Thailand Live Friday 4 Mar 2011

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Democrat MP Panich reveals Veera's relatives to visit him today & bring medicine; royal pardon issue should become clearer after visit /TAN_Network

Police forward van crash case involving underage teen to prosecutor; prosecutor to decide whether to file case with court on Mar 24 /TAN_Network

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Chart Thai Pattana Party Leader: House Dissolution Likely To Be In Latter-Half Of The Year

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Industry Ministry Denies Sugar Shortage

The Industry Ministry permanent-secretary has expressed confidence that there will not be a sugar shortage in the country.

He has also supported the use of the Sugar and Sugar Cane Fund to increase production for consumers.

Permanent-Secretary of the Industry Ministry Witoon Simachokdee said that Industry Minister Chaiwut Bannawat is paying close attention to sugar supply in the country and that all related agencies will not allow a repeat of the sugar shortage experienced in the last year.

However, Witoon admitted that the current rate of sugar production is sufficient to meet the demand in the future.

He said, while demand increased by about ten percent, packaging costs are on the rise.

As such, the permanent-secretary expressed his support for the proposal to use the Sugar and Sugar Cane Fund to increase production to keep prices at an appropriate level.

Meanwhile, the Industry Ministry has introduced a CSR-DIW project in partnership with the International Organization for Standardization to help the industry sector be socially and environmentally responsible.

Witoon said this will make the sector more competitive as non-tariff barriers are increasingly being put in place.

More than 140 industrial plants are expected to participate in the project.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-04

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New Phuket police station plans inch forward

Work continues on the new Police Region 8 headquarters in Mai Khao.

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Supreme commander reveals intelligence about black-shirt warriors causing chaos during red-shirt rally in capital on Mar 12 /TAN_Network

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Mazda recalls 65,000 vehicles due to spiders in fuel tanks

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Thai-Cambodian Border Trade to Generate 25 Percent Growth Target

The deputy commerce minister said border trade along the Thai-Cambodian border is starting to recover and is expected to generate no less than 25 percent growth as targeted.

Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot said that trade at the Thai- Cambodian border is recovering.

He said if no more clashes erupt, border trade would generate no less than 25 percent growth, as expected.

Alongkorn said the overall picture of Thai border trade with neighboring countries is on an upward trend as more FTAs are being established.

He projects that border trade would generate 900 billion baht, an increase from 800 billion baht last year.

The deputy commerce minister also mentioned the United States Trade Representative or USTR, who placed Pantip Plaza on their list of 33 department stores in the world selling pirated products.

Pantip Plaza is a department store located in Bangkok, well-known for selling pirated IT products.

Alongkorn said that Thai authorities have strictly suppressed sales of all pirated items.

He urged all shops to obey the rules, while confirming that the problems will be solved within a month.

The deputy commerce minister chaired the opening ceremony of the Health Food and Ingredient Thailand 2011 fair, which will be held at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, from March 3 to 5.

The fair aims to push Thailand forward to be a top ten leading exporter for food products worldwide by the year 2015.

One of the highlights of the fair is a sculpture of the new Parliament made out of canned food.

The artwork weighs 32 tons and is 3 meters tall, breaking the world record set in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The masterpiece was build by students from Faculty of Architecture at Chulalongkorn University, who were sponsored by the Pumpui Canned Fish and the Foods Industry Network company.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-04

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UPDATE

HIV-positive man gets 9 years' jail for sex with Thai children

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PAD to collect 20,000 signatures in effort to impeach PM for allegedly neglect of duty leading kingdom losing territory to Cambodia /MCOT

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Officers of Thanarat Army Camp in Prachuab Khiri Khan province report theft of more than 100 M-16s and handguns /TAN_Network

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First Army Region Commander Confident Law Enforcements Can Oversee Red-shirt Rally

The commander of the First Army Region is confident that law enforcement authorities will be able to oversee the security of the red-shirt rally scheduled for March 12.

Commander of the First Army Region Major General Udomdej Sitabutr believes that law enforcement authorities will be able to oversee the security at the red-shirt rally scheduled for March 12 as crowd-control procedures are already in place.

Udomdej has also reported that the army has not been asked by the police to provide assistance.

Udomdej also added that as an assistant to the director of the Center for the Administration of Peace and Order, he has been closely following the movement.

He believes that the rally will not turn violent and will not be a repeat of last year's unrest.

The regional army commander said he hopes the red-shirt demonstrators will abide by the laws.

Meanwhile, Udomdej discounted a speculation that political violence in Thailand will erupt like those in other countries, pointing out that there are many differences between Thailand and those countries.

The regional army commander also said that he has ordered the Burapa Force stationed in the eastern part of the country to monitor the border area for smuggling of contraband.

Even so, he has admitted that the geography of the region makes it easier for the smugglers to operate.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-04

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Govt: All Thais to be Evacuated from Libya by March 5

The labor minister insists that all Thai workers will be evacuated from Libya by March 5 despite some transportation obstacles.

Secretary to the Foreign Minister Chavanond Intarakomalyasut who is currently in Tunisia overseeing the evacuation of Thai citizens from Libya, has expressed his concern during a phone interview about the situation in Tripoli.

Chavanond reported that about 2,000 Thai workers will arrive at the evacuation center in Tunisia by ship before being flown back to Thailand.

To date, 6,170 Thai citizens have already been evacuated from Libya while the rest are in the safer parts of the restive country.

However Chavanond has admitted that there are some problems at the seaport where all countries are trying evacuate their citizens safely at the same time.

Meanwhile, the Opposition is blaming the government for being slow in providing assistance to the Thai workers.

Labor Minister Chalermchai Sri-on explained that the government has been helping Thai citizens in Libya since February 7, in which 35 employment placement agencies were summoned for consultation on how to assist the workers.

