Thailand Live Friday 6 Apr 2012

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Thailand Live Friday 6 April 2012

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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Man Arrested after Taking Wife Hostage: Bangkok

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TABLETS FROM CHINA

Govt delays computer tablet deal-signing as deadline guarantee missed

BANGKOK: -- The Information and Communications Technology Ministry has delayed the signing of a contract to purchase Chinese tablet computers for Prathom 1 students until Tuesday after Shenzhen Scope Scientific Development failed to produce a guarantee from the Bank of China by yesterday.

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AFP: Resistant Malaria Spreads Rapidly To Thai-Myanmar Border

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AFP: Antibody Clues To Aids Vaccine Success

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AFP: Half Of Vietnamese Firms Bribe Officials: Survey

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RECONCILIATION

Suthep suggests national reconciliation referendum: Thailand

Insists public must decide on any package that includes amnesty for Thaksin; likens red shirts to Khmer Rouge

BANGKOK: -- Suthep Thaugsuban, a senior Democrat Party MP, yesterday proposed a national referendum on any reconciliation package that included the scope and details of an amnesty for fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra and others involved in the political conflict.

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Chalerm Denies Thaksin Talking With Insurgents

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POLITICS

Abhisit accepts Chalerm's invitation to help resolve South crisis

BANGKOK: -- Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung yesterday asked for the Opposition's participation in tackling the insurgency problem in the deep South, an invitation that was accepted by Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.

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AFTERMATH

Support pours in online for Hat Yai residents

HAT YAI: -- As support for businessmen and residents poured in via social networking websites, the Lee Garden Plaza Hotel's president Wanchai Leelasithorn yesterday promised that the site would go into operation soon.

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HEALTH CARE

People confused over free health care

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Since March 31, when national healthcare subscribers were given the right to seek free emergency care from all hospitals, the 1669 and 1330 hotlines have been receiving as many as 300 enquiries daily.

Dr Paijit Warachit, secretary general of the Public Health Ministry said the ministry’s coordination centre has also been getting about seven calls daily.

Paijit said most of the callers wanted to know what entitled them to emergency services, while many were worried that they might have to pay later.

He also said that the National Health Security Office was looking into providing free emergency medical services to one and all.

-- The Nation 2012-04-06

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Top-security zones to be set up in southern urban areas

The Nation

More than 1,000 people gather outside the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Songkhla

Hat Yai, other commercial centres to have measures previously limited to three southernmost provinces

HAT YAI: -- Safety zones with intensified security measures will be enforced for the first time in urban areas in the deep South, including Hat Yai, in the wake of the deadly car bomb attacks in Yala and Songkhla last Saturday.

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INTERVIEW

Scrapping AEC rulings would spell doom for the country: chairman

BANGKOK: -- Amid the controversial proposals for reconciliation, the 2006 military coup and the legal effects of the Assets Examination Committee were pointed out as causes for current political conflicts. Nation News Agency's Attayuth Bootsripoom interviews former Supreme Court judge and AEC chairman Nam Yimyaem.

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Consular assistance for UK nationals

BANGKOK: -- As a consequence of the large number of British tourists and residents in Thailand, the British Embassy in Bangkok has to offer assistance to a significant number of distressed citizens.

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'Peacekeepers' to monitor Bangkok

BANGKOK: -- A temporary "peacekeeping centre" is being set up to monitor the situation in Bangkok during two upcoming long holidays.

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Bus companies get ready for Songkran hordes

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Wutthichat Kalayanamit, president of Transport Co, said his is company was prepared to deal with crowds of Songkran holidaymakers heading to the provinces.

Since thousands of people are expected to travel to and from Bangkok between April 9 and 18, the company will add an additional 1,700 daily buses to the usual 3,500 in order to accommodate at least a million passengers per day. In addition, 12 more security cameras will be installed at the Mor Chit 2 Bus Terminal, he added.

Meanwhile, Sujinda Cherdchai, chief of the Thai Bus Operators Association, confirmed yesterday that private bus operators would not raise their fares during the festive season. She added that Ratchasima Tour would provide an extra 100 buses to hold Bangkokbound travellers from April 1517 so nobody gets stranded at the "Gateway to Northeast".

-- The Nation 2012-04-06

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BMA fixes underground hole on Charoenkrung Road

Thanatpong Kongsai

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Officials were busy fixing a spot on Charoenkrung Road in Bangkok's Bang Kho Laem district with the hope of allowing normal flow of traffic by today.

Repairs began yesterday after Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) detected a 50centimetre hole under the road's surface in front of Charoenkrung Pracharak Hospital.

"We have already cordoned off the spot," Deputy Bangkok Governor Thirachon Manomaipiboon said, adding that the hole had caused the road surface there to subside gradually over the past few years.

"There's no sinkhole here because it's a reinforced concrete road," he added.

Dr Sawitri Sutwilrong, the owner of Sawitri Clinic, said she had noticed that the footpath in front of her clinic had started subsiding a few years ago.

"I alerted the district office three times, and it was repaired twice. But last month, they checked and found a hole underneath," she said.

Sawitri said that her clinic had sustained some cracks and the floor was starting to tilt. "I am not sure if these problems are related to the hole under the road surface".

Thirachon said the area would be further examined to see if other spots on Charoenkrung Road needed repair.

"We will also check other roads that are located near waterways and major infrastructure pipes," Thirachon said.

An informed source confirmed that the GPR would be used to check 20 roads including Rama IV, Rama III, Rama VI and Naradhiwas Rajnakharin.

Thirachon said from now on, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and other relevant agencies would consult each other before fixing piping systems or road surfaces. He believes that such cooperation would prevent or at least reduce problems.

