Baerboxer

"The ban will not be imposed on the Excise Department’s Liquor Distillery Organization, however".

Does this mean that they are still manually testing for alcohol content by taste?

Reads like they are distilling it too!! Excise Department Own Brand - wonder how many degrees proof?

What a lovely young little girl. It's great to see this and you can only hope this becomes much more common. She speaks better English than some post graduate students I know!

I thought only Norwegian and U.K men were drunk.Must had a rough night.

You've obviously not met Americans, Aussies, Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Germans, Danes, Swedes etc etc etc.

Get the point - drunks are not just from two countries.

Nice to see the PM doing what PM's do, international statesmanship etc..................

Indeed, I just hate it reading all those sarcastic remarks about her conversational skills! She got a MPA from Kentucky States University, had to write a thesis,.do a research and defend this research, so her English skills must be excellent. Guess most posters here are just jealous of her intelligence!

She could use her visits to share ideas about lunch boxes on high speed trains.

Very true. I wonder id a copy of her research thesis and transcript of the defense are available from the University?

Awful, if as reported, for a young woman to be assaulted like this in her own appartment. I hope these scumbags get caught and receive the good kicking they deserve for starters.

Accept a lift in all innocence from a nice looking "person', just wanted a lift home. Happen to be carrying US$ 1,000 in cash, no change for a taxi, and get robbed.

Hmmmmmmm.

Can't really argue with the Nation's headline here regarding who's calling the shots.

Thaksin Shinawatra owns and runs the ruling party, Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra nominally leads the party in government, Mr. Shinawatra's cousin represents the country abroad as Foreign Minister, the ex-Mrs Shinawatra is still hugely influential within the party and to top it off the ex Mrs Shinawatra's brother is the Chief of Police... and we all know how good shots they are.

Apart from the Al Sabahs in Kuwait I can't think of a more influential political family in recent times.

Yes, I think you're right. I had to go back as far as the Borgia's !!

it never ceases to amaze me how many fire exits r locked in venues around the world ...it usually is done so people cant sneak in or get let in by their friends inside .......i have been in many discos in los ............once i was in the company of a fire inspector from australia .....he literally ran out of the joint ..... later on at breakfast he drew a diagram of just the basic problems ..virtually one discarded cigarette could have killed hundreds

Yes - and given the relatively low cost of labour here, it would be easy to station a guard at each exit, Stop people getting in free and making sure the exits are open and clear in an emergency. But, sadly, the value of life is considered even more cheaply in some countries.

To be fair, things only got better in the UK over a period of time, due to tougher, enforced legislation and diligent non-corrupt inspectors.

Sad loss of young lives and codolences to all relatives, whatever their nationality.

in belgium, it is the law to allow anyone to open a bank account, of course some banks might refuse you but just go to the other one and it'll be fine.

opening a bank account should be as easy as buying a prepaid debit card.

Indeed, it's all to easy here. At many things Belgium is acting opposite to Thailand. Foreigners abroad see Belgium as the land of milk and honey. Social security, replacement salary for the unemployed, housing rights and support, relatively cheap medical care here, every foreigner can own land and buildings here, any foreigner can do nearly any kind of job here (not army, police and some others, but nothing like the prohibited listings existing in Thailand), bank accounts...

See how far one gets in Thailand...

Belgium - land of milk and honey

Is she willing to take ad-hoc questions to explain why she is concerned, possible fixes and any other matters which would convince anybody she's not just reading from a card?

I remain very, very skeptical when I see any topic with a headline indicating 'Yingluck orders" "Yingluck concerned by" or basically "Yingluck anything". IMHO she probably doesn't know she "has ordered", "is worried by". Certainly being asked to explain 'why' would probably produce some interesting replies.

You're right of course. She is completely clueless and unconcerned about the reality of government. Leave that to those geniuses appointed by big brother. Her role of "diplomatic negotiations" is much more important. Like securing international support for a democratically elected government and those that have suffered political motivated injustices. Got to see the big picture - regional stability etc.

Flood - last year's flood didn't have any impact on her, other than some additions to the wardrobe. Any flood this year will not inconnvenience her or her mates at all. She reads what's on the cards and has no idea of what she is saying, the context or continuity with previous statements. Any floods this year will be handled in the same way as last year. Wonder if my neighbours will ever get to see the promised compensation?

Thaksin is the one who got elected. He is only a criminal of the Govt who illegally overthrew the freely elected old Govt. I don't much care one way or the other, but that's the way I see it. I really don't know but I guess he is kind of a leftist, a populist, and we all know where that ends up, bankruptcy every time, and the US is on the same path if things don't change fast. However Thailand is not the US. Woman and older people simple will not get certain jobs. The barriers are higher to advance for most of the country. So it surprises me to hear myself say this, but for Thailand, some wealth re-distribution may be a good thing.

