Their Majesties the King and the Queen will leave Siriraj Hospital for their Hua Hin Palace on Thursday.
Prachuab Khiri Khan Governor Veera Sriwatanatrakul said HM the King and the Queen will leave Bangkok hospital at 4pm.
The provincial authorities and people are very excited and pleased that their Majesties will come to stay at Klai Kangwon Palace. All preparations are in place to welcome both of them, he said.
The King was admitted to the hospital in September 2009, for treatment of a respiratory condition while the Queen was treated for irregular heartbeat in 2012.
Police have arrested three Thai musicians who allegedly stabbed an American man to death and severely wounded his son after an argument in a bar in Krabi’s Muang district early Wednesday morning.
The two were rushed to Bangkok Hospital Phuket after the 3am attack in Tambon Ao Nang. Bobby Carter sustained a fatal knife wound to the stomach, while his son Adam, 27, was severely beaten.
Police later arrested Ratikorn Romin, 27, Sathit Somsa, 40 and Noppanan Yoddecha, 26. According to police, the two tourists and family members visited the Little Longhorn Saloon, where the father and son joined the musicians on stage for a jam session. Carter senior apparently refused to leave the stage at the end of session, leading to an argument with the musicians.
The deceased also reportedly knocked the musicians’ tip box to the floor. The three musicians apparently sat outside the bar and another argument broke out when the group emerged from the bar before the musicians reportedly killed the man and injured his son.
The Marine Department yesterday lodged a police complaint against PTT Global Chemical over the crude oil leak from the undersea pipeline it owns in the Gulf of Thailand.
The department’s strategic move is aimed at preventing the public company from not taking responsibility to clean the oil spill and pay compensation, which could potentially amount to Bt2.3 billion for local tourism sector and Bt5.4 million daily loss suffered by the fishing sector.Sorrrasak Saensombat, director-general of the department, said the total damage from the stains and the loss in revenue for the tourism, business and fishery industries had not been included in the suit, pending estimates from aggrieved parties. It is not yet known through which legal channel the suit will be processed – administrative, civil or environmental – after the complaint was lodged with a local police station in Rayong.
He said the severity of the leak was at the intermediate Level 2, which requires state intervention in the salvage operation and clean-up. Level 3 is for the heaviest damage, which needs foreign-supported salvaging operations, and Level 1 is for moderate leakage, which can be salvaged by the private sector.
Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt called the first meeting of a national body tasked with dealing with an oil spill or recovery, three days after the oil leak was reported on Saturday morning.
The little-known Prevention and Elimination of Marine Pollution Caused by Oil Spill committee under the PM’s Office was formed in 1995 with the transport minister as its chair and the director-general of the Marine Department as its secretary.
Sorrrasak said the oil slick has reached the Rayong coast while the thick crude oil that has dirtied Ao Phrao has been contained.
The bay, popular with tourists, would be cleaned almost completely within a few days, and the black globules could be removed from the beach and sea within a week.
PTTGC president Bowon Vongsinudom said the spill that was spreading into the sea had already been stopped and that the recovery process would be initiated as soon as possible.
“The oil film spreading across the sea near Rayong’s Samet Island will be naturally destroyed by bacteria within two weeks,” he added.
After completing the clean-up, a third-party assessor would be deployed to estimate the environmental damage and lay out recovery plans.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is on an overseas trip, has ordered a systematic response to cope with the oil leak. Minister of Energy Pongsak Ruktapongpisa said all parties affected by the leak would be compensated.
He said he preferred to see negotiations between both parties rather than lawsuits in terms of compensatory payments, because the PTTGC was willing to make immediate amends, while the lawsuits would take time.
Chairat Trirattanajarasporn, head of Rayong Tourism Association, said the local tourism industry had lost about one-fifth of its annual revenue of Bt16 billion, or about Bt3.2 billion so far, while a group of fishermen said they were losing Bt5.4 million in daily revenue.
Most room reservations have been cancelled even though Phrao Bay makes up only 5 per cent of the island’s entire area.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Vichet Kasemthongsri told the Cabinet meeting that PTT, of which PTTGC is a group company, was covered by a Bt1.5-billion insurance policy and could use the payout to help defray the damage.
