Thailand Live Monday 28 Mar 2011

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Thai Science and Technology Ministry to unveil locally-developed weather forecast and disaster warning machine

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PAD Spokesman Parnthep submits letter to Parliament secretariat to oppose consideration of JBC meeting minutes; claims PM is lying /TAN_Network

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Short tour packages offered upon concerns over disasters

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Strong winds, waves off Chumphon; rescue team en route to six students stranded three days on Koh Klaep; eight-year-old child drowns in Phattalung /Mcot

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ABAC Poll Reports Best/Worst Behaviors Of Thai Politicians

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Three crocodiles escape from flooded Thai zoo

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Phuket Airport remains open as wild weather ravages South

A satellite image of the region as of 7:14 last night.

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Cabinet approves 5% salary hike for state enterprise employees who are earning less than Bt50,000/month on Apr 1 /TAN_Network

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Thaksin has selected Pheu Thai's PM candidate: Apiwan

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has made selected the Pheu Thai Party's PM candidate, Thai Rath Online report.

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Foreign film industry leaders to explore filming locations in Thailand

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FDA warns against using beauty clinic services, citing health concerns

BANGKOK, 28 March 2011 (NNT)-Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Secretary General Dr Pipat Yingseri has revealed that any beauty clinics found to have used forbidden chemicals in their practices will be prosecuted under the consumer protection policy laid out by the Ministry of Public Health.

According to Dr. Pipat, the number of beauty clinics has grown exponentially in and outside of Bangkok, he has warned people against paying a hefty sum of money for a beauty treatment service, saying that it may not be worth the money and the side affects could also ensue.

Any practice found in violations will be forced to pay a fine of no more than 60,000 baht or serve a jail term of up to 1 year or both. The FDA Secretary General encouraged Thai people to report to the authority by calling 1556 should they find these clinics over exaggerate their services or use illegal substances in their treatment.

In addition, they can contact the Public Health authority in their province which will coordinate with the FDA to further investigate the claim and protect Thai consumers’ well-being.

-- NNT 2011-03-28

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Deputy PM Suthep Denies Coup Rumor

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75KG of Potatoes Imported from Japan Found to be Contaminated with Radiation

The Food and Drug Administration has found that 75 kilograms of potatoes imported from Japan are contaminated with low levels of radiation.

The shipment has been sent to the Office of Atoms of Peace for further inspection.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-28

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People's Alliance Urges House to Scrap JBC Meeting Minutes

The People's Alliance for Democracy again petitions the House to throw the minutes of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission's meetings, claiming their endorsement will harm the country's sovereignty.

People's Alliance for Democracy, or PAD, spokesman Parnthep Puapongpan submitted a petition with the House speaker to call for no approval of the minutes of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission, or JBC, meetings .

This was the third time for the group to lodge such a complaint.

The PAD's complaint suggested seven adverse effects from endorsing those minutes and the government's inaccurate explanation on the necessity to ratify them.

Among the issues in the complaint is the lack of clarity about whether those minutes must be endorsed by Parliament if its members consider they are just agreements without legal binding.

On the prime minister's remark that the one to 200,000-ratio map excludes Dong Rak part as it was not created outside the coverage the Franco-Siamese treaty of 1904, the group disputed the premier's statement, saying the map has not been recognized by Cambodia or at the international level while the government has not attempted to give explanation to the world community.

The PAD petition dismissed as groundless the premier's claim that the House's dismissal of the minutes will give room for Cambodia to bring the border dispute with Thailand to multilateral basis.

The group's reiterated the government's inaction to claim the country's right over the overlapping zone and its failure to push out Cambodian troops from there will result in a loss of the country's territory.

It then remarked the suggestion made by some legislators that the border demarcation at Si Sa Ket's Chong Sa-ngam pass must be reworked from the very start as the area is not a cliff which is used as an official marker.

The group stated the Franco-Siamese border demarcation committee used the cliff as marker.

The PAD insisted the premier's affirmation that the MOU is not an obstacle to the Thai military's operation in the disputed zone was not reliable as Cambodia is sttll permitted to build temples and road on the Thai soil while raising Cambodian flag on Thail territory is tantamount to the loss of Thai sovereignty in practice.

PAD coordinator Prapan Khoonmee said the government is lobbying MPs to recognize the JBC meeting minutes to endorse them and has covered the truth about its harms.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-28

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Revision of State Medicine List to Complete in 2 Months

The director general of the Comptroller General's Department expects the revision of the national list of essential medicine to be completed within two months.

Comptroller General's Department Director General Rangsan Sriworasart said the department is in the process of revising the national list of essential medicine.

Additional drugs outside the original essential list are being added to treat diseases that require more expensive medication.

These include heart disease medicine and cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Rangsan noted that the revision will help keep their prices at the same rate with those prescribed for patients under the National Health Security Office's service and the universal health-care scheme.

Once the revision is complete, the state expenditure on health benefits for civil servants in 2011 fiscal year will be reduced from 64 billion baht to five billion baht.

