Monday, November 27, 2006

Police are gearing up for a much-anticipated comeback of underground lottery
betting after the government suspended two draws of the two-digit and
three-digit lottery. Pol Lt-Gen Chongrak Chutanont, national assistant
police chief, said police have been told to strictly enforce the
anti-gambling law especially during the suspension. An extended
investigation is also required in cases where the value of seized wagers
exceeds 200,000 baht, he said. Police would face tough disciplinary action
if found to be involved in illegal betting, or turning a blind eye. The
digit lottery, suspended pending a legal amendment by the National
Legislative Assembly (NLA), would resume on Dec 30. Housing changes urged
URBAN POOR :A panel on housing rights under the National Human Rights
Commission yesterday proposed amendments to two laws in a bid to better
tackle housing problems for the urban poor. Panel head Aporn Wongsang told a
forum on housing problems that the law authorising forced evictions and the
Building Control Code pose obstacles. The forced evictions law allowed the
state and private property owners to relocate buildings and materials from
their property at will. Nationality questions PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY :Fifty-six
people nominated to sit on the 2,000-member National People's Assembly have
nationality problems, according to a panel examining the qualifications.
Amara Pongsapit, head of the panel, said the individuals need to submit
documents to prove that they hold Thai citizenship as their parents are
immigrants. She said the required documents are papers stating that they
were born on Thai soil and their parents are legal immigrants. The deadline
is Tuesday. Lecturer jailed SHOOTING :A Chulalongkorn University lecturer
was sentenced to 13 years and six days in prison for the murder of a vendor
who urinated in public.
The Criminal Court found Santilak Thanyaharn, of the engineering faculty,
guilty of premeditated murder of Suthan Itthisurasing, 45, who was shot in
the chest.

On March 30, 2005, Suthan dropped by at a birthday party of a niece who
lived next to the defendant's Mister Stamp Building in Bang Sue district.

He was emptying his bladder in front of the building when the defendant
fired two warning shots, the court was told. A heated row followed and
friends of the victim intervened. Santilak fired a shot at Suthan and killed
him.

Fishermen get life

TOURIST MURDER :The Court of Appeals has commuted a death sentence to life
imprisonment on two members of a fishing crew convicted of murdering Welsh
student Katherine Horton who was on holiday on the tourist island of Samui,
said their lawyer Prompatchara Namuang,

Mr Prompatchara said the court granted leniency to the defendants, Bualoi
Phothisit and Wichai Somkhaoyai, after they confessed. The pair attacked the
victim who was holidaying on Samui island early this year. She was knocked
unconscious, raped, thrown into the sea and left to drown.

No DNA match

JUSTICE :None of the three human bones recovered from a dump site in
Ratchaburi matched the DNA of missing lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, said
Central Institute of Forensic Science acting director Porntip Rojanasunan.