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
Koh Samet, Rayong July 31, 2013 1:00 am
Greenpeace says measures employed by PTTGC were acceptable, but pushes for immediate mitigation process.
Thousands of volunteers and officials have been battling for more than 48 hours to remove crude oil that has swamped Koh Samet’s Ao Phrao beach – a mission that PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) says should be completed today.
The oil has been spreading in that area of the Gulf of Thailand after a PTTGC offshore platform sprung a leak on Saturday monring.
Sirasa Kantaratanakul, a Greenpeace campaigner who witnessed the clean-up operation at the beach yesterday, said the techniques used by PTTGC were acceptable but the firm needed to launch recovery plans as soon as possible in order to mitigate the damage.
PTTGC president Bowon Vongsinudom agreed, saying launching the mitigation plan immediately was necessary.
As of yesterday morning, about 10 tonnes of crude oil had been removed from the beach and some areas were relatively clean. Seawater in some spots had even changed from black to light brown, which was seen as a positive sign. However, the clean-up operation was disrupted at around noon yesterday due to heavy rain.
Ao Phrao beach, which is popular among divers thanks to the staghorn coral reefs, was hit by the leak at around 9pm on Sunday.
“This accident does not just affect PTTGC, but also the local community and the entire country. Hence, we’ve decided to join the cleaning-up mission and help our nation,” PTTGC staff Surapol Chaiyahong said. The 50-year-old joined the clean-up operation from Sunday night.
Apart from using pumps, buckets and shovels to remove the oil, the volunteers also deployed five high-power sprays to wash the oil off the rocks yesterday.
PTTGC is expected to transfer the tanks containing debris from the beach on several barges to its oil-refinery. It will also hire a third-party agency to evaluate the damage done to the environment and marine ecosystem before drawing up a recovery plan.
Meanwhile, though Bowon wondered about the cause of the leak, he did not say if he would order an investigation into the incident.
After the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency issued a satellite image of what looked like the spill heading for the mainland at Rayong’s Ban Pak Klong Klang area, Bowon said he launched an inspection of the area but found no crude oil.
“I don’t know what that is,” he said, adding that the spill was now limited to Ao Phrao and it had been contained so far.
Worst flooding in decades costs market Bt1.2 bn; 25 provinces affected by heavy rainfall
TAK’S MAE Sot district continued to suffer from what has been described as the worst flooding to hit the area in 20 years, with the rising Moei River bringing Thai-Myanmar border trade to a total halt for four days, causing Bt1.2 billion in lost business.Banpot Korkiatcharoen, honorary chairman of the Tak provincial chamber of commerce, said the flood situation in Mae Sot had stabilised, and cars could access roads, but Rim Moei Market along the border was still inundated. He described the flooding, which was triggered by a week of rainfall, as the worst in 20 years as it had lasted for four days and counting – compared to previous flash floods that lasted two days at most. Mae Sot’s economy, in particular its Bt300-million-a-day border trade, had been adversely affected, he said.
As some areas of Mae Sot were still without power due to the high waters, Tak Deputy Governor Suwat Phronsuwan yesterday morning presented 500 relief bags and 500 bags of rice to residents of 20 flood-hit communities at Wat Don Kaew School.
Deputy Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan said after a Cabinet meeting yesterday that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is on an overseas trip, was greatly concerned about flooding in 25 provinces and had instructed the Interior Ministry and the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department to speedily aid flood-hit people.
Two villages at the foot of Khao Yai in Prachin Buri’s Muang district were hit by a flash flood late on Monday night. Local officials planned to dredge Khlong Chanthu to help drain floodwater into the Prachin Buri River more quickly.
In Kanchanaburi’s Sangkhlaburi district, forest run-off swept about 30 food-sellers’ rafts, along with floating fish baskets, some 40 kilometres down river, tambon Wang Ka mayor Pakorn Noiket said yesterday. Pakorn was inspecting the scene of a landslide that damaged a 50-metre-long section of pipeline supplying raw water to the municipality’s tap-water system, which supports some 2,000 homes. The mayor said repairs to the pipeline would commence once the necessary tools and materials arrived in two days. The municipality could still provide tap water in the meantime, but it would flow more slowly than usual and stop from time to time, Pakorn said.
Attempts to remove floating weeds from around the country’s longest wooden bridge, the Mon Bridge, were ongoing, but were being hampered by the strong current as the rain continued, the mayor said.
