Taste Innovation Show 2022 and Superior Taste Awards 2022 from Belgium.

Dictator’s Son Marcos Jr. Takes Oath as Philippine President

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Associated Press

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30 June 2022, 11:30

FILE - Philippine President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. gestures during a press conference at his headquarters in Mandaluyong, Philippines on June 20, 2022. Photo: Aaron Favila / AP File

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the namesake son of an ousted dictator, was sworn in as Philippine president Thursday in one of the greatest political comebacks in recent history but which opponents say was pulled off by whitewashing his family’s image.

His rise to power, 36 years after an army-backed “People Power” revolt booted his father to global infamy, upends politics in the Asian democracy, where a public holiday, monuments and the Philippine Constitution stand as reminders of his father’s tyrannical rule.

Activists and survivors of the martial law-era under his father protested Marcos Jr.’s inauguration, which took place at a noontime ceremony at the steps of the National Museum in Manila. Thousands of police officers, including anti-riot contingents, SWAT commandos and snipers, were deployed in the bayside tourist district for security.

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, were among foreign dignitaries attending.

“Wow is this really happening?” asked Bonifacio Ilagan, a 70-year-old activist who was detained and severely tortured by counterinsurgency forces during the elder Marcos’s rule, before the inauguration. “For victims of martial law like me, this is a nightmare.”

Such historical baggage and antagonism stand to hound Marcos Jr. during a six-year presidency beginning at a time of intense crises.

The Philippines has been among the worst-hit countries in Asia by the two-year coronavirus pandemic, after more than 60,000 deaths and extended lockdowns sent the economy to its worst recession since World War II and worsened poverty, unemployment and hunger. As the pandemic was easing early this year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent global inflation soaring and sparked fears of food shortages.

Last week, Marcos Jr. announced he would serve as secretary of agriculture temporarily after he takes office to prepare for possible food supply emergencies. “I think the problem is severe enough,” he said and added he has asked his key advisers to brace for “emergency situations, especially when it comes to food supply.”

He also inherits decades-old Muslim and communist insurgencies, crime, gaping inequality and political divisions inflamed by his election.

Congress last month proclaimed his landslide victory, as well as that of his running mate Sara Duterte, the daughter of the outgoing president, in the vice- presidential race.

“I ask you all pray for me, wish me well. I want to do well because when the president does well, the country does well,” he said after his congressional proclamation without taking any questions.

Marcos Jr. received more than 31 million votes and Sara Duterte more than 32 million of the more than 55 million votes cast in the May 9 election — massive victories that will provide them robust political capital as they face tremendous challenges as well as doubts arising from their fathers’ reputations. It was the first majority presidential victory in the Philippines in decades.

Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte presided over a brutal anti-drugs campaign that left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead in an unprecedented scale of killings the International Criminal Court was investigating as a possible crime against humanity. The probe was suspended in November, but the ICC chief prosecutor has asked that it be resumed immediately.

Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte have faced calls to help prosecute her father and cooperate with the international court when they office, a looming political dilemma.

Marcos Jr., a former governor, congressman and senator, has refused to acknowledge or apologize for massive human rights violations and plunder under his father’s rule and has defended his legacy.

During the campaign, he and Sara Duterte avoided controversial issues and focused on a call for national unity, although their fathers’ presidencies opened some of the most volatile divisions in the country’s history. Marcos Jr. appealed to be judged “not by my ancestors, but by my actions.”

His father was forced from power by a largely peaceful pro-democracy uprising in 1986 and died in 1989 while in exile in Hawaii without admitting any wrongdoing, including accusations that he, his family and cronies amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion while in office.

A Hawaii court later found him liable for human rights violations and awarded $2 billion to more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

Imelda Marcos and her children were allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991 and worked on a stunning political comeback, helped by a well-funded social media campaign to refurbish the family name.

