BANGKOK — The construction of a new railway in Thailand that will ultimately connect with a route to China will begin before the end of this year, according to a spokesperson of the Thai military government.

Maj.Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the railway – which will service “medium speed” trains – will run between Thailand's eastern seaboard and Nong Khai province, which borders Laos in the northeast. The railroad will connect with another train route also being built by the Chinese government in Laos, ultimately linking Thailand and China by train.

"We are currently preparing the fifth joint committee meeting between Thailand and China by the end of June. Route surveys and cost estimations will be finished by August as planned," Maj.Gen. Sansern said. "We expect that construction will begin within year 2015." 

He added, "This project will benefit the increase of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, and stimulate economic development in the entire region."

In a memorandum of understanding signed between the two governments in December 2014, China pledged to help build the Eastern Seaboard – Nong Khai rail and a separate route that will connect it with Bangkok. The two rail lines will cover a total of 873 kilometers and run "medium speed" trains at 180 kilometer per hour, Maj.Gen. Sansern said. 

Thailand’s train services, which are solely operated by the State Railway of Thailand, have long been criticized for poor maintenance, delays, and frequent accidents. 

According to Maj.Gen. Sansern, Japanese rail companies will also develop two high-speed rails between Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai, and Kanchanaburi and Sa Kaeo provinces, though no schedule for the construction has been released. The two governments signed an MOU on the project on 27 May. 

"Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the Prime Minister, has a clear policy in cooperating with our allied countries, as seen in the construction of Thai-Chinese railway, and investment in rail by Japanese companies," Maj.Gen. Sansern told reporters. 

In 2012, the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced a 2.2 trillion baht project aimed at overhauling Thailand's infrastructure and rail services by 2020. The plan called for constructing high-speed railways connecting Bangkok with other major cities.

The proposal came under intense scrutiny from opposition politicians, who balked at the hefty price tag, and warned that the project would pave the way for massive corruption. In March 2014, the Constitutional Court nullified the bill that was drafted to seek a loan for the project, citing irregularities in the legislation. One of the judges also described the rail project as unnecessary and urged the government to get rid of "dirt roads" in the country first. 

The government was later toppled in a coup d'etat staged by Gen. Prayuth in May 2014.  

BANGKOK — In an effort to extradite lese majeste suspects living abroad, Thailand’s military government will inform foreign ambassadors that insulting the monarchy is a criminal offense, not a political one.

Gen. Paiboon Khumchaya, Minister of Justice, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will explain to diplomats from countries where fugitives are residing that the suspects need to be brought back to Thailand for criminal prosecution.

According to the general, 31 people charged with lese majeste are currently in exile, with 14 of them living in neighboring Laos.

"They have to understand that this wrongdoing is not a political issue, but a criminal wrongdoing," Gen. Paipoon said. "I have already instructed the Ministry [of Foreign Affairs] to create understanding about each suspect's legal case before proceeding, because in some countries there is no law related to insulting the monarchy."

In Thailand, criticizing the monarchy is punishable by up to 15 years in prison under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Codes, a law known as lese majeste. 

Although discussing the monarchy has long been taboo in Thailand, the ruling military junta has enforced the country's lese majeste law with new vigor since seizing power in a coup in May 2014. The junta is led by Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief and hardline royalist. 

Since the coup, at least 46 people have been charged with lese majeste, and more than half of them have been denied bail while they await trial, according to iLaw, a watchdog group that tracks legal cases in Thailand.  

Critics and human rights groups say Thailand's lese majeste law – the strictest of its kind in the world – is used to suppress free speech and smear political opponents.

Amnesty International, for instance, recognizes those convicted of lese majeste in Thailand as "prisoners of conscience." 

"Amnesty International considers all those who have been jailed solely for peacefully expressing their opinions to be prisoners of conscience, who should be released immediately and unconditionally," Rupert Abbott, AI's Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in February 2015. "The lese majeste law should be amended so that it complies with Thailand's international legal obligations, including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." 

King back in hospital 

King Bhumibol, 87, is widely revered as a demigod in Thailand and often credited with bringing stability to the Kingdom during his 68 years on the throne.

However, his frail health is a source of anxiety for many Thais, the majority of whom have never lived under another monarch. 

On 31 May, His Majesty the King returned to Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok for what the palace said was a routine medical check-up following his six-month stay at the hospital earlier this year. 

He was admitted with a high fever in October 2014, and later underwent a surgery to remove his infected gallbladder, according to the palace. His Majesty returned to his summer palace in Prachuap Kiri Khan province on 10 May.

BANGKOK — A television news anchor formally apologized to the chief of the Royal Thai Police today for accidentally mispronouncing his name as a Thai swearword on a live program.

