Kasikornbank and AIS are combining their digital infrastructure and financial capabilities to create a new growth engine for SME businesses seeking access to the digital economy. According to Boonterb Jeeraphut, Senior Vice President at Kasikornbank, SMEs are vital to Thailand's economic system but face mounting challenges from economic deceleration, increased costs, and rapid technology changes. The bank remains committed to supporting entrepreneurs through comprehensive financial solutions and knowledge development that enable seamless business transactions and efficient financial planning.

The collaboration aims to strengthen the business ecosystem by providing entrepreneurs with integrated access to technology, infrastructure, and financial services without barriers. Puphae Akavipat, Corporate Customer Group Head at AIS, emphasized that digital infrastructure is critical for enhancing the competitiveness of Thai SMEs, especially as businesses transition from physical storefronts to full-scale online and digital platform operations.

As part of the initiative launching May 1 through July 31, 2026, K SHOP and K BIZ customers, as well as new customers, will receive special rates on AIS mobile packages and AIS 3BB Fibre broadband, starting at 899 baht monthly. Additional offerings include premium lucky business numbers, high-speed FibreLAN internet solutions, and bundled packages designed to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency for SMEs. Both organizations aim to provide ongoing support to help SME entrepreneurs operate more flexibly and competitively in the digital economy.

The Cabinet approved the Thailand Helps Thailand Plus relief program on May 19, 2025, splitting beneficiaries into two main groups for assistance over four months from June 1 to September 30, 2025.

Group 1: State Welfare Cardholders (13.18 million people) - Monthly allowance: 1,000 baht per person (automatic eligibility, no registration required) - Can purchase consumer goods at Blue Flag participating stores - Valid from June 1-September 30, 2025 - Additional benefits include 80 baht subsidy for cooking gas per three months and 750 baht monthly public transportation credit - Electricity subsidy: 315 baht per household per month - Water subsidy: 100 baht per household per month - Additional disability allowance: 200 baht per month for registered persons with disabilities

Group 2: General Population (30 million people without state welfare cards) - 60/40 co-payment scheme (government covers 60%, individuals pay 40%) - Monthly allowance: 1,000 baht per person - Registration required via "Pao Tang" mobile app from May 25-29, 2025 - Valid from June 1-September 30, 2025 - Transactions through G-Wallet between 6:00 AM-11:00 PM

Eligibility Requirements: - Age 18 years or older on registration date - Possess Thai national ID card - Not already holding a state welfare card as of May 18, 2025 - Not previously suspended or required refunds from earlier half-price schemes

Participating stores can accept transactions at participating shops, restaurants, general merchandise stores, and public transportation services like buses, taxis, and motorcycle taxis. Massage shops, spas, nail salons, and hair salons are excluded. New shops must register from May 25-July 31, 2025.

At noon on May 19, 2025, at Pheu Thai Party headquarters, Sirikanya Tansukul, a party-list MP and deputy party leader, commented on the government's possible withdrawal from World Cup broadcasting rights. She expressed confusion about the government's shifting statements—initially claiming it wouldn't use state funds, then announcing a withdrawal without clarification. She questioned whether alternative funding sources like the USO (Universal Service Obligation) fund or the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission development fund would be tapped instead, noting the government's inconsistency makes it unclear. She suggested World Cup rights no longer qualify as essential expenditure.

Sirikanya advocated for private sector investment in broadcasting rights, with private entities independently assessing risks, profits, and handling negotiations themselves. She pointed out that hastily promising free viewing to Thais undermines the government's negotiating leverage—initially the cost was 1.3 billion baht but couldn't be negotiated down further once the public commitment was made.

When asked if Deputy Prime Minister Suphamas's position that World Cup rights are too expensive and should be handled by the private sector is correct, Sirikanya agreed, noting the value is difficult to assess since benefits like public happiness and sports inspiration are hard to quantify. She urged the government to preserve funds if it lacks money, and called on the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to ensure alternative funds align with their original purpose of serving low-income and disabled populations, not World Cup broadcasting. "We've already made one mistake; let's not make another," she concluded.

Speaking at Parliament on May 19, 2025 at 11:10 AM, Nanthana Nantaworapass raised an urgent motion regarding the train-bus collision at the Makkasan railway crossing on Asok-Din Daeng Road, questioning how such an incident could occur, who bears responsibility, and how to prevent future occurrences.

