Index Living Mall has launched the 'Share Home Moments with Your Four-Legged Friends' campaign, inviting pet owners to share photos of their pets in their homes and compete for prizes worth over 50,000 baht. According to Kritchanok Patmasatyanondh, Chief Executive of Index Living Mall (ILM), the housing and furniture market in Thailand is moving in a new direction as the Pet Humanization trend—valuing pets as family members—gains popularity and drives significant growth in the pet market.

Thailand's pet market is projected to reach over 100 billion baht in 2025, up from approximately 92 billion baht in 2024, representing growth of about 13.2 percent. Pet food represents the largest market segment at around 62.4 billion baht, followed by pet equipment and furniture, and veterinary services.

Index Living Mall sees the Pet Humanization trend as more than just a boost to pet product sales—it is fundamentally changing how consumers select furniture and design their living spaces. Customers are no longer seeking only pet-specific products but want homes designed to seamlessly integrate both people and pets into a unified, harmonious space. To address design, safety, and comfort needs, the company is creating a market that combines furniture, home living, and pet lifestyle through several strategic approaches:

1. Product Innovation: Furniture that merges functionality for both humans and pets, such as Easy Clean fabric sofas with water-repellent fiber technology that resists staining and odor, and synthetic leather sofas that are scratch-resistant and free from harmful chemicals like phthalates and formaldehyde. Multi-functional workdesks that accommodate cat scratching posts and climbing features, alongside coffee tables, side tables, and stools designed for shared living.

2. Home Solutions and Customization: Furniture available under the Younique Built-in Furniture brand, offering unlimited choices in design, size, function, and materials to meet the needs of pet lovers in any living situation.

3. Category Expansion: A Pet Living Collection featuring pet accessories including beds, cat houses, pet strollers, travel bags, food bowls, water fountains, litter boxes, toys, scratching posts, odor neutralizers, and waste bags, available at all Index Living Mall locations.

Index Living Mall has also expanded its 'Pet Accessory' zone to approximately 30 square meters per location with over 100 product lines for new stores and renovated branches including locations in Chiang Rai, Ubon Ratchathani, and Hat Yai. Pet-friendly living is not merely a short-term trend but a long-term business opportunity that will grow alongside social change and evolving lifestyles.

Bangkok Aircraft Gallery and Museum Limited, led by organizer Sirima Ariyachaipanich alongside project advisor Chompoo Fruity and Somkiate Ariyachaipanich, unveiled "A Very Innocent Concert" at Paragon Hall in Siam Paragon shopping center. The year-end fundraiser aims to create warm memories for guests transitioning into 2027 while supporting disadvantaged heart patients at Thammasat Cardiac Center at Thammasat University Hospital.

The concert concept—"Not just a concert, but living memories delivering joy during the season of happiness"—features hits from the 80s-90s and contemporary songs performed by legendary and Gen X artists including Saiyachai Radomkij, Somkiate Ariyachaipanich, Ton McIntosh, Chompoo Fruity, Pom Autobahn, Ben Chalahtis, Q Flure, Mariam B5, and Two Days Ago Kids. They will reimagine classics from The Innocent, The McIntosh, and Fruity bands alongside international and youth favorites.

Beyond music, the concert represents a significant collaboration with Thammasat Cardiac Center. Hospital administrators and cardiac specialists, including Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adisai Buakamsri (head of cardiology) and Dr. Thida Sriratna Tabukaanon (heart failure and transplant expert), discussed the hospital's growing need to expand treatment access and breakthrough innovations still awaiting approval in Thailand's basic healthcare system. The concert will take place on Saturday, December 26, 2026, with doors opening at 6:00 p.m. and performances beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Paragon Hall.

Thammasat University Hospital is accepting donations starting August 4, 2026. Donors receive concert tickets and double tax deduction benefits. Interested parties can contact the donation line at LINE: @tuh_donation or call 0 2926 9432 during business hours.

Minister of Tourism and Sports Surasak Phan-charoenworrakul and Prime Minister's Office Minister Suksumruay Wantaniyakul made an urgent visit to Amnat Charoen province to oversee tourism and sports initiatives and resolve the long-running problems of the provincial central sports stadium, which has been stalled for more than a decade. The ministers held a meeting on August 2, 2026, at the provincial administrative office to discuss tourism and sports operations, attended by ministry officials, parliament member Janina Kemnarak, and local government heads. Following the meeting, the sports minister led an inspection of the province's sports infrastructure, including a 1,000-seat multipurpose gymnasium, the provincial swimming pool, and the central sports stadium.

The visit aimed to identify obstacles and monitor progress on the stadium project, which has plagued the province for over ten years and deprived residents of essential public sports infrastructure. Minister Surasak stressed firmly that the ministry has ordered all relevant agencies to aggressively solve problems at every stage, and that the decade-long stalled project must move forward, with the central sports stadium to be completed and opened to the public by 2027 as planned.

