Another Multi-Million Baht Watch Spotted on Prawit’s Wrist

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14 December 2017, 12:25

BANGKOK — As if one unexplained multi-million baht Richard Mille watch on the wrist of deputy junta leader Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan wasn’t controversial enough, yet another timepiece in a different model was spotted by social media sleuths in a recent photo.

The national anti-corruption commission, which is giving Prawit until Jan. 8 to clarify the first watch, said Thursday that it might look into the second Richard Mille watch as well. In response to the latest scandal to hit his military government, junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday urged the media not to be “too hard” on his second-in-command.

“Don’t be too hard on him,” Prayuth told reporters about Prawit and his Swiss wristwatch.

Read: Prawit Given 30 Days to Come Clean on Fancy Watch

The self-proclaimed “online detective” page CSI LA posted on Wednesday a photo that purports to show another model of Richard Mille watch, an Model RM 30, strapped on Prawit’s right wrist while handing scholarships to students in Chanthaburi province on Sept. 11.

“No one would have said anything if he was a Hollywood star or a singer, but he’s an army general who is in power to solve corruption,” the page admin wrote.

A sales rep at PMT The Hourglass at Siam Paragon shopping mall said Thursday that Prawit is not listed as a customer of the shop, which is the sole distributor of the brand in Thailand.

The woman, who only identified her name as Som, said the watch shown in the CSI LA photo appears to be an RM 30. A titanium case Model RM 30 is sold at the shop for 3.59 million baht, the saleswoman said. The price goes up to 5 million baht for a white gold case. She added that she cannot tell from the photo if the one pictured was titanium or white gold.

The first Richard Mille watch on Prawit’s wrist, which was spotted when the general joined an official photo shoot of the new cabinet, was model RM 29 and costs 3.1 million baht in titanium and more if it’s in a white gold case, the saleswoman said.

The saleswoman, who said company’s policy prevents her from giving her full name, said the brand makes about 2,000 watches a year.

The photo prompted the National Anti-Corruption Commission to pledge action. Anti-graft commissioner Vorawit Sukboon said he will check if Prawit has declared the second Richard Mille as part of his assets, as required by the law, when he became deputy prime minister in 2014.

However, Prawit’s asset declaration, which is a public document, did not include either timepiece.

According to the anti-corruption regulations, political office holders must declare any belonging priced above 200,000 baht. Any failure to do so is punishable by up to six months in jail.

Over the past week, including today, Prawit has repeatedly refused to answer reporters’ questions about how he has obtained his first Richard Mille watch. He said he would only explain the issue to the anti-corruption commission.

Reports that he would tell the commission it was borrowed from a friend didn’t come to fruition after meeting a contemptuous response from the public.

Police Still Looking for ‘Toddler Rape’ Line Group Admin

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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14 December 2017, 12:01

TV footage of the mother being arrested Dec. 7 in Phitsanulok.

PHITSANULOK — The admin of the Line group where a mother and a stepfather streamed videos of them raping their 3-year-old boy remain at large by Thursday.

It’s been five days since the court issued a warrant for Pathumporn Mongkornchaiya, who allegedly paid the child’s parents to rape him for 400 baht. Other members in the group remain unidentified, police said.

Read: Both Parents Charged Over Line Group Toddler Rape

“We’re still looking for her,” Songpol Sangkasem of Phitsanulok police said Thursday. “I can’t disclose where we’re looking for her since it could affect her movements.”

According to the arrested mother, “Ae” Pathumporn, 27, introduced her to the Line group and encouraged her as well as the other members to post the rape videos for money. The mother and stepfather who assaulted the 3-year-old boy did so at least three times for 400 baht each time, police said.

Songpol said police still has no concrete information of the whereabouts and identities of the other Line group members.

The victim’s mother was arrested on Dec. 7 and the stepfather on Sunday. Both were charged with violating the Computer Crime Act, human trafficking and sexually assaulting a child. Police said the same charges will be applied to Pathumporn and the other Line group members, said police.

