French aviation unions call strike for February 6-9

Unions representing French aviation workers, including pilots, flight attendants and baggage handlers, voted Friday for strike action on February 6-9 that is expected to disrupt air travel.
The unions are protesting a draft law that will require individual aviation workers to give 48 hours notice before taking strike action.
The bill was approved by France’s lower house [...]

Big freeze tightens grip in Europe as death toll tops 220

emperatures plunged to new lows in Europe where a week-long cold snap has now claimed more than 220 lives and forecasters warned Friday that the big freeze would tighten its grip at the weekend.
People have been found dead on the streets in some countries, while thousands have been trapped in mountain villages in Serbia. Even [...]

Anonymous posts audio of FBI, Scotland Yard call

Hacker group Anonymous, in an embarrassment for law enforcement, released a recording Friday of a conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard discussing operations against the hacking collective.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed the authenticity of the nearly 17-minute recording posted on YouTube and other sites and said it was “intended for law enforcement [...]

Govt ahead on 3 issues but behind on 2: poll

Results of a Suan Dusit poll released yesterday show that the Yingluck Shinawatra government has outpaced, trailed behind and been on par with the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration on several different factors.

This government is said to be outperforming the previous one on three issues, namely the Bt15,000 starting salary for all civil [...]

Victims of state violence in South to be compensated

Victims of violence by security officials in the deep South and those killed or injured during political protests since 2005 will be compensated equally by the government, Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit said yesterday.
The government is drafting guidelines on the compensation for the victims of violence in the deep South, Yongyuth [...]

Revolution looms for Thai digital television

NBTC expects more than 100 channels to be on air in the next five years
The spectrum-management and broadcasting master plans will drastically change the landscape of the Thai television industry with up to 100 digital-TV channels being available for public viewing in the near future.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission aims to [...]

Van plunges into ditch killing 4, injuring 14

A public transport van skidded off a road and plunged into a ditch in Sukhothai yesterday killing four people and injuring 14 passengers.
Of those injured, nine were in critical condition at press time.
Driver Ratchanon Intanon, 31, who did not sustain any injuries, told police that one of the tyres burst while the van [...]

Pracha puts commanders on notice over drug trafficking

Narcotics sales among inmates to be stamped out in a year, minister vows
Prison commanders will face drastic action if they cannot cope with the government’s strict policy on drug dealing in prison, which is now a national priority that will be completely tackled within one year, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok said yesterday.
He [...]

Dam water to be released from May

Among major policies issued yesterday after yestesday’s meeting of a central government committee is that water is drained from all major dams as earlier as late May – to prevent the dams’ over-capacity during the peak of rainwater volume which resulted in panic releases of water and subsequently massive flooding in [...]

Thai tourism surges in January

After an 18 percent tourist drop in November owing to the national floods emergency, passenger traffic through Suvarnabhumi airport boomed in the recent holiday period.  Anirut Thanomkulbutra, president of the Airports Authority of Thailand, said that January 2 2012 was the busiest day on record with a 24.2 percent increase on last year.
“The extra traffic [...]