How MP built case against rice scheme

Warong: probe required money, help from many who fear project's impacts

Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom has earned much praise for his expose of alleged fraud in the government’s controversial rice price-pledging project. But to gain the valuable information, he had to invest a lot of time and money, and rely on experts in various fields to get the job done.

"It's extremely difficult. It's very tiring work," he said.

He refused to disclose how much he had spent, but said that every step of the investigation required money. "But it's worth it," he said.

The Opposition MP said that his "top secret" investigation began in October following news that the government was preparing to sell rice bought under the project in deals with foreign countries.

Warong had to mingle with farmers to learn about the rice trade, including how to measure the moisture of rice paddies.

The MP from Phitsanulok said he sent his trusted men to work in disguise at some rice mills suspected of involvement in the fraud. They were equipped with "button cameras" used by private investigators.

"Pictures tell the story better than letters. My men took much risk doing this," he said.

During the censure debate earlier this week, Warong said Thailand's government-to-government rice deal with China was invented to benefit certain companies. He established a link between the rice scheme and massive money laundering by producing evidence of a dummy company, individuals and old ghosts like President Agri Trading and Siam Indica, who could be found involved in non-existent rice deals.

The Democrat said he got help from some local informers who tipped him off by phone when there were suspicious movements - such as trucks full of rice paddies from Cambodia crossing the border into Sa Kaew. His men carefully recorded the arrival of the cargo to prove that foreign paddies were finding their way illegally into the rice project.

When meeting local informers, his men had to use the correct code to make sure they were actually sent by him.

"I also went to the targeted areas to gather information myself. Many people gave me information because they don't want this project to bankrupt our country. Those people are rice-mill owners, local residents, rice traders, and people in the rice industry," he said.

"We also got a lot of useful information from good bureaucrats," he added.

The MP sleuth said he also had to rely on the Google search engine when he wanted to know about some names involved. He had to hire private investigators and ask for favour from his police friends to get more background about the key players. This way, he could establish alleged connections between a player and Pheu Thai MP Rapeephan Phongruangrong, who is the wife of red-shirt leader Arisman.

A tough question to crack involved bank codes on a cashier's cheque, a copy of which was obtained during their investigation. The cheque for Bt500 million was used by Warong to prove that a Thai company, and not the Chinese government, had bought the rice. He said he had to rely on a team of bank workers to crack the codes.

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Prepare test unmanned civil aircraft

Generation passenger aircraft without a pilot in the cockpit preparing undergoing the first test, which promises to open up a new era of passenger transportation industry.

Accordingly, the passenger aircraft of the future will be professionals from a control room on the ground, located away from the passenger aircrafthundreds of kilometers. Testing unmanned technology is expected to be conducted in the next month's achievements are used in these types ofunmanned aircraft military.

Applied technology for unmanned passenger aircraft, The group hopes to significantly reduce operating costs, leading to reduced Airfares to increase competition. In addition,passenger aircraft Unmanned will minimize personal errorspilot, Can affect the quality of the flight or even the lives of passengers and crew.

Jetstream aircraft selected for testing unmanned technology.

Passenger aircraft chosen for the first unmanned test aircraft 2 Jetstream engine, took off from Warton Aerodrome, Lancashire to Scotland, UK in the coming weeks. Accordingly, the aircraft will move to the north completely under the control of thepilot remote.

These tests will look at how the remote control device on command from the ground plane. In addition, it will also help to check the computer system automatic safety on the plane, is designed to maintain operation in the event of loss of contact with the ground.

The construction of the type passenger aircraftmodern, have the ability to take off and go through the long journey before reaching the destination airport and landed without the interference of humans in the cockpit can be fully implemented.However, the Jetstream will consider testing the reliability of the technology and check a computer system to handle emergency situations.

Accordingly, the passenger aircraftUnmanned forced to recognize the presence of other aircraft on their move and warning signals or controlled to avoid regrettable collision. Thepassenger aircraftusually have warning but pilots need to control contact with air traffic control station on the ground to implement reasonable countermeasures. Not too difficult to humans, but this can be a big challenge for automated computer system equipped on thepassenger aircraft unmanned.

Meanwhile, gliders or small planes are not equipped transceivers and warning, forcing the unmanned aircraftmust be able to "see" the danger through the camera come with software to identify the image attached to the front of the plane. Then, it must convert information collected signals to communicate with the ground to support handling situations.

Also, in the Irish sea trials, a small unmanned aircraft will approach thepassenger aircraftunmanned, to test the ability of the computer automatically on the Jetstream recognize danger and ordered to avoid. This is one of the important conditions to ensure that unmanned technology is applied on passenger aircraft of the future.

In fact, this test program worth more than $ 100 million, with funding from the UK government and aerospace companies, including leading brands such as BAE, QinetiQ and Rolls-Royce. The reason, unmanned technology to get the attention of the government and large corporations by huge profits it can bring.