Chalermchai has added that there has been no report of any Thai citizen's death even though some may have received some injuries during transit.

Chartered planes have been sent to transport the rest of the workers out.

He expects that all Thai citizens will be evacuated out of Libya by March 5.

Once in Thailand, the government will provide transportation for the workers to travel back to their home provinces along with 300 baht in cash.

Each of them will also receive 15,000 baht in compensation for income loss.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-04

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130 M16s, Other Guns Stolen From Thai Army Depot

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Censure debate postponed

The no-confidence motion could not be put on agenda in time for the debate to take place next week, House Secretary-General Pithoon Pumhiran said Friday.

Pithoon said House Speaker Chai Chidchob sent the motion back to him to verify some names on the list of motion sponsors at 2 pm Friday.

Since the motion could not be put on agenda by Friday, the debate could not be held next Wednesday as initially scheduled, the secretary-general said.

Earlier, the coalition and opposition whips agreed to hold the debate from Wednesday to March 12.

-- The Nation 2011-03-04

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Govt Denies Attempting to Delay Censure Debate

A deputy prime minister says the government has no reason to put the censure debate on hold given the delay was caused by a flaw in the documents filed by the opposition bloc.

Deputy Prime Minister in charge of national security Suhep Thaugsuban said the government is sincere to give way for the Opposition to hold the no-confidence debate.

Rumors have been rampant that the debate will be put on hold.

Suthep said he was informed by the government chief whip that the signatures of some opposition MPs on the motion do not match the ones they gave to Parliament officials.

The deputy prime minister stated he has no objection if House Speaker Chai Chidchob decides to put off the debate.

He affirmed all Cabinet members targeted for censure are ready.

Suthep reiterated that House dissolution will take place before June as pledged by the prime minister and the government is now waiting for the Election Commission's declaration of its organic law and the protest groups to end their rallies.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-04

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100 red shirts protest against DSI

Some 100 red-shirt protesters rallied at the Department of Special Investigation Friday morning and shouted in unison at the department.

The rally was led by Sombat Boonnagrm-anong, the editor of Laijut online magazine.

Sombat led the protesters to shout "civil servants must serve the people" repeatedly for over ten minutes.

The red-shirt movement accused the DSI of trying to white-wash the government over the fatal crackdowns on red-shirt people

They dispersed after the shout.

-- The Nation 2011-03-04

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Englishman dies at South Pattaya Karaoke Bar

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100 Police Officers conduct raids on Pattaya Bars and Clubs

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Phuket Mining Museum now open

Governor Tri Augkaradacha (left) is shown some of the relics on

display at the Phuket Mining Museum in Kathu.

Photo: Pimwara Choksakulpan

The displays highlight daily life during Phuket’s tin mining era.

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Drug suspect badly beaten and later found dead in Pattaya Police prison cells

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Man accused of skipping bar bill, shot by gang of youths in North Pattaya

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PM:Postponement of censure debate unrelated to UDD March 12 rally, but due to documents submitted by opposition Puea Thai party is not ready /MCOT

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PAD to collect signatures to impeach PM Abhisit

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PM: Censure Debate Moved to March 15

The prime minister has revealed that the censure debate, originally slated for March 9, has been moved to March 15.

It will be held for three consecutive days as planned, with a vote being taken on the fourth day.

The prime minister is on his way to Trang Province to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's mother.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-04

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Civil Court rejects yellow-shirts' requests for injunction against ISA enforcement

The Civil Court Friday rejected the requests by two groups of yellow-shirt people to issue an injunction against the enforcement of the Internal Security Act in Bangkok.

The court rejected the requests of the Thai Patriots Network and the People's Alliance for Democracy to issue an injunction against the enforcement of the ISA to issue announcements to prohibit demonstrations in Bangkok from February 8 until March 25.

The two groups alleged that the announcements were unlawful and asked the court to issue an injunction against the announcements pending a court ruling.

The court said the issue was not urgent so the injunction was not necessary.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-04

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Journalists barred from leaving Tripoli hotel;Libyan gov't spokesman says press banned from reporting due to safety issues - NBC News /via@BreakingNews

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Mid-year budget bill passed in final reading

The House of Representatives passed the final reading of the 2011 mid-year budget bill early Friday.

The bill was approved in the third reading with 252 votes. A total of 88 MPs voted against it while four MPs abstained. Five other MPs were present but did not cast any type of vote.

The original version of the bill would allow the government to spend Bt100 billion mostly for disaster rehabilitation. But the ad hoc panel trimmed down the proposed spending by Bt32.468 million.

The bill was approved following 12 hours of debate. The House meeting was closed at 1:50 am following the passage.

-- The Nation 2011-03-04

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Govt to Get Tough against Palm Oil Hoarding

The deputy prime minister in charge of security has ordered police agencies to conduct tight inspection on both large and small retailers to ensure that all bottled palm oil is being sold at the recommended price.

Deputy Prime Minister and head of the national palm oil policy panel Suthep Thaugsuban stated that he has instructed police to take swift legal action against retailers who are selling bottled palm oil above the regulated 47 baht a liter in order to prevent them from exploiting the public.

He said he is confident palm oil shortage woes are over. A meeting to discuss and review the implemented measures is schedule for March 8. If production still falls short of demand, the government may consider importing additional supply.

When asked about palm oil hoarding, Suthep said it is the responsibility of the Department of Special Investigation to investigate the cases and take action against hoarders.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-04

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SET index closed at 995.91, up 5.83; Bt/USD30.33; GBP49.29; AUD30.57; EUR42.22; CAD31.08; HKD3.89; SGD23.80; JPY36.63

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HM the King approves, by royal command, amended Articles 93-98, 190 of Constitution; publication in Royal Gazette Friday /MCOT