Thailand Live Wednesday 20 Jun 2012

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Thailand Live Wednesday 20 June 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 Tuesday 19 Jun 2012

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THAILAND'S GOT TALENT

Bare-breasted artist 'hired' to boost shows ratings: report

THE NATION

Panya

BANGKOK: -- The "art or obscenity" scandal over the latest episode of Thailand's Got Talent television show now threatens to expose grave violations of media ethics as allegations came out yesterday that the contestant in question had been "hired" to go on stage.

Full story:

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MYSTERIOUS MEETING

Democrats call on Yingluck to explain Four Seasons meeting

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Democrat Party yesterday demanded that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra come clean on her private meeting with businessmen at the Four Seasons hotel after the Ombudsman said it likely involved a conflict of interest.

Full story:

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DEATHS ON PHI PHI

Canadian sisters to be autopsied in Bangkok

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Police will send the bodies of two Canadian sisters who died mysteriously at a hotel on Phi Phi Island to Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok for autopsies.

Full story:

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THAI-US TIES

Cabinet ducks decision on use of U-Tapao airbase

The Nation

Nasa's request to conduct climate project deferred amid claims it should go to Parliament

BANGKOK: -- Cabinet opted yesterday to delay a decision on the United States' request for Nasa, its aeronautics and space agency, to use U-Tapao airbase for weather research, saying it needed more time to study the project.

Full story:

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U-TAPAO

Nasa project would help us: Gistda

CHULARAT SAENGPASSA

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Thailand will enjoy many benefits from allowing Nasa, the US space agency, to use the U-Tapao airbase to conduct extensive climate research, a top official at the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Gistda) said yesterday.

Full story:

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INUNDATIONS

Govt 'losing race' to prevent floods

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Following news that many projects had been delayed, the Federation of Thai Industries yesterday urged the government to speed up construction to prevent a repeat of last year's flood.

Full story:

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EURO CRISIS

BOT lowers export growth target to 8%

The Nation

GDP still expected to expand in range of about 6%

BANGKOK: -- The Bank of Thailand yesterday lowered its 2012 export growth target to 8 per cent from 9 per cent because of the euro crisis, but left its economic-growth forecast untouched at about 6 per cent on the expectation that rising domestic demand would offset slowing exports.

Full story:

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BURNING ISSUE

Suspicion over use of U-Tapao is hardly surprising

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- If US proposals to use U-Tapao airbase misfire, Nasa and the Pentagon should blame Hollywood for giving Thai politicians, the mass media and intellectuals the wrong idea about America's advanced defence technology and military outlook.

Full story:

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Thaksin and Pheu Thai dismiss unity govt claim

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra dismissed and laughed at the claim by senior Democrat figures that he approached the party to join the government, his legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said yesterday.

Full story:

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EDUCATION

Thai education standards 'in free fall'

WANNAPA KHAOPA

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The quality of education in Thailand is still plunging even though the country is among those that have spent huge budgets on education, a seminar heard yesterday.

Full story:

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2 held for extortion

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A Bangkok policeman and an accomplice have been arrested for allegedly extorting Bt8,000 from a Thai-Indian man, police announced at a news conference early yesterday.

Full story:

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Minister seeks civil service status for nurses

SAMATCHA HOONSARA

ANAPAT DEECHAUY

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri affirmed yesterday he would propose to the Cabinet that over 7,500 civil service positions be filled this year by nurses working at health units around the country on a temporary basis since 2006.

The minister admitted that a shortage of qualified staff would affect the health system. He cited a study that found 49 per cent of hired nurses quit in the first year, while another 26 per cent quit in their second year, and that there were few left by the fifth year, due to the lack of job security.

Witthaya said he would propose more civil service positions for health workers up to 2017 via a five-year plan. As well as the proposal for this fiscal year, he would ask for 10,030 positions in 2013, 9,276 in 2014, 14,093 in 2015, 18,024 in 2016, and 18,024 in 2017.

Among the 21 groups of health employees, nurses had the most people - over 31,900 of nearly 130,000 health employees, waiting for civil service posts, Witthaya said. So, officials would would |look at the year that nurses began work, the areas they served, and how they had performed.

He said he also would ask for a (retroactive) Bt700 pay hike for all health workers for the nine months from January until September 2012. That would amount to Bt815.6 million totally.

Witthaya took the request for nurses to get civil service positions from a group of 25 nurses at the Royal Cliff Hotel in Pattaya, where the mobile Cabinet met. He said he could give them an answer in two weeks, after discussing the move with the Office of Civil Service Commission (OCSC).

Meanwhile, some 2,000 nurses rallied at Parliament, demanding the government speedily appoint them and their colleagues to 17,000 civil service positions. They demanded to know what progress had been made on their previous request submitted to Witthaya on March 26 for the government to get the OCSC and State Resources and Policy Specification Committee to place temporary nurses into civil service positions.

They also urged links between the Health Ministry and the OCSC be severed. They claim the civil service body doesn't understand the health system or its personnel shortages when considering civil service position vacancies.

The group said if they didn't get satisfactory answers and Witthaya didn't have any clear ideas, nurses nationwide may quit their jobs. They also warned that if OCSC didn't back their requests, they would push to get OCSC secretary-general Nonthikorn Kanchanajitra removed from his post.

-- The Nation 2012-06-20

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Two slain in Narathiwat

The Nation

NARATHIWAT: -- A gunman shot dead two officials of the Bang Por Tambon Administrative Organisation in Narathiwat town yesterday.

Killed were Nuannoi Boksawas, 42, and Ekkachai Jankaeo, 25.

Witnesses said a gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle shot both victims while they were heading home on a motorcycle.

The gunman took a gun off Ekkachai's body before fleeing the scene with his accomplice.

