Thailand Live Saturday 11 June 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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World's first dengue vaccine shows promising results

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PM denies snubbing coalition ally

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E coli 'not' behind student infections

By The Nation

After nearly 100 students from Bangkok's Horwang School were taken to hospital with acute diarrhoea yesterday, Vibhavadi Hospital director Dr Prompong Peeraboon admitted that the problem must have been caused by a certain bacterium, but dismissed suggestions that it could be Escherichia coli.

E coli infections have been causing panic recently because some strains can cause death.

Prompong said the students developed the symptoms either on Thursday evening or yesterday morning, with some also suffering from dizziness and vomiting. Fifteen were in serious condition and had to be admitted as inpatients.

"More lab tests will be conducted to determine the exact cause of the diarrhoea, and the results should come out in the next few days," he said.

Dr Chinnapat Bhumirat, secretarygeneral of the Office of the Basic Education Commission, said he believed the infection might have been caused by something served in the school canteen.

-- The Nation 2011-06-11

CAT makes move to speed up granting of NTC 3G permit

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ANALYSIS

Abhisit stays defiant

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Corruption network urges huge school probe

By The Nation

The AntiCorruption Network yesterday called on the National AntiCorruption Commission (NACC) to probe the financial movements of 366 highly popular schools in the wake of alleged bribery at one.

Triamudomsuksanomklao School faces allegations that it accepted bribes from wealthy parents, who offered sizeable amounts of cash in exchange for the school accepting their children.

The network's secretarygeneral Mongkonkit Suksintharanont yesterday said the bank accounts of the school's directors, their relatives and close aides should be frozen pending the probes.

"It is necessary to check if any school director is unusually rich," he said.

Mongkonkit said the available information suggested that 11 school directors were richer than they should be.

"We are ready to submit the name list to the NACC," he added.

He said the NACC should investigate Office of the Basic Education Commission secretarygeneral Dr Chinnapat Bhumirat and Triamudomsuksanomklao School director Sarayut Fusapniran for alleged negligence, because the bribes - if proven - had adversely affected the rights of many children.

Mongkonkit said he already submitted a letter to Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat asking him to transfer both Chinnapat and Sarayut out of their posts.

"It will then be easier for outside organisations to investigate the alleged bribes," he said.

He said he hoped the Department of Special Investigation and civil society would look into the case.

Mongkonkit said that if Sarayut were guilty he should be sent to work at a school in a Southern border province until his retirement as punishment.

Today, the network will organise activities condemning those involved in school bribery cases.

-- The Nation 2011-06-11

Mae Rim police chief transferred for ignoring security measures

By The Nation

The chief of Chiang Mai's Mae Rim police station and another senior officer have been transferred to inactive posts for failing to stop local redshirt supporters from interrupting a Democrat election rally led by Abhisit Vejjajiva.

National police chief General Wichean Potephosree said the transfers were not politically motivated and the action was being taken because both officers had failed to follow the security measures they were meant to put in place before Abhisit's election campaign on June 2.

Pol Colonel Somchai Inthasothit and Pol LtColonel Wichathorn Phewphan will be removed from their posts for at least six months, effective immediately.

Provincial police chief Somsak Janthaphing said both officers had ignored the orders and it was not yet decided whether they would return to their jobs at the Mae Rim police station.

"No checkpoints were set up, and no policemen were manning risky areas, the exits or inside the convention hall being used. No policemen were given the job of videotaping the redshirt supporters shouting abuses at the prime minister," he said.

The police, in a joint operation with the Election Commission, have worked out strategies, coded under the colours yellow, orange and red, to guard against violence and electoral fraud. Neither the police nor the EC have explained whether the strategies are colourcoded according to pro or antiThaksin Shinawatra sentiments or a mixture of both.

Police had earlier worked out two lists dubbed "hot spots" and "red zones", and also designated eight districts in Bangkok as most at risk for political violence.

-- The Nation 2011-06-11

Khon Kaen village submerged

By The Nation

The Khon Kaen School for the Blind has been submerged for days, with its students struggling with skin diseases. "They have to wade through polluted water to get to class," the school's director Chaiya Hongnee said yesterday.

The school is in Ban Kam Hai village, a lowlying area, and has about 70 visually impaired students. Chaiya said the ground floor had been flooded since it started raining heavily last Sunday.

"We get flooded every time there's a heavy downpour. Things have been like this for three years now, but the authorities have done nothing," he said.

He said municipalities had simply passed the blame on to others and done nothing.

Meanwhile, villagers have been trying to sell off their homes because they can no longer bear the flooding.

"They are offering their homes at ridiculously low prices," said Somsong Tabang, 48. The villager said the area was under 50 centimetres of water and she was afraid to take her car out over concern that it might stop running.

"I have had to wade through water," Somsong said.