Mom & Dad Rape Toddler, Sell Footage to Line Group: Police

Jailed Redshirt Leader’s Defamation Prison Term Reduced

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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14 December 2017, 11:53

BANGKOK — A prominent Redshirt leader will serve a year in prison for defamation after the Supreme Court reaffirmed his conviction Thursday morning.

While the court rejected Jatuporn Prompan’s final appeal of his 2009 conviction for making libelous remarks about Democrat Party leader and former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, it also halved his original sentence of two years to a year in jail.

Jatuporn was previously convicted in 2015 for a speech in which he accused Abhisit of ordering soldiers to kill Redshirt supporters earlier that year at a protest in Bangkok’s Din Daeng district.

Jatuporn, 52, leads the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), a Redshirt umbrella organization.

Abhisit filed defamation charges against Jatuporn in response. Court of First Instance and Appeal Court formerly sentenced him Jatuporn to two years in jail. The Supreme Court today reduced the sentence to one year in prison because he confessed.

Jatuporn has been in jail on separate charges since July. Given the ruling, he’s expected to remain behind bars until July 2018, pending the outcomes of other criminal cases against him.

Supreme Court Jails Redshirt Leader for Defaming Former PM

As ‘Net Neutrality’ Vote Nears, Some Brace For a Long Fight

By

Associated Press

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14 December 2017, 11:27

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, file photo, demonstrators rally in support of net neutrality outside a Verizon store in New York. The Federal Communications Commission is voting Thursday, Dec. 14 to undo Obama-era “net neutrality” rules that guaranteed equal access to the internet. Photo: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press

NEW YORK — As the federal government prepares to unravel sweeping net-neutrality rules that guaranteed equal access to the internet, advocates of the regulations are bracing for a long fight.

The Thursday vote scheduled at the Federal Communications Commission could usher in big changes in how Americans use the internet, a radical departure from more than a decade of federal oversight. The proposal would not only roll back restrictions that keep broadband providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from blocking or collecting tolls from services they don’t like, it would bar states from imposing their own rules.

The broadband industry promises that the internet experience isn’t going to change, but its companies have lobbied hard to overturn these rules. Protests have erupted online and in the streets as everyday Americans worry that cable and phone companies will be able to control what they see and do online.

That growing public movement suggests that the FCC vote won’t be the end of the issue. Opponents of the move plan legal challenges, and some net-neutrality supporters hope to ride that wave of public opinion into the 2018 elections.

Concern About The FCC Plan

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says his plan eliminates unnecessary regulation that stood in the way of connecting more Americans to the internet. Under his proposal, the Comcasts and AT&Ts of the world will be free to block rival apps, slow down competing service or offer faster speeds to companies who pay up. They just have to post their policies online or tell the FCC.

The change also axes consumer protections, bars state laws that contradict the FCC’s approach, and largely transfers oversight of internet service to another agency, the Federal Trade Commission.

After the FCC released its plan in late November, well-known telecom and media analysts Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson wrote in a note to investors that the FCC plan dismantles “virtually all of the important tenets of net neutrality itself.”

That could result in phone and cable companies forcing people to pay more to do what they want online. The technology community, meanwhile, fears that additional online tolls could hurt startups who can’t afford to pay them — and, over the long term, diminish innovation.

“We’re a small company. We’re about 40 people. We don’t have the deep pockets of Google, Netflix, Amazon to just pay off ISPs to make sure consumers can access our service,” said Andrew McCollum, CEO of streaming-TV service Philo.

Trust Your Internet Service Provider

Broadband providers pooh-pooh what they characterize as misinformation and irrational fears. “I genuinely look forward to the weeks, months, years ahead when none of the fire and brimstone predictions comes to pass,” said Jonathan Spalter, head of the trade group USTelecom, on a call with reporters Wednesday.

But some of these companies have suggested they could charge some internet services more to reach customers, saying it could allow for better delivery of new services like telemedicine. Comcast said Wednesday it has no plans for such agreements.

