Titanic battle for Sky culminates in auction | Bangkok Post: news
LONDON - A titanic takeover battle for European TV operator Sky between Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and US cable giant Comcast culminates Saturday in a rare blind auction. Comcast's latest offer values Sky at pound sterling26 billion ($34 billion, 29 billion euros). Saturday’s auction has thus turned into a proxy battle between Comcast and Disney for Sky. Fox has proposed to remedy this by sell the rolling TV news channel to Disney should it win full control of Sky. Sky is currently trading at pound sterling15.85 a share -- above Comcast's latest offer price of pound sterling14.75.
Source:Bangkok Post
September 22, 2018 09:22 UTC
Sibutramine users to face jail under revised rules | Bangkok Post: news
(Bangkok Post file photo)Sibutramine, a substance found in some weight-loss products and food supplements, has been reclassified as a Schedule 1 psychotropic substance, with the heaviest penalties for not only producers and sellers but also users, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Starting Sunday, users of products containing it will face a jail term up to three years and/or a fine up to 60,000 baht, according to an FDA statement on Saturday. Producers, importers or exporters of the products containing the substance will face a jail term of 5-20 years and a fine from 500,000 to 2 million baht. Sellers of the products containing it are subjected to imprisonment of 4-20 years and a fine from 400,000 to 2 million baht, it said. Dr Poonlarp warned food supplements could not help people lose weight.
Source:Bangkok Post
September 22, 2018 09:03 UTC
Cholera outbreak in Nigeria claims nearly 100 lives
"The cumulative number of recorded cases in both states currently stands at 3,126 including 97 deaths," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. The outbreak was declared two weeks ago in restive Borno, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in camps. On Wednesday, the UN reported that more than 500 people had died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, representing the worst outbreak to hit the area in four years. The Lake Chad region straddles parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are also having to deal with a jihadist insurgency. Water-borne diseases are a constant threat in the Lake Chad region because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
September 22, 2018 08:48 UTC
106 bike racers held, Facebook page closed | Bangkok Post: news
The 106 motorcycle racers arrested in Samut Prakan await processing after the latest crackdown on dek waen racing on public streets. A total of 106 racers — 27 teenagers and 79 adults — were apprehended, with 118 motorcycles and 40 big bikes seized. The crackdown followed the arrest of Ekkasit Boonkamnerd, 18, who owns the “Danlo Samut Prakan” Facebook page. More than 100 racers took part in each event, said Pol Maj Gen Surachate. To date, police have closed 91 Facebook pages promoting street racing and arrested 75 owners of the pages.
Source:Bangkok Post
September 22, 2018 08:48 UTC
HK-China high-speed train debuts | Bangkok Post: news
The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) Vibrant Express train bound for Guangzhou waits at West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong on Saturday. (AP Photo)HONG KONG: Hong Kong on Saturday opened a new high-speed rail link to mainland China that will vastly decrease travel times but also raises concerns about Beijing’s creeping influence over the semi-autonomous territory. The train travels the 26 kilometres through Hong Kong to Shenzhen across the border in China in just 14 minutes, down from about one hour currently. That guarantees Hong Kong the right to maintain rights such as freedom of speech and assembly — which are routinely violated on the mainland — until 2047. Supporters of the provision, including the territory’s Beijing-backed Chief Executive Carrie Lam, defended it as promoting speed and convenience.
Source:Bangkok Post
September 22, 2018 08:03 UTC
'Terrorists' kill at least 29 at Iran military parade | Bangkok Post: news
Civilians try to take shelter at the scene of a shooting near a reviewing stand during a military parade in Ahvaz, Iran on Saturday. However, Iran faced a bloody assault last year from the Islamic State group, and Arab separatists in the region have attacked oil pipelines there in the past. Islamic State jihadists said via their propaganda mouthpiece Amaq that “Islamic State fighters attacked a gathering of Iranian forces” in Ahvaz, but the claim could not be verified and many recent IS claims have proved false. Earlier reports described the assailants as “Takfiri”, a term previously used to describe the Islamic State group. Saturday’s attack comes after a coordinated Islamic State assault on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Teheran in June last year.
