Thailand Live Wednesday 12 Sep 2012

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Thailand Live Wednesday 12 September 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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Govt plans to go ahead with dam as Sukhothai inundated

PONGPHON SARNSAMA

SAOWANEE NIMPANPAYOONWONG

THE NATION

Kaeng Sue Ten Dam should hold up to 1,200 million cubic metres of water

BANGKOK: -- The government is likely to go ahead with plans to construct the Kaeng Sue Ten Dam in Phrae to prevent flooding in Sukhothai and lower northern regions.

Full story:

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INUNDATION

'No repeat of 2011' flood horror

Chularat Saengpassa,

Chutarat Tipnampa

The Nation

File photo

Key govt water chiefs anxious to allay concerns caused by crises in North

BANGKOK: -- Key figures on the Water and Flood Management Commission are trying their utmost to allay mounting fears the flood season this year, which has caused widespread chaos in many provinces already, will turn into a replay of last year's massive crisis.

Full story:

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DEATH OF PAWANA

Police search for clues in actress' drowning

THE NATION

NAKHON PATHOM: -- Former actress Pawana Chanajit drowned, medical examiners said yesterday, and police, looking for more clues about her death, have ordered the draining of the pond where she was found.

Full story:

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Worldwide alert for hantavirus following US deaths

Full story:

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UNESCO praises Thai government's tablet policy

Full story:

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Thai health chief urges 8 Chao Phraya River provinces to brace for possible flood

Full story:

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Thai London Paralympic medalists return home

Pattaya Tadtong is cheered at Suvarnabhumi Airport as he kisses his two gold medals won in the London Paralympic Games boccia competition.

Full story:

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Talks with RKK 'separatists in South

THE NATION

Prayuth lauds meeting between 100 insurgents and 4th Army chief

NARATHIWAT: -- One hundred suspected insurgents led by a man allegedly involved in the 2004 military camp raid yesterday met the Fourth Army region commander in Narathiwat to declare they would cease fighting in the strife-torn Deep South.

Full story:

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Thai-German Drug Suspect Caught And Major Drug Seizure Made By Pattaya Police

Full story:

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THE AGENT OF CHANGE

Media reports on insurgency one-sided: filmaker

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

Nualnoi//photo : civicwomen.com

BANGKOK: -- While the mainstream media's coverage of violence in the deep South is not sparse, most reports are presented from a Bangkok angle, Naulnoi Thammasathien, the producer of a new documentary on the conflict, said yesterday.

Full story:

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ANALYSIS

Suthep faces impeachment vote in the Senate next week

Khanittha Thepphajorn

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- An impeachment process has begun to punish the opposition Democrats' key man Suthep Thaugsuban for misconduct while he was deputy prime minister in the previous government.

Full story:

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Military reshuffle list has been submitted: Yingluck

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The annual military reshuffle list has already been submitted for royal endorsement, PM Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday.

Full story:

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Escalator injures boy

SOMPOCH SOMBAT

THE NATION

Khon Kaen

KHON KAEN: -- A three-year-old boy’s ankle was severely cut by an escalator at a hospital in Khon Kaen – making this the second case of a child being injured by an escalator in the past few days.

The boy was injured last Friday at Srinagarind Hospital, but was only reported yesterday.

Reports said the boy, suffering an eye inflammation, was playing near the escalator while waiting to see a doctor but his left leg ended up getting stuck in it. Hospital staff spent around 20 minutes to free hi leg and doctors worked for hours to attach the boy's ankle.

However, since he has not yet regained consciousness, doctors are not sure if he will regain use of his ankle.

Phisek Lumphikanont, dean of the Medicine Faculty at Khon Kaen University said the doctors were closely monitoring his condition and the hospital would be responsible for the boy's treatment. The hospital had already set up a panel to inspect the cause of the accident. There have been no previous accidents with the hospital's escalator before.

The hospital has blocked people from using the escalator, and some steps have been removed to check if it has any defect.

The faculty will provide the press with more details about the accident today.

In a second similar accident, doctors drained blood from a 12-year-old girl's brain earlier after she was injured by an escalator at Future Park Rangsit in Pathum Thani on Sunday. The shopping mall has put up "mind your head" signs on escalators at all floors to prevent future accidents.