Cable and mobile providers have also been less scrupulous in the past. In 2007, for example, the Associated Press found Comcast was blocking or throttling some file-sharing. AT&T blocked Skype and other internet calling services on the iPhone until 2009. They also aren’t backing away from subtler forms of discrimination that favor their own services.

There’s also a problem with the FCC’s plan to leave most complaints about deceptive behavior and privacy to the FTC. A pending court case could leave the FTC without the legal authority to oversee most big broadband providers. That could leave both agencies hamstrung if broadband companies hurt their customers or competitors.

Critics like Democratic FTC commissioner Terrell McSweeny argue that the FTC won’t be as effective in policing broadband companies as the FCC, which has expertise in the issue and has the ability to lay down hard-and-fast rules against certain practices.

Public Outcry

Moffett and Nathanson, the analysts, said that they suspect the latest FCC rules to be short-lived. “These changes will likely be so immensely unpopular that it would be shocking if they are allowed to stand for long,” they wrote.

There have been hundreds of public protests against Pai’s plan and more than 1 million calls to Congress through a pro-net neutrality coalition’s site. Smaller tech websites such as Reddit, Kickstarter and Mozilla put dramatic overlays on their sites Tuesday in support of net neutrality. Twitter on Wednesday was promoting #NetNeutrality as a trending topic. Other big tech companies were more muted in their support.

Public-interest groups Free Press and Public Knowledge are already promising to go after Pai’s rules in the courts. There may also be attempts to legislate net neutrality rules, which the telecom industry supports. Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, on Tuesday called for “bipartisan legislation” on net neutrality that would “enshrine protections for consumers with the backing of law.”

But that will be tough going. Democrats criticized previous Republican attempts at legislation during the Obama administration for gutting the FCC’s enforcement abilities. Republicans would likely be interested in proposing even weaker legislation now, and Democrats are unlikely to support it if so.

Some Democrats prefer litigation and want to use Republican opposition to net neutrality as a campaign issue in 2018. “Down the road Congress could act to put in place new rules, but with Republicans in charge of the House, Senate, and White House the likelihood of strong enforceable rules are small,” Rep. Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat, wrote on Reddit last week. “Maybe after the 2018 elections, we will be in a stronger position to get that done.”

A future FCC could also rewrite net-neutrality regulation to be tougher on the phone and cable industry. That could bring a whole new cycle of litigation by broadband companies.

Reuters Demands Myanmar Release Its 2 Journalists

By

Associated Press

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14 December 2017, 10:45

In this image released by the Myanmar Ministry of Information and broadcast by Myanmar's MRTV, on Dec. 13, 2017, Reuters reporters Wa Lone, left, and Kyaw Soe Oo stand handcuffed in Myanmar. Photo: MRTV / Myanmar Ministry of Information via AP

BANGKOK — Reuters news agency called on Myanmar to immediately release its two journalists who were arrested for possessing “important secret papers” obtained from two policemen who had worked in Rakhine state, where violence widely blamed on security forces has forced more than 625,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Information said Wednesday the journalists and policemen will be charged under the country’s colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries penalties of up to 14 years in prison.

Reuters said Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been missing since late Tuesday night.

“Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been reporting on events of global importance in Myanmar, and we learned today that they have been arrested in connection with their work,” Stephen J. Adler, president and editor in chief of Reuters, said in a statement.

“We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately,” he said.

The ministry posted a photo of the two journalists in handcuffs, standing behind a table bearing documents, cellphones and currency. It said they had collected “information and important secret papers related to the security forces” from the policemen, who had earlier worked in Rakhine but were now in Yangon, the country’s largest city.

Rakhine state is the epicenter of the Myanmar military’s brutal security operation against Rohingya Muslims. The campaign, launched in August in response to attacks on police outposts, has been condemned by the United Nations as “ethnic cleansing” and those fleeing have described widespread rights abuses by security forces. The military, which is charge of security in northern Rakhine, and the civilian government have barred most journalists and international observers from independently traveling to the region.

