The training, a cooperation between the military and the Election Commission, aims to turn around 300,000 mostly high school students nationwide into “qualified” youths and good citizens.

In each year of their training, students will study politics, the importance of the constitution, being good and democratic citizens, democracy and transparency.

The Election Commission will educate military trainers who will then train students, said Election Commissioner Prawit Rattanapian at the opening ceremony of the training on Monday.

This year, classroom and activity training will account for 40 per cent of the entire training with the rest field training, said Lt-General Weerachai Inthusophon, commander of homeland security, at the ceremony.

“Around 100,000 students will finish the training this year. Afterwards, some will become reserve officers and some will do other jobs,” Weerachai said. “That’s why we have to build good citizens of the future. Apart from lectures, the students will also be encouraged to join awareness-raising activities prior to elections.”

Last year, reserve officer-training students were briefed on the content of the charter and relayed the information to local people before last August’s charter referendum.

On voting day, they manned polling booths.

The reconciliation preparation committee and its four sub-panels convened on Monday to assess the progress of the talks the former initiated.

Seventy political parties, two political groups and 60 civil organisations were invited to take part in the talks which ended on Friday, but only 55 did so.

Those that did not attend either could not be contacted or were not ready to attend the talks, Kongcheep said.

Kongcheep said Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, head of the reconciliation committee, stressed that the process belonged to the people and they should have a chance to take part in it and gain benefits from it.

The Army has also been holding related forums upcountry and will finish all 76 forums this Thursday, Kongcheep said.

The proposals will then be synthesised with proposals from the Bangkok forums, with the “social contract” expected by June, he added.

Wuthingpong’s house in Pathum Thani province was raided on Saturday and a large cache of weapons including four M-16 rifles, one M79 grenade launcher, 13 guns, plus 5,000 rounds of ammunition was found along with three red-shirt banners and other material deemed to violate the lese majeste law.

The crackdown has been criticised as a set-up to cast blame on the red-shirt network.

Deputy police spokesman Pol Colonel Krissana Pattanachareon said that police had confidence in their evidence that led to the raid on Wuthipong’s dwelling as well as other locations.

“The raids and searches are continuing today. If we have information linked to people or places, we will conduct searches for sure,” the spokesman said.

Police are still checking into the background of the confiscated weapons as well as funding sources. “We are checking whether some politicians are involved in threatening government leaders, the resistance in the search at Dhammakaya Temple and the accumulation of the weapons.”

His remark caused long delays for both his flight and the return flight from Chiang Rai, resulting in hundreds of passengers being left stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport and Chiang Rai International Airport.

When the boy was about the board the Bangkok-Chiang Rai flight at 6.40pm on Sunday, he said he was carrying the bomb, causing security officials to search the plane.

The boy, whose name was withheld because he is a minor, was returning from the Philippines with a group of 31 students and teachers under a cultural exchange project.

He was carrying his belongings in both hands and his boarding pass was in the right pocket of his jacket. When a flight attendant offered to remove the boarding pass from his pocket he said: “Please be careful. There’s a bomb inside.”

The flight attendant, Manasnan Dongriengkaj, immediately informed the captain, who in turn alerted the security centre of Suvarnabhumi Airport. The boarding process was suspended immediately.

Passengers who had boarded the plane were evacuated and all bags were checked for an explosive.

The plane eventually took off at 11.20pm after being initially scheduled to leave at 6.45pm.

The delay caused a chain reaction that affected Thai Smile passengers waiting for the Chiang Rai-Bangkok flight scheduled to leave Chiang Rai at 8.30pm.

The returned flight eventually took off at 12.20am on Monday.

Passengers who had catch flight overseas were flown to Bangkok by other airlines.

A short film entitled “Love Will Always Triumph Over Evil” tells the true story of a pup called Cola whose front legs were hacked off with a sword by a man angry over the animal chewing his shoes in Bangkok.

The pup was saved by Soi Dog, who paid for emergency medical treatment for the animal and for fitting it with prosthetic legs, before bringing it to Phuket where it was adopted by the co-founder of Soi Dog, Gill Dalley, a double leg amputee who died this year.