Once completed, the minister said the stadium will boost Amnat Charoen in multiple ways: it will accommodate provincial and regional sporting competitions, develop young athletes, and provide standard exercise facilities for residents. Economically, it will drive sports tourism, attract visitors, generate local revenue, and improve living standards sustainably. The in-depth visit demonstrates the ministry's proactive commitment to ending chronic project delays and ensuring state infrastructure delivers maximum public benefit across all regions of Thailand.

SA KAEO — Immigration police in Sa Kaeo have arrested a Cambodian woman for allegedly working outside the conditions of her work permit after finding her selling fresh pork at a municipal market.

The operation was carried out by Sa Kaeo Immigration Police in cooperation with the provincial employment office during an inspection of foreign workers at Sa Kaeo Municipal Fresh Market in Muang district.

Officers found the 33-year-old Cambodian national selling fresh pork and asked to inspect her documents. Authorities said she held a valid Cambodian passport and was legally permitted to remain in Thailand until 2027.

However, an inspection of her work permit found that she was authorized to work only as a laborer. Selling fresh pork was deemed to be outside the scope of employment permitted under her work authorization.

She was charged with working without a valid work permit or performing work beyond the conditions authorized under Thailand's law governing the employment of foreign workers.

The suspect was taken to Muang Sa Kaeo Police Station for legal proceedings.

Sa Kaeo Immigration Police said inspections of foreign workers will continue across the province, warning that authorities will take legal action against employers and migrant workers found violating the conditions of work permits or other labor regulations.

Luang Pu Ruem entrusted long-preserved coconut husks to create closed-eye golden amulets featuring sacred powder mixed with blessed materials and seven-month beeswax as a binding agent. The amulets are pot-bellied, meditation-posture figures seated on lotus pedestals, marked with the letter "r" on each piece, with a total of 2,528 amulets created in 1985. After consecration began in January 1985, they were released for veneration on February 19, 1985, and have since become extremely rare and difficult to obtain. The article also covers other notable amulets including lockets of Luang Pu Iem from Wat Sanam Sung, amulets of Luang Pho Phra Sai from Wat Pho Chai in Nong Khai, and coins of Luang Pu Suk's Maha Prab series from 2555, each with detailed descriptions of their design, materials, and spiritual significance.

Luang Pho Am Isitinno, the first abbot of Wat Ketu Noi Amphawan in Muang District, Ratchaburi Province, was a revered elder monk who gained prominence during the early reign of King Rama V. His history is known only through accounts of village elders, who relate that before entering monastic life, he was a notorious bandit called "Tiger Am." He fled from authorities until he met his future preceptor, Phra Upachchaya Pan Sopako, the abbot of Wat Bang Khun Thian Nok. Inspired by profound faith, he asked to become the preceptor's disciple with firm resolve to abandon his criminal past and live virtuously according to monastic discipline. His preceptor mercifully ordained him as a Buddhist monk, bestowing the monastic name Isitinno at Wat Bang Khun Thian Nok in Samut Songkhram Province.

When authorities tracked Tiger Am to Wat Ketu Noi Amphawan while he was assisting Phra Upachchaya Pan, his preceptor declared: "Tiger Am no longer exists; there is only Phra Am," and guaranteed officials that he would be responsible for supervising Phra Am. As a result, Phra Am remained at Wat Bang Khun Thian Nok and became an essential assistant to Phra Upachchaya Pan, helping construct various monastic buildings, including the ubosot of Wat Ketu Noi Amphawan.

Wat Ketu Noi Amphawan is a community temple of the Thammayutika Nikaya sect located at 94 Moo 9, Khung Krathin Subdistrict, Muang District, Ratchaburi Province. It received official permission to establish in 1892 and received royal ordination of the Buddhist boundary in 1960. Historical records mention Khun Ta Ketu and Khun Yai Noi, devout benefactors who donated their land to Phra Upachchaya Pan to build the temple. After the ubosot's completion, local Buddhists helped raise funds and construct various monastic structures. Permission to establish the temple was granted in 1892 under the name Wat Ketu Noi Amphawan, commemorating the meritorious devotion of Khun Ta Ketu and Khun Yai Noi, though villagers simply called it Wat Ketu Noi.

Within the temple stands a sacred Buddha image named Luang Pho Dam, or Phra Phuttha Samruddhi Phichit Phrairee, enshrined in the ubosot. The legend tells that in 1914, during King Rama V's reign, a group of fishermen casting nets in the Gulf of Mae Klong encountered resistance when pulling up their net due to something entangled. A diver sent down discovered a Buddha image with only the head present, lacking the hair knot and base. The fishermen brought it to Phra Upachchaya Pan, who was building Wat Ketu Noi Amphawan at the time. The preceptor enshrined the image in the ubosot and had a new hair knot and base cast to restore it. Because the Buddha image was made of black bronze, locals named it "Luang Pho Dam." Since then, it has been venerated by that name.

Luang Pho Am was appointed as the first abbot of the temple from 1892 onward, developing its facilities and promoting its growth. He passed away in 1918 after overseeing the temple for 26 years.