Families of the victims of the One-Two-Go plane crash in Phuket last September are preparing to file more than 70 lawsuits in the United States for compensation of up to US$400 million (13.2 billion baht). The lawsuits name Bangkok-based Orient Thai Airlines and its budget carrier One-Two-Go Airlines as the defendants.
POLITICS
The government is renewing its attempt to amend the charter prior to dissolving the House and calling a new election, the Democrat party said yesterday. The opposition party warned that the constitution amendment bid, if renewed, could be a new time bomb in the wake of the Preah Vihear temple controversy.
Veteran politician Vatana Asavahame, wanted for jumping bail in a corruption case, was found hiding in his casino in Cambodia's Poi Pet border town, police said yesterday. Deputy national police chief Jongrak Juthanont quoted a report from Sa Kaeo police chief Pol Col Itthipol Piriyaphinyo as saying that a cousin of Mr Vatana had crossed the border from the province to see him at the Poi Pet Resort hotel, one of the two casinos in which he holds major stakes in Cambodia. The other is the Grand Diamond hotel.
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION
PATTAYA : Thai and Lao officials have agreed to step up border patrols and increase law enforcement to crack down on drug traffickers, who are now using new routes into Thailand from Burma and Laos. The agreement signed by Justice Minister Sompong Amornwiwat and Lao Minister to the President's Office Soubanh Srithirath was reached at the end of a four-day meeting on cross-border drug cooperation and control in Pattaya on Thursday.
The first-ever Thai-Chinese joint military exercise in Thailand aimed at suppressing international terrorism kicked off in Chiang Mai yesterday. The exercise, which involves troops from the 5th Special Forces Regiment in Chiang Mai's Mae Rim district and their Chinese counterparts from Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong province, is coded-named ''Strike 2008.''
SCHOOLING
Too much and too difficult homework is the reason more and more children seek medical treatment for stress, according to a psychiatrist. Jom Chumchuay, of Manarom hospital, a private hospital specialising in psychiatric treatment in Bang Na district, called on teachers to be mindful of children's need to rest and relax after school.
CRIME
KRABI : Police yesterday arrested a man who beat his wife and three-year-old son to death before dumping them in a cesspit more than two years ago. Prasit Boonkong, 36, admitted to the police he used a wooden bar to bludgeon his wife as she was holding his son after they had a heated argument at their house in Krabi province on April 12, 2006.
TRANSPORT
A national rail and mass transport development committee has decided to go ahead with the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority's controversial scheme to rent 6,000 air-conditioned buses which run on NGV. The panel, chaired by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, will resubmit the BMTA's proposed bus rental scheme for cabinet consideration next week.
POLITICS
UDON THANI : Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung has promised to double the salaries of more than 60,000 kamnans, phuyaibans and other local leaders nationwide. The promised salary hikes, however, have drawn criticism from some observers, who dismissed it as a populist way of buying grassroots support for the government. Some local leaders are alleged to be canvassers for political parties.
POLITICS
Attorney-General Chaikasem Nitisiri yesterday indicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra for abusing his authority in favour of his telecommunications business, causing damage to the state worth 68 billion baht. Seksan Bangsomboon, the prosecution's director-general for special litigation, brought the indictment paper from Mr Chaikasem to the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions yesterday.
POLITICS
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has endorsed an order setting up a disciplinary inquiry into chief adviser to the Supreme Command Gen Pathompong Kesornsuk for speaking at the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) rally this week. The endorsement from Mr Samak, who is also defence minister, came on Thursday, deputy government spokesman Natthawut Saikua said yesterday.
SOUTH
YALA : The newly-opened strategic station for security management in Bannang Sata district will involve local people in quelling the unrest in the deep South, said Sompian Eksomya, chief of the Bannang Sata police station. The objective of the station was in line with directives handed down by assistant police chief Pol Lt-Gen Adul Saengsingkaew.
POLITICS
The Election Commission (EC) and the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) yesterday agreed to ask the Constitution Court to decide whether the Chart Thai and Matchimathipataya coalition parties should be dissolved. The EC found the parties' executives guilty of election fraud.
POLITICS
The Democrat party's bid to impeach Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej over the Preah Vihear joint communique has hit a snag as the cabinet resolution related to the agreement can't be accessed. Democrat secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban said his party was not being allowed to see the June 17 cabinet resolution pledging support for the joint communique that Foreign Affairs Minister Noppadon Pattama had signed with Phnom Penh.
EDITORIAL
The Summer Olympics staged in Barcelona in 1992 and Sydney in 2000 came as close to perfection as any similar event in recent times. Atlanta in 1996 suffered from excessive commercialism while Athens in 2004 was plagued by logistical hurdles, with some venues only completed at the last minute. But everything finally came together and Greece turned out to be a fount of gold medals and glorious moments for our athletes.
COMMENTARY
Records are made to be broken. We accept that truism, especially in sports. Even so, this is getting a tad silly, don't you think?
IN Print
Late on Monday, Unesco's World Heritage Committee (WHC) decided at its Quebec meeting to register Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site stemming from the unitary submission by Cambodia government. It was a total defeat of the Thai Foreign Ministry under the supervision of Noppadon Pattama, noted a Thai Rath writer.
@THAILAND
For many folk, their hometown will always be their favourite city. So it is with Phetchaburi residents.
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
On Monday Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin ordered an inquiry into reports of officials allegedly taking bribes from a Japanese firm in return for being awarded a tunnel project in 2003. Deputy City Clerk Pongsak Semsant was assigned by the governor on Monday to lead the inquiry. Mr Pongsak said he expected the investigation would take about a week as Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) officials had to look through all the evidence.
@THAILAND
Coastal erosion is being tackled by separate agencies adopting different means to achieve a common goal.
@THAILAND
Local efforts to save the natural environment and fight coastal erosion in Ban Khok Kham of Samut Sakhon's Muang district are showing signs of success.
PostBag
As a German living in Germany, I don't have the right to write about Thailand's internal politics. But I must counter the opinion of Somsak Pola, that military and politics are inseparable (Postbag, July 10).
IN Brief
NAKHON RATCHASIMA :A man was arrested with 275 smuggled gold bars, worth about 10 million baht, on Mitraphap highway on Thursday.
