Thailand

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has suspended plans for its army to undertake joint training with the U.S. military after nine Thai soldiers tested positive for coronavirus upon returning from Hawaii, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

The Thai Army said the infected soldiers were among 151 Thai officers who had returned from Lightning Forge 2020 training with U.S. soldiers in Hawaii for the first three weeks of July.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai researchers plan to begin human trials of a potential vaccine for the new coronavirus in November and are preparing 10,000 doses, a senior official said on Sunday, aiming for a vaccine that could be ready for use by late next year.

Following favourable results in trials on primates, the next step is to manufacture doses for human trials, said Kiat Ruxrungtham, director of the Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University vaccine development program.

BANGKOK, July 1 (NNN-TNA) – The Tourism Council of Thailand said, it expects to see only an estimated eight million foreign tourists this year, 80 percent down from last year, due to the impact from COVID-19.

“However, we are confident that tourism in Thailand will begin to pick up in 2021,” said Chairat Triratanajaraspon, the council’s president.

He said, last year, Thailand had a record 39.8 million foreign tourists, whose spending accounted for about 11 percent of Thailand’s GDP.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares fell Monday in Asia, tracking losses on Wall Street as rising virus cases cause some U.S. states to backtrack on pandemic reopenings.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3% in early trading. Shares also fell in Hong Kong, Sydney, Shanghai and South Korea. Investors have been banking on businesses continuing to reopen, helping to drive a recovery from the worst global downturn since the 1930s Great Depression.

BANGKOK, June 28 (NNN-TNA) – Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister, Prawit Wongsuwon, was named leader of the Palang Pracharath Party on Saturday.

Prawit, who has earlier acted as head of the ruling party’s strategic campaign committee, was given overwhelming votes as the new party leader from the party’s acting executive board.

BANGKOK, June 25 (NNN-TNA) – Thai National police chief, Pol. Gen. Chakthip Chaijinda, confirmed that, a large pile of military weapons had been seized from a house, in Thailand’s western province of Tak, bordering Myanmar.

The military weapons included 33 M16 and AK47 assault rifles, M79 grenade launchers, PK general-purpose machine guns, and a large amount of ammunition of different calibres, among others.

Chakthip said that two suspects had been apprehended, but declined to give further detail as an investigation is underway.

BANGKOK (AP) — Governments and businesses are ramping up precautions as coronavirus case numbers rise to dire new levels in parts of the U.S. and around the world, potentially wiping out two months of progress.

Indonesia was expected to pass the 50,000 mark for confirmed infections on Thursday. In Melbourne, health workers planned to go door-to-door to test more than 100,000 residents in a coronavirus hot spot that threatens to undo the nation’s success in battling the virus.

BANGKOK (AP) — World shares sagged Monday as reports of new coronavirus infections in the U.S. and worldwide surged, with the global total approaching 9 million.

European markets opened lower after a mixed session in Asia.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares advanced Monday in Asia, buoyed by surprisingly strong U.S. jobs figures that helped power a surge on Wall Street on Friday.

Crude oil prices rose after major oil producing nations agreed to extend a production cut of nearly 10 million barrels of oil a day through the end of July to counter the blow to demand from the coronavirus pandemic.

BANGKOK, June 3 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Thailand’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has expressed concerns over a stronger baht, saying that it could derail the kingdom’s economic recovery.

Assistant Governor of Bank of Thailand (BoT) and Secretary of MPC Titanun Mallikamas said the 2020 economic outlook was highly uncertain given the global economic and financial environments with the risks to the economic outlook tilting downward.