Talks to set up a stable coalition government in Thailand hit a snag after the party backing ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra rejected all conditions set by small political outfits.
The pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) has been wooing small parties to launch a strong coalition since it won 233 of the 480 parliamentary seats in Sunday's poll, just short of the absolute majority needed to govern alone.
But the party rejected five conditions set by two small outfits - Chart Thai and Puea Pandin - for joining a PPP led coalition government. The two parties have a combined 61 seats.
"Those five conditions are irrelevant to political bargaining," Surapong Suebwonglee, PPP's secretary-general, told a news conference.
The five conditions include reverence for the Thai monarchy, no revenge against political foes and respect for Prem Tinsulanonda, a top adviser to Thailand's revered king.
Mr Prem is believed to have played a prominent role in last year's bloodless coup ousting Thaksin last year.
PPP leader Samak Sundaravej also slammed the conditions.
"I want to tell Banharn that you are insulting me [by including respect for the monarchy in the conditions]. It means that I am not loyal to the monarchy," he told reporters, referring to the leader of Chart Thai party, Banharn Silpa-archa.
The five conditions also include no dissolution of the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), a powerful anti-graft panel set up by the junta after the coup.
The panel is investigating a slate of corruption claims against Thaksin, who has been living in exile abroad since the coup. But the deposed premier told reporters in Hong Kong Tuesday he planned to return to Thailand by April. [via ABC News]
Sierra Tangos
- Spicy Girls, Pattayaland 1 closes tonight and there are reports on the boards that the new Spicy Girls has already 'soft' opened in Soi Post Office.
- Festivities for Pattaya’s official New Year’s Eve celebration will begin at Bali Hai pier at 5:10 p.m. and continue through to 2:20 a.m. Highlights include a concert featuring God Jakapan, AF#4, Chin JKI, Cherry Cherry, Punch Black Head, plus the Du Dokkradon Comedy Group, and the most beautiful woman in Thailand, Nong Or, Miss Thailand 2007. At 11:55 p.m. the countdown will begin, with fireworks over Pattaya Bay to welcome 2008. [via Pattaya Mail]
- Suspect your teelak is playing away from home in your absence, then this is for you. For $65 and change, put an end to suspicions of infidelity and doubt with the Check Mate semen detection kit." It contains everything needed to detect semen on undergarments or clothing, for up to 2 years if "they haven't been washed" even if the stains are invisible. The test only takes five minutes, so they can't get far. [via Crave]
- You can find a new blog on Pattaya at Jizzflicker CUMs in Pattaya. One good thing about Jizzflicker is if he doesn't get shut down, then I never will....
- A Danish member of the notorious Bandidos criminal syndicate was sentenced to 18 months in jail by a Thai court for intimidating other foreigners on the resort island of Koh Samui, a local news report said Friday. Kim Lindegaard Neilsen, 36, on Thursday was also found guilty of extortion, but will be released soon because he has already served 17 months in jail. A 43-year-old former British soldier and fellow Bandido member, Crispin Paton-Smith, was acquitted Thursday for lack of evidence.
The court had heard that Neilsen and Paton-Smith had take over a bungee-jumping business from a fellow Bandido member, Briton Neil Patrick William, after threatening to harm him if he reported their allegedly criminal activities, reported The Nation online news service. [via Earthtimes]
- One web messenger for Yahoo!, Google Talk and MSN - like Meebo, AirTalkr offers a web based instant messenger that lets you stay connected with your buddies on Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live and other po
pular IM services.
But there’re a couple of reasons why you may want to give AirTalkr a shot. Unlike Meebo which is available only for the browser, you can also install AirTalkr IM on your desktop using Adobe AIR runtime. AirTalkr can run on Windows and Mac.
The other useful feature in AirTalkr is something called AirCards. You can view the latest photos that your buddies have uploaded on Flickr, read their most recent blog entries and Twitter tweets right inside AirTalkr. [via Digital Inspiration]
- Create perfect group photos from multiple images with Group Shot - Group Shot is a free program that can automatic
ally create a single ’perfect’ image from multiple image sources. It does this by merging the ’good’ parts from other images (typically shots of groups of people) into a final, perfect composite image.
If this is sounding a little bit strange, or if it sounds like it might involve a lot of work/tweaking — I have some news for you: it works like magic; a few clicks will auto-magically deliver perfect group shots that never existed in reality (its almost disconcerting). Group Shot can be found at Microsoft Research
- The ultimate site for all things Maria Ozawa - what a looker.
- NUTS gets the gang back together for the 50 Sexiest Moments Of 2007
- 11th Husband
A young man married a beautiful woman who had previously divorced 10 husbands. On their wedding night, she told her new husband to 'Please be gentle; I'm still a virgin'.
'What?' said the puzzled groom. 'How can that be if you've been married ten times?'
'Well, husband#1 was a Sales Representative; he kept telling me how great it was going to be.
'Husband # 2 was in Software Services; he was never really sure how it was suppose to function; but he said he'd look into it and get back with me.
'Husband # 3 was from Field Services; he said that everything checked out diagnostically but he just couldn't get the system up.
'Husband # 4 was in Telemarketing; even though he knew he had the order, he didn't know when he would be able to deliver.
'Husband # 5 was an Engineer, he understood the basic process but he wanted three years to research, implement, and design a new state-of- the-art method.
'Husband #6 was from Administration; he thought he knew how but he wasn't sure whether it was his job or not.
'Husband # 7 was in Marketing; although he had a product, he was never sure how to position it.
'Husband # 8 was a Psychiatrist; all he did was talk about it.
'Husband # 9 was a Gynaecologist; all he did was look at it.
'Husband # 10 was a Stamp Collector; all he ever did was........... God I miss him.
'But now that I've married you, I'm so excited'.
'Wonderful', said the husband, 'but why?
'You're with the government..
This time I know I'm gonna get screwed.
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