I am sorry to be so blunt but this statement is wrong. No criminal in a democracy is found guilty by the government, legally elected or otherwise. They are found guilty by the high court of that country which in turn is bounded by the laws within the constitution. The constitution is what defines an individual as being a criminal once convicted by the court. Thaksin therefore, by definition of the law of the land and the constitution is a convicted felon. On the run.

Was Mr Victor Booth convicted of any crime when the US demanded his extradition from Thailand to the US ??? NO!!

One of the most sensible posts I've read on TV. I congratulate you sir!

And this is news? I am sure he diddled a fair number of hot women, should we be notified about all of them too?

Really - thought he was gay. Now J-C v D coming out - that would be news!

Apart from all the crap written in previous posts,what the hell was he doing with it there in the 1st place with it being loaded and all.

Indeed - how many people do you know who would take a loaded Uzi to a mother's day family dinner at a restaurant? And then decide to unload the ammunition at the table ??

Standart dinner situation, nothing to write about

Why the hell carrie a shit gun like a Uzi around? It's as effective as a knife, you can't hit shit with, it unless you stand 2meters from the target, because of the short barrel and high rate of fire...well or of cause, if you fire it, while having dinner with people, you can hit them

I thought it was orginally designed for tank crews, to give rapid fire cover as they exited a knocked out tank. "Point and spray". Not the sort of self protection weapon one might carry to dinner!

Are the yellow shirts now causing problems in the U.S? What next a blockade of the Los Angeles Airport? I bet that if 2,000 Americans conducted themselves the same way in Thailand they would quickly be rounded up, thrown into jail and deported.

Which US fugitive is planning to visit Thailand?

Have a stroll down walking street in Pattaya or come visit Phuket, you are bound to met a few.

Difference hough, is that the fugitives in Thailand were not convicted in a politically influenced trial, but were nailed for things like pedophilia, theft, and violent crime.

"Poitically influenced trial" - does that mean the theft, fraud, perjury don't count?

Are the yellow shirts now causing problems in the U.S? What next a blockade of the Los Angeles Airport? I bet that if 2,000 Americans conducted themselves the same way in Thailand they would quickly be rounded up, thrown into jail and deported.

There would be no need for these actions in the US. Thankfully in any Western country with the exception of Italy, someone who had committed even a fraction of the crimes Thaksin has would already be in prison and would stay there for many years.

But the US has granted him a visa and let him in?

The coach knows the appeals process and am sure he knows it much better than posters here. Also protesting the point deduction would not have got his boxer to win even if in the rare event the protest was upheld. And there is about an absolute zero chance a protest on the judges decision would have been upheld. As for filing protest within 5-minutes, I believe this is incorrect and you simply have to make your intention of a protest be known within 5-minutes and then have 30-minutes to file the written protest along with a cash deposit that is kept if you lose the protest which is almost always the case.

But maybe I am wrong and there are those posters here who are wasting their time at their keyboard when in fact they should be coaches for Olympians.

and did he make it 'known' within 5 minutes...? NO

so, going by your logic, he did not appeal because he... what? lost??? I don't believe it - I think they simply screwed up and didn't appeal in time

also your 'absolute zero' is wrong as there have been a few occasions where appeals have been made and won - I saw one in the gymnastics where a girl was 4th and was appealed and raised to 3rd and a medal.

they didn't act and instead 'pretended' their boy had won by holding up his arm in some sort of mock 'we won, we won' instead of thinking 'this is a disgrace we will appeal'

Can you remember any details about the appeal with the gymnasts that we could look up the circumstances? I highly doubt an Olympic Committee would over rule judges opinion unless they made a technical error such as tabulating a score based on difficulty.

With all that could be gained by a player, coach and country by moving from Silver to Gold it would make sense for every coach to appeal any close match... but they don't. I can state with absolute certainty that a protest on the judges scoring would NEVER have been upheld in this case. A protest on the referees call / point deduction possibly (unlikely) but not on the Judges scoring in a situation like this ... if a Judge inaccurately tabulated scores that is one thing but another thing all together to over turn the judges view of the fight. In subjective matches where there is no single defined score such as a photo finish the judges are the judges ... maybe in the future they will use video and computers to tabulate things such as how far apart a divers or gymnasts legs are when doing a routine but until that day, the Olympic committee puts their trust in the judges.

I also have absolutely no doubt what-so-ever that the coach knows more about the appeals process than you or I and filing an appeal that you know you will lose and that results in the declared winner being delayed his Gold is not an emotional outburst but a very calculated way of being sportsman like .

