Tornado warnings southern ontario

– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: National Security Council (NSC) chief Paradorn Pattanatabut will make a final decision on how to respond to Barisan Revolusi Nasional’s (BRN) five demands, keeping in mind the recommendations of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), a highly placed source said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Isoc official said yesterday that his agency had already prepared the response to BRN’s demand and handed them over to Lt Gen Paradorn.

Thailand has been engaged in a peace dialogue with the BRN for several months now in a bid to end the unrest in the deep South.

These are recommendations put forward by the Isoc regarding the BRN conditions:

– Getting Malaysia to serve as mediator: The incidents in the three Southern border provinces are an internal affair and Thailand does not want another country to intervene.

– Thailand recognise BRN as a representative of Patani: The BRN needs to prove it can control all active groups in the South and find out if locals agree with letting the BRN represent them.

– Make the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation an observer in the dialogue: The incidents in the three southern border provinces are an internal affair and Thailand does not want outside intervention.

– Demand for a special administrative zone and respect for identity: Thailand does not suppress self-expression and people are free to embrace any faith. As for setting up an administrative zone, the BRN only presents one part of the history, not all of it.

– Suspects in security cases be released: Judicial procedures will be followed and the government cannot intervene.

Thai delegates are scheduled to meet BRN representatives in the third week of this month.

PHUKET: Political activist Surachai Danwattananusorn, convicted under the lese majeste law, expressed gratitude to HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej yesterday, after being granted a royal pardon.

“I am happy to receive royal kindness and graciousness. Without a royal pardon, I would have served an additional eight years in jail,” he said.

Mr Surachai, a former communist insurgent and a red-shirt leader, also thanked the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the ruling Pheu Thai Party for “never abandoning” those convicted of lese majeste offences. He said that he would later return to his home province of Nakhon Si Thammarat to be treated for a number of illnesses.

Mr Surachai, 72, was released from Bangkok Remand Prison yesterday evening. He left the prison shortly after 5pm and was met by his wife Pranee, red-shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn and a number of red-shirt supporters, who presented him with red roses.

Mr Surachai, who was sentenced to 12 years and six months on five counts of lese majeste, served 17 months of his term before his release.

Once a prominent communist insurgent and Red Siam leader, Surachai is one of the highest-profile prisoners to be tried for lese majeste offences. He was active as an insurgent in the 1970s and was imprisoned in the 1980s.

In February 2012, the then 71-year-old Surachai was sentenced to seven and a half years for defaming the monarchy at a 2010 red-shirt rally in Bangkok, while addressing his supporters. Now in poor health, Surachai was hospitalised in prison.

PHUKET: People living along rivers or at the foot of mountains in 13 provinces have been advised to brace for possible natural disasters.

Although Bangkok is not among these provinces, Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra has expressed concern for the 25 riverside communities in the capital because they do not have the protection of flood barriers. He said yesterday that these communities could be flooded in the middle of this month in the face of high tide and run-offs from the north.

At least 24 provinces are still being ravaged by floods. These already-flooded provinces are not included in the list of 13 provinces for which a warning was issued by the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department (DPMD) yesterday.

The DPMD list includes Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chon Buri, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat, Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Chumphon and Surat Thani.

If these provinces end up getting inundated, the flooding will affect a much wider area of the country.

“Keep an eye out for any signs of danger that might come in the wake of downpours and keep abreast of all early warnings [issued by the authorities],” DMPD director-general Chatchai Phromlert advised.

— Phuket Gazette Editors

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military shot down an Iranian drone launched from Syria into Israeli airspace early Saturday in what the military described as a “severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty.”

The military said its planes faced “massive” anti-aircraft fire from Syria which forced two Israeli pilots to abandon their F-16 jet as they sought to target the drone’s launching pad. One pilot was severely injured and both were taken to hospital for medical treatment after they landed in Israeli territory.

In response, Israel launched a “large-scale attack” on at least a dozen Iranian targets in Syria, marking a escalation in tensions along the country’s northern border.

Israeli fighter jet crashes amid escalating tensions with Syria and Iran

Feb. 10, 2018 01:02

“Israel holds Iran and its Syrian hosts responsible for today’s aggression,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, noting that he had warned of Iranian aggression for some time. “We will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect our sovereignty and our security.”

The Israeli strikes marked its most significant engagement since the fighting in neighboring Syria began in 2011 and said Iran would be held responsible for its outcome.

“This is a serious Iranian attack on Israeli territory. Iran is dragging the region into an adventure in which it doesn’t know how it will end,” Israel’s chief military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, said in a special statement. “Whoever is responsible for this incident is the one who will pay the price.”

Israel has mostly stayed out of the prolonged fighting in Syria, wary of being drawn into a war in which nearly all the parties are hostile toward it. It has recently been warning of the increased Iranian presence along its border, but military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Saturday’s incident marked the most “blatant and severe violation of Israeli sovereignty” yet.