Marcos Jr’s alliance with Sara Duterte, whose father remains popular despite his human rights record, and powerful name recall as a member of one of the country’s most well-known political dynasties, helped him capture the presidency. Many Filipinos too remained poor and grew disenchanted with post-Marcos administrations, Manila-based analyst Richard Heydarian said.

“These allowed the Marcoses to present themselves as the alternative,” Heydarian said and added “an unregulated social media landscape allowed their disinformation network to re-brand the dark days of martial law as supposedly the golden age of the Philippines.”

Along metropolitan Manila’s main avenue, democracy shrines and monuments erected after Marcos’ 1986 downfall stand prominently. The anniversary of his ouster is celebrated each year as a special national holiday, and a presidential commission that has worked for decades to recover ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses still exists.

Marcos Jr. has not explained how he will deal with such stark reminders of the past.

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Story: Jim Gomez.

NATO Deems Russia Its ‘Most Significant and Direct Threat’

By

Associated Press

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30 June 2022, 11:00

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg center, flanked by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, right, and U.S President Joe Biden open the first plenary session of the NATO summit in Madrid, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. Photo: Bertrand Guay / Pool via AP

MADRID (AP) — NATO declared Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to its members’ peace and security on Wednesday and vowed to strengthen support for Ukraine, even as that country’s leader chided the alliance for not doing more to help it defeat Moscow.

The military organization’s condemnation was not wholly surprising: Its chief earlier said Russia’s war in Ukraine had created Europe’s biggest security crisis since World War II. But it was a sobering about-face for an alliance that a decade ago called Moscow a strategic partner.

NATO also issued a warning about China, accusing it of bullying its neighbors and forming a “strategic partnership” with Moscow that poses a challenge to the West.

Set up some 70 years ago to counter the Soviet Union, NATO held its summit in Madrid in a world transformed by Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. The war drove the alliance to pour troops and weapons into eastern Europe on a scale unseen in decades and pushed Sweden and Finland to seek the safety of NATO membership.

The two formerly nonaligned nations were formally invited to join on Wednesday, as Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the war had brought “the biggest overhaul of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War.”

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented that NATO’s open-door policy to new members did not appear to apply to his country.

“The open-door policy of NATO shouldn’t resemble the old turnstiles on Kyiv’s subway, which stay open but close when you approach them until you pay,” Zelenskyy said by video link. “Hasn’t Ukraine paid enough?”

He also asked for more modern artillery systems and other weapons and warned the leaders they either had to provide Kyiv with the help it needed or “face a delayed war between Russia and yourself.”

“The question is, who’s next? Moldova? Or the Baltics? Or Poland? The answer is: all of them,” he said.

Zelenskyy has acknowledged that NATO membership is a distant prospect. Under NATO treaties, an attack on any of the 30 members would trigger a military response by the entire alliance, so it is trying to strike a delicate balance, letting its nations arm Ukraine without sparking a direct confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.

At the same time NATO has moved quickly to ensure that its members are protected, dramatically scaling up military force along its eastern flank, where countries from Romania to the Baltic states worry about Russia’s future plans.

It plans to increase almost eightfold the size of the alliance’s rapid reaction force, from 40,000 to 300,000 troops, by next year. The troops will be based in their home nations but dedicated to specific countries in the east, where the alliance plans to build up stocks of equipment and ammunition.

U.S. President Joe Biden, whose country provides the bulk of NATO’s military power, vowed the summit would send “an unmistakable message … that NATO is strong and united.”

“We’re stepping up. We’re proving that NATO is more needed now than it ever has been,” said Biden. He announced a hefty boost in America’s military presence in Europe, including a permanent U.S. base in Poland, two more Navy destroyers based in Rota, Spain, and two more F35 squadrons to the U.K.

Still, strains among NATO allies have also emerged as the cost of energy and other essential goods has skyrocketed, partly because of the the war and tough Western sanctions on Russia. There also are tensions over how the war will end and what, if any, concessions Ukraine should make.

