Thailand Live Sunday 12 Dec 2010

[webfact]

Thailand Live Sunday 12 December 2010

News, Bits and Tweets

with webfact

Keep up to date with live updates from the news, hour by hour.

For breaking news,national, regional and international news updates on a daily basis only, this thread is closed to commentary so

that those who wish to follow the news can find it here...

Commentary is still open for Thailand news in the relevant thread posted in News Clippings.

FOLLOW US:

You can also follow us on

- Twitter: http://twitter.com/georgebkk

- Google Buzz: http://www.google.com/profiles/thaivisa

- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ThaiVisaNews

- Breaking News via SMS text messages to your mobile phone or handheld device

To subscribe dial *424010011 on AIS, One-2-Call, DTAC or True Move networks

14 days complementary subscription for Thaivisa members.

If you have questions about the Breaking News SMS service,

email: sms [at] thaivisa.com

________________________________________________________________________________

Thailand's current weather and forecasts: http://weather.thaivisa.com/

________________________________________________________________________________

Related topic: Thailand Live Saturday 11 Dec 2010

[webfact]

Suthep: Gov't unworried on protesters' plan to carry details of Japanese journalist's death to embassy

BANGKOK: -- The Thai government is not worried about a plan by anti-government protesters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to submit information on a Japanese cameraman killed during violent clashes between military and Red Shirt protesters earlier this year, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Saturday.

Mr Suthep’s comments were made after UDD leader Jatuporn Prompan said earlier that he would submit information including photos and videotapes taken during the May 19 clashes between the Thai military and UDD demonstrators to Japan's embassy in Bangkok.

Eighty-nine persons, both security personnel and protesters, were killed and more than 1,900 were wounded in a number of clashes between the troops and the UDD demonstrators during March to mid-May.

Among those killed were Italian freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi and Hiroyuki Muramoto, a Japanese cameraman working for Reuters news agency.

Mr Suthep said Thais already knew that Mr Jatuporn, also an MP representing opposition Puea Thai Party, had made a number of disturbances in the country and that there was no need to listen to him.

“The government isn’t worried," Mr Suthep said. "It stands on truth.”

The deputy prime minister said concerned officials and an independent committee are investigating those killed during the protest in order to find the truth. He said the findings could lead to national reconciliation.

The Bangkok office of British news agency Reuters reported Friday that its reporters had reviewed documents on the clashes between UDD protesters and government officials which raised new questions about the fate of six civilians found dead at a Buddhist temple.

It said a preliminary probe by the Department of Special Investigation into the clashes concluded that special forces on the elevated tracks of the BTS Skytrain fired into the temple where several UDD protesters took refuge.

Reuters quoted the report as saying that three of six people shot dead at the temple were probably killed by troops.

Mr Suthep argued that it is better to wait for the complete and final report from state officials as many people tend to spread negative news on Thailand.

“We must not become a tool for those spreading (false) news,” the deputy prime minister warned.

On whether a government plan to lift the emergency decree and impose the Internal Security Act instead could keep peace in the country as UDD leaders have pledged to rally twice a month from now on, Mr Suthep said the law is another issue while the consciousness and responsibility of the protesters is also another.

If both decide to use the right path then there would be no problem, he said. “Any law could be used to maintain law and order.” (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2010-12-12

[webfact]

4 Children Sent to Hospital After Drinking Polishing Liquid

Four children were rushed to the hospital after accidentally drinking polishing fluid they though was syrup.

Four children that belong to Surachai Akthaisong, a garbage collector, were taken to Police General Hospital for immediate treatment after experiencing severe vomiting after the siblings, aged two through nine, accidentally drank polishing fluid from a bottle they had collected from trash pile on Soi Preedee Phanomyong in BKK.

The four children are now out of danger.

Doctors examined their stomachs to determine the quantity of the polishing liquid consumed and administered medicine to flush the chemicals out of their system.

The children were admitted to the hospital so doctors could closely monitor their condition.

According to the oldest boy, he thought that the polishing fluid was syrup so he gave it to his brothers and sisters to drink.

-- Tan Network 2010-12-12

[webfact]

NEW!

Follow thaivisa.com on Google Buzz:

http://www.google.com/profiles/thaivisa

[george]

Bangkok Police station up for UN prize

Full story:

[george]

Police on alert for vote-buyers today

Full story:

[george]

Big C Wins Bid For Carrefour Business In Thailand

Full story:

[george]

WORLD

Bernard Madoff's son, Mark, found dead on second anniversary of father's arrest

Full story:

[george]

Meteo Dept warns of thundershowers, cooler weather with 2-4 degree Celsius drops in North, Northeast; strong wind waves in Andaman Sea. /MCOT

[webfact]

DSI won't confirm troops' involvement in death of Japanese cameraman

Follow this link:

[webfact]

Fare hike sought

By The Nation

Bus operators will meet Land Transport officials tomorrow to push for a fare hike of 6 satang per kilometre (Bt1=100 satang), after the diesel price reached Bt30 per litre.

Bus Operators Association chairwoman Sujinda Cherdchai said yesterday her group had yet to raise fares and were suffering the burden of rising costs.

