Thailand Live Sunday 16 Jan 2011

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Thailand Live Sunday 16 January 2011

News, Bits and Tweets

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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.

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Related topic: Thailand Live Saturday 15 Jan 2011

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British woman leaves Phuket after declining to pursue sexual assault charge

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Many Thais favour use of cane for unruly youths

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UPDATE

10PM curfew for youths win support

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AFP: Teacher shot dead in restive Thai south

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Detained Thais will be freed soon: Defence Minister Prawit

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No need for curfew for children under 18 if existing Thai laws are obeyed

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Call for resignations

By The Nation

The network, which is linked to the People's Alliance for Democracy or the "yellow shirts", on Friday rallied at the Defence Ministry and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya, and Prawit.

They said the Abhisit government was sitting by idly after the arrest of seven Thais at the border on December 29 on the charge of illegal entry.

The group claimed that senior military officers had also opted to stay idle because several of them had received pay-offs on the border.

Suthep said yesterday such an accusation was unfair to Prawit because he is a major force coordinating with Cambodian government leaders in a bid to bring home the seven detainees.

He said he did not think the ongoing rally by the Thai Patriots Network would affect the government's stability because "the majority of the people do not want violence" and without public support, the group could not be successful.

Regarding the plan by Democrat MPs to visit their colleague Panich Vikitsreth in Phnom Penh, Suthep said he would ask the lawmakers not to do so as it could send a wrong signal to the Cambodian government. He said Cambodia's authorities might react negatively if they felt the planned visit was aimed at pressuring them to release the detained Thais.

Panich is one of the two Thais who was granted bail while the five others remain in a Phnom Penh prison.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday dismissed as speculation reports of a possible release of two important Cambodian inmates being jailed in Thailand in exchange for freedom for the seven Thais. The jailed Cambodians were said to have close ties with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen.

In a related development, 199 Cambodians charged with illegally entering and working in Thailand were deported yesterday, immigration officials said. The deportees - 120 men, 61 women, 10 boys and eight girls - travelled by cars to a border village in Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district before crossing into the Cambodian border town of Poi Pet.

-- The Nation 2011-01-16

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Chai backs bill on protests

By THE NATION ON SUNDAY

House Speaker Chai Chidchob expressed support yesterday for the draft bill on public gathering, which will be vetted in the next House session.

Chai said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had agreed to the bill being tabled for House deliberation. The PM felt that, if passed, the law would enable officials to effectively control protests as they would know the scope of protests, such as how long they would go on and which streets the protesters would use.

The proposed law sets out clear punishments for violators and would help police handle protests more effectively, Chai said.

Royal Thai Police spokesman Pol Maj-General Prawut Tawornsiri said police supported the bill and believed their work would become easier once it was passed. He said police currently had to resort to other laws such as the emergency decree, which were seen as violating protesters' rights.

"This proposed law is directly written to handle protests so it is clear for police about what to do,'' he said.

The bill requires protesters to undertake peaceful and unarmed protests. It would ban protesters from blocking entrances and exits of palaces of the King and his family, his regents, Government House, courts, state agencies, airports, ports, train stations, mass transit networks, hospitals, schools, and embassies.

Some civic groups oppose the bill and say the draft violates Article 63 of the Constitution and human rights.

-- The Nation 2011-01-16

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Missing cheques returned

By The Nation

PATHUM THANI

A shopkeeper yesterday found two gift cheques worth over Bt1 million and gave them to police to find the rightful owner.

Kanchanee Nasomjai, 50, went to Pratunam Chulalongkorn police station in Thanyaburi district yesterday to hand over the cheques, which she found in an envelope on the footpath when she opened her electric appliance shop in Rangsit market.

Inside the envelope, she found two gift cheques from Siam Commercial Bank for Royal Navy Captain Manas Suksapsri; one was worth Bt859,200 and the other worth Bt300,000. Two hours earlier, Capt Manas had reported his cheques missing.

-- The Nation 2011-01-16

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Thai men impersonating police robbed German tourist of Bt300,000

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Floral expo in Chiang Mai

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Pheu Thai opts out of debate on electoral changes

By THE NATION ON SUNDAY

The opposition Pheu Thai Party will stay out of the charter amendment campaign. It claims the government is obsessed with charter changes and ignoring dealing with economic problems that the public faces.

Party deputy spokesman Jirayu Huangsub said the party's stance on the charter amendments was to reinstate the 1997 Constitution.

