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 last week and is being studied in the Senate.

It was unclear how much disruption the strike will cause as unions have not provided details about what form it will take, but union leaders called for nationwide action that would affect all French airlines.

Air France has already announced that passengers with tickets booked for February 6-9 can reschedule without charge.

It nevertheless said it would be able to run more than 80 percent of its short- and medium-haul flights and more than 85 percent of its long haul flights.

Source:  http://news.mylaunchpad.com.my/Home/Article?Key=9fc9c89d-7ab2-43a2-9a6a-0c2ab8faf8e8

People have been found dead on the streets in some countries, while thousands have been trapped in mountain villages in Serbia. Even Rome was dusted in snow, and Venice’s canals started freezing over.

In the last seven days, a total of 222 people have died from the cold weather, according to an AFP tally, with Ukraine suffering the heaviest toll.

The lowest temperatures recorded were in the southwest of the Czech Republic, where the mercury dropped as low as minus 38.1 degrees Celsius (minus 36.5 Fahrenheit) overnight.

The EU executive said vital Russian gas deliveries had fallen in nine countries, with the Russian giant Gazprom invoking flexibility clauses as it also braves a cold snap. Supplies fell 30 percent in Austria and 24 percent in Italy.

Ukraine’s emergencies ministry raised the death toll substantially to 101, of whom 64 died on the streets, from 63 previously.

Almost 1,600 people have requested medical attention for frostbite and hypothermia and thousands have flocked to temporary shelters.

The ferocious temperatures killed eight more people over the last 24 hours in Poland, bringing the death toll to 37 since the deep freeze began a week ago, police said.

Temperatures plunged to minus 35 Celsius in some areas of Poland, while in Bulgaria parts of the River Danube have frozen over.

Elsewhere in Bulgaria, another six people were found dead from the cold, bringing the overall tally to 16 in the last week, according to local media.

Most of the dead in the European Union’s poorest country were villagers found frozen to death on the side of the road or in their unheated homes, the reports said.

More than 1,000 Bulgarian schools remained closed for a third day amid fresh snowfalls and piercing winds in the northeast.

In neighbouring Romania two more people died, bringing the overall toll to 24, and hundreds of school remained closed.

In Rome, residents experienced only their second day of snow in 15 years, with white flakes covering palm trees, ancient Roman ruins and Baroque churches across the capital.

Up to five centimetres (two inches) of snow fell in some districts and ancient monuments like the Colosseum were closed to visitors for fear of damage to the structure.

Temperatures in the Alpine region of Piedmont in northern Italy went as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius and drivers were advised to avoid regions in the centre of the country due to heavy snowfall and resulting traffic problems.

Canals in Venice, where temperatures fell as low as minus 5 Celsius, started freezing. However trains resumed normal service across the country except in and around Bologna and on a local line near Rome after days of delays.

Three people have died due to the extreme weather in recent days, including a homeless man found in Milan on Thursday.

Estonia and France announced their first casualties of the freeze, with a man found frozen to death on a street in Tallin and an 82-year-old man suffering from Alzheimer’s dying of hypothermia in the eastern French village of Lemberg after wandering out of his home in pyjamas.

Rescuers in Serbia ploughed through snowdrifts to get food, supplies and aid to residents of mountain villages, where thousands of people have been trapped.

“To help a woman who needed to reach a hospital we were breaking through two-metre (six-foot) snow drifts, which lasted for two and a half hours,” said Vedran Taskovic, a rescuer in the southeastern town of Vranje.

“Eventually, we had to make a sleigh of nylon bags to get her to the road, as she couldn’t walk.”

Swathes of Britain were bracing for snow after temperatures plunged to minus 11 degrees Celsius overnight in some areas, with authorities warning that the cold could catch people off-guard after a warmer-than-normal winter so far.

The first snow hit Belgium on Friday causing more than 1,100 kilometres (690 miles) of traffic jams on roads and highways, according to automobile associations. The last record was 948 kilometres registered in February 2010.

