Bangkok, Dec. 5 -- Thailand has relaxed alcohol sales restrictions, allowing consumers to buy wine, beer and spirits during previously prohibited afternoon hours in a six-month trial. As reported by the Singapore-based Business Times, liquor stores, bars and other purveyors were previously banned from selling alcohol from 14:00 to 17:00, but the eased rules permit sales from 11:00 to midnight during the trial while a committee studies its impacts. Officials last month reviewed the long-standing 2.00 to 5.00 pm sales ban, a rule originally introduced to prevent government employees from drinking alcohol during work hours and often puzzling foreign visitors. Health Minister Pattana Promphat said that the move was "appropriate to the present...