He said Israel has no interest in further escalation but that it would “extract a heavy price” for such aggression.

He said Iran was “playing with fire” by infiltrating Israeli airspace, and stressed that the unmanned aircraft Israel shot down was “on a military mission sent and operated by Iranian military forces.”

He said Israel recovered the dispatched drone, which was clearly Iranian.

In response, Conricus said Israeli jets destroyed the Iranian site in central Syria that launched it. Upon their return, the jets came under heavy Syrian anti-aircraft fire. The pilots of one of the F-16s had to escape and the plane crashed. It’s unclear whether the plane was actually struck or if the pilots abandoned their mission for a different reason.

If the plane was in fact shot down by enemy fire, it could mark the first such instance for Israel since 1982 during the first Lebanon war.

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin praised the nation’s security forces and spoke to the injured pilot.

“My heart is with you and your comrades, and I hope that I will meet you soon,” Rivlin said. “You and the entire squadron have proven that you do not come back until your mission is fulfilled, and I thank God together with the entire nation that you have returned.”

In subsequent attacks, Israel struck four additional Iranian positions and eight Syrian sites in Syria. The military said significant damage was caused.

Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Saturday that the Department of Defense did not participate in Israel’s military operation, but said they fully supported the U.S.’s “closest security partner in the region,” especially in its “inherent right to defend itself against threats to its territory and its people.”

“We share the concerns of many throughout the region that Iran’s destabilizing activities that threaten international peace and security,” Rankine-Galloway said, “and we seek greater international resolve in countering Iran’s malign activities.”

The U.S. State Department said Saturday that “The United States is deeply concerned about today’s escalation of violence over Israel’s border and strongly supports Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself.”

Gen. Hossein Salami, acting commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, did not acknowledge Israel’s claim it shot down the drone. “We do not confirm any such news from Israel,” he said.

Syria’s Defense Ministry said in statements on its website that its air defenses responded successfully to the Israeli operation and hit more than one plane. “The Israeli enemy has once again attacked some of our military bases in the southern area and our air defenses responded and foiled the aggression,” it said.

Russia’s foreign ministry expressed concern later Saturday over the Israeli missile strikes in Syria and urged the sides to avoid escalating the situation.

In a statement, the ministry said “of particular concern is the danger of escalation of tension within and around de-escalation zones in Syria, the creation of which has become an important factor in reducing violence on Syrian soil.”

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah hailed Syria’s response to Israel’s attack on Iranian and Syrian bases in Syria, saying it signals “a new strategic phase” that puts an end to violation of Syrian territories.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman convened the top brass at military headquarters in Tel Aviv to discuss further response.

Israel has long complained about the involvement of archenemy Iran, and Hezbollah, in the Syrian war. The Shiite allies have sent forces to back Syrian President Bashar Assad, who appears headed toward victory after years of fighting. Israel has said it will not accept a permanent military presence by Iran and its Shiite allies in Syria, especially near the Israeli border.

Israel has been warning of late of the increased Iranian involvement along its border. It fears Iran could use Syrian territory to stage attacks or create a land corridor from Iran to Lebanon that could allow it to transfer weapons more easily to Hezbollah.

Israel has shot down several drones that previously tried to infiltrate its territory from Syria. The targeting of an Iranian site in response, however, marks an escalation in the Israeli retaliation.

“The Iranians are crossing red lines,” Israel Minister of Intelligence Yisrael Katz said. “They are playing with fire.”

Paul Goldman reported from Tel Aviv, and Saphora Smith from London.

Police warned five thrill-seeking Frenchmen that they face fines and time in prison if they are caught freerunning on residential buildings in Thailand .

Trang Provincial Police received complaints from locals yesterday of the Frenchmen, aged between 25 and 30, filming their freerunning (also known as parkour) exploits over eight residential buildings in the southern province of Trang.

Residents told police they were shocked and frightened by the dangerous escapades of the five foreigners and thought they were thieves trying to break into their properties.

Trang police officers rushed to the incident scene, eight residential buildings on the Kan Trang Soi 7 Road in the Tab Thiang sub-district of Trang province. They found three Frenchmen running from one rooftop to another while two other men filmed the stunts.

The officers urged the group to stop and went to talk to them.

They told the group that their freerunning exercise is considered housebreaking according to Thai law. The group acknowledged the warning but managed to negotiate one more round for the cameras.

After shooting the video the Frenchmen took some selfies with the concerned police officers and left the scene.

Officers visited concerned homeowners and residents and made it known that the foreigners had no intention of robbing them. They did it for fun and exercise.

One of the house owners, 73 year old Wasan Makechompu, gave an interview to Khaosod after the incident. Wasan said…

“I thought they were thieves. I felt relief after learning that they were just playing and filming something. They should ask permission from the homeowners before doing this. They should also let the police know and urge the police to monitor their activities. We were frightened and scared.”

According to Section 362 of the Criminal Law, whoever enters the property of another person and performs any actions that annoy the property’s owner shall be punished with imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both.