ZHENG WEI

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100 mysterious flying object in the Sino-Indian

According to India Today, India is a headache officials learn the nature of the 100 unidentified flying object (UFO) was discovered on the territory of India bordering China in recent months.

Unidentified flying object appeared in India's border with China.

The border guard units of India continue to send reports on the mysterious UFO is said to be derived from the Chinaflying over the airspace of the country in a few hours and then suddenly disappeared. So far, though New Delhi has raised many experts in different fields to the border to study but have not come up with a conclusion. Some comments said that this could be a spy device for lanterns. 

India Today reported thatIndia have raised this issue in the expert level meetings with local border Chinabut Beijing has denied. Expected, the Agency Coordinating border - isChina and Indiaestablished to curb the incidents in the border area, will meet later this month to discuss the UFO above. "We are afraid tensions will flare if the soldiers decided to shoot down objects on the" India Today quoted an Indian official said.

Information appears in the context of a territorial dispute between India and China has not been resolved. Recently, India and many other countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines, the strong response ofChinablatantly in the area which it unilaterally declared sovereignty over the new passport issued . Besides, in the midst of the regional situation is tense because of territorial disputes, pressChinaseveral consecutive days of posting, images of the J-15 fighter training takeoff / landing on Liaoning carrier .

In a separate incident, Kyodo News survey results of the Office of the Japanese Government showed that only 18% of respondents have sympathy withChina, Down 8.3 percent from a year earlier and the lowest level since 1978. Jiji news agency quoted Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said the results derived from the rampant anti-Japanese protests inChinalast month 8 and 9 as well as the Chineseships are constantly appearing near the disputed Senkaku Islands / Diaoyu.

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China offered a combination of cheap flak

China is offering non-FK-1000 system capacity equivalent to the Russian 2K22 system of arms export market. FK-1000 system consists of a large truck containing radar, flak 25mm andmissileclose range. FK-1000 had been on display for the first time as a model in Zhuhai Airshow takes place around the middle of November / 2012 in China .This is considered a variant copy directly self-propelled air defense system Russian 2K22 (which is equipped withradar, 8 missile room has a range of 10 km and 2flak Automatic 30mm range of 4 km with about 1900 rounds). The difference is that, FK-1000 8x8 truck is equipped with wheels and radarequipping of modern AESA type system.

Combinatorial model artillery - air defense FK-1000 exhibition in Zhuhai 2012.

Of course, the FK-1000 is not the most modern air defense systems in this segment. Since 2008, Russia replaced the 2K22 system by the system more modern Pantsir-S1 - also use 8x8 truck cake. Each system Pantsir-S1 includesradar, 2 flak 30 mm and 12 missile close-range air defense.

Upgraded variant of missilefitted on Pantsir-S1 weighs 90 kg, has a range of 20 km. Radar Pantsir-S1 forward-scan up to 30 km.

This upgraded missile capable of hitting targets at altitudes of up to 8.400m while the 30mm flak range of up to 3.200m. Division operation Pantsir-S1 3 people and used trucks 20 tons.

Each system Pantsir-S1 cost about 15 million dollars. Meanwhile, FK-1000 system looks similar Pantsir-S1 and the specification as 2K22. FK-1000 cost about $ 5 million for each system.

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Moon had nearly blown up the U.S. nuclear bomb

To boast the advantage over the Soviet Union in the space race and nuclear in the early 1950s, the U.S. had planned to use the atomic bomb to attack the Moon, Earth's only satellite.

The plot sounds like a plan in certain science-fiction novel, but in fact, it was planned in the 1950s of the last century. Accordingly, at the height of the nuclear and space race between the Soviet Union andU.S., The Washington authorities saynuclear bomb U.S. explosion on Moon will confirm the power and strength of U.S.rivals.

Moon almost blown up by U.S. nuclear bombs.

Super-secret plan entitled "Theory of the flight research Moon"Nicknamed" A119 project "has been revealed. Accordingly, a rocket carryingnuclear bomb small to be launched from a secret location, over 238,000 miles before the collision and exploded on the surface Moon.

The planners said the nuclear device to use the atomic bomb would be by hydrogen bombs too heavy to put on missiles and U.S. Moon. Meanwhile, based on the conquest of space technologyU.S. are research and development at that time, the implementation plan attacks on nuclear Moon will be conducted in 1959, before intercontinental ballistic missile military presence in U.S..

However, the calculation of the young astronomer Carl Sagan and many other scientists that the entire program was delayed. Accordingly, the nuclear explosion on the surfaceMoon will leave many unpredictable consequences by large amounts of radioactive dust released can affect the earth.