-- The Nation 2012-06-20

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Push for medical research

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Consortium of Thai Medical Schools plans to break down barriers in research collaboration among medical schools and promote research policies.

"We hope to encourage lecturers from various medical schools to jointly conduct medical and clinical research," Avudh Srisukri, secretary-general of the consortium and a lecturer at Chiang Mai University's medical school, said yesterday.

Some studies required wider sampling so a collective approach would be better. "It will be good if our samples come from various regions," he said.

In late October, the consortium expects to launch the Medical Research Network (MedResNet), which is an upgrade of the Clinical Research Collaboration Network established in 2005 with a similar objective.

"MedResNet will also push for research-based policies," he said.

Dr Surapon Wiangnon of Khon Kaen University's medical school said if medical schools pooled their research findings, they would create a large, functional database for pharmaceutical development.

"We should work together otherwise we'll lag behind our neighbouring countries," he said.

Thai medical researchers could get complete information if they joined hands rather than competed against each other, he said.

-- The Nation 2012-06-20

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Speaker's share deals 'not done to hide wealth'

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont yesterday defended himself against suspicion he has been trying to conceal his wealth.

Full story:

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Pheu Thai's new political strategy for Thon Buri

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Pheu Thai Party plans to make a "Thon Buri Declaration" to try to solve drug problems and boost its political standing in the area.

Pheu Thai deputy spokeswoman Sunisa Lertpakawat said the party wanted to listen to demands from the people and help them out of any distress by setting up a project in Thon Buri, western Bangkok, that would be a model for 18 other zones around the country.

The Thon Buri Declaration is one of three Pheu Thai strategies to counter moves by the Democrats against the ruling party and the government's reconciliation bill.

Thon Buri will be the leading zone of the 19 Pheu Thai plans around the country to fight illicit drug use. But the project also includes a political school and a flood-protection plan.

-- The Nation 2012-06-20

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Thaivisa Poll:

Will the move of some flights to Don Mueang Airport be convenient for your travel?

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/563782-low-cost-airlines-and-domestic-flights-to-move-to-don-mueang-airport/

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Pattaya bars ordered early closing; Crackdown on jet-ski's

Full story:

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Tourist fights for life after near-drowning in Phuket

Phuket Gazette

Foreign tourists test the waters at Nai Harn Beach, not far from where a Caucasian tourist got into trouble yesterday afternoon. Photo: Phuket Gazette file.

PHUKET: -- A foreign tourist who was swimming in an area marked by red warning flags was pulled from the water off Nai Harn Beach yesterday afternoon and rushed unconscious to Vachira Phuket Hospital.

Full story:

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Scot left stranded on Thai island after her friends ‘poisoned’

By Ben Archibald

Samantha Kay is stranded in Thailand after her passport was confiscated

PHI PHI ISLAND: -- A SCOTTISH teaching assistant has told of being stranded in a resort in Thailand where two of her friends were found dead from suspected poisoning.

Full story:

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Train crashes into pick up truck trying to transit railroad crossing at Prachuap Khiri Khanl; one girl student dead, two injured /MCOT

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1st Army Region commander says goverrnment will consider suitability of letting US use U-Tapao, believes US has no hidden agenda /MCOT

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Thai stock index opens on Wednesday at 1,171.15, down 1.94 points /MCOT

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'Talent' Breastgate: Was would-be Picasso hired for the job?

By Coconuts Bangkok

BANGKOK: -- Thai Rath has reported that “breast-painting Picasso” Duangjai Jansaunoi was hired by producers of Thailand’s Got Talent to pull her risque stunt on the show.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa....25#entry5408058

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Emergency Decree to stay for another 3 months in Deep South

BANGKOK, 20 June 2012 (NNT) – The government has decided to extend the effect of the Emergency Decree in Thailand’s southernmost provinces for some time, in hopes of keeping the situation in the violence-plagued region under control.

Deputy government spokesperson Anusorn Iamsa-ad said that the Cabinet decided on Tuesday to extend the Emergency Decree in the country’s 3 southernmost provinces by another 3 months.

As a result, the emergency law will remain in effect until September 29th, 2012.

Mr. Anusorn added that, while the law is still in place, security officials in the area will have to keep detailed records of all violent attacks and clashes as well as the performance of all officers and the forecast of the situation in the next 3 months.

At the meeting, the Secretary General of the National Security Council informed the ministers that he has affirmed with overseas human rights activists about the extension of the law that Thailand will inevitably need more control of the situation in the Deep South, asserting that the situation in the area will continue to improve.

-- NNT 2012-06-20

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Academics called for no extension of state-initiated consumer goods price control

BANGKOK, 20 June 2012 (NNT) – Academics are urging the government not to extend the policy to cap consumer goods prices and let everything move in accordance with market mechanism.

The University of Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC)’s Economic and Business Forecasting Center director Thanavath Phonvichai said on Tuesday that the government should not continue the cap of consumer goods prices, after it expires in September.

Mr. Thanavath stated that local prices have been stable for some time, while some have begun dropping, due to the state-initiated price cap policy and falling fuel prices.

While suggesting that such circumstances reflected the government’s success in reining in the problem of rising cost of living, he said that it should not consider renewing the policy and allow entrepreneurs to adjust their prices in accordance with their real costs.

In addition, Mr. Thanavath said that the UTCC is now predicting an average inflation of 2.4-2.5 percent from now until September, while pegging this year’s consumer price index at between 3.2 and 3.8 percent, which is in line with the Commerce Ministry’s expected range.

-- NNT 2012-06-20

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Milk formula produced by China's Yili Industrial Group mercury-tainted; None imported by Thailand: FDA /MCOT

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Suvarnabhumi Airport runway repairs delay 104 flights (12.6% of 825 daily flights); 20-30 minutes delay on average: AoT executive /MCOT