I think, if you research this yourself, you will find quite a few different sports and events where scores and rankings were 'adjusted' after the event. Sometimes this affected progress to the next round, occasionally medals. Try boxing, fencing, equestrian, archery and gymnastics for starters.

There may be an element of strong bias for the established champion. In other words, for a challenger to unseat a champion, he (unfairly) don't have to just win, he'd have to win big. In other words, if he had performed well enough to clearly win in one of the first two rounds, which he did not, that would have been the ticket.

Your logic would be fine - apart from the fact that most people other than the judges thought he did win the first 2 rounds! The judges should be scoring succesful hits, not making subjective points awards based on fighting spirirt, style or something else.

I agree the ref was probably biased towards the established champion or affraid to penalise him. The Chinese boxer should have received more public warnings whilst the one to the Thai boxer seemed a little unfair.

I've watched most of the boxing bouts, male and female, and some of the scoring has been surprising to say the least.

Had the Thais been better organized and lodged an appeal in time, the countback would have been interesting.

Dude got robbed, but I hate to say that judging was better than closing ceremony. Just something about British humor and British entertainment. I guess you got to be

British to get it.

Dude got robbed, but I hate to say that judging was better than closing ceremony. Just something about British humor and British entertainment. I guess you got to be

British to get it.

Not so much "British" to "get it", maybe just not an American?

Maybe, but you gotta admit the closing ceremony blows.

This thread is about a Thai boxer. Start another discussion on the closing ceremony if you want, but this is a different topic.

There has been some "interesting" scoring from the judges, through out the boxing competition. Not unusual in amateur or professional boxing (No one believes Bradley beat Manny P but he's world champ now). Taekwondo and fencing suffered some ropey calls too, but not as consistently bad as the boxing. Corruption or incompetence, or both - who knows? But needs sorting given the modern technology now available.

I feel sorry for this guy - he's trained and fought hard and knows he was the better boxer on the day. To be fair, if it's close, there's no way you can call it yourself. Impossible to be that accurate when you're fighting. But, you know when you've won by a margin. Khun Kaew knows he won, and so does everyone who watched the fight.

The Indians should focus on improving their own infrastructure and underclass problems first. If they plan to build a highway anything like the road from Delhi to Agra it would be a laugher. The road to Agra (the Taj Majal destination) makes India look like a country not to be taken seriously.

Very true. Just read an article on child starvation in India. Something that seems to be getting worse despite India's increased gdp and the fact India is producing more and more food. Again, corruption, bureauocracy and the fact that no one cares about the tribals and lower classes taints modern India.

India's infrastructure development also suffers from severe corruption and this shows in both speed and quality of the development.

And on which side of the road should we drive?

Aussie, India, Thailand and UK all drive on the correct side of the road !!

It's interesting how some people are "always" sure about what the U.S. does or doesn't do.

Actions speak louder than words !

Daughter of actor Kowit killed in car accident

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The youngest daughter of wellknown actor Kowit Wattanakul was killed yesterday morning after her Mercedes Benz plunged off an overpass in Bangkok. She succumbed to her injuries at a hospital, while her friend was killed at the scene.

Matawee Wattanakul, 21, left behind her family and what promised to be a bright future.

She passed away at the Paolo Memorial Paholyothin Hospital after sustaining brain injuries, skull fractures and lung damage.

Also killed in the accident was Jakpong Jarernphon, 22.

They were returning from a study session arranged by their classmates when the accident took place at 5.30am. They were scheduled to take an exam today.

Both victims were fourthyear students at Kasetsart University's Faculty of Humanities.

Matawee's father Kowit Wattanakul, a famous actor, could not hold back tears when talking about her death.

"It's the biggest loss in my life," he said.

The loving father said he had kissed her on the cheek when she left home Wednesday night.

"She didn't want to leave home that night but her friends insisted," he recounted. "Finally, I gave her permission to go to her friend's home."

He hoped this accident would remind all parents that the safest place for their children to prepare for their exams was their own home.

Matawee's elder sister, Mintita Wattanakul, said no one should drive while sleepy. Mintita, widely known as Mint AF3, has already made her name in show biz, and was convinced Matawee was about to follow in her footsteps.

Kowit said he planned to let Matawee star in two movies. "I don't know whether I can work further on these two movie projects now that she's gone," he said.

He described his youngest daughter as a good and talented person. "She's very good at English. The other day, I talked about the possibility of securing her a job at the Tourism Ministry," Kowit said.

-- The Nation 2012-08-10

They must have been very dedicated students to be studying until 5:30 AM!

Not unusal when cramming for exams. Forget all the usual silly diatribe about students. Kasetsart is a good universtity with high standards. You will fail if you don't produce good results. I know many students here, at several universities. All work into the small hours when needed - assignments, exam preperation etc. Sometimes they get together, other times the phones and emails are busy.