Thailand Live Monday 8 Oct 2012

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National parks to be closed for tourist safety if situation worsens

BANGKOK, Oct 8 – Thailand’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment on Monday instructed the country’s national parks and natural attractions to immediately close their sites if they are affected by depression Gaemi, for the safety of tourists.

Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk spoke to a meeting of governors from 25 provinces via video conference.

Senior officials from other ministries also attended the meeting.

Mr Preecha said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra assigned concerned agencies to closely monitor the situation and to be ready to provide assistance to the public.

The minister said the water resources department and the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department have been working together and set up 22 special centres to follow up the flood situation across the country. He said governors can seek assistance from the centres in their areas.

Mr Preecha said the water resources department has 274 water pumps. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration borrowed 50 of them for its drainage work and other governors can also request the equipment from the department if needed.

Mr Preecha also urged the governors of provinces where national parks or tourist sites are located to assess the risk of possible natural disasters which can affect tourists.

He said the governors can ask national park chiefs in at-risk areas to temporarily close the sites for safety reasons.

Director-general of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department Chatchai Promlert also reported to the meeting that, as of today, 40 districts of nine provinces are flooded, including Prachin Buri, Chachoengsao, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Angthong, Ayutthaya, Suphanburi, Nakhon Pathom, and Samut Prakan.

He said over 100,000 residents have been affected in the current flooding. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-08

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POLITICS

Newin cast ballot in a local election Sunday

The Nation

File photo

BURIRAM: -- Newin Chidchob, a former Thai Rak Thai Party executive, yesterday cast a ballot in a local election for the first time since his fiveyear political ban was lifted.

Newin went to an election booth in Buriram's Muang district with his wife Karuna to cast ballots for chairman and members of the municipal council of Tambon Isan.

The Constitution Court dissolved the Thai Rak Thai Party and banned its 111 executive members including Newin from politics for five years. The local election marked the first time that Newin has exercised his right since the ban.

Newin said that with the lifting of the ban and the casting of the ballot, he had returned to be a complete Thai citizen again with the right to express opinions and vote in elections. He insisted that he would not run in any election again. He is now core leader of the Bhumjai Thai Party and owner of the Buriram Football Club.

-- The Nation 2012-10-08

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RT @mpoppel: Nobel Prize announcement is running late..

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RT @AP: BREAKING: Britain's John Gurdon and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka win Nobel Prize in medicine

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New Phuket governor arrives

Phuket Gazette

Phuket Governor Maitree Intusut arrived at Phuket International Airport earlier today. Photo: Atchaa Khamlo

Governor Maitree and his wife, Mrs Palinee, join well-wishers at Phuket Airport this morning. Photo: Atchaa Khamlo

PHUKET: -- The new Governor of Phuket, Maitree Intusut, landed at Phuket International Airport at 11:20am today to be greeted by a welcoming committee of hundreds of people.

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SET index closed at 1304.71, down 6.64; Bt/USD30.51; GBP49.11; AUD30.91; EUR39.60; CAD31.05; HKD3.93; SGD24.65; JPY38.57

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SOUTH CRISIS

Three killed in Pattani despite govt's claim of improving situation

The Nation

PATTANI: -- Three security volunteers were shot to death in a broad daylight attack in Pattani province Monday despite claims by government that the volatile situation in the deep south has improved.

The victims, father and son, Num, 57 and Surasak, 27 Saksongmuang, and Somsak Kunchum, 42, were on their way to a school in Ban Pasae village in Yaring district at about noon when two men on a motorcycle stopped them reportedly for a chat on Highway 2020.

Police said four insurgents in a pickup, two of them in the back, approached them. Upon seeing the pickup, the men on the motorcycle drove away. The men in the pickup, who were armed with assault rifles, then opened fire.

To make sure that the victims were dead, the insurgents dragged the bodies of father and son from the vehicle onto the road. Before escaping the scene, they also snatched the victims' weapons; a AK-47 and a M-16 assault rifles, a 9mm and a 38mm handguns.

They also put spikes on the road to delay officials' attempt to follow them.

Police found about 100 cartridges of bullets on the road.

The government has claimed that the situation is improving, particularly after dozens of alleged insurgents agreed to hold talks with the authorities.

-- The Nation 2012-10-08

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RT @Radio_Thailand: A 70 year old woman was crushed by a public bus in Therawat fresh market earlier today when the driver was unable to stop due to slick roads

RT @mpoppel: Tomorrow the Nobel Prize in Physics; Chemistry on Wednesday, Peace Prize on Friday and Economic Sciences next Monday

RT @mpoppel: A date for the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature has not yet been announced.

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THAI-MALAYSIAN TIES

Thailand and Malaysia discuss construction of bridges over Kolok river

The Nation

File photo : Surapong

KUALA LUMPUR: -- Thailand and Malaysia on Monday discussed constructions of two bridges over border river of Kolok.

The issue was discussed when Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tohvichakchaikul met his Malaysian counterpart; Anifah Aman in Kuala Lumpur during his two-day official visit.

They agreed that their mutual relationships are at excellent level and are looking forward to enjoying more cooperation in several areas including the construction of two bridges over the border river of Kolok.

The bridges would be in Narathiwat and Sungai Kolok provinces.

