Thailand Live Tuesday 21 Aug 2012

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Thailand Live Tuesday 21 August 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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PM'S FUGITIVE BROTHER

Thaksin ends visit, US on defensive

THE NATION

File photo

Fugitive ex-PM heads for Korea after sparring with yellow shirts and raising awkward questions for US over visa

BANGKOK: -- Thaksin Shinawatra has left the United States without fanfare, having spent much of his time in America playing cat and mouse with the yellow shirts and putting his host in a somewhat awkward situation.

Full story:

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Special Report: Capital faces dangers high and low

Thanatpong Kongsai

The Nation

It has been proposed that a railing with a reflective warning sign such as this be installed at high-risk locations on elevated junctions and overpasses.

Agency takes safety measures as road accidents in Bangkok rise

BANGKOK: - Vehicles falling off an expressway, cars plunging down a hole created by land subsidence on a road surface, giant billboards collapsing on passersby - all accidents that threaten the lives of Bangkok residents and are being witnessed more frequently in the hustle and bustle of the big capital.

Full story:

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'Suicidal' man preys on women with kind hearts

Suparat Iamtarn

The Nation

A handcuffed Chakorn Boonchern sits at yesterday

BANGKOK: -- A woman noticed a "suicidal man" on a Web board, felt his pain and decided to reach out with a caring heart.

Full story:

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BURNING ISSUE

Reopening the bitter wounds of 2010 strife

Avudh Panananda

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The government, the opposition Democrat Party and the Army are engaging in a strange interplay which could put the reconciliation process in jeopardy.

Full story:

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PHUKET FIRE

Gutted Phuket pub's operating hours checked

The Nation

File photo

PHUKET: -- The Tiger Discotheque in Phuket, which was gutted in a fire that killed four people last week, has been declared off-limits, while an independent group of architects has recommended demolishing the structure's second floor and a deck.

Full story:

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2010 POLITICAL VIOLENCE

DSI to question Army snipers on deaths

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) will summon Army snipers for questioning tomorrowon Wednesday to further investigate allegations that sharpshooters were deployed to target red-shirt protesters in April and May 2010. Weapons experts will also be summoned to assist in the probe.

Full story:

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Immigration prepares for top-notch service

Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit

The Nation

Don Mueang. File photo, source: wikimedia

BANGKOK: -- The Immigration Bureau is shifting into high gear to strengthen its services in preparation for the full reopening of Don Mueang Airport on October 1 to serve low-cost airlines.

Full story:

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Madam's flat raided

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Police and agents from the Anti-Money Laundering Office yesterday raided the home of a suspected brothel madam in Songkhla after Bt320 million of her assets were ordered seized last week.

Pranom Praekhokesoong, 58, was also charged yesterday with human trafficking, following two raids in July last year on the Chalee 259 Karaoke parlour and Chalee Spa Home, which were believed to be fronts for the sex trade. Acting on information from the Lao Embassy, authorities rescued 70 women from the two shops, including 24 minors, of whom two were 15-year-old girls from Laos.

Police and AMLO officials had seized Pranom's assets, including a flat in Songkhla and two plots of land in Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok district. The suspect has yet to be indicted for procuring or forcing sex services, or transnational human trafficking. She has denied forcing the women, saying they were all willing.

-- The Nation 2012-08-21

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Corrupt prison guards behind murder: chief

The Nation

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT: -- Corrupt prison guards and drug-dealing inmates at the Nakhon Si Thammarat prison were behind the recent murder of a guard who blew the whistle on their activities, provincial police chief Pol Maj-General Ronnaphong Saikaew said yesterday.

Full story:

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Contractors face insurance rule

Anupan Chantana

BANGKOK: -- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will sign an agreement with infrastructure-related agencies to include accident-insurance requirement in construction regulations, a senior city official said yesterday.

Bangkok Deputy Governor Theerachon Manomaipibul said the BMA would invite the agencies to sign a memorandum of understanding that would require construction firms to provide accident insurance.

The firms will have to follow international standards by having independent engineers control all work. In the past some construction activities have not been handled by engineers, resulting in accidents. The BMA will discuss the issue with the Architects Council of Thailand and the Council of Engineers, Theerachon said.

The BMA will also make the process of seeking construction permits stricter and get more serious about taking legal action against firms that ignore safety regulations, Theerachon added.

The BMA has finished installing crash cushions on the Ratcha-wipa expressway and will begin installation on the elevated Borommaratchachon-nani Road tomorrow. Installation of cushions in 18 at-risk areas on seven elevated roads should be finished within a month, he said.

The Expressway Authority of Thailand and the Department of Highways have been urged to install these safety features.

-- The Nation 2012-08-21

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National Parks chief 'did not break any laws' in tearing down resorts

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department's chief has not violated any laws by demolishing the nine resorts that were encroaching on the Thab Lan National Park, the investigative panel said yesterday.

