Thailand Live Tuesday 5 Apr 2011

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Thailand Live Tuesday 5 April 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 Monday 4 Apr 2011

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Royal Rainmaking operation to combat hailstorms

Special report

The Meteorological Department has recently issued a warning for residents of the Northern provinces of thunderstorms forecast to happen between now until 19 April 2011. Gale forces and hails are expected to cause damages to lives and properties of people in the areas. The cold fronts from China have moved closer to the northern region where hailstorms could occur when the temperature peaks during the day.

Director of the Royal Artificial Rainmaking Center in Chiang Mai province Mr. Song Klinpratum said in an attempt to protect the area from catastrophe, the Royal Thai Air force, the Meteorological Department and the Royal Rainmaking Center have stepped up a plan to prevent the occurrence of hailstorms in the North.

The Royal Artificial Rainmaking project has had a long history of coping with drought crisis, but has recently been developed to combat hailstorms in the past 4 years. It is said the impact of summer storms on farmlands is immense.

The study of the atmosphere as well as the weather analysis has so far helped in forecasting the likelihood of hailstorms but Thailand has also refused to take the chance and decided to intervene with the harmful weather event by using His Majesty the King’s Royal Rainmaking operation to speed up the distillation process of the clouds before they crystallize and become hails.

The Bureau of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation will release silver-iodine into the air from two hi speed planes in order to disperse the clouds while the rainmaking process is said to stimulate cloud formations.

Before two airplanes are sent airborne, the new technology called TITAN, which is a computer program with ability to detect the forming of the ice in the air is deployed. Then the silver iodine will be released right where the clouds may solidify. 15 Northern provinces under the care consist of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan, Phayao, Phrae, Mae Hong Son, Lamphun, Uttaradit, Tak, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Phetchabun, Phichit, Lampang and Kamphaeng Phet.

-- NNT 2011-04-05

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Two Swedes Electrocuted In Krabi

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Deputy PM Suthep Denied He Would Shine Thaksin's Shoes

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UK Ambassador to Thailand Asif Ahmad makes full use of the social media

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Thai Govt approves Bt6.1bn relief fund as flood death toll hits 51 dead, 29,000 ill

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Thai Navy seeking Cabinet nod for submarines, frigates upgrade

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EYE ON THE ELECTION

Small Thai parties crucial to poll result, leaders say

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Residents rally to get Rangers to stay in Yala

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ENERGY WOES

Thai Govt's Diesel subsidy may last till June

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Thai Navy's costly sub dream needs a lot of explaining

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ACCIDENT

Thai Teen loses her leg after subway train accident in Singapore

By The Nation

A 14-year-old Thai girl, who lost her leg to a speeding subway train in Singapore on Sunday, has undergone surgery and in a stable condition, Foreign Ministry's spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said Monday.

"Unfortunately, she has to lose one of her legs," he said, adding that the ministry had provided for some relatives to visit her. The ministry has facilitated a visit of her relatives to Singapore, Thani added.

Information of Nitcharee Peneakchanasak's legs was unclear. One of her legs was immediately severed, while the other had to be amputated later because it was badly mangled by the impact.

It is still unknown why the Trang native fell onto the track, but witnesses say she was feeling dizzy before the accident.

However, her friends were surprised to hear about the accident, saying Nitcharee seemed healthy. Sam Lin, one of her classmates, told xinmsn.com, "she seemed fine and wasn't sick at all" when they went to see the Merlion on Friday.

Nitcharee was in Singapore to improve her English-language skills and had enrolled for classes at the Cambridge School of Education.

Police said they heard about the incident at about 11.10am, and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived about 10 minutes later to rescue the victim.

Train services continued as per normal, with a slight 15minute delay at the Ang Mo Kio station where the incident took place. The MRT authorities will be assisting the police in investigating the incident.

-- The Nation 2011-04-05

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Thailand to tell UN climate talks: Wealthy nations must pay - and help us!

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Thailand agrees to send representative to JBC meeting

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Three PMs ignored me, says desperate granny

By The Nation

A desperate grandma yesterday camped outside Government House seeking help to reclaim her property in Kalasin after appeals to the two previous governments fell on deaf ears.

Khambeng Mulchiangtai, 67, said she had been appealing for help after a group of people threatened her and took over her land. She first wrote to the Thaksin Shinawatra administration in 2001, then filed a complaint with the Surayud Chulanont government. Last October she submitted her grievance to the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration and has travelled to Government House countless times to follow up.

