MONDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your local news in 3 minutes

PHOTO: Kata Rocks winds up their 2017 Kata Rocks Superyacht Rendezvous.

Enjoy your public holiday today, if you’re lucky enough to have it off. It’s Constitution Day. A beautiful sunny day ahead with just a few clouds. Should be the same for the next three days too. Here’s today’s main news stories….

“I borrowed the watch from a friend”

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan is poised to submit an explanatory letter to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) tomorrow regarding his possession of a flashy watch and diamond ring.

An unconfirmed local report claims Prawit’s ring was an inheritance from his mother while the multi-million-baht Richard Mille watch was borrowed from Prawit’s businessman friend. Preecha Suwannathat, a former Anti-Corruption Commission member and one of the NACC’s founding figures, said it would be difficult for Prawit to justify the watch’s origin if he really had borrowed it from a friend. He says… “It just sounds too easy.”

Phakhapong Tanyakan cremated in simple family ceremony

The family of deceased cadet Phakhapong “Meay” Tanyakan is pledging to continue their quest for truth about his mysterious death, after they finally conducted private, simple and sorrowful cremation rites for him in Chon Buri yesterday.

Only people close to the family attended the ritual.

Phakhapong’s mother Sukanya Tanyakan says the family still wants to know the whole truth about what happened.

His father Pichet says he still could not cope with the loss. The case captured national attention after Phakhapong’s family came forward last month to demand a transparent inquiry into the death on October 17 of the first-year cadet at Nakhon Nayok’s Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School.

Thailand’s getting older

Families and communities will have seriously limited resources to look after ageing parents and other relatives as Thailand becomes a full-fledged ageing society over the next four years… the warning from the National Economic and Social Development Board.

The number of people aged over 60 has risen to 11.23 million, or 17.13 per cent of the total population, this year. According to health reports, the number of seniors needing assistance for their daily activities, such as moving around the house, eating and bathing, rose to 20.7 per cent in 2014 from 15.5 per cent in 2009. Meanwhile, 1.3 per cent of them cannot help themselves at all.

The ‘Butt Boys’ head home to San Diego

Two American men who were arrested in Thailand for posting naked bottom photos to Instagram have reportedly been released from jail and are on their way home to San Diego.

Joseph and Travis Dasilva were arrested at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport last month after images posted to their ‘Travelling Butts’ Instagram account showed them dropping their trousers at various religious sites around the country. The photos, one of which showed the men with their trousers down at Wat Arun temple, went viral and quickly caught the attention of the Thai authorities who arrested the married couple as they tried to depart Thailand on November 28.

Their Travelling Butts Instagram account still includes all the photos that landed the men in trouble in the first place. Last week, it was reported that the men had paid a fine of 5,000 baht each following their arrest.

Rangers in shoot-out on Thai-Myanmar border

Thai paramilitary rangers have killed five drugs couriers and seized 1.9 million methamphetamine pills in a forest about 700 metres from the Thai-Myanmar border in Chiang Rai.

The 15 minute pre-dawn gunfight followed a tip-off to the Pha Muang task force that a large batch of narcotics would be smuggled into Thailand across the border.

The Rangers say they spotted a group of up to 30 men carrying backpacks. They told them to stop for a search but the couriers instead opened fire, resulting in the brief gun battle. The rangers found five dead bodies and 19 makeshift backpacks each containing 100,000 methamphetamine pills.

Rumours of Toon Tax quashed by Government spokesperson

Just a day after donations for rock star Artiwara “Toon” Kongmalai’s charity run topped the 700 million baht target, rumours have started to spread on social media that the government is going to tax the sum at 7 per cent.

But the rumours – which claim the tax collected would be spent on improving police stations – have been swiftly denied by government spokesman Lt-General Sansern. He says… “The report is totally groundless. I’m not sure of the real intentions of those who created the information. The government of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha never had such a policy. The aim of the epic south-to-north run was to raise 700 million baht in donations to buy equipment for 11 hospitals but Toon’s already exceeded the target.

Missing skull from Thalang drain corpse, found

Following the case yesterday where a man’s body was found without its head in Thalang (story HERE), police have discovered his skull in a watercourse in Baan Lipon, Thalang today (December 10) after a three hour search.

After finding the body, police conducted a survey by walking along the watercourse at 9 am Sunday from the scene backwards to Lan Mountan which is a natural waterway. At about 12.30 pm the team found a skull in the watercourse near the Baan Lipon government housing project, under a tree. Police found a 2.2 metre rope and more bone fragments nearby. Police say they believe the corpse could be that of a migrant worker.

Rain eases. The Southcontinues to mop up.

Although rainfall has stopped in Surat Thani’s Phunphin district, many areas remain submerged in floodwaters up to two metres deep, as the Tapi River continued to break its banks yesterday. Meanwhile the flood levels in Trang province has decreased gradually but low-lying areas in Muang and Kantang districts remained submerged under 1 – 3 metre deep water.