MOPH simplifies tobacco warning to increase effect

NONTHABURI, 4 April 2015 (NNT) – The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) will start posting a simplified version of tobacco warning on packages from 30 September 2015.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa....ncrease-effect/

Thai Police highlights its success in supporting Gov't security policy

BANGKOK, 4 April 2015 (NNT) - Thai Police have utterly supported security work of the Government and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) in all aspects which has culminated in a decline of crimes, the national police chief Pol Gen Somyot Pumpunmuang summarized the 10-month result of police work in a television program “Returning Happiness to the People”.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa....ecurity-policy/

POLITICS
Red shirts event 'needs permission', NCPO says
The Sunday Nation

BANGKOK: -- National Council for Peace and Order spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvari has said the red shirts must seek permission from the First Army Region's Peace Keeping Force before holding their planned activity on Friday.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814895-red-shirts-event-needs-permission-ncpo-says/

NEW CONSTITUTION
'Charter to ensure that reforms are enacted'
THE SUNDAY NATION April 5, 2015 1:00 am

BANGKOK: -- Mechanism will enable continuity for future govts, CDC chief assures

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814896-charter-to-ensure-that-reforms-are-enacted/

UPDATE:

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION
WHO official denies abusing helper

BANGKOK: -- THE World Health Organisation's top official in Thailand yesterday denied beating his Ethiopian domestic helper and treating her like a modern-day slave.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814737-top-who-official-in-thailand-denies-maid-slavery-claims/#entry9270875

POLITICS
PM in Chiang Mai today
The Sunday Nation

CHIANG MAI: -- Local residents and officials in Tambon Mae Tha in Chiang Mai's Mae On district will today welcome Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who is scheduled to present some 2,000 families with 7,282 rai (1,164 hectares) of land for home and agriculture use.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814898-pm-in-chiang-mai-today/

SOUTH CRISIS
Call for students to be freed in South
THE SUNDAY NATION

BANGKOK: -- HUMAN RIGHTS Watch called on Thai military authorities yesterday to immediately confirm the location of 17 student activists arrested last week following a predawn search at four student dormitories in Narathiwat.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814899-call-for-students-to-be-freed-in-south/

NATIONAL EARTH HOUR CAPITAL
Hat Yai town wins award
The Sunday Nation

Nakhon Hat Yai municipality in Songkhla has won the World Wildlife Federation's National Earth Hour Capital 2015 - held as part of the WWF's Earth Hour City Challenge global campaign.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814900-hat-yai-town-wins-award/

More haze problems for North
The Sunday Nation

CHIANG MAI: -- The northern haze situation has returned, with Chiang Rai province yesterday reporting a reading of particles of less than 10 micrometres (PM10) of 125 and 144 micrograms per cubic metre in its Muang and Mae Sai districts respectively.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814901-more-haze-problems-for-north/

Egat tips power demand to rise
The Sunday Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) claimed yesterday that power demand in the south would reach 2,600 megawatts this summer.

This would be a 5.5 per cent increase on the previous year, said Somchai Chairojnipat, an Egat executive in Trang's Huay Yot district

It was expected the region's electricity demand in 2018 would be equal to the region's electricity generating supply, which is now 2,885 megawatts.

He argued that from 2018 the region would need extra power plants to boost it electricity security such as the proposed coal-fuelled power plant in Krabi.

In 2013, the massive blackout hit 14 southern provinces after a transmission failure in Prachuap Khiri Khan cut off |supply from the Central region.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Egat-tips-power-demand-to-rise-30257445.html

-- The Nation 2015-04-05

NIEM confirms critical patients
THE SUNDAY NATION

BANGKOK: -- PEOPLE WITH ANY of six critical symptoms can now seek free medical treatment at the nearest hospital, National Institute for Emergency Medicine (NIEM) chief Anucha Setthasathien confirmed.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814902-niem-confirms-critical-patients/

Wat founder's heirs want adviser probed for lese majeste
SUPACHAI PHETCHTHEWEE
THE SUNDAY NATION

BANGKOK: -- DESCENDANTS of the founders of Wat Kalayanamit in Bangkok's Thon Buri district yesterday urged police to investigate if a recent comment made to media by the temple's chief adviser, Watchara Phromcharoen, violated the Criminal Code's Section 112 regarding lese majeste.

