Thailand Live Sunday 18 Nov 2012

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Thailand Live Sunday 18 November 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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[Lite Beer]

Raise our concerns, groups urge Obama

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- Advocates release a blizzard of requests and suggestions ahead of presidential visit to resolve problems in region

Like gift-seekers before Santa Claus comes to town, various pressure groups are issuing open letters to US President Barack Obama prior to his visit to Thailand and the region starting today. Issues include the environment, human rights in Myanmar and the lese majeste law here at home.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598881-raise-our-concerns-groups-urge-obama/#entry5854796

[Lite Beer]

Bomb kills woman, injures 33 in Yala

The Nation on Sunday

Firefighters battle a blaze that gutted a row of shophouses in Yala

YALA: -- A motorcycle-bomb blast in downtown Yala yesterday morning killed one person and wounded 33 others, while causing five shophouses to catch fire, as well as other property damage.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598882-bomb-kills-woman-injures-33-in-yala/#entry5854803

[Lite Beer]

The Kingdom must balance China, US ties: academic

Atapoom Ongkulna

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- It is not in the Kingdom's best interest to get cosy with either the United States or China, Associate Professor Prapat Thepchatree, a lecturer in international relations at Thammasat University's Asean Studies Centre, has said.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598883-the-kingdom-must-balance-china-us-ties-academic/#entry5854805

[Lite Beer]

Asean chief urges relief for Myanmar's Rohingya

Jeerawat Na Thalang

The Nation on Sunday

Phnom Penh

Surin

Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan has called on the regional grouping's members to extend humanitarian assistance to Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims after clashes in Rakhine, in the country's west, left many dead or displaced.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598884-asean-chief-urges-relief-for-myanmars-rohingya/#entry5854815

[Lite Beer]

Tight schedule

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- US President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Wat Pho at 4pm. Obama and PM Yingluck Shinawatra will have an audience with HM the King at 5pm at Siriraj Hospital.

At 6pm, Yingluck will host a reception for the president in front of Government House. The leaders will then hold talks at the Thai Khu Fah building, before making a joint statement in the Santi Maitree Building. They will then attend a dinner.

Obama will then meet American expats at Chulalongkorn University Sport Complex.

Yingluck will leave for Phnom Penh at 10pm to join the Asean Summit. Obama leaves tomorrow for Myanmar, before flying to Phnom Penh for the East Asia Summit.

-- The Nation 2012-11-18

[Lite Beer]

Boosting strategic alliance high on Obama's agenda

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- United States President Barack Obama will land in Bangkok today to firm his country's strategic alliance with Thailand, seeking support for a greater presence and role for Washington in the Asia-Pacific.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598886-boosting-strategic-alliance-high-on-obamas-agenda/#entry5854825

[Lite Beer]

Focus on balanced growth and happiness, Bhutan PM suggests

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation on Sunday

The prime minister of Bhutan and economic gurus urged Thailand to adopt sustainable policies that will promote economic growth as well as create balance and happiness in society - instead of focusing only on development. They spoke at a seminar in Bangkok yesterday.

Meanwhile, the chief of the UN Conference on Trade and Development warned Thailand not to rush into joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as the country may not get full benefits from the pact and could face difficulty complying with many of the commitments.

At the 30th annual conference of the Thai Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok yesterday, Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonchoen Jigmi Y Thinley said the kings of Thailand and Bhutan have very similar ideas on sustainable development, like the sufficiency economy, which aims to promote happiness for the people.

"The concept of Gross National Happiness [GNP] will promote equality, sustainability, and happiness. We do not mean to ignore growth and foreign investment, but we are rather concerned about sustainable investment," the Bhutan PM said.

His country was looking at investment that promoted not only economic growth but was also sustainable and advanced people's knowledge, he said. The preferred areas were tourism, hospitality, education, plus information technology, health-care, hydro power, and green industry.

Bhutan was also interested in forging closer cooperation with Thailand to promote trade, tourism, investment, and social development between both countries. Closer cooperation could come through some kind of agreement that promotes collaboration between the public and private sector. Businesses in Bhutan would like to learn from Thailand's world class healthcare and hospitality, he said.

The four pillars of GNP that promote the economy and basic happiness were: sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, conservation of its fragile mountain ecology, promotion of cultural growth and diversity and good governance.

Supachai Panichapakdi, secretary-general of UNCTAD, said Thailand needed to focus on long-term development and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or Asean+6 agreement rather than hurriedly join the TPP.

He warned the government to carefully conduct a study to weigh the positive and negative impacts of the TPP before making any commitment to the US.

"President Obama's visit to Thailand is a good sign to show the world that Thailand is one of the interesting nations. But we should focus on the RCEP and Asia before moving to join the TPP," he said.

Speaking on "Direction for balancing sustainability growth through sufficiency economy: the solution to the global society," Supachai expressed worry about the global economic system as the world used too many resources and was over-spending, which could lead to another financial crisis.

For instance, Quantitative Easing 3 was not a good solution for the US economy because it led to more speculation. Supachai said UNCTAD was not against the market system, but wanted to improve balanced and sustainable growth, and for that countries needed to adopt good governance and morality in doing business and to promote equal growth.

