The accident took place at
a pier in Pattaya when the speedboat crashed to a bigger ship, killing Mr. Dong Feiyue, 30, and Mr.
Zhang Tao, 29.

8 people were also injured by the crash, including the speedboat driver, Mr.
Kriangsak Boonsiri, 23, who has been charged with reckless behaviour. He remains in police custody.

Mr. Somsak Phureesrisak, Minister of Tourism and Sport, said that the case will be brought
to the Tourism Court. The court was established to specifically process cases that involved foreign
tourists out of hope that their grievances would be quickly redressed.

However, the court
will be officially opened by 5 December this year (His Majesty the King′s Birthday).

Mr.
Somsak also said he had taken steps to improve the safety of these speedboats, such as equipping GPS
device to monitor their speed and travelling routes.

Ms. Tammy
?Ladda? Duckworth, the representative of Illinois’s 8th Congressional District, was speaking at
Chulalongkorn University′s Faculty of Political Science in Bangkok where she gave talks about her
perspective on US foreign policy.

The half-Thai veteran also voiced her fear that supplying
weapons to the Syrian opposition would make things worse because the weapons might fall into the
wrong hands: namely, the Islamist militants allied with Al Qaeda.

“I won’t let America
goes to war, unless it was for America’s best interest”, said the congresswoman, explaining that it
is the Middle Eastern countries who should engage more with Syrian crisis, as Syria is ‘their
backyard’, not America′s.

Ms. Duckworth added: “Asia Pacific is my backyard,…, Thailand is my
backyard”.

As the first Thai-American Congress representative, Ms. Duckworth emphasized her
mixed root and hoped that her character would allow her help foster the relationship between the 2
countries, upon the occasion celebrating 180 years of Thai-US relations.

Recently, the US
government has shown their eagerness to engage more in Asia Pacific, she said, citing an example
that President Barack Obama chose to visit Thailand last year in his first trip abroad after he won
his second presidential term.

According to Ms. Duckworth, the US president also encouraged
her to take the trip to Thailand.

Bai Kratom plants can be found in many parts of Thailand, but its use is mostly
associated with the southern part of the country.

While older farmers and labourers chew its
leafs to get on with their daily works in the matter of consuming energy drinks, younger folk brew
the leaves with other alcoholic beverage for much stronger effect, especially in the troubled border
Provinces of Thailand which are plagued by shadowy separatist violence.

Arrests of Bai
Kratom growers occur frequently. Just few days ago, police in Phuket Province apprehended a man who
allegedly grew Kratom plants and sold their leafs to young Burmese labourers in Patong
District.

The Thai authorities generally harbour a non-compromising attitude toward illegal
drugs in term of legality. But a crack may appear in that attitude following the suggestion by
Minister of Justice Chaikasem Nitisiri that Bai Kratom should be removed from narcotics
catergory.

Mr. Chaikasem believes that by decriminalising the plants, drug abusers might be
convinced to switch to Bai Kratom instead of sticking to the more dangerous substances such as
amphetamine.

In an interview, he likened Bai Kratom to coffee and alcoholic beverages.
“People take it when they are stressed,” the Minister said, adding that the Netherlands has even
gone as far as legalising marijuana uses. 

Other officials agree with Mr. Chaikasem.
For instance, Mr. Pradit Sinthawanarong, Minister of Public Health, said the decriminalisation
process could start with permitting the growing of Bai Kratom as a medicinal plant, noting its pain
relief effect.

Dr. Anek Yomchinda, director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science,
noted that Thailand is the only country that categorises Bai Kratom as illegal substance. Relevant
agencies are now working on ways to legalise its uses, he said.

Even the public security in
the restive South hinges on legalising the plants, according to Lt.Gen. Paradorn Pattanabutr,
director of the National Security Council.

 Legalisation of Bai Kratom, he explained,
would unburden the security forces from raiding local farms and orchards to look for the illegal
plants, which in turn would lead to less chance of confrontation between the authorities and the
local residents.

Raids on Bai Kratom plantation have escalated to clashes and gunfights
before, the director said, adding more trouble to the already highly flammable situation in the
region.

The meeting at the Ministry was joined by
officials from Vocational Education Commission (VEC).

Hundreds of vocational students from
various polytechnic colleges have joined the protest at the park in central Bangkok which is
organised by the People′s Army Against Thaksin′s Regime.

The protests had been relatively
peaceful, but on Sunday around 70 students rushed out of the park and attacked a group of Redshirts
who were returning from their rally in Victory Monument, pelting them with rocks and other objects.
The Redshirts have filed charge against the students.

Nevertheless, the VEC is also designing procedures to
prevent the enrolled students from falling into a trap laid by ill-wishers who might exploit them
for political gains, according to the officials. They said the vocational students also tend to
believe what the senior students told them.

A police
patrol spotted the man, later identified as Mr. Narong Pon-anake, dressed as an anti-narcotics unit
officer as he was standing in a petrol station on Rangsit Road.

However, the (real) police
officer quickly recognised that the man was wearing an inaccurate uniform, so he questioned and
arrested Mr. Narong. The police also found a walkie-talkie, a pair of handcuffs, and a fake badge
for the anti-narcotics unit.

Mr.
Suthep Ratkarnkanok and Ms. Patreeya Rattanamaneevet, two gold dealers in the province alerted the
police after they noticed the gold they just bought was stuffed with unidentified
substances.

Mr. Suthep told our correspondent that the false gold was made neatly and barely
noticeable for its flaws. However, he decided to burn the gold in 3,000 degree celcius heat, and
learned that the gold was not pure.

According to Mr. Suthep, the 4 gold bullions they
purchased were worth approximately 5 million baht.

Upon receiving the complaints, police
issued warrant and arrested Ms. Worranuch Kanto, 44 and Ms. Siriphon Jittikronkul, 41. The police
then charged them for fraud, after both of them fail to testify clear information.

Mr.
Chaichana Prapruettipong, Managing Director of Gold Dealers Association in Nakhon Ratchasima, said
that the fraudulent gold might have been manufactured abroad and smuggled into the
Kingdom.

He also urged dealers to be aware of this incident, and suggested gold trading to be
made only with the licensed dealers, as the genuine gold would be listed with bar code and guarantee
bill.

As most of the
approximately 1,300 students brought back to Thailand are from the Muslim-dominated Southern
provinces, the responsibility to find a new place to study for them rests with the Southern Border
Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC).

Pol.Maj.Gen. Tawee Sodsong, the director of SBPAC,
said he had consulted with 8 universities in the southern region for possibility of these students?
enrolment. The evacuated students are expected to remain in Thailand for a long while, the director
said, as the turmoil in Egypt is far from over any time soon.

Finding replacement program for
the students can be difficult as they have differing educational qualifications and do not always
match the standard in place in many Thai colleges, Pol.Maj.Gen. Tawee said, but he added that the
Ministry of Education is working on the matter.

He suggested that the agency might come up
with scholarships for students who had engaged in religious studies in Egypt so that they could
continue their courses in other Islamic nations, such as Jordan or Indonesia.

Although many
educational institutes in Southern provinces accept grades and qualifications the students earned
from Egypt, Pol.Maj.Gen. Tawee expressed his wish that the students would go on to study abroad
because they would have an advantage in learning new cultures and languages.

If they go to
study in Egypt or Jordan, they would continue to practise the language they have learned, the
director said.