Thailand Live Sunday 6 May 2012

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Thailand Live Sunday 6 May 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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Related topic: Thailand Live Saturday 5 May 2012

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[Lite Beer]

Red shirts want an end to military coups: Thida

Olan Lertrattanadamrongkul

Nation News Agency

Thida

BANGKOK:-- Chairperson says group will double in strength in five years

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552894-red-shirts-want-an-end-to-military-coups-thida/#entry5276812

[Lite Beer]

Thailand 'needs proper system to predict quakes'

Pratch Rujivanarom

The Nation

BANGKOK:-- Thailand still does not have a proper scientific method of predicting earthquakes, a university lecturer has warned.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552895-thailand-needs-proper-system-to-predict-quakes/#entry5276821

[Lite Beer]

Ministers to check markets for rising prices of goods

The Nation

BANGKOK:-- Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered ministers overseeing business to get first-hand details on retail prices of food and other necessities due to more complaints over rising living costs.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552896-ministers-to-check-markets-for-rising-prices-of-goods/#entry5276833

[Lite Beer]

Officers search garage thought to supply insurgents

The Nation on Sunday

NARATHIWAT:-- A combined team of 50 security personnel yesterday searched a garage in Narathiwat's Tak Bai district where they suspected vehicles were being modified for use by southern insurgents to carry out attacks.

Besides 14 cars inside the garage, the team found another 14 in an abandoned rice mill 100 metres away, some of them with fake licence plates. They also found some Malaysian licence plates hidden in a large pipe. Police said they would summon garage owner Sunthorn Phrompakdi, 49, who was not there at the time.

The search stemmed from Friday's arrest of Masata Jehma, 45, along with a pick-up truck with a fake licence plate. Masata told police Sunthorn hired him to drive the truck to a gas station in Muang district, where someone would pick it up later. Police were probing whether the truck might be used by insurgents as a car bomb during the Narathiwat Red Cross fair from May 5-14.

Meanwhile, a member of the Ban Kumang mosque committee, Supian Bensueni, 46, was shot dead in Yala's Bannang Sata district yesterday while riding a motorcycle in his village by a gunman with an M16 assault rifle.

In related news, police at 9am yesterday inspected the scene where some 20 suspected insurgents at around 2am stole 25 security cameras, which had been installed by the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) on power poles along Road 410 (Pattani-Yala) in Pattani's Yarang district.

-- The Nation 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

Seven critical after chemical factory blaze

The Nation on Sunday

Bystanders were astonished by the fire and explosion at the Bangkok Synthetics factory in Rayong

BANGKOK:-- Some 47 people were injured - seven of them critically - after a fire broke out yesterday at the Bangkok Synthetics factory in Map Ta Phut.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552897-seven-critical-after-chemical-factory-blaze/#entry5276844

[Lite Beer]

Five arrested in drug bust

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK:-- Police have arrested five suspects and seized 42,000 yaba tablets and 2 kilograms of crystal meth in Bangkok's Phasi Charoen district.

Metropolitan Police Area 9 chief Pol Maj-General Rassadakorn Yingyong told a press conference yesterday that the four men aged 18-36, and a five-month-pregnant woman, 21, were arrested at the Resort Hotel in Soi Phetchkasem 35/1. Following a tip-off that people in room number 104 in the 14th building were dealing drugs, police arrested the people attending a drug party there on Friday night. The suspects reportedly confessed to buying the drugs found in the room from a dealer in Lat Krabang and were preparing to sell them to dealers in the South.

-- The Nation 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

Online betting operation raided; six arrested

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK:-- The 191 Police Taskforce yesterday raided an online baccarat/football betting operation in Bangkok's Wang Thong Lang district, the taskforce deputy commander Pol Col Suthin Sabphoung said yesterday.

Suthin led 191 and Wang Thong Lang officers at 1pm yesterday to search rooms number 206 and 232 at Thong Charoen Mansion in Soi Lat Phrao 122. They arrested six suspects including a Web designer, two cashiers and three women who took phone calls and provided credit top-ups for customers in exchange for Bt9,000 a month. Police seized six desktops, one computer notebook, 22 cell phones, 22 bank account books, 10 files of football-betting tickets and Bt59,000 cash.

Suthin said the suspects confessed that their website, www.aib333.net, had been up and running for a year and had some 500 customers with money flow of Bt500,000 a day (each customer was given credit worth Bt4 million a day).

He said the search and arrest followed the alleged murder of Kasetsart University student Tossaporn Liangjai, 19, on April 1, by fellow student Prasit Phanpala over an online football gambling debt.

