Thailand Live Friday 5 Oct 2012

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Thailand Live Friday 5 October 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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PHEU THAI PARTY

Search on for next leader

Political Desk

The Nation

Yongyuth Wichaidit

Yongyuth says resignation decision based on ethics, for good of party

BANGKOK: -- Six days after quitting his two Cabinet seats, Yongyuth Wichaidit yesterday announced his resignation as the leader and an MP of the ruling Pheu Thai Party. Once again, he insisted he was acting without being pressured by anyone, although he admitted to having "consulted" two persons whom he respects.

Full story:

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DSI to probe BMA water Tunnels

PIYANUCH THAMNUKASETCHAI

PRAPASRI OSATHANON

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The Department of Special Investigation will probe allegations of graft and ineffectiveness in the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's multi-billion-baht Rama IX-Ramkhamhaeng "giant tunnel" and six other water drainage facilities, DSI chief Tharit Pengdit announced yesterday.

Full story:

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RICE

Papers for court petition on pledging ready

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Academics from the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) said yesterday that the documents necessary for their Constitution Court petition against the government's rice-pledging scheme were ready.

Adis Israngkura na Ayudhaya, NIDA’s dean of the Economic Development Faculty, had readied all the documents required by the court, spokesman Pimol Thampitakpong said yesterday.

Academics from NIDA, the Thammasat University as well as some students lodged a petition with the court last week asking it to rule on the government's price-intervention scheme, which they say is unconstitutional.

Adis submitted nine sets of documents, including an academic paper written by economist and former member of the National Anti-Corruption Commission Medhe Krongkaew.

The court accepted the documents but did not say whether the judges would consider the case in their next round of meetings on October 10, the spokesman said.

-- The Nation 2012-10-05

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MEDIA

Sorrayuth advised to step down as anchor

Anupat Deechuay

The Nation

NACC's allegations undermine other journalists, even industry, gurus warn

BANGKOK: -- Media personality Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda should either quit the media or temporarily give up his job to take responsibility and prove if he is innocent in relation to the charges of embezzlement he faces, many media gurus said yesterday.

Full story:

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BURNING ISSUE

No-confidence debate to target PM and Thaksin

Avudh Panananda

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra are heading for their first showdown next month.

Full story:

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SMUGGING

Police seize ancient Khmer statues

CHATCHAWAL SOPAPAN

THE NATION

SA KAEW: -- Five ancient Khmer statues, reportedly at least 1,200 years old, are seized from smugglers by Sa Kaew police yesterday.

Police yesterday announced that they had seized five ancient Khmer sandstone statues, reportedly at least 1,200 years old, from smugglers while they were trying to move the items across the border into Sa Kaew.

Following an investigation into statue smuggling across the border at Tambon Tha Kham of Aranyaprathet district, police and an Army team patrolled the area early yesterday morning until they spotted a suspicious pick-up truck near Wat Wang Mon and tried to stop it for a search. The truck sped away toward Aranyaprathet district, but police stopped the truck after a brief chase, arrested driver Panupong Sukkho, 40, and discovered the five statues in fertiliser sacks in the truck. It was suspected that the five statues were about 1,200-2,000 years old.

Panupong told police that he took the statues from a Cambodian to deliver to a Bangkok investor, who planned to sell them to tourists. He claimed the statues were replicas and made to look ancient, in order to dupe antique-collecting foreigners.

Police sent Panupong and the statues to the Aranyaprathet Customs officials to proceed with legal actions and the statues would be sent for inspection by the Fine Arts Department's Office of Archaeology.

-- The Nation 2012-10-05

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Police probe online pic of toddler smoking drugs

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Police in the North are investigating a Facebook photo of a 2-year-old girl smoking amphetamine with the assistance of unidentified adults.

Full story:

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Korn declared richest Democrat, while Suthep's debts the largest

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Recently released figures show that former deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban has the largest number of debts, former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij is the richest, while former justice minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga owns some interesting things, including three jet-fighter simulators worth Bt54 million.

Full story:

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Somsak's Britain trip 'not appropriate'

Kanittha Thepjorn

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The House Speaker's recent trip to Britain was not a violation of regulations but was inappropriate, the House of Representatives Committee on Parliamentary Affairs said yesterday.