She said she has spent about Bt40,000 travelling up and down to no avail and now her land in Kalasin has been awarded to a stranger in a court. The woman, who has set up her protest at Government House's eighth gate, cried loudly as she begged for help and showed documents to reporters as security officials quietly observed the scene.

One policeman said Khambeng had filed a complaint there many times before, while another was heard quietly telling others that she should be taken out and banned from returning as she created a scene. The woman appeared to calm down after an official from the public complaint centre came out to speak to her.

-- The Nation 2011-04-05

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Pheu Thai's PM candidate not party leader

By The Nation

Democrat Party spokesman Buranaj Smutharaks yesterday slammed rival Pheu Thai Party for not making the party leader its prime ministerial candidate.

Buranaj said the move had led him to believe that Pheu Thai wanted to keep its PM candidate out of the executive board so he is not held responsible for any legal problems involving the party.

"The real intention could be that they want their prime minister candidate to avoid any scrutiny in the future," the Democrat spokesman said, adding that in a parliamentary democracy, a political party's leader is almost always its PM candidate.

"Their practice is more like that of a presidential system. The parliamentary system places importance on party leaders who have to be ready for scrutiny as candidates for premiership," the spokesman said.

Buranaj added that Pheu Thai's move would once again leave the House of Representatives with no opposition leader, who according to law has to be an MP and leader of the largest opposition party.

Pheu Thai is currently the largest opposition party, but its leader Yongyuth Wichaidit is not an MP and, therefore, is not eligible for the post of an opposition leader.

The spokesman said he believed that Pheu Thai would wait "until the last minute" before House dissolution to disclose its prime ministerial candidate.

He said this move was aimed at preventing widespread scrutiny of the candidate.

-- The Nation 2011-04-05

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Vegetables, fuel hit by South floods

By The Nation

Trang

Vegetable vendors at the Tha Khlang Market in Nakhon Trang Municipality were lamenting yesterday over a 30-per-cent drop in income following a shortage of vegetables and soaring prices caused by the floods.

Wholesale vendor Chompoo-nuch Boonkaewwan, 35, said supplies of leafy vegetables had dropped by 3 tonnes a day - including Chinese cabbages, Chinese kale, coriander and spring onions.

A bag of Chinese cabbage was now Bt400-Bt450 compared with the usual Bt240-Bt250; a bag of baby corn rose from Bt150 to Bt200; while a bag of tomatoes was now priced at Bt370, up from the previous Bt150.

Chompoonuch said many customers could no longer afford to buy vegetables in large amounts for retail sale. She had been forced to ration vegetables for other customers who wanted to buy them for flood victims.

Vendors had to buy vegetables from Ratchaburi instead of Nakhon Si Thammarat, which was still seriously flooded. Truck-transport costs have risen from Bt7,000 to Bt9,000 and delivery was often delayed by hours as transporters were forced to detour around flooded areas. These added costs resulted in her income dropping by 30 per cent, she said.

Meanwhile, Ranong province is suffering a motor-fuel shortage as tankers from flood-hit Surat Thani depot cannot deliver to Ranong service stations.

Service-station owner Tonaya Songprajakkul said that normally the Surat Thani trucks would deliver about 16,000 litres of fuel per day while customers were demanding about 10,000 litres of diesel alone per day. Tankers are now turning to the Samut Prakan fuel depot, which was delivering late last night. The service station has a policy not to sell to customers carrying fuel containers.

A motorcycle-taxi operator in Muang Ranong lamented that petrol was sold out at many stations, causing problems to motorcycle-taxi drivers, who needed one or two full tanks a day to make a living. Many were resorting to using petrol sold by the bottle.

-- The Nation 2011-04-05

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PACC seeks probe into ID-card cases

By The nation

The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is eyeing corruption involving the issuing of Thai ID cards as a special case, and wants the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) to investigate the money trail leading back to a duration of three years.

PACC chief Amphol Wongsiri was referring to allegations of graft related to the issuing of ID cards in Kanchanaburi's Thong Pha Phum district. He said PACC had called on Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to have Provincial Administration Department chief Mongkol Surasajja launch a disciplinary probe against Thong Pha Phum district chief Thavorn Leelapan.

Pirapan also asked PACC to look into all transactions over three years, especially in Kanchanaburi's Thong Pha Phum and Sangkhla Buri districts where more than 10,000 ID cards were issued to migrant workers and reportedly helped gangsters earn as much as Bt1 billion, he said.

