Published on July 23, 2005
High-flying MPs to be probed
A House subcommittee will investigate whether some MPs have used their free Thai Airways International flights for personal affairs.
MPs who have notched up numerous domestic flights will next week be asked to detail those trips before the subcommittee on the welfare of parliamentarians and Parliament personnel to make sure they were all business related, Phaichit Sriworakhan, the panel’s deputy chairman, said yesterday. His comments were in response to an allegation that some MPs used their free flights to study for master’s degrees upcountry. – The Nation ------------------------------- VICIOUS ATTACK: Foreigner hurt An American man was attacked by a board-wielding assailant on Thursday morning, leaving him in serious condition in hospital with a fractured skull and internal bleeding. Ken Jacob, a teacher who goes by the name Baba, was attacked near a sidewalk bar on the corner of Soi Asoke and Sukhumvit Road at 2am. A bartender at a bar which has no name accused him of knocking over two whiskey bottles behind the bar and demanded more than Bt1,000 from him, according to Nick Cussell, who was with Jacob at the time. Jacob denied breaking anything and refused to pay and left with Cussell. “Then a man came out of nowhere and smashed him in the head,” said Cussell. A witness who works at a nearby noodle shop said the man had attacked Jacob with a board, said Paritha Sricharoen, Jacob’s wife. Lieutenant Pumin Ngarmlai, of Tong Lor Police Station, said he would question the owner of the bar today. Cussell denied that Jacob had knocked over the bottles. “I think she [the bartender] was just trying to get money out of two farangs,” he said. Jacob was in the intensive-care unit at Bumrungrad Hospital yesterday, and doctors said it was too early to make a prognosis. – The Nation. ------------------------------- BIRD FLU: Fowl positive Kamphaeng Phet province’s Pang Silathong district was declared a bird-flu zone yesterday after dead chickens tested positive for the H5N1 virus. Transporting poultry would be prohibited in general, but Kamol Chareonket, a provincial livestock development officer, said 1.5 million free-range ducks could still be moved within Kamphaeng Phet, Phichit and Phitsanulok, said. – The Nation
Post your comment to this story here