Deployment of CSD force is a scare tactic: Akapol. The Mahachon Party will this week demand the withdrawal of Crime Suppression Division commandos deployed in Phichit on grounds that the deployment is meant to intimidate its party members as they campaign for the October 30 by-election. “The increased presence of police forces is seen as a dirty tactic by the government to intimidate the opposition,” Mahachon deputy leader Akapol Sorasuchart said yesterday.

Queen praises clerics

Her Majesty the Queen yesterday granted an audience to 45 Muslim religious leaders and teachers from the three southernmost provinces while on her annual retreat in the region. The Chularajmontri, Sawat Sumalayasak, and the chairmen of the provincial Islamic committees of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces led the clerics.

Deputy chief of village shot dead

The deputy chief of Mananghong village, Karerya Seumeng, 34, was killed yesterday by gunmen on a motorcycle who rode up behind him and fired three rounds at close range with a 9mm handgun, police said.

Equable divorce law sought

Social Development and Human Security Minister Watana Muangsook has outlined plans to amend civil law to make it easier for women to instigate divorce proceedings.

Funeral rites for helicopter crash victims

The bodies of Pha Muang Task Force commander, Maj-General Phairat Thongjattu, and three other officers who died in an Army helicopter crash in deep jungle in Phrae province on Thursday were flown to Phitsanulok for royal bathing rites yesterday.

PM expects 5,000 tsunami mourners

Thailand will invite tsunami survivors and the families of those who died to visit the country in order to witness the recovery of the Andaman coast that was ravaged by killer waves on December 26 last year, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday.

Chaturon credits TRT for UN post

Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang yesterday credited the Thai Rak Thai Party’s goal of providing quality education for all by using IT to equip schools with computers and students with laptops for gaining him a place on Unesco’s executive board.

Arrest made in fake border-pass racket

A Cambodian national suspected of being a key member of a criminal syndicate that produces fake travel documents was arrested yesterday while trying to enter Thailand through a checkpoint at Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district, a Thai immigration police officer said yesterday.

Night Safari cheetahs arrive

Six cheetahs from South Africa that arrived at Chiang Mai’s airport yesterday will be quarantined for 30 days before being moved into their quarters at the Night Safari zoo and park, which is scheduled to open next month.