The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) today will appeal the Civil Court's ruling that ordered the anti-government group to unblock traffic on Rama V and Phitsanulok roads and lower the volume of its loudspeakers during school hours.
ENERGY
The energy minister postponed a planned increase in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for use in vehicles after a severe shortage in the market raised suspicions vendors were hoarding supplies.
WIMBLEDON
LONDON : Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn was in seventh heaven yesterday when she stunned second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2 at Wimbledon and will now make her first appearance in a quarter-final at a Grand Slam event.
Ubon Rajathanee University has suspended a lecturer accused of harassing a female student by offering her good grades in exchange for sex.
COMPULSORY LICENSING
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) will speed up the importation of generic drugs for patients under the universal healthcare scheme, as Thailand's policy on compulsory licensing (CL) for life-saving medicine remains crucial, board chairman Vichai Chokewiwat said yesterday. Speaking after the first board meeting since being reinstated to his position, Dr Vichai said the board would accelerate the importation of drugs which bypass patents as the plan was shelved in the past month.
SAHAVIRIYA PROJECT
Rising tensions between giant steel manufacturer Sahaviriya and local villagers in Prachuap Khiri Khan can be defused by having local villagers take part in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) consideration process, says the National Human Rights Commission. Conflicts between those opposed to Sahaviriya's smelting plant in Bang Saphan district and the firm over the past few years have led to several violent clashes between the locals and the project supporters.
NORTHERN BORDER
TAK : More than 100 Thais were evacuated from Phop Phra district bordering Burma yesterday after Burmese troops sealed off and attacked a Karen stronghold. A resident of Ban Padi said he heard gunfire from 5am. The battleground was opposite the village, just across Padi stream, he said.
SOUTHERN VIOLENCE
A doctor told the Narathiwat court yesterday that an insurgent suspect who died in military custody in March, Imam Yapa Kaseng, had been beaten with hard objects.
POLITICS
The Constitution Court has ruled that the coupmakers' announcement to set up the Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC) and the extension of its tenure were legal and constitutional. The ruling came after defendants in the allegedly illegal two- and-three digit lottery case questioned the legality of the announcement, the panel and the extension of its term and asked the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to clarify the matter.
POLITICS
A group of senators has asked the Constitution Court to urgently determine whether the joint communique on the Preah Vihear temple, signed by foreign minister Noppadon Pattama, violates the constitution. The 77 senators yesterday sent their petition through Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondej, who said he will treat the matter as a ''serious problem'' and promised to quickly forward the issue to the charter court.
POLITICS
The Democrat party will field its deputy leader and incumbent Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin in this year's governor election if he is cleared of alleged malpractice in the city's fire truck and boat procurement scandal. The Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC), whose tenure ended yesterday, has handed over its investigation of the case to the National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC).
POLITICS
The board of the State Railway of Thailand yesterday resolved to nominate deputy SRT governor Yuthana Thapcharoen as the new governor, in line with a recent order from the Central Administrative Court. Mr Yuthana was selected as governor following the retirement of Chitsanti Dhanasobhon in 2006, but he was not appointed since his salary negotiations had not been finalised.
POLITICS
A third member of Thaksin Shinawatra's legal team yesterday began serving a six-month jail sentence over the two-million-baht snack box cash incident.
BORDER POLITICS
Much is happening in Thailand's politics and economy. The People's Alliance for Democracy continues to rally outside Government House. The South is embroiled in tragic and continuous unrest and killings. Farmers and truckers are protesting over food and fuel prices. The refugee issue concerning Laos remains thorny and lately there is the mounting tension over Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border. All these help provide an illustration of how conflicts and economics are intertwined. With every bit of sad news, tourist cancellations increase. The stock market sours. The value of the baht declines. And foreign direct investment suffers. With that, potential advances in employment and living standards are sacrificed.
EDITORIAL
It is doubtful whether an imaginative screenwriter could invent more ways to get it wrong than Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet. On a daily basis they demonstrate that they have learned nothing from the past eight years of tumultuous Thai history.
COMMENTARY
Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama should not miss the opportunity to redeem his credibility.
SHADOW BOXING
What a week that was! I was pleasantly handing out awards to school children in Klong Toey when a call came through from party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva with a characteristically to-the-point question: "Heard the news?"
SPOTLIGHT
The rising number of young people engaging in crime or wild acts like motorbike street racing has forced juvenile care officials to take a more novel approach to correcting their behaviour.
SPOTLIGHT
Thailand and Turkey are about 7,500 kilometres apart, and there are many differences between the two countries. But one thing they have in common is a problem with separatist movements, and both movements are in the southern part of the two nations.
PostBag
I'm getting fed up with seeing letters in Postbag stating that the present government was elected democratically. Everyone here in Thailand knows the elections were bought. The vast majority of Thais are poor people and their vote was bought for a few hundred baht. Many of the PPP politicians have been yellow- or red-carded for vote buying since the election, some as recently as last week. This is fact.
In Media
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has emerged stronger from last week's no-confidence debate.
POLITICS
''I am Li Samak,'' Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told Chinese reporters before he began his visit to Beijing on Monday.
