An Ubon Ratchathani resident, deeply hurt by his older brother ignoring him, decided to set fire to their house and leave his sibling locked inside.
Neighbours immediately called the police and firefighters spent some 20 minutes to put out the fire.
The older brother, Sutthiphong, 27, said at about 2am he jumped out of the window to investigate strange noises when he found he could not open his door.
When he saw flames at the main door, he began shouting for help.
Police later found the younger brother Chaiwat, 25, and took him in for interrogation.
Chaiwat told police he had been deeply hurt by his brother’s habit of ignoring him and decided to set fire to the house for some attention.
An 18-year-old Grade 12 student was found in the Mun River in Ubon Ratchathani early on Friday about 3 kilometres from where she had jumped.
She is now recovering in hospital.
Police learned that at about 3am on Friday, two people had jumped off the bridge and one was waiting to be rescued.
Rescuers immediately pulled the girl waiting for their arrival out of water and learned that she was 17. Her name has not been revealed.
She said her 18-year-old friend had asked to hang out with her on Thursday night because she wanted to share her problems.
Her friend then asked to be taken home at about 3am, the girl said, adding that as soon as they arrived at the bridge on the motorbike, her friend jumped off and ran to the other side of the bridge.
The rescued girl said that since she could not stop her friend from jumping off the bridge, she decided to jump after her.
Two men at the scene witnessed the incident and decided to call the police.
Initial investigation revealed that the both girls were Grade 12 student and the older one had often harmed herself and tried to commit suicide several times. Apparently she was having problems in school and at home.
Police said her relatives will be summoned for interrogation.
Khao Yai closed this weekend to clear storm damage
NationalOct 09. 2020Photo credit: Khao Yai National Park official Facebook
By The Nation
Khao Yai National Park was temporarily closed on Friday after trees felled by storms blocked roads there. Rangers say it will take at least two days to clear access to the park.
Two days of heavy rain have caused flash flooding in the park and filled the Lam Takhong River to capacity.
Photo credit: Khao Yai National Park official Facebook
Trees near the Hom and Pak Chong entrances have been uprooted from the rain-softened soil, while landslides are also blocking access at several points, said park chief Narin Pinsakul on Friday morning.
The clear-up operation would take 2-3 days before the park is safe for visitors, he added.
Photo credit: Khao Yai National Park official Facebook
Royalists object to protesters ‘defaming’ Thammasat University
NationalOct 09. 2020Photo by Tanachai Pramarnpanich
By The Nation
Royalist Thammasat University alumni declared on Friday that they were against the pro-democracy movement and accused the protesting students of damaging the university’s name.
They said using the Thammasat name and logo during the September 19-20 protest had defamed the university and affected its diginity.
They also pointed out that the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration had violated the university’s order and broken into the Tha Phra Chan campus.
The group is collecting signatures and will hand their complaint over to the rector later on Friday at Ibis Hotel in Bangkok’s Banglamphu area.
Authorities are monitoring for flooding on Friday (October 9) after a tropical depression blew in from the Andaman Sea.
The monsoon depression will bring heavy rain and strong winds to the lower Northeast, as well as the East, Central and South regions.
The prime minister and Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry have ordered the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) to monitor for flooding and prepare disaster-relief equipment.
Meanwhile, the Thai Meteorological Department forecasts waves of 2-4 metres high and has warned boats on the Andaman coast and upper Gulf to stay ashore for the next two days.
Irrigation projects have been tasked with controlling the level of reservoirs and clearing irrigation and drainage channels.
Bangkok’s delayed Gold Line monorail will open in mid-December, city deputy governor Sakoltee Phattiyakul has confirmed.
The confirmation came after Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang visited the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) Gold Line’s Krung Thonburi station on Thursday to check its progress.
The Gold Line was meant to begin operating this month, but the date was postponed to December due to delayed delivery of trains and work to improve its entrances.
The construction of the 2.75-kilometre Gold Line, which has four stations, is divided into two phases. The first phase comprises three stations – Krung Thonburi, Charoen Nakhon and Klong San – which link to the BTS Green Line, while the second phase comprises one station, Prajadhipok, which links to the Metropolitan Rapid Transit (MRT) Purple Line.
Urging Bangkok commuters to “please wait a little longer”, Aswin explained that passengers will be carried by three unmanned Bombardier Innovia APM 300 trains from Canada with a maximum speed of 80km per hour.
After safety checks, the Gold Line will open and charge Bt15 per ride, he said.
“Travel on Bangkok’s mass transit system would soon be more convenient,” he added.
DDC watching closely after saliva test of some travellers from Thailand Covid-19 positive at Japanese airport
NationalOct 09. 2020Opas Karnkawinpong, acting director-general of the DDC
By The Nation
A few travellers from Thailand are testing positive on arrival at Japanese airports, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) said.
Opas Karnkawinpong, acting director-general of the DDC, said on Thursday that in the past weeks travellers from Thailand to Japan were found infected with Covid-19 after a new method of testing started from August 1 at airports in Japan. The preliminary screening method called CLEIA (Chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay) detects infection from the traveller’s saliva samples. This is a test that the World Health Organisation does not recommend as a standard, Opas said.
After receiving a report, the DDC has coordinated with the IHR national focal point of Japan to investigate the disease and check out more details about all such cases.
From coordination and preliminary investigation, from August 1 to October 8, there were 15 positive results on people travelling from Thailand after the saliva test. They were divided into 2 groups.
Group 1 had eight cases, detected from August 1 to September 21. They included two Japanese men, seven Thai men and one Thai woman. They were later taken to hospitals for testing with the RT-PCR method to look for the genetic material of the Sars-Cov-2 virus. The laboratory results of all eight cases were negative. Also, no Covid-19 was detected in 49 close contacts of these eight people in Thailand, the CDC said.
There are seven cases in Group 2, detected from September 30 to October 8. Two Japanese girls two years old, and nine months old, leaving Thailand with their mother and brother on September 30 tested positive. They were sent to a state quarantine facility. The saliva test results of the mother and brother were negative.
In the other cases of three Thai women, a Thai man and a Japanese male RT-PCR test results are awaited.
In a bid to help low-income earners, the government is adding an extra Bt500 to their state welfare cards from October to December.
Wilawan Phayanoi, deputy director-general of the Comptroller General’s Department, said on Friday that the Cabinet has given the green light to the measure, which will boost the spending power of the welfare cardholders.
“The government will add an extra Bt500 in the cards for three months and the money can be used to buy consumer goods, educational or agricultural products,” she said.
Under the new rule, state welfare cardholders who earn no more than Bt30,000 per year will get Bt800 instead of Bt300 per month, while those earning more than Bt30,000 per year will get Bt700 instead of Bt200 for the three months.
“The additional sum for this month was added on October 8, while the sums for November and December will be added on the first of the months,” she said.
Wilawan added that the card cannot be converted to cash and cardholders can only use them at Blue Flag stores that accept electronic payments or stores that can take payments via the Tung Ngern smartphone application.
Call the Comptroller General’s Department at (02) 270 6400 during working hours for further information.
Photo credit: Khao Yai National Park official Facebook 
Photo by Tanachai Pramarnpanich 
Opas Karnkawinpong, acting director-general of the DDC 
Wilawan Phayanoi 