The British Charity Film Awards celebrate the charity sector’s use of film, whether for awareness building, changing attitudes and behaviours, or for fundraising.

Over 375 charities entered the awards, with just 36 making it through to the finals.

Soi Dog’s award was voted for by the public. Over 65,000 people voted, with Soi Dog collecting just over 30,000 votes.

John Dalley, Gill’s husband and the co-founder and president of the Soi Dog Foundation, thanked the people who voted for the charity.

“It is also more than a fitting tribute to Gill, who passed away last month, with the film demonstrating her pure compassion for animals who otherwise would have no-one else to help them,” John said. “Gill would have been particularly happy at winning the People’s Choice awards. She was a woman of the people.”

Gill died following a brief battle with cancer.

As a double leg amputee, Gill had formed an instant bond with Cola, understanding the issues it was going through in adjusting to life with prosthetic legs. The two became inseparable.

Cola is now being looked after by John at his home in Phuket, along with numerous other street dogs and cats the couple adopted over the years.

It is the first time a Thai-based organisation has received a charity award in the United Kingdom, and highlights the great efforts of all Asian-based not-for-profit organisations in making a sustainable difference to the lives of people, animals and the environment.

John said: “Thailand should be very proud of this award. It demonstrates how far the country has come in terms of improving the welfare of its animals. We are eternally grateful to the Thai people for all their support and assistance in improving the lives of street dogs and cats, and in ending the dog meat trade here.”

The Soi Dog Foundation’s short film on Cola and Gill was surprisingly made on a zero budget, in stark contrast to the professionally made films entered by the other charities. John said: “Our supporters don’t want us to spend their money on initiatives that do not directly impact on the welfare of the dogs and cats here. We spend 92 per cent of all donations directly on the animal welfare programmes we run on behalf of our supporters.”

Soi Dog Foundation volunteers Donna Freelove and Suzanne Woodhead collected the award, which is dedicated to the memory and legacy of Gill.

Other award winners include St John’s Ambulance, the Alzheimer’s Society, Royal Trinity Hospice, The National Holocaust Centre and Museum.

The homes’ owners gave their consent for the operation.

The number of antique homes in the community that will be preserved is expected to be revealed within a month.

Monday’s demolition was carried out by some 100 city workers and soldiers, leaving 33 homes remaining including four deemed to have encroached on public space, said BMA Deputy Governor Jakkapan Phiew-ngam, who oversaw the demolition.

“We have no objection to the preservation of some antique houses in the community but we need clarity over which houses they are and how many there are because while some said 24, others said eight and others said 29,” he revealed.

Jakkapan said a committee was set up to talk with the community to determine how many homes would be proposed for preservation for the BMA’s consideration.

As the suspect Mikhail Kriventsov’s passport had already been cancelled and he was likely overstaying his Thai visa, Interpol contacted Thai police and asked them to locate and arrest him – initially for the overstaying offence – and keep him in custody, a police source at the Immigration Bureau said on Monday morning.

Interpol wants him deported back to Saint Petersburg for allegedly being in possession of 109 grams of heroin with intent to sell, an offence punishable for up to 20 years in prison in Russia, the source said.

On Morning afternoon, Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt-General Natthorn Phrosunthorn is scheduled to hold a press conference with the Provincial Police Region 2 and the Russian Embassy’s police attache to detail the operation aimed at rounding up Russian and other Eastern European suspects.

Mental Health Department director general Boonreung Traireungworarat cited the department’s 2015 mental health survey result that found a person’s ability to find a balance between work and home promoted health and happiness.

He called on Thais to better manage their time between work and home.

The department has set up a Facebook fan page called “Suksangdai” (“Happiness can be created”).

The previous themes were “Positive thinking makes life more positive” and “Making time to exercise to boost good things in life”.

According to Boonreung, happiness can be achieved by adhering to the “8-8-8” principle – eight hours to work, eight hours to sleep and eight hours to take care of family, exercise or relax and practice self-improvement.

He also urged people to taking care of their health and to work with clear objectives and priorities while learning to delegate work.

He said people should also practice positive thinking and adopt the “middle path” principle to life by avoiding extremism.