-- The Nation 2012-09-12

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Chuwit gets 5 years jail for bar demolition raid

KESINEE TANGKHIEO

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The Court of Appeal sentenced MP Chuwit Kamolvisit to five years in jail yesterday over his role in a notorious raid that razed a group of beer bars in the heart of Bangkok in 2003.

Full story:

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Six nabbed in drug haul

The Nation

SAMUT PRAKAN: -- Police yesterday arrested five hilltribe men and a Thai woman and confiscated 690,000 yaba tablets, worth Bt200 million, in Samut Prakan’s Muang district, national police chief General Priewpan Damapong said.

The suspects were transporting the drugs from the North, he said.

One of the suspects, Somchai Laoyipa, told police he had transported drugs twice before, each time for Bt15,000.

Chumphon police manning a checkpoint in Tha Sae district yesterday also apprehended a Thai man, Sakchai Srisuk, 40, and his Lao wife, who were travelling in a pickup with their nine-month-old child.

They were in possession of 354,000 yaba tablets.

Sakchai told police he had been hired by another man to transport the drugs from Bangkok to Trang in exchange for Bt100,000.

-- The Nation 2012-09-12

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Court accepts Rosana's libel case against Jatuporn

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Court of Appeals yesterday accepted a libel suit filed by Senator Rosana Tositrakul against red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan over claims that she used her influence to have the Department of Special Investigation take over the airport-seizure case.

Rosana is appealing against an August 8 Criminal Court verdict saying that there was no ground for her defamation suit against Jatuporn.

In the suit, she accuses Jatuporn of violating Articles 326 and 328 of the Criminal Code when he told the press that she used connections to get the DSI to take over the probe into the 2008 airport seizure by the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

Rosana said Jatuporn's claim misled the public into thinking she was allied with PAD because she was a friend of the group's core leader Pipop Thongchai.

Rosana said though she knows Pipop through her work with the Komol Kheethong Foundation and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and had been to the PAD rally at Government House, she did not belong to the group. The Court of Appeals has set November 12 for the first hearing.

-- The Nation 2012-09-12

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"Giftza" arrested for drunk driving

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Singer Piya “Giftza Girly Berry” Pongkulapa was arrested yesterday for driving under the influence of alcohol in Bangkok’s Suan Luang district, prompting Surachai Chetchotisak, the CEO of her music label RS, to initially enforce company policy by banning her from working for between three and six months.

The 28-year-old singer was stopped at a police checkpoint at 1.45am, but she refused to leave her vehicle or take a breathalyser test. After a friend arrived at the scene, she emerged from the vehicle to talk to police and reporters.

She admitted she had drunk three glasses of alcohol at a Thong Lor entertainment venue, but said she wanted to sober up by drinking plenty of water before taking a breathalyser test, which took place at around 3.35am.

As the test showed an alcohol level of 82 milligrams/per cent, beyond the legal 50mg/per cent limit, police charged her for driving under the influence. She was released on Bt20,000 bail. She will appear at Klong Ton police station today, after which the case will be forwarded to Phra Khanong Court.

-- The Nation 2012-09-12

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Charges against officer found valid

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The police serious-case disciplinary investigation committee yesterday said it had unanimously found charges levelled against Thong Lor police inspector Pol Lt-Colonel Pannapon Nammuang to be valid.

Full story:

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Farmers protesting falling produce prices in Prachuab Khiri Khan, satisfied with govt response, lift blockade, depart Phetkasem Rd /MCOT

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Off-duty cop accused of Phuket shooting kicked off police force

Phuket Gazette

Rachaporn Semaksorn is still waiting for an arrest warrant to be issued by the court for the shooting of Eakkasit Sangangam. Photo: Gazette file

PHUKET: -- The off-duty police officer accused of shooting a man dead in Phuket Town on May 5 has been kicked off the police force, but has yet to face charges for the killing.

Full story:

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National Sports Development Fund to present cash incentives to Thai Paralympic medalists

BANGKOK, 12 September 2012 (NNT) – In addition to a very warm welcome and cheers, all 2012 Paralympics medalists and their coaches are set to receive more cash incentives from the sports development fund.

Full story:

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Govt-to-govt overseas job placement mulled

BANGKOK, Sept 12 – Thailand's Labour Ministry wants to export Thai labour to some countries on a government-to-government basis in an attempt to eradicate labour exploitation, according to a high-ranking official.

Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsub said the bilateral government to government agreements, if approved by both countries, will save Thai workers' expenses on overseas job applications, currently and in the past heavily loaded with service charges by job brokers.

The ministry has aimed at countries such as Taiwan and South Korea where demand for Thai labour is high, he said.

He reported that the ministry has temporarily suspended the licences of 35 job placement operators who subjected Thai job seekers to exorbitant fees.

Operators will be severely penalised if such unscrupulous behaviour continues, he warned.

Israel has sought 1,800 workers from Thailand and the first batch of 600 has already departed, Mr Padermchai said, adding that the ministry asked police agencies to speed up issuing criminal clearance certificates for Thai workers employed in Israel.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubumrung told a group of Thai workers bound for Israel to learn from Israeli agricultural expertise and apply their experiences to develop Thailand in the future.

The Thai labourers will work in the agricultural sector in Israel after securing their jobs through the Thai-Israel Cooperation on the Placement of Workers (TIC).

Mr Phadermchai described the job placement through TIC as a pilot project. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-09-12

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Thai stock index opens on Wednesday at 1,255.52, up 7.20 points /MCOT

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Flooding still severe in Sukhothai; residents facing shortage of foods, drinking water, toilet facilities /The Nation

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SCWRM: This year’s rainfall is 20% less than last year

BANGKOK, 12 September 2012 (NNT) – The state-appointed committee in charge of water and flood management has confirmed that this year’s rainfall is at least a fifth less than what the country witnessed in 2011.

Science Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, who chairs the Strategic Committee for Water Resource Management (SCWRM), said on Tuesday that statistics have shown this year’s rainfall will be about 20 percent less than last year.

Mr. Plodprasop added that the latest report from the Royal Irrigation Department stated that, to date, no major river has burst its banks yet.

He said that the water mass passing through provinces, which have been seriously hit by last year’s flood, have been significantly lower, particularly in Nakhon Sawan, where only 1,900 cubic meters of water is passing through it every second, compared with the 2011 records of 3,000 cubic meters.

The SCWRM Chair assured that, according to the committee’s long-term plan, new dikes will soon be constructed along major rivers to prevent the repeat of last year’s flood crisis in the future.

He went on to say that the reported flood in Ayutthaya Province was not caused by the test run of the drainage system, but the planned water retention for the upcoming rice-growing season.

In any case, Mr. Plodprasop said that the government will speedily clarify its policies with residents who reside in low-lying areas around the Chao Phraya River Basin to calm public worries and to inspect all dikes and levees, which have been in use for many years, in order to make sure that they will be strong enough to handle an increase in water mass.

-- NNT 2012-09-12

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Phuket blood bank calls for A-, O- donors

Phuket Gazette

Phuket Regional Blood Center is gearing up for the high season and the Vegetarian Festival. Photo: Gazette file

PHUKET: -- The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) is calling for donations of Rhesus-negative (Rh-) blood types to bolster stocks that are now critically low.

Full story:

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Gabion floodwall being built to control Sukhothai flood

SUKHOTHAI, Sept 12 - Thailand's Third Army Commander led teams of soldiers and mobilised equipment to build a gabion flood wall in an attempt to control the floodwater rushing from the Yom River, which is submerging the Sukhothai provincial seat.

Full story:

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DDPM to be on round-the-clock stand-by to help disaster victims

BANGKOK, 12 September 2012 (NNT) – The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) is to set up essential equipment and machinery while keeping their staff on stand-by around the clock, in a bid to help it promptly assist disaster victims.

DDPM Director-General Wiboon Sanguanpong said that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has instructed the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to prompt itself to help those hit hard by any disaster without any delay, after flood has hit several parts of the country during the past few days.

Accordingly, the DDPM has urged all its offices to prepare equipment and machinery, including those heavy-duty units, to lend help to flood-hit residents and to help repair the damaged dikes as well as clearing inundated roads for public use.

Moreover, all related DDPM offices have been ordered to distribute supplies of necessities to flood victims and to prepare temporary shelters for those in need.

And as there is a high chance of heavy rain, which can induce flash flood and wild water as well as mudslide in several areas, the DDPM in at-risk provinces will be on 24-hour stand-by to watch out for possible disaster hits and to issue warnings.

The public is also invited to monitor the situation at www.waterforthai.com or call for any assistance from the DDPM’s Hotline number of 1784, twenty-four hours a day.

-- NNT 2012-09-12