Full story:

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FLOOD MANAGEMENT

Command centre set up for Bangkok

THE NATION

Preparations for Tropical Storm Gaemi underway; Army units on standby

BANGKOK: -- An ad-hoc operations centre was set up yesterday to cope with the flood situation in Bangkok and elsewhere for a 30-day period as a result of Tropical Storm Gaemi, which is expected to hit Thailand by the weekend.

Full story:

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New approach to prison drug problem

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A host of inexpensive technologies, utilised under one single model, have been introduced under a Corrections Department policy to tackle in-prison drug dealing, an independent commission on promotion of the rule of law said yesterday.

A metal detector will be used to scan inmates' or visitors' bodies for mobile phones or other contraband, while an ion mobility spectrometer will scan drugs hidden in cells instead of solely relying on searches by guards.

X-ray scans are still useful for basic inspections, while closed-circuit TVs will perform the same primary surveillance role.

With MIXCIR, instead of jamming mobile phone signals at the facilities, which may disturb nearby residential areas and expose the department to lawsuits, a technology to intercept and eavesdrop on phone conversations will be adopted.

RFID, or radio-frequency identification, will be used to ensure convicts serving their sentences at home - another policy to reduce prison overcrowding - are tracked by GPS bracelets on their ankles, said Ukrit Mongkholnawin, the commission head.

-- The Nation 2012-10-05

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Students' tablets still in boxes

The Nation

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: -- Most first graders in Nakhon Ratchasima have not used their PC tablets for studying even though the devices were delivered to their schools a month ago, according to a survey by a reporter.

More than 3,600 tablets are now available at schools in Muang district under the Nakhon Ratchasima Primary Educational Service Area Office 1's supervision.

The schools decided to leave the tablets in their boxes because of many reasons. Their teachers have not been trained on how to use them to teach in class. The Internet connections for the tablets are not ready. A meeting of the schools and school committees and parents to forge understanding among the stakeholders has not taken place. And the schools are ready to close for semester break.

Boonsiri Kannoot, head of the ICT centre at Sukanaree School, said her school received 382 tablets on September 3 and immediately let the students try using them. However, it could not teach all of them how to use them in class, as only half of the teachers had been trained. Next semester, they would fully use the tablets.

One of the tablets could not recharge its battery, but the problem was fixed in one day by an after-sales service company, she said.

-- The Nation 2012-10-05

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Advice from Press Council

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Press Council of Thailand (PCT) yesterday called on Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda to reconsider his professional role after the National Anti-Corruption Commission indicted him for irregularities over benefit sharing with MCOT.

Sorrayuth "should consider his position in the best interests of the integrity of the overall media institution as well as public faith in it", the PCT said in its statement.

Also yesterday, the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand sent a letter to Prasarn Maleenont, acting managing director of Bangkok Entertainment Co, urging him to take action against Sorrayuth.

Bangkok Entertainment runs Channel 3 on which Sorrayuth hosts morning and evening news talk programmes.

The Broadcasting Council said in its letter to Prasarn that a professional broadcast journalist must not violate good ethics or do anything that affected the good reputation of journalists.

"So, we would like to consult you about measures and actions as the agency that ensures that journalists behave within the ethical framework," the letter said.

-- The Nation 2012-10-05

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SOUTH CRISIS

Islamic spiritual leader stresses it's not wrong to work on Fridays

THE NATION

Police investigate the scene where insurgents shot to death retired Pol Lieutenant Ingsaree Dohroening, 53, in Yala

BANGKOK: -- Chula Ratchamontri Aziz Pitakkumpol has reiterated that Islamic teachings do not prohibit Muslims from working on Fridays and anybody stopping people from working on the day are violating their basic rights.

Full story:

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SURVEY

About half of Thais favour changing employers

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- More than half of the Thai respondents (53 per cent) to the Kelly Global Workforce Index survey believe that changing employers from time to time is more important to advancing their careers than to remain with the same employer for life.

Full story:

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DON MUEANG

Airport revival boon to hotels

Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The return of Thai AirAsia, the country's biggest low-cost carrier, to Don Mueang International Airport this past Monday is expected to be a shot in the arm for nearby businesses, especially three-star hotels, which could enjoy a windfall from foreign travellers connecting to flights at Bangkok's old airport.