Money remains a sensitive issue — just nine of NATO’s 30 members currently meet the organization’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country does hit the target, urged NATO allies “to dig deep to restore deterrence and ensure defense in the decade ahead.”

At the summit, the leaders published NATO’s new Strategic Concept, its once-a-decade set of priorities and goals.

The last such document, in 2010, called Russia a “strategic partner.” At the time, the idea of Russia waging a land war on NATO’s borders would have sounded far-fetched.

Now, NATO accused Russia of using “coercion, subversion, aggression and annexation” to extend its reach.

The document also set out NATO’s approach on issues from cybersecurity to climate change — and the growing economic and military reach of China. For the first time, the leaders of Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand attended the summit as guests, a reflection of the growing importance of Asia and the Pacific region and NATO’s desire to counterbalance China.

“China is not our adversary, but we must be clear-eyed about the serious challenges it represents,” Stoltenberg said.

“We see a deepening strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing, and China’s growing assertiveness and its coercive policies have consequences for the security of our allies and our partners,” he added.

The alliance said, however, that it remained “open to constructive engagement” with Beijing.

NATO also stressed the need to address political instability in Africa’s Sahel region and the Middle East — aggravated by “climate change, fragile institutions, health emergencies and food insecurity” — that is driving large numbers of migrants toward Europe. Host Spain and other European countries pushed for this new focus.

The summit, which ends Thursday, opened with one problem solved, after Turkey agreed Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

NATO operates by consensus, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to block the Nordic pair, insisting they change their stance on Kurdish rebel groups that Turkey considers terrorists.

After talks with leaders of the three countries, Stoltenberg said the impasse had been cleared.

The two countries’ accession has to be ratified by all nations, but Stoltenberg said he was “absolutely confident” Finland and Sweden would become members quickly.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said his country was eager to get out of the “gray zone” of having applied for membership but not yet fully covered by NATO’s collective defense guarantee.

“Our aim is that that period should be as short as possible,” he said.

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Story: Jill Lawless, Joseph Wilson and Sylvie Corbet. Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Madrid contributed.

Siam Piwat joins Thanachart Insurance To fulfill luxury lifestyle with protection with exclusive privileges to ONESIAM and ICONSIAM shoppers,

By

Contributor

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29 June 2022, 10:40

Strengthening Siam Piwat’s business ecosystem, Siam Piwat joins force with Thanachart Insurance to tap larger high-spending consumer segment.
Thananachart Insurance tailors exclusive insurance policies and privileges to ONESIAM and ICONSIAM’s customers and ONESIAM SuperApp users.

Siam Piwat Co., Ltd., a leading property and retail developer – the owner and operator of ONESIAM global retail destination that consists of Siam Paragon, Siam Center, Siam Discovery and a joint venture partner of ICONSIAM and Siam Premium Outlets Bangkok, joins Thanachart Insurance PCL., a leading non-life insurance company for greater shared success. The integrated collaboration not only strengthens Siam Piwat’s ecosystem but also creates shared values for both parties, according to Siam Piwat’s ‘Collaboration to Win’ strategy. The joint force offers exclusive insurance privileges to customers of both organizations – shoppers of ONESIAM and ICONSIAM, ONESIAM SuperApp users, together with Thanachart Insurance members, a fulfillment of their luxury lifestyle.

Mrs Mayuree Chaipromprasith, President – Corporate Affairs and Communications, Siam Piwat Co., Ltd. said “Siam Piwat is a truly co-creative platform – both offline and online. Our expertise falls especially on the high-spending customer segment. We have pioneered a new luxury experience that goes beyond material satisfaction, but more towards customer fulfillment. Our customers’ needs and preferences are met with unique offers, exceptional services as well as satisfaction and delight that we have delivered. We also professionally provide services and optimized results. We have been proactively enhancing our ecosystem through collaborations with broad ranges of business partners in various industries. The partnership between Siam Piwat and Thanachart Insurance marks a new customer experience, unique to the non-life insurance industry, and is a privilege that is convenient and a completion to luxury lifestyle. The offers are exclusive to ONESIAM and ICONSIAM shoppers and this collaboration also enables us to reach high-net-worth insurance customers.