-- The Nation 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

EDITORIAL

Appointing Jatuporn would ruin hope for reconciliation

The Nation

BANGKOK:-- Making controversial red shirt a Cabinet member could be explosive

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552898-appointing-jatuporn-would-ruin-hope-for-reconciliation-editorial/#entry5276857

[Lite Beer]

Train derailment

The Nation on Sunday

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT:-- A CARGO TRAIN that left from Bangkok's Bang Sue station to collect 34 cargo containers in Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat lies derailed and burnt yesterday in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Ron Phibul district.

Two people were injured in the accident, which caused the suspension of southern rail services. Officials said it would take up to a week to clear the train out and fix the damaged railway.

-- The Nation 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

Cargo train derails in Thung Song, halting train service in the South

BANGKOK, 5 May 2012 (NNT) – A south-bound freight train from Bangkok derailed this afternoon on its way to Hat Yai, Songkhla, causing a complete disruption to the country’s southern train service.

The train with 17 bogies stopped over in Thung Song district, Nakhon Si Thammarat, where it was loaded with 34 containers full of smoked para-rubber destined for Malaysia. However, on their way between Chong Khao Station and Ron Phibun Station, also in Nakhon Si Thammarat, all the 17 bogies derailed. The incident injured one person who was rushed to Thung Song Hospital.

State Railway of Thailand officials say efforts are being accelerated to salvage the derailed train carriages, and normal southern service is expected to resume tomorrow. The officials quoted preliminary investigations as saying that the disaster might come from soft ground due to heavy rains.

The SRT has already announced that southern train services are still operational only between Bangkok and Thung Song Junction. Buses are available for those who want to travel further down South, and anybody unable to catch southern trains today are entitled to a refund in full.

-- NNT 2012-05-05

[Lite Beer]

Speed bumps: more harm than good

Phuket Gazette –

PHUKET: Among the many factors conspiring to make Phuket roads some of the most dangerous in Thailand is the proliferation of poorly-designed, poorly-marked and poorly-maintained speed bumps that needlessly cause untold millions of baht in car damages and wasted fossil fuels every year.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552900-speed-bumps-more-harm-than-good/#entry5276873

[Lite Beer]

UPDATE:

Five killed, 95 injured in Map Ta Phut fire:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552897-seven-critical-after-chemical-factory-blaze/#entry5276915

[Lite Beer]

Transport Ministry readied for heavy traffic conditions after the start of new school term

BANGKOK, 6 May 2012 (NNT) – The Transport Ministry is ready to cope with more congested traffic condition when the new school term starts later this month.

Transport Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan said on Saturday that all agencies under the Transport Ministry have been instructed to prepare themselves for the start of the new school term, when demand for public transportation, particularly buses, will soar.

Mr. Charupong added that the Transport Ministry has collaborated with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the traffic police to work on key routes in the city, which are near schools, to ease possible congestion.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) director Opas Phetmunee said that both buses and drivers have been prepared for the class resumption.

According to Mr. Opas, more than 2 million people, each day, take on BMTA buses, which currently operate on more than 100 routes.

-- NNT 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

Meteorological Dept warns of heavy rain and flash flood throughout the country /TAN_Network

[Lite Beer]

Death toll in Map Ta Phut factory fire rises to ten, 120 injured: Public health ministry /MCOT

Death toll from Map Ta Phut factory fire rises to 12, while 24 out of 142 injured remain in hospital, PM to inspect area on Sunday /MCOT

RT@ThanongK: RT @Juarawee: RT @sataporn_tpbs: BST, Map Ta Phut factory, fire went out 3AM. Rescuers fear building may collapse http://t.co/Sjb88PEr

[Lite Beer]

Yingluck visits scene of Map Ta Phut fire, injured workers

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Sunday flew on an helicopter to Rayong to visit the scene of a factory fire in Map Ta Phut.

Yingluck, Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit and Industry Minister Pongsawat Sawatdiwat flew on a police helicopter at the Police Aviation Department at 9:45 am to visit Map Ta Phut.

The prime minster will also visit injured workers in hospitals and hold a meeting of government agencies concerned before returning to Bangkok at 2 pm.

-- The Nation 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

Pattaya Cops Nab US Man With Three Fake Credit Cards

PATTAYA:--Pattaya police Transnational Crime Coordination Center division arrested a U.S. citizen using fake cards to withdraw money from ATM machines. Bank of Ayudhya loses one million THB.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552917-pattaya-cops-nab-us-man-with-three-fake-credit-cards/#entry5277213

[Lite Beer]

RT@RichardBarrow: 12:30pm Traffic on Bang Na-Trad in front of MEGA Bangna is gridlocked. Best to avoid. Outer Ringroad moving at moment.

