The government decided yesterday to seek the Council of State's legal advice over the Administrative Court's temporary injunction against the joint communique with Cambodia before making any move on Preah Vihear temple.
TRAFFICKING IN JAILS
The Corrections Department has decided to ban gifts delivered in person or by mail to inmates in its latest bid to counter the drugs trade in prisons.
A member of the Thai Airways International (THAI) board has resigned in protest over the decision to allow airline president Apinan Sumanaseni keep his job.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
The Energy Ministry has extended the subsidy on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for taxis until the end of the year.
SOUTHERN VIOLENCE
A school van driver was killed in an ambush while on his way to pick up students in Yaha district of Yala yesterday afternoon, local police said.
An investigation team looking into the prevalence of cancer in communities near Rayong's Map Ta Phut industrial estate were surprised to find high levels of a cancer-causing substance in urine samples from residents of neighbouring Chanthaburi province. The Disease Control Department in January collected 469 urine samples from Chanthaburi residents and found that 21 of them contained excessive levels of t,t-muconic, an important indicator of exposure to benzene.
DISPUTED NORTHERN BORDER
CHIANG MAI : Burma has reinforced its troops in the disputed area of Doi Lang mountain, which an army source said might result from its ''misunderstanding'' over a Thai military exercise in the border area. Since last week, more Burmese soldiers with heavy weapons have been deployed to the Doi Lang area, opposite Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district. A 32-sq km area of land has sparked a row between Burma and Thailand, which have their own versions of border demarcation maps.
POLITICS
Senators have called on Thai members of the World Heritage Committee to seek deferment of Cambodia's application for World Heritage listing of the Preah Vihear temple at a nine-day Unesco meeting in Canada which begins today. At a seminar yesterday, a group of senators insisted the Thai delegates attending the meeting in Quebec must explain to the World Heritage Committee the urgency of deferring the proposed listing by Cambodia.
POLITICS
The Constitution Court will decide the fate of Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsab next Wednesday after agreeing yesterday to hear a petition brought against him for his failure to declare his wife's assets.
POLITICS
The cabinet yesterday appointed Thana Benjathikul, a lawyer for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a member of the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB).
POLITICS
The Civil Court yesterday adjourned until today its hearing on the People's Alliance for Democracy's (PAD) appeal against the court injunction that forces it to unblock traffic lanes outside Government House where it is protesting. PAD leaders Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang and Pibhob Dhongchai, yesterday appealed against the court's injunction, issued on Monday after parents and students from Rajavinit school near the protest site lodged a petition with the court complaining they were inconvenienced by the demonstration.
POLITICS
The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders yesterday asked the Constitution Court to rule whether a National Counter Corruption Commission law which forbids spouses of political post holders from involvement in any business dealings with state agencies is unconstitutional. A bench of nine judges of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders yesterday considered a complaint filed by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife on June 23.
EDITORIAL
It is hoped the Unesco World Heritage Committee (WHC) will see the wisdom in delaying any decision on Cambodia's application to list the temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site at the organisation's meeting this week in Quebec. In light of the ongoing dispute over the Thai Foreign Ministry's decision to sign a joint communique which basically endorsed Cambodia's unilateral proposal for the inscription, the WHC's course seems clear enough.
COMMENTARY
Consumers of subsidised fuels like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG) and diesel fuel deserve, to a certain extent, some scorn for their role in driving up fuel prices.
PREAH VIHEAR
Preah Vihear, the 900-year-old temple currently in the spotlight, has always been like a restless ghost. At a proper given moment and background, it finds a way to come back and haunt the Thai people. On June 15, 1962 the whole country mourned when the International Court of Justice ruled that the ancient Khmer-style temple was situated in Cambodian territory.
SPOTLIGHT
If anything good has come out of the controversy over Wat Preah Vihear, it is that it has raised Thai people's awareness of world heritage affairs.
PostBag
Your Postbag letters of July 1 were somewhat mistaken about the current furore over the Preah Vihear temple: "PAD fooling the people" and "Nationalist bombast a little too late". The outcry is not over the temple's ownership but more over this government's involvement in Cambodia's solo application to the World Heritage Committee.
In Media
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and seven of his cabinet ministers have survived last week's censure debate. But the opposition and public must continue to monitor the work of the government and raise their voice when they come across any suspected wrongdoing on the part of the government.
IN Brief
PROSTITUTION :Police have arrested another suspected member of a human trafficking gang which lured Thai women into working as prostitutes in England.