Today, footfalls at ONESIAM are comparatively as many as pre-Covid 19 period. Siam Paragon welcomes over 100,000 – 150,000 visitors a day. Siam Center and Siam Discovery see more than 70,000 – 100,000 shoppers a day and traffic at ICONSIAM reaches over 80,000 -120,000 per day. Also, numbers of tourists have been increasing. At the same time, ONESIAM SuperApp has registered over 350,000 users. The mobile application actively delivers new experiences, products, services and engaging daily contents. The application also offers O2O activities which connects online and onsite experiences and privileges. ONESIAM SuperApp platform has the full capability to engage all the Co-Creation and collaboration with extensive list of business partners from various industries. The collaboration with Thanachart Insurance marks a major move that further strengthen Siam Piwat’s ecosystem, in terms of the ability to to cater to the needs and preferences of high spending customer segment, anytime and no matter where they are. In addition, our joint force is also an integrated cross-expansion of customer database to create an interconnected privileges from Siam Piwat’s VIZ loyalty members and Thanachart Insurance’s clients.

Mr. Kongsak Hansawangsin, Chief Insurance Product Officer, Thanachart Insurance PCL, said “Luxury customers are seeking experiences from products and services that are unique. This segment mostly owns luxury vehicles and super cars which are a reflective symbol of their upscale lifestyle. Thanachart Insurance can definitely serve their needs as we are a leading and distinctive non-life insurance company that can cater exclusives car insurance offers to luxury car owners.

“We offer extensive protections, even more than top-tier car insurance policies do, that features full accident coverage and special services ranging from conveniently requesting a claim via LINE application, 24-hour emergency service, Meet & Care – a personal butler for your car who will professionally oversee all the maintenance, ensuring highest service standard. Customers will also enjoy special deal such as 10-month installment plan with participating credit cards,” said Mr.Kongsak.

Thanachart Insurance is further enhancing Siam Piwat’s ecosystem with special offers to VIZ members including Type 2+ Car Insurance that covers collision, stolen, dagame cause by fire or flood, Travel Protect insurance for travelling aboard or Happy PA For Child – a personal accident insurance that covers four most prevalent illness found among children. These products show how Thanachart Insurance can cater to every customer segment of Siam Piwat.

The collaboration between two industry leaders – Siam Piwat and Thanachart Insurance does not only reinforce the ecosystem but also marks a new milestone of both businesses and an amplification of Siam Piwat as ‘The Visionary ICON.’

CP Food’s 30-days credit term program extends until end of 2022 to strengthen SMEs financial health

By

Contributor

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29 June 2022, 10:38

Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CP Foods) announces an extension of the “Faster Payment” program to increase financial liquidity for SMEs partners by shorten credit term to within 30 days until the end of 2022. The aim is to help SME partners ready for post-covid recovery.

Ms. Thidarat Dechayonbuncha, senior vice president of CP Foods, said that the company recognized the opportunity and challenges of the industry in the post-covid era. Therefore, CP Foods continues to extend the period of the Faster Payment program to the end of 2022.

She added that the credit term is now reducing to within 30 days to support SME partners to be financially healthy and enable them to operate business despite the rising production costs from global supply shortage. Their healthy financial status is critical to the food production chain and food security of people across the world.

“A 30-day credit term program for SME partners have been implemented for 21 consecutive months since October 2020. This program has supported Thai SMEs to continue business in uncertain situations. They are crucial for driver for the continuity of food production and ensure food security for Thai people,” said Thidarat.

