Out of Hospital, Sek Loso Back Online to Say He’s Fine

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21 September 2018, 16:32

sekhed — Sek Loso sings new songs in Facebook live videos posted on Friday morning.

BANGKOK — A rocker admitted for mental health care following an erratic, live-streamed meltdown last month went online Friday morning to pledge his days of crazed videos are over after he was released from the hospital.

Seksan “Sek Loso” Sukpimai was released Thursday, weeks after he made national headlines with five days of live videos that led his ex-wife and girlfriend to stage an intervention and get him admitted for treatment of his bipolar disorder. Early this morning he went live again – only this time it was to reassure fans he’ll stick to his singing rather than wildly ranting at the world.

“I will never do live-marathons in my life again,” Sek said. “I’ll not meddle in politics either. This page will be for entertainment only. ”

The 20-minute stream began at 5am with Sek only speaking into the camera 14 minutes in to give a shout out to the Somdet Chaopraya Hospital.

“I’m live-streaming now because this is when I would wake up in the hospital,” he said. “Thanks to the hospital for letting me come back and sing for all of my fans.”

At about 9am, Sek returned online to sing songs he wrote during his treatment. The first unnamed song was dedicated to his long-suffering girlfriend, Apisaya “Eve” Pattanaworasap, and the second, “Little Deer,” was dedicated to his daughter Gwang.

“It’s only you that stays by my side, with crazy old me,” Sek sang, reminding his audience that the 44-year-old performer indeed has singing chops. “I wanna thank you for taking care of me, when I had no one. Thank you from my heart. Don’t you know I’m so touched?”

At 7pm on Thursday, Sek posted a photo of him and Apisaya in a car after checking out from the hospital.

Most people wrote comments expressing relief that Sek seemed right in the head.

“Bro, you gotta get some air too, okay? If you keep yourself cooped up, the same symptoms will come back. Trust me, I used to go cray too,” Weerawat Ang Chomdara wrote.

Due to his hospitalization, Sek couldn’t appear to hear a court verdict on charges stemming from his unloading a handgun into the sky in December. The court agreed to postpone the ruling to Oct. 25.

Untreated Mental Illness Left Sek Loso Delusional, Living in Filth: Son

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Cyclists Get Free Train Rides Saturday For ‘Car Free Day’

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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21 September 2018, 15:04

Cyclists participating in 2013 Bangkok's 'Car Free Day' event.

BANGKOK — The capital’s two major commuter rail systems will embrace City Hall’s annual Car Free day Saturday, but only for cyclists.

The operators of the BTS and MRT lines said all services would be free tomorrow for those with bicycles, while some roads will be briefly closed for a cycling event celebrating the day.

The BTS Skytrain will be free for people commuting with foldable bicycles from 6am to 6pm. Those with normal bicycles will be able to get in for free 6am to 9am.

On the MRT, only foldable bicycles riders are eligible for the free travel throughout regular service hours.

Keep some coins handy however – there’s no promotion for bus and boat rides.

Tomorrow morning, a cycling event organized by City Hall will partially close four roads in central Bangkok between 6am and 7:30am.

The route starts on Ratchadamri Road at Ratchaprasong intersection and goes over to the Pratunam junction before continuing to Phetchaburi Road. From there, it heads over to the Phet Phra Ram junction, then onto Ban Tad Thong Road on its way to the Charoen Phon intersection before looping back via Rama I Road to the finish line at Ratchaprasong.

Fewer MPs Will Be Directly Elected in Next Vote

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Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

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21 September 2018, 14:51

Pro-democracy activists took the to the streets of Bangkok on Wednesday to encourage the public to vote in the next election.

BANGKOK — Changes to the how representatives are apportioned will see voters, particularly in the northeast, represented by fewer directly elected MPs.

The changes, announced this week in the Royal Gazette, met mixed reactions by observers, with a former election commissioner saying it reflects a preference for “better educated” representatives. An Ubon Ratchathani politician said it could undermine political parties and warned of possible gerrymandering.

“It undermines political parties in general, and all parties,” said Somkid Chueakong, whose home province will lose one seat under the new apportionment. “This is how they weaken and make political parties smaller.”

Nationwide, constituency seats will be reduced by 25, from 375 to 350. The balance will be shifted to party-list MPs who don’t represent localities, whose 125 seats will be increased to 150.

It translates to 10 fewer MPs for the northeastern region, the heartland of Pheu Thai Party, where seats will be reduced from 126 to 116. The number of MPs representing Bangkok, a stronghold of the Democrat Party, have been reduced by three from 33 to 30.

“Ask why no major parties, be it Pheu Thai or Democrat, have issued any statement about it,” Somkid said. He said there’s nothing to be done as the decision was made long ago by the junta appointees who wrote rules into the new constitution now being executed by the Election Commission.