Full story:

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RT @RichardBarrow: Nai Lert Park Bangkok International Flower Shower from now until Sunday. Admission is 120 Baht.

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RT @mpoppel: Nobel Prizes to be awarded starting on Monday. Nobel Peace Prize to be announced next Friday.

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Thai stock index opens on Friday at 1,312.87, up 6.24 points /MCOT

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Business in far South still at a Friday standstill

NARATHIWAT, Oct -- Shops in marketplaces in Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala provinces are quiet again today as merchants and shoppers are still fearful of the of the anonymous threats that opening for business on Fridays would make market vendors or business operators potential targets of insurgent violence.

Threats of attacks—bombings and shootings—by word of mouth and in leaflets, have been distributed throughout southern Thailand’s three Muslim-predominant provinces for several weeks. Many shops in and around busy marketplaces were closed on Friday last week and again today.

Most traders in the three southernmost provinces said they would rather be safe than take a chance of being targeted by violence.

Light trading was witnessed in Narathiwat municipality market as shops were still closed while most vendors in fresh markets were closed for fear of their safety. More shops were closed, compared with last Friday. More security personnel were deployed to protect the public at markets.

The same atmosphere was seen at the Yala municipal market. However, leaflets were distributed to the public quoting Thailand’s official Muslim spiritual leader the Chula Ratchamontri to assure business and buyers alike that working on Friday was not against Islamic practice.

Yala governor Dechrat Simsiri led government employees to give moral support to vendors and shoppers at the market.

Boonsom Thongsriprai, who heads the Federation of Southern Border Province Teachers, said the threat has reportedly asked teachers not to teach on Friday. He urged the authorities for more action to assure the safety of the public, to not to let the public continue to live in fear like this. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-05

[george]

Washington Square demolition leaves Bangkok’s elderly sexpats lost, confused

Full story: http://www.thaivisa....-end-of-an-era/

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'Phuket Today' soars up to prime time on UBC/True Visions

Phuket Gazette

CATCHING THE ACTION: One of the 'Phuket Today' film crews at last month's trendsetting Catch Beach Club.

PHUKET: -- 'Phuket Today', the island's only national television show, has just been awarded a prime time slot on Thailand's pre-eminent cable television provider, UBC/True Visions. The weekly half-hour show now kicks off at 7:10pm on Sundays, and is then re-run six times for a total of seven appearances every week.

Full story:

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Thai woman nabbed for human trafficking in Oman

BANGKOK, Oct 5 – A Thai woman was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport Thursday on charges of luring Thai women into prostitution in Oman, police said.

Police identified the woman as Wanwipa or Nattaya Watanapongsakul. She was arrested after police were tipped off by a Thai woman, pseudonym “Ms A,” on Sept 11 that she was held captive and forced into prostitution in the Omani capital of Muscat.

Police said Ms Wanwipa and Vibulchai Lapakdi, a Thai man who remains at large, had opened a Thai massage parlour in Muscat and used social networking to lure Thai women to work in Oman.

Ms Wanwipa denied the charge and claimed that she paid an amount of money for Ms A’s freedom and trip back to Thailand.

She was initially charged with human trafficking and forcing others into prostitution. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-05

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Facebook reaches 1 billion active users worldwide

Full story:

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I'm too sexy for this plane: 'Elite' models hold catwalk show on Air Asia flight to Phuket

By Coconuts Bangkok

Photo: AirAsia Thailand Facebook page

BANGKOK: -- A model catwalk show was held 35,000 feet above ground on an Air Asia flight from Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport to Phuket earlier this week.

Full story:

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Farmers urged to grow flood-resistant rice

PRACHINBURI, Oct 5 – Farmers in the eastern and central Thai provinces of Prachinburi and Nakhon Nayok are being encouraged to plant “Khao Banna 432,” a new variety of rice grown in flooded conditions having more than 100cm of water for at least a month, according to the Rice Department.

Full story:

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RT @tulsathit: According to Noppadol, Thaksin (the real Pheu Thai leader) won't interfere with party search for new (fake???) leader.

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Unconfirmed reports are coming in of a speed boat carrying more than two dozen South Korean tourists sank as it returned from an island near Pattaya