The sufficiency economy policy would limit liabilities, limit the spending of natural resources, develop a small community, and the focus on trade and labour welfare would help ensure a stable global economy, he said.

Chamber chairman Phongsak Assakul also said that sufficiency economy was an effective ideology businesses should adopt. He said the concept could be adopted to fight corruption, lift governance, corporate social responsibility, and help created shared values. These ideas would ensure fair treatment for all involved and create sustainable growth for business and society.

-- The Nation 2012-11-18

[Lite Beer]

President more popular than Yingluck and Abhisit: poll

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- Survey results released on the eve of US President Barack Obama's arrival reveal that Thais have more faith in the American leader than in Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra or her predecessor.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598887-president-more-popular-than-yingluck-and-abhisit-poll/#entry5854832

[Lite Beer]

Sudarat or Pongsapat to run in city poll?

The Nation on Sunday

Pongsapat Pongcharoen

BANGKOK: -- Pheu Thai MPs and Bangkok councillors are preparing to gather signatures in support of Sudarat Keyuraphan as the party's candidate for Bangkok Governor instead of deputy police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen.

Deputy spokesman Jirayu Huangsap said MPs and councillors would submit an open letter to PM Yingluck Shinawatra and party leader Charupong Ruangsuwan.

A source, who asked not to be named, said the group would also petition to party's de facto leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

Many sources from the party confirmed Pongsapat, secretary general of the Narcotics Control Board, agreed to run in the poll.

Another source said a meeting of Bangkok MPs, Bangkok councillors and district councillors on Friday, which party secretary-general Phumtham Vechayachai attended, heated up when an MP let slip that Pongsapat would represent the party for the Bangkok governor's poll. The MP asked colleagues to promote Pongsapat once it was officially announced he would run for the party.

A group of MPs and councillors then said they preferred Sudarat, a former minister, MP and Thai Rak Thai Party executive, the source said. While she was banned from politics for five years after the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai Party, Sudarat remains Pheu Thai's faction leader in the capital.

-- The Nation 2012-11-18

[Lite Beer]

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

All bases loaded

Jeerawat Na Thalang

The Nation on Sunday November 18, 2012 1:00 am

Damon poses with students at International School of Bangkok at Nichada Thani.

Former Boston Red Sox player Johnny Damon says he's determined to drum up Thai interest in baseball

BANGKOK: -- Standing under the hot midday sun at the International School of Bangkok at Nichada Thani, baseball superstar Johnny Damon smiles at the 350 youngsters who've lined up to meet him and comments, "You have to have fun. This is where we started."

The kids, most of them expats and clad in the colourful togs of Major League American baseball teams including the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, nod wisely before crowding round Damon to get his autograph.

A Major League player since 1995, Damon played with the Boston Red Sox from 2001 to 2005 and was part of the team that saw them win the World Series in 2004. He then moved to the New York Yankees, where he stayed until 2009. Now 39, he most recently played for the Cleveland Indians, who released him in August. He is now unsigned and a free-agent.

The Thai-American was in Bangkok briefly last week on his way to way to Taiwan, where he is aims to help the Thai national team qualify for the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

"The timing was perfect. They were putting together a Thai national team and I was not doing anything. So I said I would be very proud to represent my mother's country. And because of that, I am over here training," Damon says.

Damon was born in Kansas in 1973, to an American father and a Thai mother, Yome who met when his dad, Jimmy, a US serviceman, was stationed in Thailand in the late 1960s.

Yome accompanied Damon to Thailand during his previous visit to Thailand in 2007, when he told journalists during an interview at the US ambassador's residence in Bangkok that he credited his mother for his inspiration.

This time, his mission to elevate the game of baseball. "I think the biggest thing is to let Thai children know that they have a chance to be very good and I am just an example," he says.

"My mother is Thai and I have been able to play baseball at the highest level. So with me helping to teach and promote the game of baseball, hopefully some day Thai kids will be able to play baseball at college or professionally.

"Because of that, people will take a bigger interest in the game and hopefully, in a few years, baseball here in Thailand will be comparable to other places like US, Japan and Taiwan."

After playing for the world top league, Damon's decision to play for the Thai national team is hardly conventional. In 2011, the national baseball team ranked a lowly number 22nd in the world.

Damon however hopes his presence will help raise the bar and the interest. "You have to start somewhere. And it is the perfect time to help promote the game."

Damon is not only a sportsman but also a goodwill ambassador for the US. During the IBS event, US ambassador to Thailand Kristie Kenney was on hand to greet Damon and mingle with the children. Donning a baseball cap and a Washington Nationals T-shirt with her last name and number one at the back, Kenney said, "We are thrilled. He is a great example of Thai American friendship. He is a sporting super star and a really nice person too. We are honoured to claim him as both Thai and American."

Asked about her favourite baseball player, Kenney said, "I am a bit old fashioned. So my favourite player is Cal Ripken". Her current favourite is Stephen Strasburg, from her home team. "Our amazing pitcher," Kenney said while showing off her T-shirt with the logo of Washington Nationals.

