Safe swimming
On May 8, children attend a free 60-hour swimming class offered by the Physical Education Department at the National Stadium in Bangkok. The class aimed to promote safe swimming during the summer.
Special need
Taxis for disabled made available
Twenty wheelchair-friendly taxis are expected to enter service on Bangkok’s roads by August, according to Krungthep Thanakom Company, a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) subsidiary.
Krungthep Thanakom Company official Junthicha Chuangarun said on May 8 that the company’s board has approved the purchase of 20 taxis that are able to accommodate wheelchairs for the handicapped and the elderly. Yhe BMA will subsidise 70 percent of the maintenance expenses.
Four taxi stands for wheelchair-friendly taxis will also be set up in Bangkok, Junthicha said.
Assets seized
Gang accused of smuggling
The Anti-Money Laundering Office has seized assets worth more than one billion baht from a gang accused of smuggling pangolins and Siamese rosewood into Malaysia and China.
AMLO secretary-general Seehanart Prayoonrat said on May 6 that Kampanart Chaiyamart and his associates have been exploiting the environment and wildlife in Nakhon Ratchasima and Chaiyaphum for 14 years.
He said Kampanart and his aides were members of a major smuggling gang based in the Northeast but active throughout the country. AMLO believes the gang has been operating a private zoo as a front for keeping protected wild animals.
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Truck hits tree
One killed in crash
A pickup truck crashed into a tree. It happened on Phetkasem Road in Bangkok on May 8. The vehicle was carrying illegal Burmese workers. One person was killed and eight were injured. The driver ran away after the accident.
Vocabulary
- subsidiary (n): a business company that is owned or controlled by another larger company
subsidise (v): to give money to somebody or an organisation to help pay for something
rosewood (n): the hard reddish-brown wood of a tropical tree, that has a pleasant smell and is used for making expensive furniture