The French, who have cranked up their heating systems were on Monday expected to break an all time power consumption record set in 2010, with consumers being asked in some regions to turn off appliances for at least four hours a day to avoid blackouts.

The cold snap has also killed people in the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Austria and Greece.

Source:  http://news.mylaunchpad.com.my/World/Europe/Article?Key=d74bff12-6088-428a-bab3-53a911067e42

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 officers only and was illegally obtained.

“A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible,” the FBI said in a statement.

Along with the audio recording, Anonymous also posted online the email invitation from an FBI agent setting up the call for January 17.

Source:  http://www.france24.com/en/20120203-anonymous-posts-audio-fbi-scotland-yard-call

This government is said to be outperforming the previous one on three issues, namely the Bt15,000 starting salary for all civil servants with a bachelor’s degree; the Bt300 daily minimum wage; and the drug-suppression campaign.

However, the Abhisit government was seen to be superior on two counts – the Cabinet line-up and paddy-price intervention scheme. The only issue both governments are on a par with is education, while both of them have failed to end the political conflict and quelling violence in the South.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that he was willing to drop his lawsuits related to the two financial decrees provided the government can outline its spending plans on water management and flood control.

“I have no intention of blocking the government’s work on flood control and will end the court battle if the government can spell out its planned spending to justify the decrees,” he said.

The main opposition party is seeking a judicial review from the Constitution Court on grounds that the government did not have the justification or the urgency to issue a decree on the Bt1.14-trillion debt transfer to the Bank of Thailand and one on the Bt350-billion flood-control loans.

The two decrees are designed to give the government more room for incurring public debt.

Abhisit said the government did not need additional loans for its flood-control measures.

Under the current budget, the government already has Bt200 billion at its disposal to spend on flood control as well as a mandate to seek additional loans of Bt150 billion without having to issue any decrees, he said.

He urged the government to focus on carrying out flood-prevention measures ahead of the rainy season instead of being obsessed with raising public debt even before it has worked out its spending plans.

Since Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is scheduled to go on a field trip from February 13 to 17 to check on flood control, Abhisit said he hoped the trip would yield a tangible outcome. However, he added that he was worried the trip might just be a publicity stunt to re-circulate ideas for mega-projects that have never got off the drawing board.

Source:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Govt-ahead-on-3-issues-but-behind-on-2-poll-30175158.html

The government is drafting guidelines on the compensation for the victims of violence in the deep South, Yongyuth said yesterday after chairing a meeting of a committee on development in the region.

Innocent victims of violence at the hands of security officials, such as five local Muslims killed by Army rangers over the past week, would qualify for compensation, he said.

Rangers killed five villagers on Monday as they were on their way to a funeral in Pattani’s Nong Chik district. Authorities said the rangers mistook them for insurgents who had launched M79 grenades at a ranger outpost earlier. If the victims are proved to have been innocent, the government would definitely compensate their families for their loss, Yongyuth said.

The government earlier announced plans to compensate families of victims who died and those who were injured during the political chaos since 2005. Opposition and civic groups called on the government to expand the compensation to cover all victims of violence caused by security officials.

Asked if this included victims of the Krue Se and Tak Bai incidents in the South in 2004, Yongyuth said the government would consider incidents on a case-by-case basis to see if they met the criteria. Nearly 200 people have died in mishandled operations to contain the uprising and protests in Pattani and Narathiwat since 2004.

The government initially planned to compensate only victims of the recent political violence, but it has drafted new regulations to cover other incidents, he said.

Yongyuth insisted the government would proceed with compensation for the victims of political violence despite strong criticism from the Opposition and civic groups that the payments favoured red-shirt victims.

“The government definitely has to compensate them. Nobody wants to die or get hurt when it happens; the government is obliged to compensate them,” he said.

Asked if too much of the compensation was going to red shirts, Yongyuth said relatives of victims associated with the yellow-shirt group, such as Angkana Radabpanyaarvudh, who died during the October 7, 2008 protest, and Colonel Romklao Thuvatham, who was shot dead during a red-shirt protest in April 2010, would receive the same treatment.