Up North, Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai, Mae Chaem and Mae On districts were also on alert for possible landslides and forest floods.
Thousands join the “RIP Koh Samet” Facebook campaign; people urged to donate hair
SOCIAL MEDIA are buzzing with comments sympathising with residents of Koh Samet and attacking PTT Global Chemical Plc (PTTGC) for being socially irresponsible.
Komatra Chuengsatiansup, director of the Public Health Ministry’s Society and Health Institute, changed his cover photo on Facebook to black with the message: “RIP Koh Samet and mourn PTT’s lack of social responsibility” in response to the oil slick that washed onto the island’s Ao Phrao beach on Sunday night.
Mana Treelayapewat, associate dean of Communications Arts at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said he too opted for a black cover photo on his Facebook page because he was disheartened by PTTGC’s handling of the oil spill. He added that PTTGC’s emergency response to the situation was not good enough.
“Nature is destroyed by development if there is no secure prevention plan or actions to thoroughly address a situation like this. Usually, the authorities and businesses focus on development without caring about preserving nature for our children,” he said.
Also, PTTGC’s mismanagement of the oil leak crisis shows that its sustainability programmes are not sincere, he said.
“The company spends a lot of money on its social responsibility programmes, but in reality the firm does not really care. It should be using money to conserve nature instead of promoting its own image,” Mana said.
He added that he had asked his social-network buddies to become part of the “RIP Koh Samet” campaign and voice their dissatisfaction with PTTGC’s indifference. A lot of Facebookusers have already joined the campaign.
Suthathorn Sutthison, an e-business and e-marketing consultant, said on his Facebook page that this oil spill was clear proof that sustainability schemes launched by oil firms are only a marketing gimmick. “Social responsibility is a tough job,” he said.
Many people have also launched a campaign asking for people to donate their hair to help absorb the oil. Those who wish to join the clean-up operation can gather at Mae Pim Beach today, while those who cannot are being urged to find as much human hair as possible.
Academics have predicted a grim scenario for ecological systems hit by the oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand, including those around Koh Samet’s Ao Phrao beach.
“It’s going to be difficult to rehabilitate the affected areas,” Phaithoon Mokkongpai of Burapha University said yesterday.About 50 tonnes of crude oil leaked from an offshore pipeline on Saturday, spilling into the sea off Rayong.
In a bid to break up the oil slick, some chemicals have been used.
Phaithoon said he believed the use of chemicals was not appropriate because the oil-affected areas were not in the deep-sea zone, and these waters did not flow easily to the open sea.
There was a risk that oil droplets formed through the use of the chemicals would sink onto coral and kill them, he said, adding that ecological systems would then suffer because young aquatic animals and plankton usually live around the corals.
Phaithoon predicted disruption |to the food chain and believed |the impact would become evident soon.
“Although micro-organisms naturally consume oil, they won’t be able to handle [such a] huge amount of oil,” he explained.
He said that apart from damage to ecological systems, the oil spill would hurt tourism, the economy and coastal fisheries too.
“This is a big incident,” he said, adding that the spill would not have posed such a serious threat if it had happened out at sea.
“But when [oil] reaches the coastal zone, the impacts are serious.”
Pichai Sonchaeng, a former dean of Burapha University’s Marine Technology Faculty, said the oil spill’s impact on natural resources was worrying to everyone.
He urged all parties to quickly determine the exact leakage point, the exact amount of leaked oil and the affected areas, and to develop a model to assess the impacts.
“Then we will have to plan how to rehabilitate the environment and come up with the quickest and best way to do it,” he said.
A STING OPERATION, under which Narcotics Suppression Police officers tried to buy 400 yaba tablets from five drug suspects, turned into a gunfight early yesterday in Chumphon’s Lamae district, resulting in one suspect being killed and a policeman injured.
A suspect was also killed in a similar sting operation in Bangkok yesterday.After hearing of a gunfight at around 5am, Lamae police rushed to the site to find a Mitsubishi sedan on Lamae-Khao Chamod Road with dozens of spent bullets and Pol Sr Sgt-Major Thammanoon Nokkhao slumped with a wound on his left shoulder. After following a trail of blood into a rubber plantation about 300 metres away, police found the body of suspect Tinnakorn Boonmak, 25, being held by his mother.