Shawn Crispin, a senior representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, also called on Myanmar authorities to “to immediately, unconditionally release” the journalists.

“These arrests come amid a widening crackdown which is having a grave impact on the ability of journalists to cover a story of vital global importance,” he said.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Myanmar said it was “deeply shocked” with news of the arrests and “gravely concerned with the state of press freedom in Myanmar as the journalists were detained while carrying out their journalistic work.” It also called on authorities to allow their families to meet them as soon as possible.

The U.S. Embassy said it was “deeply concerned by the highly irregular arrests of two Reuters reporters.”

“For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely,” it said in a statement. “We urge the government to explain these arrests and allow immediate access to the journalists.”

Journalists in Myanmar are facing renewed harassment, with several arrested in recent months. Two foreign journalists along with two of their Myanmar associates are currently awaiting trial on new charges after already being sentenced to jail for illegally flying a drone over parliament.

“Media freedom in the country is getting worse and arresting journalists is more and more common these days, and this shows that the authorities are clearly ignoring media laws,” said Robert Sann Aung, a human rights lawyer.

Foreign Woman Wows BKK With Unauthorized Stunt (Video)

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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13 December 2017, 17:55

BANGKOK — A foreign woman showed off her gymnastic skills in an unauthorized stunt at Suvarnabhumi International Airport late Wednesday afternoon.

The unidentified woman climbed out onto supports on the terminal interior and proceeded to hang upside down for several hours.

Officers, unable to coax her down, can be heard complimenting her athleticism in a video of the incident.

“Strong. So strong,” one says. “That’s so professional.”

The woman offered no response to the officers. On her back was a tattoo: “Olympics 2014.”

She eventually let go and fell, only to grav onto a lower bar in a trained display of gymnastics. At that point she dropped onto an air cushion placed below. The woman,whose name and nationality are unknown at this time, was taken for evaluation at a local hospital.

‘The Goonies,’ ‘Titanic’ Added to National Film Registry

By

Associated Press

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13 December 2017, 16:51

NEW YORK — A band of misfits known as the Goonies, a sinking ship, some baseball ghosts and the unrelenting New York cop are being added to the prestigious National Film Registry.

The Library of Congress announced Wednesday that the films “The Goonies,” ”Titanic,” ”Field of Dreams” and “Die Hard” are among the 25 movies tapped for preservation this year.

The library selects movies for preservation because of their cultural, historic or artistic importance.

This year’s slate includes the 1987 musical biopic “La Bamba,” ”Superman” from 1978, the 2000 thriller “Memento” and 1941’s animated “Dumbo.”

This year’s picks bring the total number of films in the registry to 725. Last year, “The Breakfast Club,” ”The Princess Bride” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Thelma & Louise” were picked.

Story: Mark Kennedy

Monkey Selfies, Eclipse, Bitcoin, Lauer Top Google in 2017

By

Associated Press

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13 December 2017, 16:45

A selfie snapped by Naruto, a crested macaque after he took a photographers camera in 2011 in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: Naruto

SAN FRANCISCO — Matt Lauer. Bitcoin. DACA. Monkey selfies. Jeremy Lin’s hair. Do-it-yourself eclipse glasses. Tom Petty’s death. National anthem protests in the NFL. And “Cash Me Outside.”

These were some of the people, topics and memes that trended to the top of Google searches in 2017. The search terms reflected the United States in upheaval over sexual misconduct allegations against powerful men, reeling from the tumultuous presidency of Donald Trump (What is “covfefe,” by the way?), and people around the world searching for information about the latest iPhone and how to make slime.

Three of the top 10 TV shows in the U.S. debuted on Netflix, the same as last year.

April the Giraffe made news by giving birth live on YouTube.

And the world grooved to Luis Fonsi singing “Despacito.”

Here are some of the terms Google says had the highest sustained spike in traffic compared to 2016, filtered for spam, repeat queries and adult keywords. The full list is here.