Speaking on a Saturday morning news show, the Channel 7 anchorwoman accidentally replaced Pol.Gen. Somyot Pumpanmuang’s first name with a similar sounding Thai swearword.

The news anchor, Panurat Promkhachasut, quickly apologized to the audience on the live show, and met with Pol.Gen. Somyot at the Royal Thai Police's headquarters for a formal apology today. 

Pol.Gen. Somyot said he accepted the apology and called the incident "a tiny mistake that can happen." He also called on the station administrators not to punish Panurat. 

"I would like to ask the administrators not to criticize or punish her, because it would only make her lose morale in performing her work," Pol.Gen. Somyot said. 

In March this year, Channel 3, a TV station licensed to a private operator by the state, suspended a anchorwoman for a month after she accidentally misidentified the former wife of the Thai Crown Prince during a live news show.

YANGON (DPA) — Myanmar's main opposition party on Monday urged the government to quickly resettle people living in temporary camps – mostly Bengali Muslims who became homeless after sectarian conflicts with Buddhists since mid-2012.

The National League for Democracy said officials should resettle the refugees and guarantee transparency in the citizenship verification process and flow of humanitarian assistance in Rakhine state.

"Staying in the camps for such a long time is like being a prisoner, and make displaced people worry for their future. Resettlement to their homes and letting them know their status clearly by transparent citizenship verification process will help the state's stable and avoiding further conflicts," said party spokesperson Nyan Win.

Riots in Rakhine state in June and October 2012 have left an estimated 140,000 people still in camps. Previous efforts to move them to semi-permanent shelters near the state capital Sittwe were postponed following fierce protests from Buddhist nationalists.

Most of the refugees are stateless Muslims, who describe themselves as Rohingya, but are officially regarded as people from Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Information said its latest verification efforts, launched in July, could allow for thousands of Muslims in Rakhine to be granted some citizenship rights under the name of Bengali, but the term Rohingya is not allowed.

(Reporting Cod Satrusayang)

BEIJING (DPA) — A passenger ship with more than 450 people on board has sunk in China's Yangtze River during a heavy storm, Chinese state media reported early Tuesday.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 15 people out of the 458 people on board have been rescued, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Those rescued included the captain and the chief engineer.

All those rescued were wearing life jackets, according to the ministry.

Five bodies had been recovered and confirmed dead so far, according to reports.

The ship was not overloaded and was equipped with sufficient life jackets, Xinhua cited the Ministry of Transport as saying.

The ship sank around 9:30 pm Monday (1330 GMT) near Jianli in Hubei province, Xinhua reported.

Most of the passengers on board were senior citizens in their sixties and seventies, Xinhua said, with the ages of passengers ranging from 3 to 83.

The ship capsized when it was caught in a tornado, reports said.

The incident happened "so fast that the captain did not even have the time to send out a distress signal," Xinhua cited Wang Yangsheng, a senior official with the Yueyang Maritime Rescue Center, as saying.

The rescue center in Yueyang in neighboring Hunan Province received an alarm call from the crew of another boat who saw two people in the water at 10:10 pm, Xinhua reported.

The center immediately sent a patrol boat to the scene and the two survivors were picked up at 11:51 pm.

One of the survivors told rescuers he was the captain of the boat, Xinhua reported.

Hubei's provincial emergency office confirmed Tuesday afternoon that a tornado was detected in the area between 9 pm and 10 pm Monday, Hubei's Jing Chu newspaper reported.

The section of the river where the accident occurred is a place where strong storms are known to occur, the newspaper said.

Emergency response efforts were earlier hindered by strong wind and heavy rain, Xinhua said.

Premier Li Keqiang arrived Tuesday afternoon to supervise rescue work along with two other senior officials. More than 1,000 armed police officers had also been dispatched to the scene.  

President Xi Jinping called for "all-out rescue efforts" and better safety measures, Xinhua reported.

The ship was en route to south-western China's Chongqing city after departing from Nanjing, the capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu, on Thursday. The two cities are some 1,200 kilometres apart as the crow flies.

The ship was carrying more than 400 passengers – referred to as Chinese tourists in state media – 47 crew members and five travel agency workers. Built in 1994, it had a capacity of more than 500 passengers.

Passengers' relatives gathered Tuesday outside a Shanghai travel agency that had booked many of the trips and then headed to a local government office looking for answers, China Central Television reported. 

Most of those onboard are from Shanghai and neighboring Jiangsu Province, according to Xinhua.

Three survivors, aged 37, 42 and 50, are being treated in hospital.

The depth of the water at the scene of the accident is about 15 metres, China News reported.

Hubei is home to the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. The dam has limited water flow to assist in rescue work, Xinhua reported.

(Reporting by Andreas Landwehr)

(Reporting by Andreas Landwehr)