Heavy rains have caused flash floods in three Surat Thani districts and neighbouring Krabi and Trang have been warned of possible landslides.

In Uttaradit in the lower North, where scores of people were killed from landslides and flash floods in 2006, 178 villages have been warned they face similar disasters.

Flood levels are 1.50-metres high in Vibhavadi and Khirirat Nikhom districts in the southern Surat Thani province. Around 500-rai of farmland and 300 households are flooded in Phanom district. No casualties have been reported in the province.

In Uttaradit, 178 villagers facing a landslide risk are located at the foot of the hilly areas in Muang, Lablae and Tha Pla district. Landslide warnings have also been announced for Krabi and Trang.

New secretary

Kittiphong Kittayarak was yesterday appointed as Justice Ministry permanent secretary.

He has been promoted from acting permanent secretary to officially replace Charan Phakdithanakul, who has sought a transfer out the ministry to serve as a Constitutional Court justice.

Kittiphong graduated from Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Law winning the first class honour, a Master degree in law from Harvard University and a doctorate from Stanford University. He served initially as a public prosecutor, then as director of the Criminal Law Institute and director-general of the Corrections Department.

Monks going blind

Novice monks in Bangkok are having eyesight problems after spending too much time using computers and watching television, a Priest Hospital survey said yesterday.

Of 2,658 novice monks surveyed between October 2005 and September 2007, 1,580 used computers for more than one hour each time, while 1,600 novices watched television for well over an hour and 900 used computers more than two hours.