Damon's mother didn't come along this time but the baseball star says she was with him in spirit. Yome took care of her boy the Thai way too, treating the youngster's bumps and bruises with Tiger Balm.

"Every day I'm here, I find myself getting closer and closer to the country. Thai people are very nice and they are great people. I have learned a lot about myself from my mother. I have been here about a week now, every single day I feel more and more at peace with my Thai heritage and more knowledgeable about my heritage."

Asked if he would come to Thailand again after this trip, Damon smiles. "Absolutely, I won't change my number."

-- The Nation 2012-11-18

[Lite Beer]

RT@KristieKenny: Sun's up and it's a beautiful day in Bangkok to welcome SecState Clinton and President Obama! #excited

[Lite Beer]

RT@RichardBarrow: 4:50am - RT @markknoller: Air Force One done refueling at Ramstein and now on final 10hr leg of trip to Thailand. Pres Obama stayed on plane

[Lite Beer]

-- The Nation 2012-11-18

[Lite Beer]

RT@RichardBarrow: 8am The Bangkok Marathon is now over. Congratulations to everyone who finished the course. Roads now being re-opened.

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Opinion: Elephants in the room

Phuket Gazette –

Though the long awaited DNA test results for two of the Phuket baby elephants seized earlier this year are in, other serious issues remain unresolved. Image: Gazette Graphics

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598900-phuket-opinion-elephants-in-the-room/#entry5855174

[Lite Beer]

Fourteen people injured as railway bomb derails Yala-Sungai Kolok train, gunshots heard /MCOT

[Lite Beer]

RT@RichardBarrow: Air Force One is on the way to Bangkok. Highlights of mid-air press briefing about trip to Thailand richardbarrow.com/2012/11/air-fo…

[Lite Beer]

RT@RichardBarrow: 10am Media already arriving at Don Mueang Airport waiting for President Obama. Air Force One not expected to land until after 2pm #BOrakBKK

RT@RichardBarrow: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to land at Don Mueang Airport this morning ahead of the US President.

[Lite Beer]

RT@USEmbassyBKK: Don Muang gets ready for #POTUS arrival. instagr.am/p/SJ7mQsHxmW/

RT@KristieKenney: Waiting for SecClinton w the Thai Ambassador to WashDC and MFA official. #BOrakBKK pic.twitter.com/TBxP9L3j

[Lite Beer]

RT@RichardBarrow: Expect road closures in #Bangkok today especially around Wat Pho, Siriraj Hospital, Government House, CU Sports Complex & Four Seasons Hotel

[Lite Beer]

RT@USEmbassyBKK: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived. Pres. Obama up next! #SecState #POTUS #BOrakBKk instagr.am/p/SKDj_CHxvL/

[Lite Beer]

RT@191Thailand: At about 7:30am this morning, there was a bomb explosion on the railway in Narathiwat. One dead and 17 injured

[Lite Beer]

British Microlight Instructor dies following air crash at South Pattaya Pier

PATTAYA:--A well-known British Microlight Instructor based in Pattaya died and the British passenger sustained a broken arm as the pair were preparing to scatter ashes of a recently deceased friend when an engine failure occurred and the aircraft plunged into the sea off the coast of Pattaya.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598830-british-microlight-instructor-dies-following-air-crash-at-south-pattaya-pier/#entry5854087

[Lite Beer]

US Sec of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Bangkok on two-day visit to Thailand while President Obama scheduled to arrive in the afternoon /MCOT

[Lite Beer]

US president visits Thailand Sunday

BANGKOK, Nov 18 – US president Barack Obama arrives at Don Mueang Airport Sunday on a two-day official visit Thailand.

After his arrival, he is due to go to Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm temple, near the Grand Palace.

Mr Obama will be granted an audience with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital at 5pm.

The US president and Thai prime minister will discuss various issues including strengthening the Thai-US alliance, based on close diplomatic relations which commemorate its 180th anniversary next year, according to the Thai foreign ministry website.

The meeting between the two leaders will be followed by a dinner in honour of the president, hosted by the prime minister at Government House.

The visit to Thailand will be President Obama’s first stop in his trip to the region after his successful re-election on November 6. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-11-18

[Lite Beer]

RT@RichardBarrow: Picture of the train bombing this morning in Thailand. Two dead & 30 injured - TR @idongphoto: lockerz.com/s/262331323

[Lite Beer]

RT@ThaiPrisonLife: One inmate dead in a prison escape yesterday in Pathum Thani (Bangkok Post)

RT@RichardBarrow: Daily News has a picture of one of the inmates that died trying to escape from prison. He was electrocuted while climbing over the wall

[Lite Beer]

Pattaya Motorbike Gangs targeted in major Police operation

PATTAYA:--The Banglamung Police chief has had enough of motorbike gangs and noisy, modified motorbikes in his area of responsibility and conducted an operation on Saturday Night to clear the area of young motorbike gangs, seizing over 100 motorbikes in the process.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/598966-pattaya-motorbike-gangs-targeted-in-major-police-operation/#entry5855883