Thailand Live Sunday 20 Jan​ 2013

[Lite Beer]

Thailand Live Sunday 20 January​ 2013

News, Bits and Tweets

with Lite Beer

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]

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[Lite Beer]

Strike delays THAI flights

Nongnapas Maipanich,

Theerapol Khumsuk

The Nation on Sunday

Ground staff of Thai Airways International go on strike at a building inside the Suvarnabhumi Airport compound yesterday demanding higher bonuses and salary increases.

BANGKOK: -- Airline cannot pay higher bonus, pay hike, says chairman

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613170-strike-delays-thai-flights/

[Lite Beer]

'Rohingya are illegals, but will be treated humanely'

The Nation on Sunday

The Rohingya who recently arrived from Myanmar were smuggled into the country, so they must be prosecuted under Thai law for illegal entry, Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said yesterday. He added, however, that legal procedures could be flexibly applied, especially in regard to women and children.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613171-rohingya-are-illegals-but-will-be-treated-humanely/

[Lite Beer]

BANGKOK GOVERNOR

Main contenders hit campaign trail

The Nation on Sunday January 20, 2013 1:00 am

Democrat Party gubernatorial candidate MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra is flanked by party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, left, and former Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin while campaigning at Siam Square yesterday.

BANGKOK: -- Yingluck, Abhisit among top leaders out to woo voters in the capital

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa....campaign-trail/

[Lite Beer]

Amid shortage of national ID cards, authorities plan to hike fee for replacements

Thanapat Kitjakosol

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- During the past few months, 'Kom' (not his real name) has made several calls to a sub-district office in Nonthaburi to check if he can get his national identification card. The answer, to date, has been "No".

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613174-amid-shortage-of-national-id-cards-authorities-plan-to-hike-fee-for-replacements/

[Lite Beer]

'Journalists will need multimedia skills'

Janjira Jarusupawat

The Nation on Sunday J

Nation Multimedia Group editor-in-chief Thepchai Yong

BANGKOK: -- The "media-platform war" is expected to hot up as newspapers turn to multimedia for survival - and this requires a new generation of media professionals to be well equipped with different skills, a seminar was told yesterday.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613175-journalists-will-need-multimedia-skills/

[Lite Beer]

More vessels on the way, Rohingya tell Thai officials

Jim Pollard

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- Thai officials will go to an island off Phang Nga today after another boatload of Rohingya refugees - thought to be the fourth over the past week or so - was found there late yesterday. Officials said the refugees were hiding in jungle on the unnamed island and it was too dark to try to round them up last night.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613171-rohingya-are-illegals-but-will-be-treated-humanely/

[Lite Beer]

CCTV footage may offer clue on shooting by actor

Khanathit Srihirundaj,

Noppadol Srithaweekard

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- Police are checking security-camera foot-age to determine whether actor Porames Singpho's shooting of his business partner was accidental, as claimed by him, an informed source said yesterday.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613176-cctv-footage-may-offer-clue-on-shooting-by-actor/

[Lite Beer]

Voters will back honest, hard-working candidates: poll

The Nation on Sunday

Bangkok voters prefer a governor candidate who is honest and hard-working, according to a public opinion poll.

Almost 40 per cent of the 1,215 people surveyed said they would vote for the candidate who is honest and has a good image, according to results of the survey by Rajabhat Suan Dusit University's Suan Dusit Poll. Another 39 per cent said they were looking for a candidate who is hard-working, patient and responsible.

More than 47 per cent of the respondents said they would support the candidate who had a platform they liked, particularly regarding measures to ease traffic congestion, preventing flooding, and turning Bangkok into a better city.

The survey was conducted between Monday and Friday.

-- The Nation 2013-01-20

[Lite Beer]

BAHT WATCH

THAI forms ad-hoc panel

Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit

The Nation

Carrier copes with forex risk; Govt urged to encourage overseas investments

BANGKOK: -- National carrier Thai Airways International plans to set up a special working committee to manage foreign-exchange risks after the baht surged this week.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613177-baht-watch-thai-forms-ad-hoc-panel/

[Lite Beer]

EDITORIAL

The underdog factor in the Bangkok election

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Top candidates Sukhumbhand and Pongsapat will be keen to be both forthright, and humble

Bangkok gubernatorial elections are extraordinary in that, previously, underdogs or candidates who portray themselves as underdogs stand a great chance. The new race has just begun and most signs suggest that the trend is very much respected. Candidates want to be seen as a political victim, or someone facing a smear campaign so dirty the only vindication is an election victory. Bangkok loves humble candidates, and that is an intriguing challenge for the big parties.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613172-bangkok-governer-main-contenders-hit-campaign-trail/#entry6034897