He said the party would wait and see the latest developments from coalition parties, as he expected some parties might try to lure Pheu Thai Party members to help them pass the charter bill.

Thepthai Senpong, spokesman for the Democrat Party leader, said the Opposition had no clear stance on charter amendments because they had not decided what formula best suited them.

They were waiting for a chance to cause a rift in the coalition government - and for ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra's recommendation on the issue, he said.

Meanwhile, Bhum Jai Thai Party chairman Prachak Klaewklaharn said the Democrat Party had called a meeting of coalition parties to discuss the amendments on January 25 to decide on how to vote over the number of party-list and constituent MPs.

Prachak said most Bhum Jai Thai Party members support having 400 constituency MPs and 100 party-list MPs.

However, if the Democrat Party asks Peau Pandin Party to vote in support of a formula for 375 constituent MPs and 125 party-list MPs, the party would reconsider its decision.

"Our party MPs are not concerned that there will be a House dissolution if the Democrat Party loses out over this issue,'' he said.

Puea Pandin Party will meet on Tuesday to decide on the matter.

House Speaker Chai Chidchob dismissed concern that conflict among coalition parties over the charter amendments would cause a big problem.

"The issue entirely depends on how the majority of parliamentarians want it to be,'' he said.

Democrat Party spokesman Dr Buranat Samutrak insisted the party supported a formula for 375 constituency MPs and 125 party-list MPs, because it was close to the standard formula adopted by democratic countries.

He quoted a study by the charter change panel headed by Sombat Thamrongthanya-wang that the standard formula was a three-to-one ratio of constituency MPs to party-list MPs.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said he believed the charter amendment would not cause a political conflict. He would warn Democrat Party MPs to watch their words and not upset coalition parties following reports that the Chart Thai Pattana Party was unhappy with the Democrats' threat to dissolve the House over the issue, he said.

-- The Nation 2011-01-16

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Phuket announces recycling drive

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Phuket pitches for Slovakia

One of the Miss Slovakia contestants takes off on Patong Beach.

Some of the contestants pose for the cameras at the Mecure Phuket Hotel

in Patong last night.

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Ubon Ratchathani declares all 25 districts disaster zones from cold snap /MCOT

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PM to reform police

BANGKOK, 16 January 2011 (NNT) –Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has reaffirmed that his government would forge ahead with its planned police reform, insisting the new plan would benefit officers holding a bachelor’s degree.

Presiding over a seminar on constitutional democracy promotion, participated by over 500 noncommissioned police from across the country, the Premier said the government would move ahead with the restructuring of the problem-plagued National Police Office. The new proposal is now under the Lower House’s consideration and expected to sail through in February before being submitted to the Senate soon after that.

Under the reform plan, noncommissioned police with a bachelor’s degree will be given more opportunity to advance in their career. The Premier urged all officers to carry out their duties to the best of their ability.

During the seminar, some police voiced their opinions relative to their salaries, saying the low pay made it difficult for them to carry out their duties given quite often the job-related expenses had to come out of their own pockets. The police in the South also complained about the life-risking allowance which had not been raised for a long time.

-- NNT 2011-01-16

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Phuket Andaman Airshow dazzles the crowds at Airpark

An Extra 300L of the type that put on the spectacular aerobatics show

at Phuket Airpark yesterday.

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Majority Of Thais Willing To Sell Their Votes: Poll

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Two dead, five injured as vehicle fails to stop at North Pattaya Police checkpoint

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Phuket hero lawyer in apparent suicide

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State lottery results for Jan 16: 1st prize: 281062, last 3 digits: ตัว227,185,758,546, last 2 digits: 23 /The NATION

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Special Report: Phuket sea gypsies fight for their rights

Sea gypsy representatives from 30 communities along the Andaman

coast register at the meeting.

SIMPLE LIFE: Stockholm University researcher Yara Lotfi is living

with Morgan sea gypsies on Koh Surin to study how their hunter-gatherer

society is coping with a changing world. The people there are committed

to maintaining their traditional and sustainable way of life, according

to her initial findings. Photo: Stephen Fein

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Bangkok tempt will continue to drop for a few days by 1-3 degree C. Lowest this morning 18.4 C at Don Muang. /RT @js100radio /via@veen_NT

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Phuket Blues Fest artists nominated for top accolades

Phuket Blues Fest headline act Curtis Salgado has been nominated for

a major blues music award. Photo: Bengt Nyman

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AFP: Thai majority would take vote bribes: poll

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[Maestro]

to be continued

Thailand Live Monday 17 January 2011