Chianchoung Kalayanamit, along with Wat Kalayanamit Community leader Chaiyasit Kittiwanitchapant, and 30 residents presented to Bupparam police the evidence, including a CD record of the televised programme "Kom Chad Luek" on Nation TV on March 19.

As the two men made guest appearances in the programme, Watchara was a phone-in guest speaker to provide information about the temple restoration project. The two men urged police to investigate if Watchara's comment that renovations were carried out under the auspices of the Crown Property Bureau was tantamount to lese majeste.

"The renovations at the temple destroy our good memories and the history of our family legacy so I, as an heir of the temple founders, can't accept it and will fight [via legal actions] until the end," Chianchoung said.

The temple has been in the headlines recently due to its controversial renovation plan that allegedly damaged the national heritage monument. Some 200 families, who have been living on the temple land as tenants and have been fighting an eviction order from the temple for years, accused the temple of destroying several heritage buildings and replacing them with new structures.

Department of Fine Arts (DFA) chief Borvornvate Rungrujee last month had affirmed that the temple's renovation of four buildings - which had received DFA approval - was under Crown Property Bureau sponsorship since 2011 but he said the temple carried out renovation on 22 items in the compound. The DFA had filed 15 cases against it; 10 cases have been dropped by public prosecutors but five cases were ongoing. He said the DFA would ask the temple to demolish new unauthorised structures this month.

The temple has postponed its renovation plan pending a ruling by the Administrative Court.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Wat-founders-heirs-want-adviser-probed-for-lese-ma-30257448.html

-- The Nation 2015-04-05

FOREST RESERVE ENCROACHMENT

'Ten officials' behind illegal land deeds

THE SUNDAY NATION

BANGKOK: -- DSI official thinks only 10 per cent of Bonanza land might be legal; deeds for some 1,000 rai possibly issued unlawfully

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814906-ten-officials-behind-illegal-land-deeds/

Thailand has yet to face the skeletons in it's closet

BANGKOK: -- REPORT TO THE UN'S CCPR FAILS TO DEAL WITH MAJOR SCANDALS FROM THE PAST, SUCH AS THE TAK BAI MASSACRE

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814907-thailand-has-yet-to-face-the-skeletons-in-its-closet/

Kenya: Extremists vow more attacks; president responds
CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press
TOM ODULA, Associated Press

GARISSA, Kenya (AP) — Somalia's Islamic extremist group al-Shabab warned Saturday of more attacks in Kenya like the assault on Garissa University College that killed 148 people.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814908-kenya-extremists-vow-more-attacks;-president-responds/

Former president Fidel Castro appears in public in Cuba
ANNE-MARIE GARCIA, Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — Former longtime Cuban president Fidel Castro has appeared in public for the first time in more than a year, official media reported.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814909-former-president-fidel-castro-appears-in-public-in-cuba/

Ethnic tensions between Israeli Jews fuel Netanyahu victory
By ARON HELLER

ROSH HA'AYIN, Israel (AP) — Israel's visceral election campaign has exposed a rift that many here thought had long subsided — the deep-seated schism between Jews of European and Middle Eastern descent.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814911-ethnic-tensions-between-israeli-jews-fuel-netanyahu-victory/

Iraq's Tikrit, free of the Islamic State, is a city in ruins
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — In Iraq's Tikrit, liberation from the Islamic State group comes at a heavy price, both in loss of life and in the sheer devastation the militants leave in their wake.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814912-iraqs-tikrit-free-of-the-islamic-state-is-a-city-in-ruins/

