On 14 February 2012, an explosion occurred at a house in Soi Pridi
Banomyong 31. A group of Iranians was seen fleeing the scene shortly afterwards, and one of the
suspects reportedly threw several hand grenades at the pursuing police officers to elude the
chase.

However, the grenade bounced and severely wounded the man, Mr. Said Moradi, severing
his left leg and blinding his right eye. The other suspect, Mr. Muhammad Hasai, was arrested later
that evening at Suvarnnabhumi Airport. He was said to be headed for a flight leaving Thailand.
Others had fled the Kingdom.

The prosecutors have previously told the court that the 2
Iranians had rented the house from 19 December 2011, where they were attempting to build a number
of explosive devices. On 14 February, the prosecutors said, the bomb prematurely exploded, possibly
due to a faulty assembly.

The explosion and subsequent grenade attacks injured many people
and caused damages to various properties and vehicles, the court was told.

The 2 suspects previously argued that they did not know the bombs were stored in the residence, and one of the
devices only exploded when they found and tried to dispose of them.

As for the grenade
attack, Mr. Moradi said (via an interpreter) he was frightened by the police and accidentally
dropped the explosives.

Today the court ruled against the suspects, declaring them guilty of several charges, such as causing explosions, threatening lives, and violating the laws on explosive
ordnance.

Mr. Moradi was given a life sentence, while Mr. Hasai was sentenced to 25 years in
jail. The pair was also ordered to pay compensation to owners of properties damaged by the
explosions.

Mr. Tharit Pengdit, chief of the DSI, said he had received many complaints
about one such ogus check-up at Saraburi Wittayakhom School in Saraburi Province, where the firm
reportedly employed uncertified personnel and used unclean medical tools throughout the
check-up.

In the blood tests at that school, he said, many students and their parents had
witnessed the medical team reusing the same syringe several times, prompting concerns that the
practice would lead to infection of blood-borne diseases, particularly HIV, Hepatitis B, and
Hepatitis C.

Many also complained to him that they received inaccurate eye-test results,
while some said they had been identified as having Type A blood even though they belong to different
blood types, Mr. Tharit added.

According to the DSI Chief, the firm has been contracted to
perform annual health checks for over 80 educational institutions and business organisations across
the country. Mr. Tharit estimated that nearly 80,000 people had undergone annual health checks with
the company.

The name of the company was not identified by the DSI.

Mr. Tharit said the
DSI is gathering all the information about the firm. The company might be charged with fraud for
performing health checks without qualified medical staff or hygienic equipment, he said, and it
might also be charged with bribery; Mr. Tharit suspects that the firm has illegally won many
contracts.

“If it is clear that the team had cause harm to many people’s health and bribed
the schools for their contracts, the DSI will advance the case into the special investigation.” Mr.
Tharit told our correspondent.

In June 2012, police in Tak Province arrested a number of
staff working for a private company which had been conducting health checks in a university in that
province. The arrests followed complaints from students that the staff reused the syringes many
times.

The Chinese ghost
festival, known in Chinese as Yu Lan and Wan Sart Cheen in Thai, is marked by burning of
papers and offerings of food to the dead relatives.

The focal points of the festival are
Peung Thao Kong Ma Shrine and the Khonkaen City Pillar Shrine, where the festival-goers pay respect
to the spirits of their ancestors and other kinless ghosts. They brought along items such as pork,
chicken, fruits, desserts, incense sticks, and candles to make offerings to the dead.

Many
believe that celebrating the ghost spirit at the Shrines would bring good fortunes to their
families.

The 3 major markets in the Province are full of Thai-Chinese shopping for goods
throughout the day, including the famous Bang Lampoo Market (not to be confused with the market with
the same name in Bangkok).

Prices of signature desserts associated with the festival, Khanom
Tien and Khanom Kheng, also decrease from last year. The pyramid-shaped Khanom Tien sells for 100
baht per kilogram this year, while the glutinous Khanom Kheng sells for 90 baht per
kilogram.

Over 9 million baht was spent in building the Rames
Bridge that spans over a canal. It was opened to the public on 12 August – HM the Queen′s Birthday –
after series of construction delays.

After its inauguration ceremony, residents soon noticed
that environment around the canal starts to change for the worse, reportedly because the bridge′s
foundation blocks flows of sewage and damages the the bank soils.

The foundation of the
bridge is also visibly in poor state. Cracks can be seen in the pillars. Paste of cements were
slabbed onto some of these cracks, but the hastily-applied fixes already wore off in some places.

Many residents further complained about the uneven pillars that were supposed to be in
straight vertical lines, causing many motorists to worry for their safety as they make their way
across the bridge.

Today, Mr. Chaowasana Senpong, the governor of Nakorn Si Thammarart, said
in a conference that the officials have inspected the scene and declared the structure of the bridge
as perfectly safe.

The cracks are affecting the safety of the bridge, Mr. Chaowasana said,
while the chief public engineer told the reporters in the same press conference that the uneven
pillars also did not pose a danger to the public.

In the meeting with the SRT and the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority
(BMTA), Mr. Chatchart Sitthipan stressed that he intends to revamp the woeful quality of the
country′s public transport system. He singled out the rail service as a particularly serious
concern.

Within 1 month, Mr. Chatchart told the SRT representatives, there must not be any
drunk individual or thief hanging around in the train stations. Dirty public restrooms in the
stations must also be improved, while the train schedules should be more punctual, Mr. Chatchart
said.

Additionally, Mr. Chatchart has asked the SRT to reconsider the policy of charging
individuals 3 baht per person to use the public restrooms, as he believes the service should be free
of charge. The BMTA charges its customers 5 baht per person in its bus stations, and Mr. Chatchart
likewise told the agency to reconsider the policy.

The Transport Minister also mentioned that
he did not quite agree with the fare rise for the State Railway Third Class Carriage, as it would
cause the government to spend more subsidies to the State Railway.