Source:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Victims-of-state-violence-in-South-to-be-compensat-30175161.html

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 grant digital terrestrial TV broadcasting licences late this year and expects to see the number of digital-TV channels grow to 100 within the next five years, NBTC broadcasting committee chairman Natee Sukonrat said yesterday.

About 50 licences are expected to be handed out in the first lot by early next year.

The move is in line with the NBTC draft of the spectrum-management master plan aiming to take radio and TV broadcasters to the digital era within four years after the master plan takes effect.

After a long delay plagued with disputes stemming from political and business motives, the NBTC came into full existence just a few months ago. Formed under a constitutional spirit that treats broadcast and telecom frequencies as national resources that are to be shared and must benefit all Thais equally, the NBTC apparently has hit the ground running with its digital-TV plan.

Natee told the Nation Multimedia Group yesterday that the watchdog was expected to trial the digital terrestrial TV broadcasting system in June in its attempt to educate viewers on a wider scale. Free-TV operators will be invited to conduct the test.

The NBTC digital-TV plan seems set to shake up the television-industry landscape as the operating costs of TV will significantly go down. The large number of new channels will draw a massive number of content providers to the long-monopolised playing field.

He added that digital broadcasting technology would enable the maximum use of TV broadcasting spectra and provide better service quality to viewers.

But the watchdog might not need to specify the technology platforms that the broadcasters should use for the trial.

The NBTC’s draft of the broadcasting master plan determines that the watchdog will complete the details of this digital switch-over plan for TV broadcasting within one year and for radio broadcasting within two years, and will start digital radio and TV broadcasting within four years. It will also complete regulations on licensing of digital TV broadcasting within two years and for digital radio broadcasting within three years.

Natee said prospective digital-TV broadcasters should be encouraged to use a common infrastructure to create a cost-effective operation.

The watchdog will put the drafts of the spectrum, broadcasting and telecom master plans for nationwide hearing next Friday.

They are expected to become effective in March.

Source:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Revolution-looms-for-Thai-digital-television-30175162.html

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 was moving, which made him lose control of the vehicle. The van provided transportation services between Phitsanulok and Tak.

Ratchanon has been detained for further questioning and will face legal action if he is found guilty of reckless drivin

Source:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Van-plunges-into-ditch-killing-4-injuring-14-30175156.html

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 did not offer details of the action such commanders would face, but said they would need to “consider their future under the ministry”, and that efficiency in implementing the policy would be the main criteria for evaluating their performance.

Five hundred highprofile drug convicts from all prisons will be sent to Khao Bin Prison in Ratchaburi and a few other maximumsecurity facilities next week.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said revenge killings or “silencing” murders among drug dealers was a possibility, but that no violent or extrajudicial measures would be used by police or other authorities.

A search at highsecurity Bang Khwang Prison in Bangkok conducted by 400 officials yesterday turned up a large number of contraband items, including 39 mobile phones, homemade knives and short pikes, gambling paraphernalia and moonshine alcohol.

Prison commander Vishanu Prajongkij said Pheerayuth Phaetsakul, an inmate implicated by highprofile drug suspect Niphon Kanchart, was now in a solitary confinement but denied any wrongdoing. Niphon was arrested on January 25 in possession of crystal methamphetamine and amphetamine tablets worth more than Bt1 billion in a Bangkok home he rented from an actress.

Slums targeted

Metropolitan police have targeted 18 slums where drug abuse is rampant for searchandsuppression operations. In raids yesterday, 60 suspects were apprehended – nine of them for unlawful possession of firearms – and 1,472 amphetamine tablets and six firearms were seized, along with a quantity of ammunition.

Two suspected dealers, Kittiphan Panoy and Thanandorn Khongjan, were arrested in possession of an AK47 assault rifle – an indication, according to Bangkok police chief Pol LtGeneral Winai Thongsong, of drug suspects’ violent tendencies and willingness to fight to the death if confronted during police searches or arrests.

Three robbery suspects with long criminal records were male minors aged 16 and 17, the officer said, adding that this was another indication of the high degree of violence among young career drugrelated criminals.