While critics blame the incident on Thai people's lack of discipline and disregard for traffic laws—particularly how a bus came to park on railway tracks and how the train driver was found to be intoxicated, unlicensed, and not at the controls—Nanthana argued against scapegoating the public. She contended that Thailand's problems, including the roughly 20,000 annual road fatalities, pollution, environmental destruction, and corruption, cannot be solved by blaming Thai people's character or DNA.

"Don't let them fool us into being scapegoats. The problem lies entirely with the government," Nanthana stated. "If this happened in Japan or many European countries, the Transport Minister would announce responsibility and resign immediately. But Thailand deceives people into thinking this is about public negligence, with no minister or official taking responsibility, only offering grand visions like tunneling under the Asok intersection—without realizing an underground electric railway already exists beneath it."

Nanthana emphasized that the root issue is government failure in urban planning and transportation management. Since railway tracks were laid 133 years ago, no government has seriously developed the rail system. Most prefer building roads, resulting in railway lines becoming obsolete welfare infrastructure for the poor rather than modern transport. Railways now intersect with roads at ground level, creating dangerous crossings.

She called on the government to reconsider rail development as a modern transport system for all citizens, not just the poor or tourists, and to invest in grade separations or underpasses at railway-road intersections.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Police raced Monday to catch an armed teenage runaway before he and another teen opened fire on a San Diego mosque, killing three men and then themselves.

About two hours after one boy's mother called to warn police that he had run away with her weapons and vehicle, shots rang out at the Islamic Center of San Diego, and a mosque security guard and two others were killed, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.

The gunmen, ages 17 and 18, were found dead of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, the chief added.

The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, he added.

Here's what is known about the attack:

Search for suspects began hours before attack

Wahl said the mother, who called the police around 9:40 a.m., had described her son as suicidal. The search for the boy took on more urgency as police learned that he was dressed in camouflage and with an acquaintance — facts that were not consistent with someone about to die by suicide, the chief said.

Police used automated license plate readers to try to find the teens, dispatched authorities to a nearby mall and alerted Madison High School, where at least one suspect was a student, Wahl said. Officers were still interviewing the mother about places the teens might be when they received reports of a shooting at the largest mosque in San Diego County.

As police arrived, gunshots rang out a few blocks away where a landscaper was shot at but uninjured. The shooters were soon found dead in a vehicle stopped in the middle of a road nearby, Wahl said.

Suspects engaged in 'generalized hate rhetoric'

There was no specific threat made against the Islamic Center of San Diego but authorities found evidence that the suspects engaged in "generalized hate rhetoric," Wahl said. He declined to immediately share more details.

The mosque's director, Imam Taha Hassane, said the center focused on interfaith relations, and that a group of non-Muslims had been touring the mosque earlier Monday to learn about Islam.

The white mosque is surrounded by homes, apartments and strip malls with Middle Eastern restaurants and markets. It is home to the Al Rashid School, which offers courses in Arabic language, Islamic studies and the Quran for students ages 5 and up, according to its website. No students were harmed, Hassane said, and aerial TV footage showed the school children holding hands as they were led out of the parking lot surrounded by police vehicles.

Security guard remembered as 'heroic'

Police have not yet released the names of the victims. But a family friend identified one as Amin Abdullah, a security guard whom Wahl said "played a pivotal role" in preventing the attack from being more deadly.

On May 19, 2569, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) clarified facts regarding a man struck by a commuter train, confirming that the victim recklessly breached the barrier separating the road from the railway zone. The SRT sought to provide clarity to the public and prevent misinformation suggesting the "train hit someone." The train was operating normally on its tracks, and the accident was not caused by operator error but rather by the victim's negligence. The injured man had parked his motorcycle on the roadside, then climbed over a barrier—a clearly marked boundary between the road and railway zone—to urinate in the railway area at close proximity. Although the train sounded its horn warning when approaching, the large vehicle's extended braking distance prevented it from stopping in time, resulting in the grazing collision. Beyond endangering the victim's own life, this action caused the train to halt and run 22 minutes behind schedule, inconveniencing all passengers. The SRT reiterated warnings that railway zones with fences or barriers are strictly prohibited and dangerous areas. No one is permitted to trespass, enter illegally, or conduct personal business in these zones. The authority urged the public to prioritize their own safety and protect the country's public transportation system from disruption.