Currently the fare price is based on diesel being priced at Bt24.7 per litre, as per a previous agreement with the department. But with the diesel price rising by Bt6, they now want to raise fares accordingly.

In related news, the Northeast Region's Transporting Truck Association chief Kwanchai Tiyawanit said some 700 business operators with 40,000 trucks were affected by the high diesel price. He urged the government to keep the price under Bt30 a litre and natural gas under Bt8.5 a kilogram. He said representatives would seek a meeting with the energy and finance ministers to ask for a price guarantee, and low-interest loans to modify vehicles from using oil to natural gas.

-- The Nation 2010-12-12

[webfact]

Free red shirts face more poverty

By Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation on Sunday

Two detained red shirts, who were recently released after serving six months for violating the emergency decree in May, said they received no proper legal representation or counselling and were summarily handed down six-month imprisonment terms.

Both men, who are from working-class backgrounds also said their livelihoods had been severely affected as a result but vowed to continue to support the red-shirt struggle.

"Police told me to just admit [of having committing wrongs] and said it's no big deal and the charge might be dropped. But I got [the sentence] big time as a result!" said Vishnu Kamolman, 18, a native of Bangkok who was arrested at a petrol station at Soi Lang Nam on May 15.

Prayoon Surapinit, a red-shirt vendor in the Klong Toei area was arrested on May 14 near Bon Kai. He said police told him nobody would put him behind bars and that he could go home on the following day after the detention. Presented to the court, he was told to admit he was guilty and then bussed to jail. "The judge presided over the case and read the verdict while I didn't even have a chance to speak. Within 10 minutes everyone [who was arrested together with him] were put on a waiting bus heading to the prison," said Prayoon.

Prayoon said his wife was seven months pregnant when he was arrested and the family have since suffered more poverty than they used to. "It's been excruciating. There is no justice for us under this government," Prayoon said.

As for Vishnu, who was a security guard prior to being arrested, he said he had tried but failed to secure a job after his release in November as nobody wanted to hire someone with a criminal record.

The two were speaking yesterday at a symposium organised by Social Move, a leftist political group, and the Student Federation of Thailand. The organisers regard the two and other red shirts detained as "political prisoners", a term not acknowledged by the government, and said there were still many serving longer sentences, such as one-year jail sentences.

Asked about how he was treated after being arrested, Vishnu said he was kicked so hard by a group of army officers that he was forced to lie down. He said blood covered his T-shirt and face while he heard one soldier shouting: "You made me miss the chance to return home to play during Songkran!"

Prayoon wasn't beaten, but said the place where he was arrested was crowded and full of possible witnesses. Both said they were not abused while serving their sentences in prison and added that representatives from the National Human Rights Commission visited them while in prison.

In a related development, Pitch Pongsawat, lecturer of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, speaking at the same event at October 14 Memorial Hall warned that talk by the government about lifting the state of emergency only to have it replaced with the Internal Security Act would further entrench the anti-democratic climate in Thailand.

"We need to expand democratic space and return to the normal rule of law and not to law where power is exercised with impunity and creates a climate of fear as we're experiencing now."

-- The Nation 2010-12-12

[webfact]

Gunmen sought for fatal shoot

By The Nation on Sunday

A 12-year-old boy who was hit in the head during a random shooting on the Asian Highway in Ayutthaya's Bang Pa-in district on December 4 was pronounced dead yesterday evening.

Police, meanwhile, police were looking for the main suspect, a man known as Jib Phaikhiew.

Phokhin Deephiu, 12, who had been on life support after being shot by gunmen on a motorcycle, was pronounced dead at Phra Nangkhlao Hospital at 6pm.

Dr Sakol Sukphrom said the boy's brain was swollen and he had not responded to medication. His blood pressure dropped and he passed away peacefully. The family had earlier agreed to no cardiopulmonary resuscitation if the boy stopped breathing.

Ayutthaya police chief Maj-General Anurak Taengkasem sought progress on Phokhin's case at a meeting of station chiefs yesterday. He was told a suspect, identified as Jib Phaikhiew, was also wanted for shooting a policeman in Pathum Thani's Klong Luang district. Police were now looking for this man, described as a trigger-happy thug. They did not rule out other suspects. Police searched at least eight loan-shark dens to look for the shooter's motorcycle, which was identified as a CBR bike, and would inspect the crime scene once again.

-- The Nation 2010-12-12

[webfact]

Lawyers for red shirts refused Govt help, PM Abhist says

Follow this link:

[webfact]

Repairs delayed: BMA

By The Nation

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has indefinitely postponed repairs for seven flyovers, as they need to properly inform motorists who may be affected by traffic delays.

Bangkok deputy permanent secretary Chatinai Nauwaphut said yesterday a contractor had initially aimed to close the flyovers from December 10 to 13 to inspect and repair them.

The flyovers are on Rama IV (Thai-Japanese), Din Daeng, the inbound link to Bang Phlad, inbound to Wongsawang, the inbound link to Pracha Nukun, inbound to Ratchayothin and the Kaset link.

But as many people were not aware of the plan, he said the BMA would alert the public first before doing the repairs.