-- The Nation 2012-04-06

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COLD PILLS

Prescriptions to be tightly controlled: Thailand

Doctors required to record every patient's name, inventory details

BANGKOK: -- The Public Health Ministry will be strictly controlling the prescription of pseudoephedrine based tablets at all its hospitals across the country.

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Viktor Bout sentenced to 25 years

NEW YORK: -- A Federal Court in New York Court has sentenced Viktor Bout to 25 years in prison.

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DSI urged to probe graft allegations

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Nation Associate AntiCorruption Network (NACN) secretarygeneral Mongkolkit Suksintharanon yesterday urged Yannapol Yangyeun, deputy chief of Department of Special Investigation (DSI), to investigate Education Ministry's permanent secretary, Sasithara Pichaichannarong, for alleged corruption in the Bt884million purchase of education supplies.

Mongkolkit said that since there was no progress after he had raised the issue with the PM, who then passed it on to Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej, the NACN wanted the DSI to step in.

He said initial investigation showed grounds of corruption, especially in relation to a claim that the items were made in Germany and France, when in reality they were made in Thailand. In addition, he said, many of the items delivered did not match the needs of the vocational collages. For instance, Bang Pakong Vocational Collage received a set of cookware even though it does not teach domestic science. He said directors of 27 vocational colleges were ready to give information to DSI.

NACN has also asked DSI to look into the disciplinary action taken against teacher Theerapat Khamkhubon, who alerted NACN about this alleged corruption.

-- The Nation 2012-04-06

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RT @RichardBarrow: 6th April: Today it's Chakri Day & a Thai public holiday. It marks the founding of the dynasty starting with King Rama I

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Immigration Closure Over Songkran

More info:

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Parliament votes 307 for, none against; 2 abstain, 3 don't vote, to receive Reconciliation Panel report ; to forward it to Cabinet for consideration /MCOT

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AFP: Hackers hitting Macs with virus: industry experts

The computer security industry buzzed Thursday with warnings that more than a half-million Macintosh computers may have been infected with a virus targeting Apple machines.

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Chakri Day, Public Holiday In Thailand

Full story: http://www.thaivisa....ay-in-thailand/

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Crown Prince to officiate at ceremony to commemorate Chakri Day

BANGKOK, 6 April 2012 (NNT) - His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will today represent His Majesty the King at the ceremony to pay homage to King Rama I, founder of the Chakri Dynasty, on the occasion of the Chakri Day.

According to the Bureau of the Royal Household, at 4.30 p.m. on 6 April 2012 HRH the Crown Prince will proceed by car to the statue of King Rama I on the Memorial Bridge (Phra Phuttha Yodfa Bridge) where he will present floral tribute of Their Majesties the King and Queen as well as that of himself and other royal offerings to King Rama I’s statue.

Thereafter, HRH the Crown Prince will proceed to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace where he will pay respect to the Emerald Buddha and will later on, go to the Phra Dhebidorn Hall to pay homage to the ancestral kings.

The Bureau of the Royal Household also announced that in conjunction with the founding anniversary of the Chakri Dynasty today, His Majesty the King has graciously granted permission for members of the general public to pay homage to the statues of Chakri Dynasty’s former kings in the Phra Dhebidorn Hall. The hall will be open for the purpose from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on 6 April.

-- NNT 2012-04-06

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Defence minister visits 3 southernmost provinces to follow up situation

BANGKOK, April 6 – Thailand’s Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat travelled Friday to the southern region to follow up the situation in the three southernmost provinces and give moral support to the military stationed in the violence-plagued area.

Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol told reporters before departing that the trip was aimed to provide firsthand information on obstacles and recommendations from the authorities working in the region and to seek the ways to facilitate operations in the southern provinces among the various agencies to run more smoothly.

He said that any intelligence and strategy operations which worked properly would not be altered, but that more communication technology for more effective coordination among official agencies would be implemented.

As for the security measures for the safety of public, he said the emergency decree is already enforced in the three southern provinces, the local authorities would decide whether a curfew was needed in any of their jurisdictions.

He also noted it was considered impossible that fugitive ousted prime ministerThaksin Shinawatra had held secret talks with Thailand’s exiled insurgents abroad.

ACM Sukumpol said the claim would not impact security matters but urged the public not to falter, but to be thoughtful.

Opposition Democrat MPs for the southern border provinces of Songkhla and Yala cited informed sources as saying that Mr Thaksin had recently talked with the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) in a neighbouring country.

The insurgent movement however reportedly rejected the ousted premier's alleged offer to give it money in exchange for an end of the eight-year insurgency in Thailand's southern border region. The failed talks reportedly led to the recent surge of violence which rocked the region.

The Democrat MPs asked the government to investigate the PULO website where Mr Thaksin was said to be pictured embracing its leader.

ACM Sukumpol was scheduled to visit Pattani and Yala before returning to Bangkok at around 7pm. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-04-06

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Nan flooded after hit by heavy rain

NAN, 6 April 2012 (NNT) – Heavy rain last night caused the water level in the Nan River to rise and overflow its banks into residential area forcing residents to move their belongings to safer places.

Shopkeepers in Hat Hin Khao and Hat Ruam Jai Communities in Muang District had to move their belongings on high ground as the water level increased rapidly. The water color was red as it washed away dried muds.

A local shopkeeper said the area has been a tourist destination during summer; it has never been flooded in April, adding that it should have faced drought instead of flooding.

The provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department has told residents not to panic, saying the flood was caused by accumulated rain water. It expects the situation to return to normal today.

-- NNT 2012-04-06

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Suvarnabhumi Airport urges travelers to check in 3-4 hours before departure

BANGKOK, 6 April 2012 (NNT) – Suvarnabhumi International Airport has urged travelers to check in 3-4 hours before departure time to give some time in case of long queue.

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