<p dir="ltr">People with disabilities have urged Thai authorities not to reduce the health coverage they receive when employed.</p> <p dir="ltr">Dr. Yot Teerawattananon, Director of Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), on Saturday, 20 August 2016, expressed concerns about recent changes to the government’s health coverage scheme for people with disabilities. The reforms transfer people with disabilities from universal health coverage to a social security scheme when they successfully find employment.</p>

<div>The hunger striking activist’s mom has kneed in front of a prison insisting on seeing her son after the activist was again detained due to another charge.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Friday, 19 August 2016, Jatuphat Boonpattaraksa, aka Phai, an anti-junta activist from the pro-democracy Dao Din group, was arrested at the provincial court of Phu Khiao District for participating in an anti-junta campaign on 22 May 2015. </div>

<div>An anti-junta activist has been released on bail after nearly two weeks of a hunger strike.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Friday, 19 August 2016, Phu Khiao Provincial Court released Jatuphat Boonpattaraksa, an anti-junta activist from the New Democracy Movement, from the prison of Phu Khiao District, in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, <a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/255898">reported</a> Matichon Online.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jatuphat was arrested on 6 August after handing out anti-draft charter flyers at a market in Phu Khiao and started a hunger strike s </div>

<div>Experts have concluded that the bombings in Thai tourist spots that took place on the Queen’s Birthday were the work of southern insurgent group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN). </div>

<p dir="ltr"><em><strong>Update</strong>: According to Winyat Chatmontree, a lawyer from Free Thai Legal Aid (ETLA), the Military Court granted to the police custody permission to detain the 15 bomb suspects for 12 days. Their lawyers did not have the chance to submit bail requests in time because the police took the 15 to the court slightly before its closing time.</em></p>

<p dir="ltr">A senior Buddhist monk in eastern Thailand has disrobed a young monk for being too small.</p> <p dir="ltr">A secretary of the abbot of Thap Chang Temple in Soi Dao District of the eastern province of Chanthaburi performed a ritual on Tuesday, 16 August 2016 to disrobe Venerable Sermsak Thammasaro, a 21-year-old Buddhist monk of Phasuk Temple in the district, <a href="http://www.khaosod.co.th/view_newsonline.php?newsid=1471530761">Khaosod news reported</a>.</p>

<div> <p>Human rights defenders and students activists have been summoned for allegedly conspiring with an anti-junta activist, who is currently on a hunger strike, to host a seminar criticising the junta-sponsored draft constitution. The human rights defenders insist they merely monitored the seminar.&nbsp;</p> </div>

<p dir="ltr">The outspoken niece of a soldier who was brutally tortured to death in a military barrack has said that an army officer involved in the torture of her uncle has been promoted to a higher rank. The same army officer has accused the niece of offences under the Computer Crime Act.</p>

<div>Jatuphat Boonyapatraksa, the embattled anti-junta activist from Isaan currently on a hunger strike, has received an additional summon order from the police. This brings the charges against him to four in total.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Pawinee Chumsri, an attorney from the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), reported on Wednesday, 17 August 2016, that the police has issued another summon order for Jatuphat, a 25-year-old activist from the New Democracy Movement (NDM). </div>

<div>Watch out and stay away from those who wear glasses, caps or carry backpacks as they might be bombers, said Thai’s army supreme commander.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Wednesday, 17 August 2016, Gen Theerachai Nakwanit, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, told the media about investigations into the Mother’s Day bombings that occurred on the eve of Mother's Day on 12 August. </div>

<p dir="ltr">The Treasury Department has announced that it may ask Thailand’s junta leader to use his absolute power to amend laws that prevent investors from renting out lands in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to other businesses.</p> <p>Chakkrit Parapuntakul, Director General of the Treasury Department, told media that the department recently received a letter from the Industrial Estate Authorities of Thailand (IEAT) about laws that obstruct investors from developing industrial estates in SEZs and from renting them out to other businesses.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Thailand’s Official Information Commission (OIC) has ruled in favour of human rights lawyers, demanding authorities disclose information about detainees kept in the junta’s notorious political prisons.</p> <p dir="ltr">The OIC on Friday, 29 July 2016 published a ruling requesting the disclosure of information about a number of detainees and staff at the Remand Facility at the 11th Military Circle on Rama 5 Rd. in Bangkok,<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=1600"> Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported</a>.</p>