She added that there are 6,000 partners benefited from the program. Moreover, the company also supports and promotes the development of the potential of SME partners in business operations. CP Foods helps elevate the work of SME entrepreneurs in accordance with international standards, which creates opportunities in international market growth.

BMA prepares to expand Siri Phirom Park in the 2nd phase to increase green and exercise areas on East Bangkok side

By

Contributor

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29 June 2022, 09:15

Mr. Chakkaphan Phewngam, Deputy Governor of Bangkok, had a site visit to follow up the progress of the second phase of the improvement project of Siri Phirom Park in Min Buri District to connect two sides of the park.

Siri Phirom Park was originally the land with a canal running through the center of it. The BMA Environment Department had improved and renovated this land to be a public park for all family members and it was completed in 2018. This public park is designed and constructed under the concept of multipurpose park that mixed botanical garden with the outdoor nature learning classroom and learning source on various types of plants. The park also exhibits varieties of plants that look the same or have similar features but are actually different types of trees such as Chaiyapruek Trees and Ratchaphruek Trees and Inthanin Nam and Inthanin Bok.

Moreover, the park is equipped with facilities as well as exercise and fitness equipment such as 1,030-meter walking and running track, 1,130-meter bike route, multipurpose exercise area, and outdoor stage. There is also an area for young children so that they can have learning activities as “young explorers”, bike route for small children, and relaxing area by the pool where family members can spend free time together.

Read more: www.prbangkok.com/en

G7 Leaders Wrap up Summit Meant To Bolster Ukraine Support

By

Associated Press

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28 June 2022, 13:30

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, centre stands between from foreground left, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, Macky Sall, President of Senegal, Jako Widodo, President of Indonesia, and U.S. President Joe Biden for a group photo with the outreach guests, at the G7 summit, in Kruen, Germany, Monday, June 27, 2022. Photo: Michael Kappeler / Pool Photo via AP

ELMAU, Germany (AP) — The Group of Seven developed economies on Tuesday wraps up a summit intended to send a strong signal of long-term commitment to Ukraine’s future, ensuring that Russia pays a higher price for its invasion while also attempting to alleviate a global hunger crisis and show unity against climate change.

The leaders of the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, the U.K., Canada and Japan on Monday pledged to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” after conferring by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The summit host, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said he “once again very emphatically set out the situation as Ukraine currently sees it.” Zelenskyy’s address, amid a grinding Russian advance in Ukraine’s east, came hours before Ukrainian officials reported a deadly Russian missile strike on a crowded shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk.

Officials have said during the summit that leaders of the major economies are preparing to unveil plans to pursue a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose other new sanctions.

From the secluded Schloss Elmau hotel in the Bavarian Alps, the G-7 leaders will continue straight to Madrid for a summit of NATO leaders — where fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will again dominate the agenda. All G-7 members other than Japan are NATO members, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been invited to Madrid.

Zelenskyy has openly worried that the West has become fatigued by the cost of a war that is contributing to soaring energy costs and price hikes on essential goods around the globe. The G-7 has sought to assuage those concerns.

While the group’s annual gathering has been dominated by Ukraine and by the war’s knock-on effects, such as the challenge to food supplies in parts of the world caused by the interruption of Ukrainian grain exports, Scholz has been keen to show that the G-7 also can move ahead on pre-war priorities.

The summit host has been keen to secure agreement on the creation of a “climate club” for countries that want to speed ahead when it comes to tackling global warming.

After a meeting Monday with leaders of five developing nations, a joint statement issued by Germany emphasized the need to accelerate a “clean and just energy transition” that would see an end to the burning of fossil fuels without causing a sharp rise in unemployment.

In the cautiously phrased statement, the leaders tentatively endorsed the global “climate club” idea.