“It’s futile, it’s in the law now,” the former MP said.

Central Thailand meanwhile will see its seats reduced by six to 76. The south, also a Democrat power base, drops from 53 to 50. Some subregions, such as in the eastern and western reaches of the kingdom, will maintain the same number of seats.

Former Election Commissioner Somchai, an expert on election law and the dean of political science at Walailak University, said the change stems from a belief among the new constitution’s authors that there should be more party-list MPs, whom they see as being of a higher caliber than those directly elected by the public.

“They wanted to see a higher ratio of party-list MPs vis-a-vis constituency-based MPs. This has its rationale. Party-list MPs represent the whole national electorate while local constituency-based MPs are linked to specific locales. Party-list MPs may be able people, but they have no local roots,” Somchai said Thursday.

For its part, the commission says this is a fair implementation of the new regulations.

Commission President Ittiporn Boonprakong said the changes were not meant to help or harm.

“It was done without regard to who will gain an edge or be at a disadvantage because we want a fair election,” Ittiporn said.

Under the new regulations, there will be one constituency-based MP per 189,110 people.

At the provincial level, 23 provinces will see fewer MPs. This includes Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon Ratchathani, Nonthaburi and Ayutthaya.

Somchai believes it’s mostly likely a coincidence that the northeast, a stronghold for the ruling junta’s archrival Pheu Thai Party, will lose the most seats while heavily Democrat-aligned Bangkok loses three. He said it’s unlikely a plan to reduce the number of the MPs from the two major parties.

“I don’t think they are that able. If they are, we ought to handover the country to them,” he said.

Gerrymandering?

With new constituency boundaries to be decided within two months, the former election commissioner warned that how they are drawn could draw accusations.

Somkid, Pheu Thai’s former Ubon rep, said he hopes the commission will be fair and not favor pro-junta parties with the new map.

“I still believe the EC will be fair,” said Somkid, who has been contacted by the commission to consult on the map for Ubon’s 10 new constituencies.

Future Forward Party spokeswoman Pannika Wanich said the new regulations may affect parties with established power bases, something that won’t affect their new party.

“People can think for themselves whether the move benefits some people or not,” Pannika said.

She warned however that redrawing boundaries at the last minute may confuse voters.

Malaysian Death Sentences Commuted for 3 Mexican Brothers

By

Associated Press

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21 September 2018, 14:48

Mexican brothers, from left, Luis Alfonso Gonzalez Villarreal, Simon Gonzalez Villarreal and Jose Regino Gonzalez Villarreal, leave a courthouse in 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Lai Seng Sin / Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR — The deaths sentences against three Mexican brothers convicted of drug trafficking in Malaysia have been commuted to prison terms, a lawyer said Friday.

Lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said the prison department confirmed the sentences had been commuted by the state sultan on March 26.

They are serving new sentences of 30 years in prison, starting from the date of the royal pardon. Teh was one of two lawyers for the brothers during their trial but said he didn’t handle their bid for a royal pardon.

The brothers from Mexico’s Sinaloa state were arrested at a secluded Malaysian drug factory in 2008 and said they had been cleaning the place.

Police found more than 29 kilograms (63 pounds) of methamphetamine at the factory.

Malaysia’s High Court convicted the brothers – Jose Regino, Simon and Luis Alfonso Gonzalez Villarreal – of drug trafficking in May 2012. The crime carries a mandatory penalty of death by hanging.

Their appeals to higher courts had failed with the country’s top federal court upholding the death sentences in 2015.

Sinaloa state is the cradle of Mexico’s drug trade, but the brothers had no criminal record at home. They had worked making and selling bricks in Mexico, and their family said the brothers left for a job opportunity abroad and there were no signs they were involved in the drug trade.

Court Sides With Ford Plaintiffs in Landmark Lawsuit

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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21 September 2018, 14:35

Hundreds of plaintiffs arrive at a Bangkok civil court Friday to hear the verdict.

BANGKOK — A civil court on Friday delivered victory to hundreds of people who banded together to sue the Ford Motor Co. in Thailand’s first class suit.

After a year-long legal battle, the court found the company guilty of selling vehicles with multiple defects to customers and ordered it to pay over 23 million baht in damages. One of the customers who joined the lawsuit said he hopes it will set a precedent for consumers seeking compensation from large corporations.

“I think it’s a good start,” Koprsak Noomnoy said by phone after the ruling was read. “It’s a verdict that says businesses must be responsible for defects in their products.”

He also urged the authorities to step up legal mechanisms to look after consumer interests in the face of big business.

“This is not a true victory. For me, having to take the issue to the court like this, no one wins,” Koprsak said. “The victory we want to see is a law protecting consumers that can be truly enforced.”

In a statement released after the verdict, Ford said it would respect the verdict and apologized the affected customers, saying it would compensate and fix their problems according to the company’s customer service policy.