Khlong Phai Prison in Nakhon Ratchasima last year discovered more than 100 mobile phones smuggled in by various means, including visitors hiding them in their anal cavities, relatives hiding them in food and supplies, and the use of slingshots and remotecontrol aircraft to deliver them over the prison’s walls.

Prison commander Khongkrit Phongthawat said that of 841 inmates serving life terms, 88 drug convicts would be relocated to Khao Bin, while two prison guards had been suspended for assisting inprison drug deals.

A total of 3,348 inmates facing terms of 15 years to life are detained at Khlong Phai.

It costs an inmate Bt500,000 to purchase a Blackberry or highend Nokia phone model and get it smuggled into the prison, as these can connect to the Internet, making them highly sought after. Conventional models able to make voice calls go for 10 times their normal prices.

Source:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Pracha-puts-commanders-on-notice-over-drug-traffic-30175129.html

As part of the government’s preparation for water and flood management this year, a tour to survey major waterways across the country will be conducted on February 13-17, Interior and Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Vichaidith said yesterday.

The Tour of Happiness will be conducted in all key river basins covering provinces and areas which are origins and ends of rivers and waterways, which would inspect restoration plans in place, measures implemented under a central government committee and flood and evacuation plans in provinces involved in addition to a contingency plan in Lop Buri, Yongyuth added.

The committee, the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management (SCWRM), estimated that the water situation would be better than last year, if the rainwater volume was the same or not much more than last year. The SCWRM has worked with the Royal Irrigation Department to directly deal with dam operators to make sure the release of water would be done on a daily basis starting from late May – before the wet season’s peak in June or July.

During the Tour, business people and members of the industrial sector would be invited to take part in sessions scheduled in Ayutthaya, home to several industrial estates which were heavily inundated last year. The Tour comprises two sectors – tours led by the prime minister and inspection visits made by relevant agencies, before information achieved would be jointly used and assessed for overal analyses afterwards, Nivatthamrong said.

Asked about comments by flood expert Pramote Maiklad that the government was full of projects and still lacking implemenations, Yongyuth said what would be learned during the Tour of Happiness would be materialsed and put into action.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, speaking during a meeting yesterday with Yongyuth present, had instructed all relevant government agencies and ministers involved in flood and water management to submit their progress reports and possible suggestions to her by February 8.

She would give details about the progress and the Tour in her radio address on February 11, before commencing the trek two days later.

Areas in four eastern Bangkok will not be expropriated and used as floodways, as feared by the public and speculated by the media, because homes were built before a law became effective, said MR Premsiri Kasemsant, director Department of City Planning

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).

What the DCP could do now was to control construction of buildings or slums by canals or rivers into the water while dealing with existing structures in violation of law. A revised city planning policy will instead turn non-residential areas in the four districts – Khlong Sam Wa, Nong Chok, Min Buri and Lat Krabang – into suburban parks, said deputy director Amornrat Krityanwat.

The BMA has begun dredging underground drains and walkway sewerage to cope with rainwater volume in preparation for flood prevention this year. Prisoners are now hired to do the job on 277 road in Bangkok, completing the work in 13 roads totalling in 41,096 metres of the drains, or 4.26 per cent of a total distance covering metres.

Speaking during a inspection of the work yesterday, Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the work must be done by May, jointly by city workers doing the job in soi while the prisoners were in charge of the dredging on main Bangkok roads. He said the budget for the dredging was the BMA’s and welcomed funding from the government.

He said negotiations with owners of homes built into canals and rivers would be soon begin. He said they numbered in several thousands after illegally building their homes into the water for decades.

The Interior Ministry called on the public to take easy on the Bt5,000 government pay for each owner of flooded home, saying that they money would be ready and given to all of those registered and deemed qualified.

Deputy permanent secretary Pracha Terat said the pay was expected to be all handed out in the next 45 days, and pleaded with the public for understanding for the time-consuming process. He said those who had not submitted the request to do so, and the ministry welcomed feedbacks and queries through its 1567 call centre service.

Source:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Dam-water-to-be-released-from-May-30175134.html