"By issuing ID cards to those who aren't entitled, state officials can earn up to Bt20 million a month, because migrant workers, mostly those from Nepal and Burma, pay the middlemen and involved officials anything between Bt25,000 and Bt100,000 per head. There are at least 10 such people applying for ID cards every day," he said. Since migrants with ID cards can own land and cast votes, it can be considered a threat to national security, the Justice Ministry will have DSI take up the case and get AMLO to trace the money trial.

Amphol will also speak to the National Anti-Corruption Commission chief about the case.

-- The Nation 2011-04-05

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Abhisit ducks Mongkhol row, seeks court decision

By Piyanart Srivalo

The Nation

Ducking a political hot potato, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said the dispute over an Interior Ministry department post would be passed to the Central Administrative Court to make the final decision.

"I hope that the court will find a way out of the problem, by the 60-day legal deadline," he said.

Both Abhisit and the ministry's leadership have refused to comply with the ruling by a civil-service ethics panel that Mongkhol Surasajja must be removed as director-general of the Provincial Administration Department so that inspector-general Wongsak Sawasdiphanich can be reinstated.

The court, hearing the complaint recently lodged by permanent secretary Wichiean Chawalit, is required to sort it out within 60 days, under regulations.

Abhisit cited the royal command appointing Mongkhol as the department's chief as the reason he as prime minister should not intervene.

Wongsak has petitioned the court for an order returning him to his old post, citing the ethics panel's ruling, which was a final administrative decision that the ministry has to follow. But the ministry has instead lodged a complaint to the court asking it to settle the matter.

The Democrat-led government, reportedly reluctant to intervene in the affairs of the ministry under its coalition partner the Bhum Jai Thai Party, has sought another way out by requesting a legal interpretation from the Council of State.

Atchaphorn Jarujinda, secretary-general of the government's legal advisory arm, echoed Abhisit's argument about the royal command.

He said the court's pending decision would be regarded as final, as the conflict was now in due process.

Most Cabinet members said the Cabinet should not be held responsible for the matter, as it only approved what the ministry had proposed - the transfers of Wongsak away from the department and of Mongkhol to succeed him.

-- The Nation 2011-04-05

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Southern bus service resumes; trains travel to as far south as Chaiya district; Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport reopens tomorrow /TAN_Network

Rain to be seen nationwide; all regions except South to see strong wind and higher temperature /TAN_Network

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Disaster center reports 10 provinces still affected by flooding; 47 deaths so far with 20 in Nakhon Si Thammarat alone /TAN_Network

HRH Princess Chulabhorn visits flood victims in Noppitam, Nakhon Si Thammarat /TAN_Network

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Thai stock index opens on Tuesday at 1,075.87, down 2.79 points /MCOT

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PM Abhisit Shrugs Off Coup Rumor

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People urged to donate blood on World Health Day

BANGKOK, 5 April 2011 (NNT) – The National Blood Center of the Thai Red Cross Society has invited all Thai people to donate blood under the project ‘Love Health, Love Blood Donation’ upon the upcoming World Health Day on 7 April.

National Blood Center Director Medical Doctor Soisa-ang Pikulsod stated that the ‘Love Health, Love Blood Donation’ project has been arranged for the World Health Day in order to encourage healthy people to donate blood with the center.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 7 April of every year the World Health Day. The theme of the World Health Day this year is ‘Antimicrobial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow’.

Apart from blood donation, Medical Doctor Soisa-ang added that exhibitions regarding drugs and their effects to blood donation as well as healthcare and appropriate food for blood donors will also be arranged to educate blood donors in response to the theme.

Interested blood donors can donate their blood and attend the event at the National Blood Center of the Thai Red Cross Society on Henri-Dunant Road in Bangkok from 6 to 8 April 2011.

-- NNT 2011-04-05

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Ayutthaya chosen as bid city for World Expo 2020

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Finance Minister Extends Tax Deadlines for Flood Victims

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Kuwaiti man arrested for allegedly with crystal meth in possession

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PM Understands Relatives of Jailed Thais Seeking Thaksin's Help

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Bus Services to South Resume

Bus services to the south of Thailand have resumed as usual today as floodwater in the region starts to recede.

The Nakorn Sri Thammarat airport will reopen for business tomorrow on April 6.

-- Tan Network 2011-04-05