The class-action suit – the first in Thailand since it was added to the civil code three years ago – was filed against Ford in 2017 by a group of 308 customers who said their vehicles suffered serious malfunctions ranging from failed clutches to engines that could burst into flames.

In today’s verdict, the court ruled that 291 of the 308 plaintiffs were eligible for the awarded damages totaling over 23 million baht. The rest were disqualified because they had modified their vehicles or did not return them to the automaker for repair.

On top of the compensation, Ford was ordered to pay 950,000 baht in legal fees. All payments must be made within seven days or see interest of 7.5 percent added.

Koprsak said news of their fight has already inspired others. Mazda customers recently filed a class action for safety defects in a specific model.

Mexico’s President-Elect Stuck Aboard Delayed Flight (Video)

By

Associated Press

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21 September 2018, 13:47

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s austerity-minded president-elect has vowed to sell the presidential jet and fly commercial. And he even appears prepared to suffer the plight of average travelers: being trapped on delayed flights.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was stuck for at least three hours after his flight from the Huatulco airport in southern Mexico was delayed by air traffic and weather.

Passengers posted videos Thursday of Lopez Obrador speaking from his seat on the plane bound for Mexico City.

Lopez Obrador says the experience won’t make him change his mind.

He said, “I am not going to get on the presidential airplane. I would be ashamed … to have a luxury airplane in a country with so much poverty.”

Lopez Obrador also won’t accept Secret Service-style bodyguards.

Japanese Soundsmith ‘Cornelius’ Coming to Bangkok

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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21 September 2018, 13:30

BANGKOK — Nicknamed the “Japanese Beck” or “modern day Brian Wilson,” a Tokyo producer is bringing his talent for kaleidoscopic music to the city this November.

Japanese studio wizard Keigo Oyamada, whose nom de guerre is Cornelius, will perform live in Bangkok to promote his sixth album “Mellow Waves,” local promoter Have You Heard announced Friday morning.

The concert will start at 8:30pm on Nov. 7 at Voice Space. The event hall of Voice TV is located on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road. Tickets range from 1,900 baht to 2,200 baht and go on sale online Oct. 1.

This marks the fourth time the 49-year-old multi-instrumentalist will play at the capital. His previous visit was in 2013, when he curated an art and music event called Japanese Invention.

After his original band Flipper’s Guitar dissolved, Oyamada named his alter-ego Cornelius after the righteous male chimpanzee from “Planet of the Apes.” His explosive third studio album earned him a comparison to American producer and multi-instrumentalist Beck.

Apart from producing for Yoko Ono, Cornelius’ prominent works include remixes of Beck, Beastie Boys and MGMT. He also composed the music for action comedy “Scott Pilgrim vs The World” and anime series “Ghost in the Shell: Arise.”

Suge Knight Pleads to Manslaughter Over Fatal Confrontation

By

Associated Press

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21 September 2018, 13:23

LOS ANGELES — Averting a murder trial that had been nearly four years in coming, former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight pleaded no contest Thursday to voluntary manslaughter for running over and killing a Compton businessman and agreed to serve nearly 30 years in prison.

The Death Row Records co-founder entered the plea in Los Angeles Superior Court after striking a deal with prosecutors, and has agreed to serve 28 years. Jury selection for his trial, which could have led to a life sentence, had been scheduled to begin Monday.

Knight was charged with murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run after fleeing the scene of a dispute in January 2015 outside a Compton burger stand. Knight and Cle “Bone” Sloan, a consultant on the N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” traded punches before Knight clipping him with his pickup truck and ran over businessman Terry Carter, who died from his injuries.

Knight’s attorneys have said he was acting in self-defense and was fleeing armed attackers when he ran over Carter and Sloan. Sloan has denied he was carrying a gun during the confrontation.

During Thursday’s hearing, Knight, wearing orange jail attire with his arms and legs in chains, answered Judge Ronald Coen’s questions, loudly and quickly saying “no contest” when the judge asked for his plea. He will be formally sentenced on Oct. 4.

The plea deal calls for Knight to serve 22 years in prison on the voluntary manslaughter count, and another six years because it is a third strike violation.

Knight disagreed with the judge’s description of one of his previous strikes and put a pause in the proceedings that briefly raised tension in the courtroom.

“You served nine years for it,” Coen said, before Knight agreed to move on.

Carter’s daughter, Crystal, sat in the front row of the courtroom and displayed no visible reaction to the proceedings. “I’m surprised he pleaded out,” Crystal Carter said outside court. “Normally he likes the cameras to be on him 24-7.”

The agreement also absolves Knight in two other cases, both from 2014. He was accused of stealing a camera from a woman and of sending threatening text messages to “Straight Outta Compton” director F. Gary Gray.