The panel, appointed by the premier and chaired by deputy permanent secretary to the PM's office, Panchai Wattanachai, led an investigation into DNP's director-general Damrong Phidet. Damrong ordered the demolition of resorts encroaching upon the national parks in Wang Nam Kheow in Nakhon Ratchasima and Na Di in Prachin Buri.

An investigation showed that the DNP chief had complied with the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Act at every step in the demolition raids.

Meanwhile, the Administrative Court refused to take up a complaint filed against Damrong by the owners of the targeted resorts, including the largest resort in the area - the Ta Lay Mhok Resort.

The court said the resort owners had already admitted that their properties were encroaching on national parks.

-- The Nation 2012-08-21

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Locals 'take over site' to grow palms

Janjira Pongrai,

Jutarat Thipnumpa

PHATTHALUNG: -- People have destroyed and occupied over 10,000 rai of protected peat bogs in Phatthalung, which have been burning for a month, to clear land for a large oil palm plantation, the state environmental watchdog said yesterday.

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has set up 39 teams to probe the illegal issuance of ownership documents for the 550 land plots covering more than 10,000 rai.

Reungchai Prayoonvej, deputy director-general of the DNP, said local people would start burning their farms and palm plantations. Then the fires would grow and spread to nearby protected peat swampland. After these forest reserves were damaged, they would occupy the land.

The prolonged drought has also made the forests especially vulnerable to fires as the water was down to 20 centimetres underground.

Chai Suwanchart, chief of the Wildlife Non-hunting Area Office, said protected forests in Tambon Talay Noi's Pa Hua Keaw village in Phatthalung's Kuan Kha Nun district and Tambon Kreng's Pa Nang Tung village in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Chu-uat district suffered the most encroachment.

These areas were surrounded by oil palm plantations and were only 10 kilometres from the Ramsar protected wetlands.

Four big oil palm plantation operators had occupied about 4,000 rai of the alleged encroached forests. They claimed that they held legal land ownership documents such as Sor Kor 1, Nor Sor 3 and Nor Sor 3 Kor.

In Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung, at least 15,000 of 300,000 rai of protected forestland has been destroyed by blazes that authorities say were lit by locals who wanted to fish in the bogs.

They burned off the grass cover so they could easily catch fish hidden in the mud, Chai added.

Tanayot Kamnuan of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency said his agency has used a satellite to detect bush fires in the southern provinces. Since last Wednesday, 24 fires have been burning in protected and non-protected bogs in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phattha-lung and Narathiwat.

Reungchai said the 39 panels, with 117 forest officials, would take a month to investigate encroachment in these two provinces and punish the offenders.

-- The Nation 2012-08-21

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Govt to report on its achievements

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's year-old government will report on its achievements to the media this weekend.

The government will also spend a month preparing documents for public presentation, and denied that this was being used as an excuse to delay the censor debate.

Udomdej Rattanasathian, Pheu Thai MP for Nonthaburi province and the coalition whip, told the press yesterday that scheduling the censor debate would be up to the opposition. He denied that the government was trying to buy time, adding that the Cabinet was waiting to first consider bills of greater priority such as the one on cross-national terrorism.

-- The Nation 2012-08-21

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Minister Sakda claims office, phone were bugged

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Deputy Education Minister Sakda Kongpetch said he believed his office and mobile phone might have been bugged in the investigation over alleged corruption involving the purchase of education material by the Office of Vocational Education (OVE).

Full story:

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Senate finds balance with election of Surachai

KORNCHANOK RAKSASERI,

KHANITTHA THEPPHAJORN

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The Senate seems to have balanced itself when it voted for appointed Senator Surachai Liengboonlers-chai as the first deputy speaker yesterday.

Full story:

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Police deliver baby in taxi

BANGKOK, Aug 21 -- Three Bangkok traffic police officers delivered a baby girl in a taxi while her mother was on her way to hospital but was stuck in traffic.

Police Sr Sgt-Maj Mana Jokkhoksung Police Sr Sgt-Maj Rojpaisan Mongkolwong and Police Sgt Araya Pomkhai, all traffic police officers serving under a Royal Project delivered a baby for a woman who was on her way to Wachira Hospital but was stuck in traffic at Sawankalok intersection.

The three officers successfully delivered a baby girl, then called an ambulance to carry both mother and child to the hospital.

It is the 107th time for Sub-Division 6 of the Traffic Police Division to deliver a baby, it is the 47th baby that Police Sr Sgt-Maj Mana has delivered. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-08-21

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Drought puts 400,000 rai of Buri Ram ricefields at risk

BURI RAM, Aug 21 - An unseasonal drought is on the verge of destroying more than 442,000 rai of rice crops in seven districts of the northeastern province of Buri Ram.

Governor Kanit Iamrahong just added Satuek as the 7th district to the natural disaster zone list, joining Lam Plai Mat, Nang Rong, Nong Ki, Phutthaisong, Na Pho and Non Suwan districts.

According to data collected by district offices, the drought midway in what should be the rainy season is affecting nearly 175,000 farmers.