Source:Bangkok Post
September 22, 2018 07:59 UTC
PM confident no massive flooding this year
Government Spokesman Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the prime minister has been briefed on operations to draw rainwater upstream into 12 rice field basins in central provinces along the Chao Phraya River, to reduce water heading to Bangkok and other provinces. Drawing water into the 12 basins provided more capacity for the Chao Phraya and its tributaries to receive more rainwater during the late part of the rainy season. Sansern said Prayut is confident there would be no massive flooding this year because the Meteorological Department predicted that the cold ridge of high pressure mass from China would come to Thailand sooner this year, so rains would stop sooner. Moreover, the government has released rainwater from dams and reservoirs upstream, following the first round of heavy rains and storms this year, and the waters have been drawn to flood the harvested rice fields in the 12 basins. As a result, dams, such as Bhumibol Dam and Sirikit Dam, have at least 30 per cent of their capacity available, Sansern said.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
September 22, 2018 07:41 UTC
Cambodia 'nightmare' over for pardoned Australian | Bangkok Post: news
Australian filmmaker James Ricketson arrives for a hearing at the Municipal Court in Phnom Penh last month. (Reuters Photo)MELBOURNE: The family of an Australian filmmaker pardoned by Cambodia after being jailed on espionage charges say they are happy the “nightmare” has come to an end, while the Australian foreign minister thanked the government in Phnom Penh for his release. He added that the family expected Ricketson in Australia “very soon”, probably on Sunday. After the poll Hun Sen returned to a pattern of easing up on dissent, freeing numerous activists, opposition figures and dissidents. Ricketson’s pardon comes just days before Hun Sen is scheduled to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
Source:Bangkok Post
September 22, 2018 07:41 UTC
Tanzania ferry disaster toll rises to 151
Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of the management of the ferry. Witnesses reached by AFP said the ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark as it approached the dock. "I have not heard from either my father or my younger brother who were on the ferry. "We have often raised concerns about the poor condition of this ferry, but the government turned a deaf ear. The deadliest such accident in recent decades was in May 1996, when around 800 people died after their ferry sank on the way to Mwanza in Tanzania.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
September 22, 2018 07:30 UTC
HK actor accuses Pattaya trans women of stealing bag | Bangkok Post: news
Some of the valuables in the bag Hong Kong actor Vincent Chen claimed was stolen from him during a brawl with three transgender women in Pattaya on Tuesday. According to the man, who claimed to be an actor, the transgender women approached him on Walking Street in South Pattaya at around 5am on Tuesday. Vincent Chen, 32, a Hong Kong actor. He claimed the transgender women had seized his bag and passed it among themselves during the brawl before police arrived. Police said a search for the bag at the houses of the transgender women came up with nothing suspicious so they had to release them.
Source:Bangkok Post
September 22, 2018 07:19 UTC
Militants attack Iran army parade killing civilians: state media
A woman and a child were among at least 20 people wounded in the attack by a "group of assailants" on the parade in the city of Ahvaz, the official IRNA news agency reported. Saturday's rally was one of many in cities across Iran held to mark the anniversary of the launch of the war with massive Iraqi air strikes. Attacks by Kurish rebels on military patrols along the border in mainly ethnic Kurdish areas further north are relatively common. "We will never decrease our defensive capabilities... we will increase them day by day," Rouhani said at a separate military parade in the capital. "The fact that the missiles anger you shows they are our most effective weapons," he said, referring to the West.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
September 22, 2018 07:07 UTC
Man admits he broke into 30 Amazon coffee shops
Kiartkarisorn Srikrailod, 37, from Buri Ram, surrendered at Taling Chan police station at 10am after police summoned him to face theft charges. He admitted that he had stolen from Amazon shops in petrol stations 30 times since April. He said his business collapsed after a client refused to pay him, causing him to develop a debt of Bt200,000. He said he selected Amazon shops because at night they were isolated and there were trees to shade him from being seen while breaking in. He often chose the hours between 10pm and 11pm to break into the shops.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
September 22, 2018 07:07 UTC
Teenager injured in Bangkok shophouse fire
Police said the fire started at the three-storey shophouse on Chakkraphet Road in Wang Burapha sub-district at 11am. The injured man, identified as Ekkaphum Pradabkaew, was taken to the BMA General Hospital. The fire started on the second floor and spread to the third floor. The two upper floors are rented as a snooker parlour. Five fire engines took about 20 minutes to control the blaze.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
September 22, 2018 06:32 UTC
Australian filmmaker to be deported from Cambodia
He was then issued a royal pardon on Friday, after strongman premier Hun Sen requested it from the Cambodian king. The embattled filmmaker had been in prison since last June, after footage emerged of him using a drone to film a rally of the now-defunct opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). The prosecution accused Ricketson of working as a filmmaker in Cambodia as a front for spying activities, but the verdict failed to name which country he was allegedly spying for. After the poll Hun Sen -- who has been in power for more than three decades -- returned to a pattern of easing up on dissent. Ricketson's pardon comes just days before Hun Sen is scheduled to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
September 22, 2018 06:18 UTC
Big supporters hit the streets for Car Free Day bike ride
The ride started in front of the CentralWorld and went along Rajdamri Road, Phetchaburi Road, Banthad Thong Road, Rama I Road and back to the grounds in front of CentralWorld. Sakoltee, who launched the ride at 7am, said the BMA and Central Group organised the event, joining other cities across the world marking World Car Free Day on September 22. He added the event was aimed at encouraging Bangkokians to park their vehicles at home and use public transportation to save energy and reduce air pollution, and also reduce traffic congestion in the capital. The event was joined by the Hungarian ambassador to Thailand, Indonesian diplomats, Central Group executives, and executives of partnership firms, as well as senior officials from the BMA, the Pollution Control Department, and the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
September 22, 2018 06:00 UTC