UNITED STATES

Searches

1. Hurricane Irma

2. Matt Lauer

3. Tom Petty

4. Super Bowl

5. Las Vegas Shooting

6. Mayweather vs. McGregor Fight

7. Solar Eclipse

8. Hurricane Harvey

9. Aaron Hernandez

10. Fidget Spinner

People

1. Matt Lauer

2. Meghan Markle

3. Harvey Weinstein

4. Michael Flynn

5. Kevin Spacey

6. Bill O’Reilly

7. Melania Trump

8. Kathy Griffin

9. Milo Yiannopoulos

10. Gal Gadot

Losses

1. Tom Petty

2. Aaron Hernandez

3. Chris Cornell

4. Bill Paxton

5. Hugh Hefner

6. Chester Bennington

7. Charlie Murphy

8. Lil Peep

9. Jim Nabors

10. David Cassidy

How to

1. How to make slime

2. How to make solar eclipse glasses

3. How to watch the solar eclipse

4. How to watch Mayweather vs. McGregor

5. How to buy Bitcoin

6. How to freeze your credit

7. How to solve a Rubix Cube

8. How to make a fidget spinner

9. How to cook a turkey in the oven

10. How to screen record

What is

1. What is DACA?

2. What is Bitcoin?

3. What is a solar eclipse?

4. What is antifa?

5. What is net neutrality?

6. What is covfefe?

7. What is the antikythera mechanism?

8. What is a fidget spinner?

9. What is the Paris Climate Agreement?

10. What is a hurricane?

GLOBAL LISTS

Searches

1. Hurricane Irma

2. iPhone 8

3. iPhone X

4. Matt Lauer

5. Meghan Markle

6. 13 Reasons Why

7. Tom Petty

8. Fidget Spinner

9. Chester Bennington

10. India National Cricket Team

Songs/Lyrics

1. Despacito

2. Shape of You

3. Perfect

4. Havana

5. Look What You Made Me Do

6. HUMBLE.

7. Versace on the Floor

8. Closer

9. Bad and Boujee

10. Rockstar

Memes

1. Cash Me Outside

2. United Airlines

3. Elf on the Shelf

4. What in Tarnation

5. Spongebob Mocking

6. Romper

7. IT

8. Joe Biden

9. Game of Thrones

10. Hot dog

Elections

1. French election

2. German federal election

3. UK election

4. Uttar Pradesh election

5. Georgia special election

6. Montana special election

7. British Columbia election

8. BMC election

9. Sicilian regional election

10. Dutch election

Fed Up Reporter Goes to Police After Online Money For Sex Offer

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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13 December 2017, 15:49

Workpoint TV reporter Kanwela Saoruen files a complaint Wednesday at the Technology Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — A reporter at a top entertainment network filed a police complaint Wednesday against whoever has been badgering her online to be his mistress.

Kanwaela Soa-ruen, 31, who covers social issues for Workpoint TV, carried a stack of printed screenshots to the Technology Crime Suppression Division as evidence showing someone online proposed she have sex regularly with him in exchange for 287,000 baht per month and spammed her with dick pics.

“I want to stand up for all the women who faced something like me. Be brave enough to go to the police,” Kanwaela said Wednesday. “To be honest I’ve faced something like this many times, but no one had this much audacity. I need the police to drag him out so he won’t trick or harm any other women so they can come forward, and men won’t want to act like him.”

Read: Why Few Thai Women Are Saying #MeToo

The reporter said she started receiving messages Saturday from Facebook user Worapong Kheawmanee, who proposed they meet to have sex on the fifth, 15th and 25th of each month.

He urged her to sign an official contract with him at CentralWorld and offered 25,000 if she just showed up to refuse his offer. All the while, Worapong pressured her to join him in a video chat.

“My name is Pong. I don’t want to waste your time, so I’ll be straightforward. We’re both adults,” Worapong wrote in a chat. “I only offer this to pretty women to fulfill my sexual needs. No strings attached – no relationship. I just need pleasure from your body, not your love or to start a family with you. I’m already married.”

