FRIDAY MORNING NEWS BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes

Promises of some rain from the Meteorological Department but it’s looking fine so far for the final day of the working week. Main story this morning is the Army handing down its findings into an investigation into the death of Phakhapong Tanyakan. The full story on the website but it leads our briefs for this morning…

Tanyakan family says they intend to sue

The family of cadet Phakhapong Tanyakan says they’re dissatisfied with the conclusions of an investigation into the cause of his death and plan to sue the Army.

An investigation into the death of the first-year cadet at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School by an Army committee has been completed and the report handed over to the Supreme Commander of the Army. While the results were not revealed to the public, a source said the investigation committee concluded that Phakhapong had died of natural causes. The conclusion matched the preliminary autopsy, which indicated that the cause of death was heart failure.

However, Phakhapong’s family say they were disappointed at the conclusion and intend to sue the Army. A second independent autopsy indicated that Phakhapong had suffered a physical attack, raising concerns that corporal punishment may have caused his death.

New threat to election roadmap

Proposed amendments to the political party laws put forward by a number of high profile political players might hold up the election timetable.

Political observers say they’re concerned that the proposed amendments could affect the date of the election, which is set to take place in November next year. Existing parties are expected to submit their updated membership rosters to an election registrar before January 5. However, several observers have expressed worry that they will not be able to make the deadline as it involves a large number of members, possibly more than a million. The junta’s ban on political gatherings of five or more people has also prevented parties from holding other activities.

Two athletes stripped of their SEA medals

Two Thai athletes, including a gold medalist, have failed B sample doping tests from the August’s South East Asian Games which now disqualifies them from the medals.

The SEA Games Federation president has confirmed that Nurisan Loseng and Benjaporn Sriphanomthorn, who won a silver medal in the women’s 10km marathon swimming event, had been disqualified. A Malaysian diver has also been disqualified following tests conducted during the Games.

Qatar kicking off direct flights to Chiang Mai from Doha

Qatar Airways has started direct flights between Doha, the capital of Qatar, and Chiang Mai.

Qatar Airways will make four direct flights to Chiang Mai per week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday with an Airbus A330 which can carry up to 260 passengers.

New points deduction system for drivers

Police are working toward a new points system next month to try to weed out bad drivers from the streets. The first step, a ticketing system with a bar code, will be introduced this Sunday.

In the new points system, each motorist would start with 12 points that get shaved down as drivers commit traffic offences. When a driver has lost all their points, they would be banned for driving for a certain period of time. Details on exactly how many points would be cut for each type of traffic law violation have yet to be announced. Police are hoping to introduce the new points system at the start of next year.

Myanmar police arrest two Myanmar journalists working for Reuters

Myanmar police have charged two Reuters reporters covering the Rohingya crisis with violating the Myanmar Official Secrets Act. 27 and 31 year old Myanmar journalists, representing Reuters, have been accused of sending classified information after interviews with security officials who had just returned from the Rakhine state. A military crackdown in Rhakhine has forced more than 620,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh. Foreign media have been barred from entering the conflict zones in northern Rakhine, where the UN and other international agencies say a campaign of ethnic cleansing is under way against the Rohingya involving rape and murder by Myanmar troops.

Bus ends up in canal in Chiang Mai. 14 injured.

Fourteen tourists from South Korea have been injured when their chartered bus lost control and fell into a roadside irrigation canal in Chiang Mai’s Doi Saket district.

Among the seven men and seven women, five were seriously injured. The accident happened yesterday just before noon. The 36 year old bus driver says he had been taking tourists to visit the San Kamphaeng hot springs but the brake system malfunctioned at a curve in the road. The bus then fell into the canal and flipped over. Aaah, those damn brakes again!

Toon needs to make up for lost time

Toon kicked off his Day 44 run from Kamphaeng Phet province for Tak saying he intended to increase daily running distances so that he can reach the final destination in Mae Sai on December 25.

A team coordinator says Toon wanted to run further because the next provinces he is heading for in Tak, Lampang, Phayao and Chiang Rai, are all hilly roads which will affect his running speed and cut their daily averages.

So far the charity run has raised 805 million baht and has covered 1,672 kilometres.