Leg 500 assignment 3

In another drug bust in Northeastern province Nakhon Phanom, police arrested a man and seized 500 kilograms of compressed cannabis. Just yesterday, border patrol police in the province seized 920 kilograms of compressed cannabis from a boat on the Mekong River. In both cases, police suspect the cannabis came from Laos, just across the river. Police say they searched a black Nissan Navara pickup around 1am in the province’s Na Kae district. Police opened the truck’s bed cover and found 12 sacks with 500 packages of dried, compacted cannabis. Each package of cannabis weighed 1 kilogram, similar to the previous bust on the river. 28 year old Saravut Butngam was arrested. Saravut previously worked in construction, but has recently been unemployed. He allegedly told police that a man called him with an opportunity to make 50,000 baht. He was told to drive the pickup truck from a petrol station in the Na Kae district to a specified location in the neighbouring province Sakon Nakhon, ... » Learn More about Another drug bust near the Mekong River, 500 kilograms of cannabis seized

YORK: At least 1,500 deaths in Britain can be directly linked to climate change since 2000, as the country grappled with severe heat waves, while four major floods caused billions in financial losses, Oxford University scientists said on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila). In a study, they analyzed existing data from two deadly heat waves in 2003 and 2018, as well as four floods between 2000 and 2016 that cost about an estimated $18 billion in losses. They found that at least half of the total damages and deaths that occurred could be attributed to climate change. Friederike Otto, acting director of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and one of the study’s authors, said far more data needed to be collected and analyzed worldwide for the true consequences of climate change to be understood. If metrics were agreed, “I think it would become far more obvious to everyone that the impacts of climate change are real and not something that will happen in the future and to ... » Learn More about Toxic climate killed 1,500 Britons since 2000

PM Prayut Chan-o-cha announces the 3,500 Baht distribution to help people financially affected during this second major outbreak of Covid-19, including informal workers, freelancers, and the unemployed. At the same time, the government will also help reduce the cost of living expenses of all households nationwide including electricity and water bills in February and March. Special internet packages will also be provided to support people who need to work from home. The 3,500 Baht distribution is part of the government’s urgent relief measures called “Rao Chana” project or “We Win” in Thai language. The money is planned to be distributed to the registered applicants by the end of January and early February. But the exact date for signing up for the project is not released yet, perhaps next week. The electricity bill reductions will be applied to every household across the country for 2 months, February and March, with the first 90 units spent free of charge. The water bills for all ... » Learn More about PM announces the distribution of 3,500 baht to help during Covid outbreak

The UH-1H helicopter tried to make an emergency landing after encountering engine problems but crashed in a mountainous area in Impasugong town in Bukidnon province, regional army spokesperson Maj. Rodulfo Cordero Jr. said. Troops secured the crash site and retrieved the bodies of four air force crewmen, including two pilots, as well as an army soldier and two militiamen, Cordero and the army said. Government forces have been undertaking on and off offensives against communist guerrillas in the region and elsewhere in the country after peace talks between President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration and the Maoist insurgents collapsed. The guerrillas have been weakened by decades of battle setbacks, infighting and surrenders but remain a national security threat. The military says about 3,500 New People’s Army guerrillas remain waging one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies. - AP ... » Learn More about Philippine air force helicopter crash kills all 7 aboard

CORRECTION: In the first story Jett referred to a Chinese man losing 130 billion baht. The correct amount was 130 million baht. We apologise for the error. Hundreds, perhaps more than 400, investors have been defrauded by a bank manager at a Kasikorn bank branch in Pattaya. The manager, named in a police report as “Mr. Gob”, was promising investors 3.5% interest, per month, yes… PER MONTH… for cash investments. It appears his high interest rate attracted hundreds of people wanting to take advantage of the generous terms. One investor, who only found out about the scam yesterday when he visited the branch for his monthly rolling over of funds, told The Thaiger that he has lost 250,000 baht at this stage, with no official response from the Kasikorn head office in Bangkok yet being made about the situation. Mr B, who has asked us to protect his identity, knows of some investors who invested many millions of baht and even one Chinese man who had allegedly invested 130 million ... » Learn More about Thailand News Today | Pattaya bank scam & Burmese coup update | February 2

The latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey said a measly 39 percent of Filipino families with members studying via online distance learning have “strong” internet connection. The nationwide poll was conducted from November 21 to 25 among 1,500 respondents, aged five to 20. Of the 39 percent, the SWS survey said 26 percent related that their internet connection was “somewhat strong” while 14 percent said it was “very strong.” Forty-six percent of the respondents who said they had strong internet connection were from Balance Luzon (outside Mega Manila), followed by Metro Manila with 36 percent, the Visayas with 38 percent and Mindanao with 30 percent. The SWS survey also revealed that 86 percent of families with members studying through distance learning spent an average of P901 per month on internet service providers. In November 2020, an SWS survey said an estimated 4.3 million or 14 percent of enrolled school-age Filipinos were exclusively studying through online ... » Learn More about Poor internet connection burdens distance learners

FUKUSHIMA: Tepco, the operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima atomic plant, said it had successfully removed spent uranium fuel from a damaged reactor building in a key step in its cleanup of the site after a nuclear disaster a decade ago. Formally known as Tokyo Electric Power, Tepco said it had transferred around 170 tons of spent uranium fuel from high up in the building to a safer location — the second successful operation of its kind and the first to be carried out by remote control, because of the high radiation in the reactor building. It comes as Japan prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. It will provide Tepco with important experience and data for the much tougher and time-consuming task of extracting melted reactor cores and debris in the coming decades. At 1:59 PM on Sunday the last six of 566 used fuel assemblies were removed from the spent fuel pool by a crane operated by a team located about 500 meters away, ... » Learn More about Japan removes 170 tons of nuke waste

JOHANNESBURG: After a year battling coronavirus, exhausted health workers in South Africa are celebrating a drop in cases but dread another wave of infections — a scenario that could strike just months from now. “We are relieved now because the numbers are down and patients are no longer that sick,” nurse Constance Mathibela told the Agence France-Presse at Thembisa Hospital, in a township east of Johannesburg. After the epidemic hit its stride, the hospital “was almost full every day,” she recalled. “There was no time when we had an empty [coronavirus] ward. It was just a continuous [flow of] things.” South Africa recorded its first case of coronavirus on March 5 last year. It has since been through two virus storms, recording over 1.5 million cases and more than 50,000 deaths — the highest in all of Africa. But on Sunday President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that the second wave, fueled by a new, more contagious, variant, was now over. The nationwide tally of daily new ... » Learn More about SAfrica celebrates as infections drop

Bangkok – Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul became the first person in Thailand to receive the first Covid-19 vaccine from the Sinovac company, followed by four other ministers, witnessed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O’Cha. A group of several cabinet ministers arrived at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi this morning, February 28th, to receive the first Covid-19 Sinovac vaccines on their first day of distribution. The first person who was vaccinated was Anutin Charnvirakul, under the supervision of Dr. Yong Poovorawan, a medical professor in pediatric hepatology at the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University. The Prime Minister and other ministers were also watching closely for encouragement. The next injection was Satit Pituthecha, Deputy Minister of Public Health, Itthiphol Khunplume, Minister of Culture and former Pattaya mayor, Kanokwan Vilawan, Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Kiattiphum Wongrajit, Permanent Secretary of the ... » Learn More about Health Minister becomes first person in Thailand to receive Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine, witnessed by Thai Prime Minister

French associations are trying to prove it's possible to pay delivery riders a minimum wage. DIJON, France: It may have taken a cracked rib, but Bruno Giraud is now joining a growing number of French riders trying to challenge the business model of meal delivery platforms. Giraud, 40, initially found it cool that he could cycle for his job by delivering meals for Uber Eats and Deliveroo in the central French city of Dijon. But he was soon disenchanted with working conditions that are "not far from slavery" with no guaranteed minimum number of work hours or minimum wage. "Before, one could make 70 euros a night but they recruit more and more deliverers and there aren't enough orders, so the price of a delivery drops. It has become really abusive," Giraud said. Delivery platforms have seen a boom in business thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, as demand has soared in countries where restaurants have closed. The revenue of Anglo-Dutch Just Eat jumped more than 50 percent last ... » Learn More about Delivery co-op seeks to serve decent work conditions for riders