-- The Nation 2011-06-11

Thais have better health now

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Pheu Thai candidate faces police complaint for threatening an on-duty soldier with a pistol

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Thailand informs Cambodian, Vietnamese embassies on spy arrest

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How influential is social media in Thailand’s election?

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Cambodia issues statement claiming Thai PM staged arrest of suspected spies to pave way for attack /TAN_Network

PM hasn't seen Cambodian statement and says Foreign Ministry will have to issue updates on espionage case /TAN_Network

Patong unites against vote buying and selling

Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong explains to

the press that the rally was being held to urge people to vote in the

July 3 general election.

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Phuket Tattoo artists ink compromise on religious tattoos

Nontiwat Jantaraprasit, owner of Quality Tattoo Phuket in Kata,

defends the rights of people having appropriate tattoos.

Photo: Atchaa Khamlo

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New Phuket bus terminal ‘open by October’: transport chief

Teerayout Prasertphol (pictured) is the new chief of the

Phuket Land Transport Office.

BREAKTHROUGH: Chief Teerayout said it is 'very possible' to do

the work needed to open the new terminal.

Phuket gold heist reward upped to Bt200,000

Jirasak Tarnattanasombut holds up a poster showing the insignia stamped into

each piece of jewelry from his shop. He urges anyone who is sold jewelry bearing

this stamp to contact him immediately. Photo: Chutharat Plerin

A close-up of the insignia stamped into the stolen jewelry. Photo: Chutharat Plerin

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Lab tests found E.coli in Kohlrabi imported from Europe, strain being examined, result expected June 13: Health ministry /MCOT

AFP: Hundreds of tortoises seized at Suvarnabhumi airport

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PM Abisit: Thai FM will clarify on spy case to concerned agencies

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Bangkok police arrest Ghana, Nigeria citizens, for allegedly swallowing 1kg of crystal meth and cocaine worth Bt4 million /MCOT

AFP: Thailand finds E. coli in European cabbage

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Skytrain proposed for Phuket

Tophon Kraianupongsa says a skytrain, not light rail, is ideal for Phuket.

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Car theft: Phuket car rental firm seeks compensation

Traffic makes its way along the Patong beach road, home to many car rental operators.

One operator has just learned that she will not be reimbursed by her insurance company

for a car rented to a Singaporean that has not been returned.

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Thailand warned to screen EU tourists, crops

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Deep South poised for more violence after crackdown on smuggled goods

By Don Pathan

The Nation

YALA

A combined forces of 150 police and soldiers raided a warehouse in Yala's Old Market area and confiscated two truckload of foreign cigarettes and tens of thousands of litres of petro, officials said.

Fourth Army chief Lt Gen Udomchai Thammasarojrat confirmed the operation and said a number of agencies were involved.

"Massive amount of smuggled petro and about two ten-wheel trucks full of foreign cigarettes were confiscated," Udomchai said.

The army-led operation was carried out at around 4:00 AM Saturday morning. Old Market is predominantly a Malay Muslim neighbourhood in Yala's Muang district.

Police are looking for a key suspect, a former village level official who originated from Bannang Sata district in Yala. It is believed that he has fled the area.

According to custom regulation, fine for smuggled cigarettes is twenty time the commercial value.

About three hours after the operation was launched, a dead dog inside a cardboard box was placed in front of the Tesaban 4 primary school in Yala's Muang district.

Authorities believe that the incident was a sign of things to come. They are poised for a violence retaliation, saying the suspect on the run may resort to violence to hit back at the authorities for cracking down on their illicit operation.

"We don't think the suspect is part of the insurgents' network but it is very like that that this suspect may have tapped into the pool of young militants to carry out attacks," a senior government officer in the region said.

Fourth Army chief Lt Gen Udomchai Thammasarojrat blame petro smugglers for the April 18 car bomb attack that injured seven paramilitary rangers passing by on another pickup truck. His statement, issued just after the attack, had contradicted the police who blamed the insurgents for the attacks.

Similarly, a senior government officer in the region blamed the Feb 13 car bomb attack that wiped out 11 shophouses in Yala's business area on the smugglers.

A source in the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinate (BRN-C), one of the long standing separatist movement that surfaced in the late 1960s and claimed to have regular dialogue with the militant cell on the ground, echoed the allegations made by the Thai side. He said the two mentioned car bombs - Feb 13 and April 18 - were not the work of the separatist movement but initiated by local crime syndicates with axe to grind with the authorities. He said the syndicates had paid off young insurgent to carry out these attacks.

He said there was concerned that the younger militants were selling their trades craft to local crime syndicates for money and added that a significant number of the violence incidents in the deep South were purely criminal in nature and had nothing to do with the ongoing insurgency.

-- The Nation 2011-06-11

Police says 307 MP candidates have requested for police protection and 1,467 campaign signs have been destroyed. /via@thaielection11

Nigerian, Ghanaian citizens arrested for drug trafficking in Bangkok

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