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Story: Zeke Miller and Geir Moulson. Moulson reported from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

46 Migrants Found Dead in Abandoned Trailer in San Antonio

By

Associated Press

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28 June 2022, 13:00

Police block the scene where a semitrailer with multiple dead bodies was discovered, Monday, June 27, 2022, in San Antonio. Photo: Eric Gay / AP

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Forty-six people were found dead after being abandoned in a tractor-trailer on a remote back road in San Antonio in what marked the latest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico to the U.S. Sixteen people were hospitalized, including four children.

A city worker heard a cry for help from the truck shortly before 6 p.m. Monday and discovered the gruesome scene, Police Chief William McManus said. Hours later, body bags lay spread on the ground near the trailer as a grim symbol of the calamity.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the 46 who died had “families who were likely trying to find a better life.”

“This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy,” Nirenberg said.

It’s among the deadliest tragedies to have claimed thousands of lives of people attempting to cross the U.S. border from Mexico in recent decades. Ten migrants died in 2017 after being trapped inside a truck that was parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.

The home countries of the immigrants and how long they were abandoned on the side of the road was not immediately known.

South Texas has long been the busiest area for illegal border crossings. Migrants ride in vehicles though Border Patrol checkpoints to San Antonio, the closest major city, from which point they disperse across the United States.

A city worker at the scene on a remote back road in southwest San Antonio was alerted to the situation by a cry for help shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, Police Chief William McManus said. Officers arrived to find a body on the ground outside the trailer and a partially opened gate to the trailer, he said.

Hours later, body bags lay spread on the ground near the trailer as a grim symbol of the calamity. Bodies still remained inside.

Of the 16 taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses, 12 were adults and four were children, said Fire Chief Charles Hood. The patients were hot to the touch and dehydrated, and no water was found in the trailer, he said.

“They were suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion,” Hood said. “It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer, but there was no visible working AC unit on that rig.”

Those in the trailer were part of a presumed migrant smuggling attempt into the United States, and the investigation was being led by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, McManus said.

Three people were taken into custody, but it was unclear if they were definitively connected with human trafficking, McManus said.

Big rigs emerged as a popular smuggling method in the early 1990s amid a surge in U.S. border enforcement in San Diego and El Paso, Texas, which were then the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.

Before that, people paid small fees to mom-and-pop operators to get them across a largely unguarded border. As crossing became exponentially more difficult after the 2001 terror attacks in the U.S., migrants were led through more perilous terrain and paid thousands of dollars more.

Heat poses a serious danger, particularly when temperatures can rise severely inside vehicles. Weather in the San Antonio area was mostly cloudy Monday, but temperatures approached 100 degrees.

Some advocates drew a link to the Biden administration’s border policies. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, wrote that he had been dreading such a tragedy for months.

“With the border shut as tightly as it is today for migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, people have been pushed into more and more dangerous routes. Truck smuggling is a way up,” he wrote on Twitter.

Stephen Miller, a chief architect of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, said, “Human smugglers and traffickers are wicked and evil” and that the administration’s approach to border security rewards their actions.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican running for reelection, was blunt in a tweet about the Democratic president: “These deaths are on Biden. They are a result of his deadly open border policies.”

Migrants — largely from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — have been expelled more than 2 million times under a pandemic-era rule in effect since March 2020 that denies them a chance to seek asylum but encourages repeat attempts because there are no legal consequences for getting caught. People from other countries, notably Cuba, Nicaragua and Colombia, are subject to Title 42 authority less frequently due to higher costs of sending them home, strained diplomatic relations and other considerations.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 557 deaths on the southwest border in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, more than double the 247 deaths reported in the previous year and the highest since it began keeping track in 1998. Most are related to heat exposure.

CBP has not published a death tally for this year but said that the Border Patrol performed 14,278 “search-and-rescue missions” in a seven-month period through May, exceeding the 12,833 missions performed during the previous 12-month period and up from 5,071 the year before.

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Story: Eric Gay and Elliot Spagat. Spagat reported from San Diego. Reporter Terry Wallace contributed from Dallas.

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