Even the task will become a disaster for the people U.S.or other countries in the world in case of a missile carrying a nuclear bomb can not fly to the moon that falls straight down territoryU.S.if a problem occurs. Along with that is the lack of certainty of missile systems for the purpose of conquest that the U.S. and Sovietspace are in the early stages, making concerns about incidents in the process of completely free remarkable.

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Island row dulls China land grab fears in Japan

 
Island row dulls China land grab fears in Japan

KUTCHAN, Japan, ​(AFP) - A spat over disputed islands has put a damper on Chinese sales of Japanese products from cars to cosmetics, but there is relief in one market at a fall-off of foreign buyers -- real estate.

The chance to own land in Japan's beautiful mountain wilderness of Hokkaido has proved a real draw for moneyed Chinese, but there are local fears over what some see as a land grab targeting forests and water sources.

The backlash started in 2010, when a Chinese woman was quoted by local media as saying: "What's arresting about Japanese land is that it has water."

Broadcasters jumped on the issue, running stories that talked of how Chinese money was "targeting Japanese water" and buyers were "trying to conquer Hokkaido."

The reports left locals nervous amid much talk of land being appropriated by potentially hostile foreigners.

Mineral water producers say they are often contacted by brokers for Chinese buyers.

Morihiro Oguma, president of Japan Mineral in Makari, said he has received dozens of calls.

"I think the water industry is targeted," he said.

Foresters fret that woodland could be exploited for timber.

"Anonymous ownership is a problem as we want owners to preserve forests, making it a rule to plant trees after cutting down," said Takafumi Norota, an official at the Hokkaido Association of Forestry Cooperatives.

"We also fear that Chinese investors may buy up Japanese larch trees in Hokkaido and take them all back to China" on the back of rising global timber prices, Norota said.

In April, Hokkaido enacted a "water resource conservation" ordinance that stipulates mandatory in-advance reporting of land transactions near water resources "to hand over precious water to the next generation."

Local politicians denied the ordinance was aimed at Chinese buyers.

Despite their huge trade relationship, ties between Japan and China are often uneasy.

Mutual mistrust is rife, with many in China believing Japan has not done enough to atone for its wartime behaviour, while many Japanese think Beijing's leaders exploit history to make their country a scapegoat for their own shortcomings.

A recent government survey found only 18 percent of those polled had a positive view of China, down more than eight percent in a year.

Japan and China have been at loggerheads for decades over the sovereignty of a group of islands in the East China Sea, controlled by Tokyo under the name Senkakus, but claimed by Beijing as the Diaoyus.

The row flared badly in September when Japan nationalised them, sparking comestimes violent protests in China.

-- "I won't let you call me a 'traitor'" --

Hideyuki Ishii, 39, president of investment advisory firm Hokkaido Style, has brokered a handful of real estate deals between Chinese buyers and Japanese sellers in Japan's northernmost prefecture.
    

Ishii said he was harangued by a group of conservative journalists and assemblymen for doing business with the Chinese.

"But I'm confident about what I do, which is to introduce people who want to buy and people who want to get rid of nonperforming assets," he said.

He had 50,000 flyers printed that say in thick Gothic "I won't let you call me a traitor! -- Would you like me to evaluate your land in the booming Chinese market?"

He says the scare stories are overdone and most of his Chinese customers are "purely interested in private ownership" because owning land is not permitted in China.

"Others do it as an investment" in places where there are established resorts, he said.

But in any case, they are buying what Japanese people are willingly selling.

"Chinese people buy land in Hokkaido where no Japanese show interest, while there are many, many Japanese owners of mountain forests who are elderly, often sick, and want to sell their assets as soon as possible to obtain cash to finance their post-retirement life or to pay medical fees," he said.

And in any case, the amount of land in foreign hands is small.

As of April 1 this year, of Hokkaido's total land area of 83,457 square kilometres (33,383 square miles), just over 10 square kilometres of land classified as "mountains and forests" was owned by foreign individuals or firms, a local government survey found.

A majority of foreign owners were Chinese firms and individuals, and others were based in Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands or Cayman islands, well-known tax havens.

One of Ishii's past clients, a Chinese woman who runs her own company in Beijing, told AFP by phone on condition of anonymity that she bought a second-hand house in the port city of Otaru two years ago as the price "was cheap, and the environment in Hokkaido was beautiful."

She bought 333 square metres (3,583 square feet) of land for a holiday cottage at a price tag of 200,000 Chinese yuan ($31,000).

"Hokkaido is closer to Beijing than Hainan island," a popular southern resort island in China, she said.

Potential buyers from Hong Kong and Taiwan are still interested in land around Kutchan town and neighbouring Niseko, popular destinations for skiers and snowboarders.

But Ishii's business has fallen victim to souring Sino-Japanese ties as the two sides do diplomatic battle over a different bit or real estate -- the group of islands in the East China Sea.