Klongchan case: Daughter of tycoon to be questioned

PIYANUT TAMNUKASETCHAI
THE SUNDAY NATION

BANGKOK: -- THE Department of Special Investigation plans to summon the daughter of Land and Houses chairman Anant Asavabhokhin and a SW Holding Group executive to question them over the alleged embezzlement at the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814924-klongchan-case-daughter-of-tycoon-to-be-questioned/

RT @RichardBarrow: I was thinking about going to the Phanom Rung Festival this weekend to get the sunrise photo. Glad I didn't now! http://twitter.com/SpringNews_TV/status/584553147571408896/photo/1

Bangkok residents are expected to spend about Bt22.8 billion during the upcoming Songkran Festival, according to the Kasikorn Research Center.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814973-besides-water-throwing-thais-will-spend-a-lot/

Malaysian nabbed in Phuket with fake credit cards

Mohd Jaris Tun Bin Abdullah was arrested after he disembarked a flight at Phuket International Airport

PHUKET: Tourist Police arrested a Malaysian national yesterday (April 4) at Phuket International Airport for using fake credit cards.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814977-malaysian-nabbed-in-phuket-with-fake-credit-cards/

Ayutthaya – A house owner told police her house was haunted by her dead husband and that a burglar fled after encountering the ghost.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814974-burglary-foiled-by-a-ghost/

Bangkok – The tourism industry has already seen positive changes after last week’s cancellation of martial law enforcement, Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula said.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814975-tourism-rebounds-after-martial-law-ended/

Three arrested in Phuket with guns and drugs
Darawan Naknakhon

The three men arrested yesterday.

PHUKET: Phuket City police yesterday (April 4) arrested three men who had in their possession either guns, drugs or both.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814982-three-arrested-in-phuket-with-guns-and-drugs/

Trang declares 10 districts disaster zones

BANGKOK, 5 April 2015 (NNT) - 10 districts in the southern province of Trang have been declared disaster zones due to drought. More than 185,600 people do not have sufficient water for consumption.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814990-trang-declares-10-districts-disaster-zones/

Internal trade dept. to closely monitor product prices on Songkran holiday

BANGKOK, 5 April 2015 (NNT) - Director-General of the Department of Internal Trade Bunyarit Kanlayanamit will travel to the Mo Chit Bus Terminal to inspect prices of goods on 10 April in the department’s effort to prevent shops from increasing prices or taking advantage of consumers during the coming Songkran long holiday.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814991-internal-trade-dept-to-closely-monitor-product-prices-on-songkran-holiday/

Family believed to be from Phuket killed in Songkhla crash

Eakkapop Thongtub

PHUKET: A family of four, who police believe came from Phuket, have been tragically killed in a fatal crash in Songkhla early this morning (April 5).

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/814999-family-believed-to-be-from-phuket-killed-in-songkhla-crash/

Public urged to use power effectively despite sufficient power during the dry season

BANGKOK: -- Public urged to use power effectively despite sufficient power during the dry seasonPublic urged to use power effectively despite sufficient power during the dry season

Energy permanent secretary Areepong Phucha-um said today that despite gas supply cut from Myanmar due to the annual maintenance there would be sufficient power supply to meet with the expected 3 percent increase in power consumption during the month of April due to lower power fees.

EGAT deputy governor in charge of power transmission MrSuthonBoonprasong, meanwhile, said EGAT would increase the consumption of bunker oil to replace the shortfall of gas supply from Myanmar.

Also, EGAT will buy more power from the other producers and will increase electricity production from hydro power plants in Laos to replenish the power shortfall from gas-fuelled plants.

MrSuthon, however, appealed to the public to use power economically.

The government, meanwhile, will start a public campaign to urge consumers to use electricity effectively during the dry season when power consumption normally increases substantially.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/public-urged-to-use-power-effectively-despite-sufficient-power-during-the-dry-season

-- Thai PBS 2015-04-05

Mekong river boat operators warn of increased boat fares

BANGKOK: -- Boat service operators in the Mekong river in Bung Karn province have warned that they may have to increase boat fares if river conditions worsen.

Full Story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/815033-mekong-river-boat-operators-warn-of-increased-boat-fares/