To date, rainfall this year measures only half of last year’s average. As a result more than 442,000 rai of rice crops are withering and at risk of being totally lost.

There are 23 districts in Buri Ram and the governor said he has instructed them all to monitor the situation closely and seek help from authorities as needed. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-08-21

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Post-Ramadan violence alert to continue

BANGKOK, Aug 21 - Intelligence reports indicate that the insurgent violence in Thailand's South is worsening, so that authorities in Thailand's southern border region have been instructed to maintain vigilance for possible bombings and ambushes by militants.

Maj-Gen Dittaporn Sasa-smith, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), said Monday that the Interior Ministry was told to coordinate with related government agencies to provide strict security for government offices in the South.

"The stringent measures may affect the people’s daily lives but we have to do it," the spokesman SAID.

Deputy Prime Minister Gen Yuthasak Sasiprapa on Monday presided over a meeting with senior officials from ISOC, the Royal Thai Police and the National Intelligence Agency to discuss the situation and review intelligence regarding Thailand’s South after the holy month of Ramadan ended Saturday.

According to an intelligence report, the ongoing violence would continue and the insurgents will try to intensify the worsening situation. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-08-21

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RT @ACSBKK: ACSBKK will be in Pattaya Thursday September 6 for passport renewals, add pages, notarials, etc. http://1.usa.gov/NCRIqi

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Swedish man arrested for allegedly killing New Zealand tourist in Pattaya

PATTAYA: -- A Swedish man was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly stabbed a New Zealand man to death following a bar fight, police said.

Full story:

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Fire-gutted pub in Phuket to be partially demolished

PHUKET, Aug 21 - The controversial Tiger Pub and Discotheque in Thailand’s southern resort island of Phuket will have to be partially demolished after it was badly hit by a fire which killed four people and injured many others on Aug 17.

Full story:

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RT @RichardBarrow: Chiang Mai: Mother arrested for killing & dismembering her two kids. Police say rumours that she cooked & ate them is false (Bangkok Post)

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Phatthalung closely monitors peat swamp fire

PHATTHALUNG, Aug 21 -- Phatthalung Botanical Garden chief Narathorn Kaewplub said 320 staff from 14 Forest Fire Control Divisions nationwide and 100 soldiers from the Apai Borirak Military Camp in Phattalung are continuing the operation to contain and control fires at five locations on 200 rai of land within the botanic garden.

He said the operation successfully controlled and extinguished fires at some areas.

A 30-minute rain on Monday afternoon helped reduce the fire, but underground burning could easily spread, he said.

Botanical garden and Thale Noi Wildlife Refuge officials are jointly patrolling the peat swamp to prevent the fire from reigniting as well as illegal forest burning to acquire land. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-08-21

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Queen’s condition stabilizes

BANGKOK, 21 August 2012 (NNT) - Her Majesty the Queen’s general conditions have markedly improved after a month of intravenous medication to cure a slight shortage of blood to the brain.

The Bureau of the Royal Household said in its ninth announcement issued last evening that Her Majesty could walk longer distances and eat normally without complications.

The team of royal doctors at Siriraj Hospital has asked for Her Majesty’s permission to stop giving intravenous medication while requesting that physical therapy be continued.

-- NNT 2012-08-21

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NESDB urges Thailand to keep an eye on Chinese economy

BANGKOK, 21 August 2012 (NNT) – The Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development, National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), has revealed that the European economy will take some time before it recovers, and has urged Thailand to keep an eye on China as it is trying to promote domestic consumption in the country, which will bode well for the Thai economy.

During the speech delivered on the 92nd anniversary of the Commerce Ministry under the topic of “Economic Turning Point, What Should Thailand Do?", Chairman of the Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development Dr. Veerapong Ramangkul said Thailand has to liberalize trades as the Thai private sector’s production capacity exceeds domestic demand, and Thailand’s commercial value accounts for 1 percent of the world’s commercial trade value. This is to help cushion theThai economy due to the fact that the USA and the European Union,Thailand’s main trading partners, are facing an economic crisis.

Mr. Veerapong added that China will soon have to speedily increase its domestic consumption and accelerate the government spending in order to compensate for a slowdown in its exports. China has the ability to trigger its economy, because it has plenty of reserves and investment diversification in many countries. This will have a positive impact on the Thai economy as she will greatly benefit from trading with China, given Thailand is considered a gateway to the ASEAN nations.

-- NNT 2012-08-21

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RT @BBCWorld: Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi dies http://bbc.in/PsSSIe

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Bt20 fares on Bangkok electric mass transit within 2 years: MRTA Governor

BANGKOK, Aug 21 - Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) Governor Yongsit Rojsrikul said the government's policy to collect a Bt20 fee for travel all routes of the capital's underground and elevated electric mass transit trains will be in effect within two years.

Full story:

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RT @BangkokDan: International Olympic Committee: Bring justice to bear on Kaew Pongprayoon, Thai boxer robbed by AIBA http://chn.ge/NdAW5H