[Lite Beer]

PETROCHEMICALS

BST facility suspended after deadly explosion

Nation News Agency

Bangkok Synthetics Plc's operations in Map Ta Phut, Rayong has been suspended, following the explosion at its synthetic tyre furnace on May 5.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552897-seven-critical-after-chemical-factory-blaze/#entry5277553

[Lite Beer]

RT@RichardBarrow: Due to derailment in Nakhon Si Thammarat, at lower end of Southern Line, some trains are delayed/cancelled. Call 1690.

RT@RichardBarrow: Trains Cancelled from Bangkok: 3:45pm Rapid 169 to Yala, 5:30pm Rapid 173 to Nakhon Si & 7:30pm Express 85 to Nakhon Si - TR @Railwaytrip

[Lite Beer]

Home builders gear up for AEC

BANGKOK, 6 May 2012 (NNT) – The home-building industry is bracing itself for Thailand's integration into the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 by rushing to meet world-class standards before investing overseas.

The Home Builder Association has disclosed that the formation of the AEC will bring about many changes to the home-building business. Thus, entrepreneurs must enhance their performance quality and achieve universally-accepted standards, such as the ISO, in order to build confidence among clients as they turn their investment to overseas markets in the near future.

The association has also pointed out that currently the Thai home-building business is facing a shortage of workers. Once the AEC is formed and the market becomes liberalized, Thailand’s problem is expected to worsen. Therefore, it is advisable that home-building operators procure construction technologies or hire immigrant workers to compensate for the shortage of local workforce.

However, Thailand still holds an edge against its competitors in the area of home design. At present, a number of Thai entrepreneurs have already been contracted to design real estate properties in foreign countries.

Additionally, the Home Builder Association is launching a seminar under the topic of "2012 Home Building Industry's Standard Upgrading to Encounter the AEC Stage" on May 24, 2012 at The Emerald Hotel in Bangkok, in order to prepare home-building entrepreneurs for the upcoming AEC.

-- NNT 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

Poll: People most content with PM after 9 months in office

BANGKOK, 6 May 2012 (NNT) – Majority of people are most satisfied with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, according to a recent survey by ABAC poll.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552960-poll-people-most-content-with-pm-after-9-months-in-office/#entry5277731

[Lite Beer]

National Disaster Warning Center asks the public to beware of heavy rains-flash flood

BANGKOK, 6 May 2012 (NNT) – The residents of Thailand have been warned to prepare for heavy rain and flash flood during the next few days.

The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has, on Sunday, issued its 5th warning that asked the public to beware of heavy rain, flash flood and wild flood.

In its warning, the NDWC said that possible severe weather conditions are likely because the southwesterly wind covering the upper part of Thailand remains strong while a low pressure front over the Gulf of Martaban in southern Myanmar is now entering the western part of Thailand.

As a result, scattered and heavy rain can be expected in the North, the East, the central region and the western coast of the South.

The NDWC is urging residents in these areas to avoid all risk areas and asked fishermen in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman sea to be careful when out at sea during May 6th and 9th.

-- NNT 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

Environment Ministry: Air quality near blasted Rayong factory remains at safe level

RAYONG, 6 May 2012 (NNT) – The air quality around the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate remains safe and poses no health threat, according to the Environment Ministry.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk said on Sunday that his inspection trip to the tire factory at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, which was on fire on Saturday, found that the air pollution reading in the area is still within the standard limit.

Mr. Preecha added that the reported leakage of Toluene is not harmful, as this chemical is a type of cleaning agent that cannot cause cancer.

However, as the investigation is still continuing, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand has declared the blasted factory off-limit until maintenance service is completed and it has passed an official safety inspection.

-- NNT 2012-05-06

[Lite Beer]

PM: Demand-supply, oil price cause goods price hike

BANGKOK, 6 May 2012 (NNT) – Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has pointed out that the soaring goods price at present is due to the different demand-supply ratio and oil prices in each area of the country.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552489-idea-of-prices-rising-a-misconception-pm-yingluck/#entry5277902

[Lite Beer]

TR@tonravee: All 8,000 parking lot spaces at #Megabangna are occupied ... traffic is heavily congested around the area TR @js100radio 3.28 pm

[Lite Beer]

Chiang Mai rescue workers attempting rescue of 9 persons stranded in Opkhan National Park hit by flash flood /MCOT

[Lite Beer]

Death toll in Map Ta Phut factory fire rises to 12

BANGKOK, May 6 – The death toll from a fire at a factory in the Map Ta Phut industrial estate has risen to 12, while 24 out of 142 injured people remain hospitalised, according to the Public Health Ministry on Sunday.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/552897-seven-critical-after-chemical-factory-blaze/page__st__25#entry5278186