Good morning,

Two more political parties have decided to merge, thinking to get more seats and hence better access to government resources (http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/14Sep2007_news01.php). Ruam Jai Thai and Chart Pattana will merge under an as yet undisclosed new name on the basis, it is announced, of steering the country of crisis and divisiveness. No ideology or manifesto has been mentioned that I can see.

Nine people are confirmed dead after the various earthquakes and aftershocks affecting Sumatra (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6993354.stm), although it is feared others are still trapped in wreckage.

A woman who sued a popular cosmetic surgery on the basis that her face was disfigured after a silicon injection has been shot dead (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30048941). Apassanan Titichotepreecha was shot four times after arriving home at 9 pm last night. Two men who had been drinking beer outside the house and later disappeared are suspects. The woman survived a previous attempt to murder her and it is difficult not to be putting 2 and 2 together.

I published a couple of new articles at Suite 101, that paying market (ha), which are Taizong (http://chinese-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/taizong), about the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty and an article on Thai politics and the emergence of the third force (http://thailand.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_third_force).

Back on Monday.