Kanwaela ignored most of his chats before responding, “I’m not interested. Are you a virus or a pervert?”

After Kanwaela rejected Worapong and told him to stop messaging her, he spammed her with naked photos of women he claimed were his mistresses, their genitals and photos of his penis.

Kanwaela said she did not know if actually belonged to a Worapong, since his profile said he is an executive director of Plus Property Co. Ltd. Kanwaela said she called the company who said that there was no director named Worapong there.

It also says he is a certified nurse aide at an onsen who graduated in regional planning from Burapha University.

Capt. Passit Srisupot of the Technology Crime Suppression Division said the Facebook account would have to be investigated before police could charge anyone.

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Bangkok Bombing Suspect Gets Bail; Husband in Turkish Custody: Lawyer

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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13 December 2017, 15:29

Wanna Suansan undergoes medical examination on Nov. 22 shortly after she was arrested in Bangkok

BANGKOK — A 29-year-old woman accused of conspiring in Thailand’s worst terror attack two years ago will be freed on bail Wednesday after more than two weeks in prison.

Wanna Suansan, who was arrested late last month upon returning to Thailand, will walk free at about 6pm, her lawyer Chuchart Kanpai said. Her foreign husband, a member of an ethnic group implicated in the attack who’s also wanted in connection to the 2015 bombing that killed 20, is being held by Turkish authorities for using a forged passport, the attorney said.

“He wants to come back and fight the case, too,” Chuchart said. “He already asked. But the Turks denied it.”

Read: Shrine Bombing Suspect Reappears to ‘Fight Her Case’

Wanna and her husband Emrah Davutoglu were among the 17 people wanted for allegedly engineering the attack on popular Erawan Shrine in August 2015. The pair left Thailand for Turkey six weeks before the attack took place.

Wanna was last known to be in Turkey, and she returned to Thailand after two years abroad on Nov. 22 vowing to clear her name. She was arrested at the airport and sent to stand trial in a military court, which had denied her bail release – despite the fact she is pregnant – until now.

Wanna was the third suspect to be arrested in connection with the bombing after Adem Karadag and Yusufu Mieraili, both Uighur men from China’s restive frontier province of Xinjiang. Karadag is accused of planting the bomb at the shrine while Mieraili allegedly found materials and aided the bomber.

Both men deny all the charges against them. Over two years later, their trial has barely gotten underway.

Wanna returned without her husband. A commander of the Special Branch police, one of the many agencies investigating the case, denies any knowledge of Davutoglu’s whereabouts.

“I don’t know where he is,” Maj. Gen. Chayapol Chatchaidet said. “We have no information about that. We only have information concerning Wanna.”

But Chuchart maintained Davutoglu has been held in custody since the moment he stepped foot in Turkey back in 2015. The lawyer said Davutoglu is an ethnic Uighur with Chinese nationality, not Turkish as previously reported, and he was traveling with a counterfeit passport.

“Emrah wants to turn himself in and fight the case in Thailand,” Chuchart said. “But he’s not a Thai national, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot request his extradition.”

Both Wanna and her husband deny all allegations against them, he added.

A police source who spoke on condition of anonymity said Turkey has requested the Thai government not mention its role in the ongoing investigation.

“They asked us not to get them involved,” the source said. “They are afraid of a backlash from the Uighurs.”

At the height of the investigation, Thai officials were loathe to mention Turkey by name despite the fact leading theories pinned it on revenge by Uighurs for the forced repatriation of 100 Uighur refugees to Beijing, where they were condemned as terrorists.

China has struggled to contain a separatist movement in Xinjiang, where the majority Muslim Uighurs share ethnic and linguistic bonds with the Turks.

Late last month, the remaining 20 Uighurs held over three years at a southern Thai immigration detention facility escaped. They were thought to be trying to make their way to Malaysia. Twelve remain at large.

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