"Since the territorial issue emerged, individual Chinese have been reluctant to visit Hokkaido, which has had a negative impact on my business," he said.

"We can't make a pitch if we can't show them the land and the attractive surroundings here," Ishii said.

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Russian Su-30SM help solve an impossible task

Multi-purpose fighter Su-30SM, is beginning to be equipped for the military, will allow the Air Force to address the tasks previously impossible.

Multi-purpose fighter Su-30SM.

That is the statement of the Director of the Center for research training and military Air Force, Major General Alexander Kharchevsky on 24/11.

Told RIA Novosti news agency , heKharchevsky said: "Aircraft Su-30SMincreased many times fighting ability related to detect and destroy not just one, but multiple targets at once. Potential of an aircraft can compare the equivalent of two previous-generation aircraft.

No coincidence that India pilots on the Su-30MKI has won the exercises before the pilots of the U.S. Air Force. "

He Kharchevsky concurrently noted the importance of includingSu-30SMserved in the Air Force.

He stressed: "This is a new stage in the re-equip the Air Force. Ability of the new fighter will allow to improve combat capability for our Air Force.

Until this time, the Air Force is not equipped with the aircraft allows the implementation of high-level tasks such.

In addition, the Su-30SM aircraft to be delivered not only to the few individual units, which according to the fleet. "

He also said that now the dream of many pilots to fly on such modern aircraft have become a reality.

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Korean drills 2nd anniversary of Korea 'artillery' island Yonpyeong

Korean Army yesterday still held-scale exercises planned two-year anniversary of Korean shelling on Yeonpyeong Island despite Pyongyang a day earlier threatened to attack the island times 2 if Seoul does not cancel intention on.

An artillery unit attached to the 7th Infantry Division of the Korean Army participation exercises posting two Anniversary Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong Island yesterday at a firing range in Cheorwon, the Seoul 80 km east of North.

The exercises with the participation of forces Korea including the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force. Earlier, North Korea warned the operationexercisesanniversary event on island Yonpyeong two years ago of Korea is provocative actions against Pyongyang, will lead to disaster similar to the 2nd island.

In addition exercises, Koreaalso organized many other activities to commemorate this event. Today, about 4,000 people, including family members of the victims of the shelling of the island, government officials and naval officers had gathered at the War Memorial in Seoul to commemorate those who were killed in the shelling fromChosen.

"The shelling Yeonpyeong Island is the worst provocations and most shamefulChosen since the two sides signed a ceasefire agreement in 1953, "Prime MinisterKorea Kim Hwang-sik said in celebration.

At the same time Mr. Kim also stated, shelling evidence prompts the Koreainternational community and that, in fact, "the peninsula Chosenstill in a state of war. " However, the Minister of DefenseKorea determination, if Chosen provocations, Seoul will prevent and respond at all costs.

South Korean Marines attended the two year anniversary of the Korean island of Yeonpyeong was shelled at the War Memorial in Seoul yesterday.

Yeonpyeong Island is located just south of the border by the United Nations pointed out after the warChosenperiod 1950 to 1953. On 23/11/2010,Chosenartillery on the island, two marines and two civilians Korea killed, triggered the most serious border incidents between the two countries since the Korean War ended.

Pyongyang explained, the shelling of the island is their response to protest exercisesfiring of Korea when it has resulted in few shells fell on the disputed border in the Yellow Sea toward Chosen.

View more South Korean military exercises and held other memorial activities of the two years on the island Yonpyeong Korean shelling:

A fighter on the payroll of the 19th fighter squadron of the South Korean Air Force participate in drills 2 year anniversary of Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island yesterday.

The artillery soldiers of the 7th Infantry Division of the Korean Army participation exercises posting two Anniversary Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong Island yesterday at a firing range in Cheorwon, the Seoul 80 km east of North.

A South Korean artillery units participate in exercises.

South Korean Marines closed on Yeonpyeong Island drill night two years on the anniversary of the Korean island shelling.

South Korean soldiers run during drills anniversary.

South Korean Marines commemorative exercises.

Korean tanks involved drills on Yeonpyeong Island on 23/11.

South Korean military officials yesterday to War Memorial to attend the memorial who died in the Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.

2 year anniversary Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong Island at War Memorial yesterday.

Ms. Park Geun-hye, presidential candidate of the ruling party Saenuri offering flowers memorial in the city of Andong, Korea.

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik (4th from right) and South Korean officials celebration at War Memorial in Seoul yesterday.

South Korean military officials and relatives of the two marines killed in the shelling visit their graves at the National Cemetery in Daejeon, Seoul 164 miles on 22/11/2012.

Korean students visiting the Marines' killed in shelling by North Korea two years ago at the National Cemetery in Daejeon.

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