Police also found on Tinnakorn’s body the Bt50,000 officers used to buy the drugs and the suspect’s pistol nearby. A manhunt has been launched for the four other suspects who fled the scene.
Pol Major Apichart Jiapanich, who led the sting operation, said the team aimed to crack a gang of drug dealers led by a native of Surat Thani’s Than Chana district identified as “First Thathai”.
The gang had changed the venue for the exchange twice before agreeing to meet on the Lamae-Khao Chamod Road. However, when the police tried to arrest the suspects, they opened fire.
Meanwhile, Narcotics Suppression Police officers also exchanged gunfire with drug suspects at the Thewakam intersection in Bangkok’s Nang Lerng area yesterday afternoon. As of press time, one suspect had been reported killed and one wounded. A stray bullet also hit a female student nearby.
After the oil spill near Rayong, the Fisheries Department has one piece of advice for seafood lovers: “Don’t avoid it, just sniff it first to see if it smells of crude oil.”
Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry has vowed to check if seafood sold in the market is contaminated.
“Don’t panic. Normally, aquatic animals swim to safety when they detect something abnormal around their habitat,” Fisheries Department director-general Wimol Jantrarota said yesterday.
He said the fish that had washed up around Koh Samet’s Ao Phrao beach had died because they were unable to escape in time.
According to Wimol, aquatic animals exposed to the oil would smell bad even after being cooked.
Speaking while on a working trip overseas, Public Health Minister Pradit Sintavanarong said information available in other countries where similar accidents had happened showed that the presence of the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon chemical was higher in marine life in the wake of oil spills.
“So, we will check the quality of the seawater and contamination of the seafood to protect people,” Pradit said.
He added that the adverse impacts of the spill could be cut down if the clean-up and recovery operations were implemented quickly and properly.
Fishing industry suffers
Meanwhile, Rayong Small-Trawler Fisheries Association president Jaturas Iamworanirun said the spill had hit the livelihoods of the local fishermen very badly.
“Each fishing trawler used to catch between Bt2,000 and Bt3,000 worth of squid per trip, but now they barely get five squids per trip,” he said, adding that most marine animals had either swum away or died.
According to him, there are about 1,300 small fishing trawlers in Rayong that have sustained losses of about Bt5.4 million.
Jaturas said small fishing trawlers usually travelled to a spot some 12 nautical miles from the shore and paid Bt800 for fuel per trip.
“If they have to travel farther, they will have to pay more for petrol, perhaps as much as Bt1,800 per trip,” he said.
A ground-breaking new treatment for women undergoing in vitro fertilisation has been introduced and should make patients’ lives a lot easier.
The innovative new treatment from MSD is a sustained release follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) – the first of its kind. One significant benefit of using this new fertility treatment is the few numbers of treatments needed. Currently, women now undergoing IVF have to have a daily subcutaneous injection of FSH but this new solution means that they will only have to get an injection once a week.
This treatment is the first sustained follicle stimulant. Due to its ability to initiate and sustain multiple follicular growth for an entire week, a single subcutaneous injection of the recommended dose may replace the first seven injections of any the conventional daily follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) injections for controlled ovarian stimulation (COS).
Today, up to 15 per cent of couples globally experience fertility problems. In Thailand, fertility rates are in decline from 4.9 children per woman (1975) to 1.6 children per woman (2013), which is considered to be below the generally accepted level of 2.1 children to maintain current population levels.
Infertility is a disease that impairs the body’s ability to perform the basic function of reproduction. There are a number of causes including problems with the production of sperm or eggs, with the fallopian tubes or the uterus, endometriosis, frequent miscarriage, as well as hormonal and autoimmune disorders in both men and women.
Treatments for infertility include surgery, hormone treatments, insemination and IVF though these are time-consuming and can be painful. MSD says its new treatment provides an effective, easy, and patient-focused fertility treatment.
Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Somjate Manipalviratn, who is also a leading reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist, says: “The advent of this new fertility treatment marks a new era of hope for our patients. Infertility is a relatively common problem worldwide and in Thailand, and this new innovative treatment makes it much easier for both patients and doctors. The solution is a positive step towards reducing the burden of daily injections for women experiencing difficulty conceiving.”
ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย1 