Delays, detours and drama marked the run-up to Knight’s trial, which was expected to begin Oct. 1 under tight security and secrecy. Court officials had said that no witness list would be released ahead of the trial, and that some witnesses might not be identified by name during the case.

Surveillance video that showed Knight hitting the two men with his truck was likely to play a central role for both sides.

Sloan, who had feuded with Knight for years in a dispute with roots in their Compton gang ties, was likely to have been the trial’s key witness, but may have been a difficult one for the prosecution.

Despite giving a detailed account of the incident to police on the day it happened, just a few months later at a preliminary hearing he claimed to have little memory of it, and even refused at first to identify Knight as the person sitting in the courtroom who he’d fought with.

Knight collapsed during one court hearing, two of his former attorneys were indicted on witness-tampering charges, and his fiancee pleaded no contest to selling video of Knight hitting the two men with his truck.

His attorney Albert DeBlanc Jr., appointed by the court five months ago, was his 16th, and Knight tried to fire him and get yet another lawyer just a day before the deal was reached.

Knight would frequently, against the advice of Coen and his attorneys, speak extensively during hearings, complaining about jail conditions, his attorneys and his health issues.

On Thursday, while Coen read legal language about the plea and told Knight he was subject to deportation if he was not a citizen, Knight said “ICE is coming to get me?” to a smattering of laughs.

DeBlanc declined comment on the plea agreement. Prosecutors did not speak to reporters outside court.

The 53-year-old was a key player in the gangster rap scene that flourished in the 1990s, and his label once listed Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg among its artists. Knight lost control of the company after it was forced into bankruptcy. He has prior felony convictions for armed robbery and assault with a gun. He pleaded no contest in 1995 and was sentenced to five years’ probation for assaulting two rap entertainers at a Hollywood recording studio in 1992.

He was sentenced in February 1997 to prison for violating terms of that probation by taking part in a fight at a Las Vegas hotel hours before Shakur was fatally wounded in a drive-by attack as he rode in Knight’s car just east of the Las Vegas Strip. Shakur’s slaying remains unsolved.

Story: Andrew Dalton

Study of Puzzling Fossils Confirms They Came From an Animal

By

Associated Press

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21 September 2018, 13:14

This undated photo provided by Ilya Bobrovskiy in September 2018 shows a fragment from a Dickinsonia fossil. Photo: Ilya Bobrovskiy / Associated Press

NEW YORK — Scientists say they’ve confirmed that puzzling fossils from more than 500 million years ago are traces of an animal.

That would make it one of the earliest known creatures.

The fossils are impressions in rock: oval shapes with internal lines, looking somewhat like a leaf imprint densely packed with veins. First described in 1947, they are found in Australia and Russia and range in size from a fingernail to some 4 ½ feet (1.22 meters) long.

The mysterious organism that made them has been dubbed “Dickinsonia.” But what was it?

In the past, scientists have suggested it’s an animal, lichen or a huge example of a single-celled organism called protists.

In a paper released Thursday by the journal Science, researchers present evidence for its being an animal. The key evidence was finding that Dickinsonia fossils from Russia contained carbon-bearing substances produced by animals.

Experts not connected to the study said that evidence is strong, and that most scientists who had studied the matter already believed that Dickinsonia was probably an animal. “This gives us confidence in that assessment,” said Douglas Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution.

It’s not clear when Dickinsonia lived, but well-dated fossils are 558 million years old, said Jochen Brocks of the Australian National University in Canberra, a study author. Whether they’re the oldest known animal fossils is a tricky question, because some older rock features have also been interpreted by some researchers as fossils of animals, he said.

He considers Dickinsonia “the very oldest animal that we can be sure about,” but added that it edges out another widely accepted animal fossil by only about 2 million years.

As for what Dickinsonia looked like, “we have no clue,” Brocks wrote in an email.

“We do know it was soft and flexible,” he said. “Maybe like a slug, but less watery than a jellyfish.”

Dickinsonia was evidently far from the first animal on Earth. Analysis of DNA of living animals suggests animals appeared more than 720 million years ago, although fossil evidence that old is lacking.

Fossils of land plants go back to between 444 million and 486 million years, while those of bacteria extend to at least 3.5 billion years.

Vietnamese President Quang Dies of Illness

By

Associated Press

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21 September 2018, 12:25

Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang meets Sept. 13 with Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi at the Presidential Palace during the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi,Photo: Kham / via AP

HANOI — Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang has died. He was 61.

The official Vietnam News Agency says Quang died at the 108 Military Hospital in Hanoi on Friday due to a serious illness. It did not elaborate.

Quang hosted President Donald Trump during his first state visit to the communist country last year.

His last public appearance was at a Politburo meeting of the ruling Communist Party and a reception for a Chinese delegation on Wednesday.

Quang did not appear in public for more than a month last year, raising speculation about his health.

A career security officer, Quang was elected president in April 2016.

Gerrymandering?

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