Surapong said they also talked about the situation in the deep southern provinces, which share a border with Malaysia.

The insurgents have attempted to create a perception that the countries have conflicts by posting the Malaysian flag at the sites of areas where attacks have taken place, he said.

Surapong said he asked Anifah to explain the situation in the deep south to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, saying the OIC may be misinformed as the situation in many areas area has already improved.

-- The Nation 2012-10-08

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Cambodian stabbed to death at South Pattaya construction site

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Japan's commitment to Thailand development projects

BANGKOK, Oct 8 – Japan today reaffirmed its commitment to cooperate with Thailand in the development of its infrastructure, water management projects and high-speed train system.

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Gaemi's Downpours

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Gaemi was downgraded from tropical storm to low pressure cell on Sunday. It however brought light and heavy downpours to Bangkok on Monday.

The downpours caused by Gaemi will continue into Tuesday. The Nation online compiles photos of the wet morning for our readers.//Photos : Uthorn Sriphantha and Thanis Sudto

-- The Nation 2012-10-08

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RT @CoconutsBangkok: This is the weakest tropical storm ever.

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RT @191Thailand: Five killed in road accident in Chumphon's Sawi district on Monday morning (Bangkok Post)

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Thai police arrest alleged killer of Japanese woman

BANGKOK, Oct 8 – Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division arrested a Thai man alleged to have murdered a Japanese woman and escaped to Thailand for nearly 20 years.

Deputy CSD Commander Pol Col Prasobchok Prommoon announced at a news conference that Veerasak Iampongsa, 39, was apprehended for the premeditated murder nearly 20 years earlier while he was on a Bangkok-Trang bus when it reached the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat's Tung Song district.

Mr Veerasak allegedly murdered Awaji Megumi, then 33, in Japan and escaped to Thailand where he had been in hiding for 19 years and 7 months.

Japanese authorities cooperated with Thai authorities for the arrest.

The suspect confessed he knew the victim in early 1993 through his Japanese girlfriend, whom he had met in Bangkok and who later invited him to work at a bar in Japan.

The cause of the murder was alleged to be that they had argued about money and that the victim, with gambling problems, had looked down on Mr Veerasak, calling him a prostitute and spitting in his face.

The suspect stabbed the victim once and strangled her before taking her valuables.

Col Prasobchok said the case, whose statute of limitations will expire on March 14, was the first criminal case that Japanese authorities had sought cooperation through the Attorney General’s Office and was successful.

Without an extradition treaty, the Japanese government asked the Thai authorities to carry on with punishment in accord with Thai law, so the suspect will be tried in Thailand's Criminal Court. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-08

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Yawi dialect TV starts January 1

BANGKOK, Oct 8 – The government will launch a television station in Yawi, a Malay dialect widely spoken in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, starting Jan 1, Minister to the PM’s Office Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisal said today.

He said the Yawi broadcast is aimed at creating a better understanding among southern people on the government’s administration, improving the people’s quality of life and career, and resolving the perennial crisis in the Muslim-dominated region.

The government’s Channel 11 will act as the core operator of the satellite network which will be supported by the Internal Security Operations Command, the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre, the National Security Council and Modernine TV (Channel 9).

The broadcast will cover three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, and four districts of Songkhla province.

Also referred to as Pattani Malay, Yawi is the primary spoken language of Thais along the Thai-Malaysian border.

Mr Niwatthamrong described Yawi as one of the dialects of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-08

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Yala police arrest leading insurgent suspect

YALA, Oct 8 -- Police arrested a suspected insurgent in a search for illegal drugs in this southern border province on Monday.

Pol Lt-Col Aampai Chumchuay, deputy superintendent of Raman police station in Yala, Monday led a security team to search a village in Raman district for illegal drugs.

Seeing the police, two men stopped their motorcycle and ran into the forest.

Police apprehended and detained one man, identified as Kaman Chaichana, 35, who has outstanding arrest warrants and seized his 9mm handgun with some 15 cartridges.

The other man, Rorning Rorhing, 35, escaped.

Mr Kaman is suspected in several cases including a bombing and shooting which killed three soldiers in May 2011, a police vehicle bombing which killed five police officers in July this year and a shooting which killed a retired police officer earlier this month.

According to initial questioning, he confessed that he is a leading member of the ethnic Malay Muslim insurgent Runda Kumputlan Kecil (RKK) movement, southern Thai Muslim separatists, at an operational level, with 15 members in his team and heavy weapons.

He said he was involved in many attacks and moved to a hide-out in Raman district several years ago. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-08

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Three defence volunteers shot dead on southern highway

PATTANI, Oct 8 – Three government defence volunteers were shot dead in an ambush on a highway in this southernmost province today, according to the authorities.

Police said they rushed to the scene after being informed that their vehicle was attacked on a Yaring district highway.

The three victims were reportedly returning home after a meeting at the Yaring district office.

Police said gunmen in another pick-up truck fired at the victims, killing the driver and two passengers.

All were defence volunteers attached to Yaring district, including a father and his son.

Police said the assailants fled the scene with M-16 rifle and AK-47 assault rifles, a 9mm automatic pistol and a .38 revolver, all belonging to the victims.

Police found spent cartridges of the M-16 and AK-47 scattered at the scene. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-08

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Thailand Live Tuesday 9 Oct 2012