[Lite Beer]

-- The Nation 2013-01-20

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Police investigate ‘work conflict’ as motive for Jintana murder

Phuket Gazette -

Phuket Police believe that retribution by former hotel employees for Mrs Jintana sacking them after they were caught stealing may be the motive for her murder. Photo: Chaichana Keowkaew

PHUKET: Police are pursuing the possibility that Phuket mother-of-two Jintana Mahattanapak, may have been murdered over a conflict at work.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613000-woman-executed-with-single-gunshot-to-head-phuket/page__st__150#entry6034947

[Lite Beer]

Algeria says 32 militants, 23 hostages killed

Algiers/Cairo - Thirty-two terrorists and 23 captives were killed in the remote In Amenas gas facility in the Sahara desert, the Algerian Interior Ministry said Saturday, after the military launched a bloody final assault to end a four-day hostage standoff.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/612798-algerian-hostage-drama/page__st__25#entry6034980

[Lite Beer]

Bridgestone Tyres to Expand its Operations in Thailand

By Staff Reporter

More investment in Thailand this week as the Asian arm of the Bridgestone Corporation, famous for Tyres, announced that it plans to build a new Technical centre on the outskirts of Bangkok.

To date, Bridgestone has carried out all work on Tyre development, Production technology and Quality control for its Asian operations within Japan, but today’s news means that many of those operations will now be moved to Thailand.

The Corporation has previously announced that they plan to expand their Asian operations but until now there was no firm indication that Thailand was to be the country of choice.

Full Story: http://www.pattaya10...ns-in-thailand/

--Pattaya 103 FM 1013-01-20

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[Lite Beer]

New Phuket bus plan breaks ‘transport barrier’

Phuket Gazette -

COMING SOON: The buses have been ordered and the new service is slated to start in March. Photo: Phuket Land Transportation Office

PHUKET: After decades in the planning, a new bus service will launch on the island in March. The new route will travel between Phuket International Airport and the popular tourist beaches of Patong, Karon, and Kata via Tesco Lotus on the bypass road

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613198-new-phuket-bus-plan-breaks-transport-barrier/

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Opinion: Curing the festering sores of ‘public’ transport

Phuket Gazette -

The 'festering wounds' of Phuket's ongoing public transport crime can be cured, but it will take time, willingness, effort and support. Image: Gazette Graphics

PHUKET: Efforts by the international diplomatic community to pressure authorities in Bangkok to tackle the festering crime in the Phuket public transport sector and improve Phuket’s reputation as a tourist destination are laudable and have the full support of the Phuket Gazette.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613201-phuket-opinion-curing-the-festering-sores-of-public-transport/

[Lite Beer]

Jet-ski anti-scam committee approves stronger mandatory-insurance system

PATTAYA:--The committee tasked with resolving Pattaya’s long-running jet ski scandal has approved a revised insurance scam that would force watercraft vendors to carry policies covering a minimum 50,000 baht for damage, death and total disability.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613221-jet-ski-anti-scam-committee-approves-stronger-mandatory-insurance-system/

[Lite Beer]

PM visits Thai-Myanmar border town planned to be set up as special economic zone

By English News

TAK, Jan 20 – Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Sunday visited this Thai-Myanmar border province to see a business area in Mae Sot district, planned to be developed as a special economic zone, ahead of Monday's cabinet meeting in Uttaradit.

Ms Yingluck, accompanied by the foreign minister, commerce minister and transport minister visited a market at the Moei River in Mae Sot, where the first Thai–Myanmar Friendship Bridge is located.

To ease congestion of cross-border transportation, the construction of a second friendship bridge will be considered as a solution and if the construction is approved, the new bridge is expected to be finished in 2014. The prime minister said she asked relevant agencies to study the bridge project and propose it to the cabinet.

The transport minister said what is urgent at the moment is repairing parts of the first friendship bridge by reinforcing the bridge’s columns to support the weight of heavily-loaded vehicles.

After being briefed about the planned establishment of the Mae Sot economic special zone by the Tak governor, she left for the Si Satchanalai Historical Park in Sukhothai province.

The prime minister will later travel to Uttaradit Rajabhat University to meet the joint state and private committee and to preside over a meeting with governors of the lower northern provinces.

Monday's cabinet meeting in the lower northern province of Uttaradit is expected to discuss logistics development in the region and a new border crossing between Thailand's Uttaradit and the Lao PDR.

The new border pass will also become a transportation hub for the lower North region as goods can also be distributed to China through this route.

Ministers on Sunday observed several development projects in five lower northern provinces, as the cabinet meeting will discuss allocation of 100 million baht budget for each province.