Of the annual medical payment of 64 billion baht, about 40 billion baht were spent for out-patient medical fees with 30 billion baht, or 80 percent, of the total amount spent on drug expenditure.

The director said that the revision of the essential medicine list will also help reduce corruption.

He added that measures to ensure that drugs dispensed at hospitals are priced in a unified manner will soon be implemented.

He expected the adjustment of the state essential drug list to be completed within two months.

He went on to say that during the past few years, pharmaceutical drug-related corruption is estimated to have cost the government around 12 million baht.

The damage from disbursement of prescription drugs without approval from the Comptroller General's Department amounted to around 50 million baht.

Meanwhile, a subcommittee, headed by renowned economist Ammar Siamwalla, is reviewing the list of eight kinds of medicine that are expected to be taken off the national essential drug list.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-28

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THAI receives first of five retrofitted aircraft

By The Nation

Thai Airways International received the first delivery of five A330-300 aircraft with newly installed economy class seats by the German seat supplier, ZIM Flugsitz GmbH. The aircraft, offering 263 new economy class sets, will be used mainly on regional routes.

The Business Class products include a shell-type seating design that has a 58-inch pitch, a 20-inch width, reclining to 170 degrees. Business Class passengers on these aircraft can enjoy the new in-flight entertainment system on a 15-inch personal screen with more than 100 movies and short programs to choose from, as well as enjoy a vast music selection of 290 CDs.

THAI board approved in 2010 for the aircraft enhancement programme.

"We have eagerly awaited this delivery and are pleased that our customers in economy class can experience improved products. Economy class customers can expect to enjoy a 32-inch seat pitch, 18-inch seat width, and a 9-inch personal screen with 100 movie selections," said THAI President Piyasvasti Amranand.

After undergoing the ZIM seat installation for one month in Germany, the ferry flight TG8920 left Hamburg on March 25 and arrived at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on the next day. This first A330-300 (of five aircraft planned for undergoing new economy class seat installation) is registered as HS-TEQ, MSN 1037, and royally bestowed as Si Ayutthaya.

-- The Nation 2011-03-28

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Border Inspection Stepped Up against Smuggling

In an attempt to prevent a further shortage from taking place, the commerce minister asks relevant agencies to tighten border inspection to prevent smuggling of commodity goods and agricultural products into and out of the country.

Commerce Ministry spokesman Chatchai Chookaew disclosed that Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai has asked for help from the army, navy, air force, the border patrol police, the Immigration Bureau, the Customs Department and the Agriculture Department.

She has requested that these agencies step up their efforts to prevent smuggling of commodity goods and agricultural products, such as cooking palm oil, sugar and limes.

Chatchai said that one of the primary causes of palm oil and sugar shortage in the past months stemmed from smuggling of these products to other countries.

The two commodities, among others, can be sold at much higher prices in a foreign market.

Palm oil and sugar are just two on the list of products the prices of whick are under the state's supervision.

Chatchai added that the ministry has sent out officials to inspect sugar stocks of major distributors to prevent any shortage and smuggling to foreign countries.

The current price of sugar in local markets stands at 23.5 baht per kilogram while it is sold at 30 to 40 baht overseas.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-28

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FLIGHT AND FERRY CANCELLATIONS:

All flights to and from Koh Samui cancelled due to bad weather, boats to mainland cancelled as well according to reports

Bangkok Airways confirms cancellations on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

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SET index closed at 1032.94, down 4.79; Bt/USD30.16; GBP48.12; AUD30.93; EUR42.31; CAD30.65; HKD3.86; SGD23.78; JPY36.76

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Dramatic Chase as two suspected Drug Dealers are caught by Pattaya Police

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Boy Bar Gamblers caught in South Pattaya

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Aggravated robbery at East Pattaya Housing Estate Sales Office

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14.5 million baht worth of yaba and ecstasy drugs uncovered in Bangkok bust

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GRIEVING JAPAN

Thailand to destroy contaminated sweet potatoes from Japan

By The Nation

Thailand has confiscated 75 kilomgrammes of sweet potatoes imported from Japan after detecting them of radiation contamination.

Testing on 97 samples of imported products from Japan found that the sweet potatoes had the radioactive odine (I131) level at 15.25 Becquerel (Bq) per kilogram.

The safety standard of the radiation is 100 Bq per kilogram, meaning the level of radiation on the sweet potatoes were well within the safety standard.

However the Public Health Ministry will destroy them in a safe way that prevents radiation spreading.

Meanwhile Food and Drug Administration (FDA) secretary Pipat Yingseri said the contaminated potatoes were imported from Ibaraki province on Honshu Island on March 23.

They were detected on March 24 and seized the following day.

The huge earthquake and tsunami, triggered from the quake, hit Honshu Island about two weeks ago. The tsunami knocked out electricity system of nuclear power plant in Miyasaki prefacture, resulting in leaking of radiation.

-- The Nation 2011-03-28

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to be continued

Thailand Live Tuesday 29 March