-- The Nation 2010-12-12

[george]

CABLE FROM SINGAPORE TRASHES THAILAND

Singapore thinks Asian allies corrupt, incompetent: cables

Singaporean diplomats think the leaders of some close Asian allies are corrupt, incompetent or stupid, cables from Wikileaks revealed Sunday.

Full story:

[webfact]

Two killed in Yala

By The Nation

YALA

A soldier and a suspected insurgent were killed and three other people wounded in a shooting ambush yesterday by suspected insurgents in Yala's Krong Pinang district.

A seven-person patrol that was checking a local road on four motorcycles in tambon Sa-ae was ambushed by an unknown number of men armed with heavy weapons.

They were caught in a 10-minute gunfight, before the insurgents retreated. Four soldiers were injured and one, identified as volunteer ranger Worakit Reungnui, sustained a fatal head wound. He was pronounced dead at Yala Central Hospital.

Police later found the body of suspected insurgent Aseuming Ha, 24, with a gunshot wound to his stomach, 30 metres away from where Worakit fell. The man was wanted by the Yala Court, which issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of national security.

In nearby Narathiwat, a roadside bomb went off early yesterday in Chanae district. It damaged a military pickup that was transporting eight soldiers on patrol. None were injured.

-- The Nation 2010-12-12

[webfact]

Protesters shouldn't block roads,PM says

By The Nation on Sunday

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday it was acceptable for protesters to gather as the red shirts had recently, including on Friday, but roads should not be blocked.

He said if political gatherings were kept orderly the state of emergency could be lifted before New Year and replaced by the Internal Security Act.

"We shall make an assessment [when the emergency decree is lifted], on whether there could be anything that leads to a change in the situation or not. If the [red-shirt] movement continues this way, I don't think there will be any problem because it is an exercise of their [political] right and we must respect that.

"But they must also respect the rights of [other] citizens," the PM said.

Asked if there would be a general election before the end of next year or not, Abhisit said he was likely to call one before that. He said it was unfortunate the red-shirt leaders had not taken up his proposal in mid-year for an election on November 14 this year.

Abhisit noted, however, that he still faced protests when he travelled recently to Khon Kaen, a heartland of the red shirts. He said it raised questions about whether politicians would be able to campaign freely for the election.

Meanwhile, Ruam Chart Pattana Party leader Wannarat Charnnukul said the party would soon meet to prepare for the election, and discuss its policies. But it was too soon to talk about candidates, and changes to the Constitution had yet to be finalised.

"I believe once a general election is announced, no group will want to provoke and cause chaos. Visitors and the election campaign should not face problems. The country's situation is getting better now, anyway," he said.

Supol Fongngam, deputy secretary-general of Pheu Thai Party, said Abhisit should keep his word about dissolving the House and the election. Otherwise, he would lose credibility. He said Pheu Thai was ready for the election.

-- The Nation 2010-12-12

[webfact]

Russian tourist drowns while swimming at Phuket's Kata beach with husband; red flag installed warning tourists of strong winds, high waves /MCOT

[webfact]

Bangkok Second Cheapest city in the world - Oslo Most Expensive

Follow this link:

[webfact]

Noppadon claims CSCE postpones hearing on Thailand

Noppadon Pattama, a legal advisor of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, claimed Sunday that the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe has postponed the hearing on Thailand to next month.

Noppadon said the CSCE informed Thaksin that the hearing on human rights violations in Thailand would have to be postponed because of changes in the Congresss, which resulted in the change in the CSCE members.

Noppadon said Thaksin thanked the CSCE for showing its interest in the situation in Thailand and informed the panel that the delay would provide him more time to process for an entry visa to the US.

-- The Nation 2010-12-12

[webfact]

Thai health officials warned of renewed outbreak of H5N1 virus

Follow this link:

[webfact]

MOTOR EXPO preorder volume reaches 27,058 during 11-day period /MCOT

[webfact]

Google Releases Global Search Terms Of 2010

A year in search: Thai and global searches

Follow this link:

[george]

More Thais to shop online, consumer survey reveals

Read more:

[webfact]

Vote counting for by-elections begins as polls close in 5 constituencies; less-than-expected voter turnout in Bangkok Constituency 2 /MCOT

[george]

Dtac Launches Micro Sim For Ipad up to 3GB of free Internet

[webfact]

Bangkok 2010 Motor Expo a great success

BANGKOK, 12 December 2010 (NNT) - The Motor Expo organizer said the car sales during the Bangkok Motor Expo 2010 have reached over 27,000 cars, breaking last year’s record.

After the Expo has come to a close on Sunday, over 27,000 cars have been sold, while more than one million have visited the 12-day event.

The event organizer said this year’s Bangkok Motor Expo have been a great success.

According to the organizer, Toyota, Honda, Isuzu, Nissan and Mazda are the top five car brands sold in the Expo this year.

-- NNT 2010-12-12

[webfact]

PM satisfied with by-elections' overall image, believes there will be no violence; results will not affect scheduling of general election /MCOT

[webfact]

EC says voter turn-out in Bkk constituency 2 is about 40%, due to long holidays and prospects of snap elections. /MCOT