Infrastructure development such as roadway upgrades and flood prevention projects for the Yom River and the Nan River will be also considered at Monday's meeting. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2013-01-20

[Lite Beer]

All of Chiang Mai named cold weather disaster zone, affecting some 200,000 homes; Lamphun's Li & Ban Thi districts declared drought zones /MCOT

[Lite Beer]

PM Yingluck to chair regional economic meeting in Uttaradit

BANGKOK, 20 January 2013 (NNT) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been scheduled to chair a joint public-private committee meeting on Sunday in Uttaradit province to discuss economic issues of the Northern region.

To be held at Uttaradit Rajabhat University, the the Joint Public-Private Committee to solve economic problems (JPPC) Meeting has been planned to look at six main issues concerning the Northern economy.

They include such issues as the trade and investment promotion, with a focus on the urgent establishment of a special economic zone in Mae Sot District of Tak Province, and the setting up of the Phu Du checkpoint in Uttaradit into a permanent border crossing.

The meeting will also discuss the transport network and logistics development, particularly a project to turn Phitsanulok Province into a transport hub of the lower North and Indochina Intersection.

Other agendas for the meeting are the promotion of tourism and healthcare service sectors, the push for Thailand to become ASEAN hub of the bio-plastic industry, the transport and logistics system development projects, which entail the progress in the trade and investment promotion with neighbouring countries.

-- NNT 2013-01-20

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RT@191Thailand: Five die in 10-car pileup on the Mittraphap Highway in Klang Dong district of Nakhon Ratchasima(Bangkok Post)

[Lite Beer]

Foreign Affairs and NSC to find long-term solutions to problems of Rohingya migrants

The Foreign Affairs Ministry assures that Thailand’s treatment of all Rohingya migrants has always been provided on a humanitarian basis, even though they have entered the Kingdom illegally.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on Sunday that the problems of the Rohingya migrants have been the responsibility of the National Security Council (NSC), with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Surapong said their joint meeting last week concluded that the Rohingyas currently under detention in Thailand must be treated as illegal migrants. He added that further verification will be conducted to determine whether they are security threats or merely migrants, seeking refuge in a third country.

Mr. Surapong, however, stated that the Prime Minister had instructed relevant government units to provide care to the Rohingyas in accordance with the humanitarian principles.

As for long-term solutions, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the NSC will discuss the matters with related international organizations, said the minister.

Mr. Surapong reiterated that the Thai government always gave top priority to the problem of human trafficking as it could affect Thailand economically.

He assured that the government has continuously been tackling the problems of human trafficking in a bid to boost international confidence in Thailand after the U.S. Department of State put the country in the Tire 2 Watch List for three years in a row.

-- NNT 2013-01-20

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RT@veen_NT: YOU know an #election is coming soon when a politician walks around at a market and 'sawasdee' everyone with 'sincere' smile on his face.

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RT@BBCBreaking: #Algeria hostage crisis: 3 British nationals confirmed killed, a further 3 Britons and 1 UK resident feared dead, says UK PM @David_Cameron

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RT@CoconutsBangkok: "What's my motherflippin' name?!" - @SnoopDogg owned it at the Together Fest last night in Bangkok #snoopthai pic.twitter.com/VQXBYd7T

[Lite Beer]

Chiang Mai Pervert Fails to Rape Aussie Jogger

CHIANG MAI – January 19, 2013 [PDN]: A Thai man with a mental disorder was arrested for the attempted rape of a tourist by Pol. Lt. Col. Somdul Wairak, Inspector, Mae Rim police station, Chiang Mai province; and the detective police team, after the victim had notified investigation officer Pol. Lt. Col. Supoj Suwan.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613238-chiang-mai-pervert-tries-to-assault-aussie-jogger/

[Lite Beer]

Thai Teen Potheads On Motorbike Busted By Cops

PATTAYA – January 20, 2013 [PDN]; at 12:30 a.m., several young males were arrested for marijuana possession by a Pattaya police crime patrol. Supervising the arrests was Pol. Col. Sathien Ratchaphongthai, Deputy Inspector, Pattaya police station, Chonburi province, who had mobilized police forces to inspect for crime in the area.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613242-thai-teen-potheads-on-motorbike-busted-by-cops/

[Lite Beer]

THAI employees end strike after salary increase agreed.

By Digital Media

BANGKOK, Jan 20th --- A protest by hundreds of Thai Airways at Suvarnabhumi Airport employees to demand increased salary and Bonus Payments after ENDED THAI board of Director agreed to raise the salary by Maximum Level of 7.5 percent. Negotiation between THAI and After the Meeting. board and representatives of the labour union, the maximum of 7.5 percent salary increase was mutually agreed.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613170-strike-delays-thai-flights/#entry6036367