Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama is not yet in the clear, despite his decision yesterday to resign in a show of spirit over the Preah Vihear temple joint communique found to be unconstitutional by the Constitution Court.
The Din Daeng flats will not be demolished, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security confirmed yesterday, ending a years-long protest by residents of the 40-year-old flats for low- income earners. Permanent secretary Wallop Ploytubtim signed a statement giving an assurance the flats would not be dismantled after residents threatened to block roads in the Din Daeng area.
HEALTH MINISTRY
The disqualification of Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsab from the cabinet has given a senior official a chance to seek justice after his allegedly unfair transfer.
POLITICS
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has promised coalition parties there will be a major cabinet reshuffle to streamline the government's performance, according to a source in the People Power party (PPP). Mr Samak has repeatedly ruled out dissolving the House as it could put the PPP at a disadvantage in a general election, the source said.
NEWS THINK
It would be wise and politically tactful if Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej were to call it a day now and put the struggling government out of its misery. One after another, Mr Samak has lost cabinet ministers to legal wrangles and the government is having a very tough time keeping its head above water.
POLITICS
The army will not force out Cambodians living in the disputed area near Preah Vihear temple, as residents in Si Sa Ket are demanding, army chief Anupong Paojinda said yesterday. Gen Anupong said the issue must be settled by the government and stressed there is no army policy to end territorial disputes by military measures.
POLITICS
Police are looking for politician Vatana Asavahame after receiving an arrest warrant from the Supreme Court, but admit they don't know where he is. The court issued the warrant after he failed to turn up to hear the verdict in the Klong Dan wastewater treatment plant corruption case.
POLITICS
City Hall's drainage and sewerage department chief Charnchai Withoonpanyakit yesterday denied accepting a slice of the 125-million-baht bribe a Japanese firm said it paid to Thai officials to win a bid for a drainage tunnel project five years ago. Mr Charnchai, whose office was responsible for the project, claimed that instead of taking the bribe he had negotiated with the consortium for a discount, even though its bidding price was already below the median price.
EDITORIAL
The current political divisiveness and public distress from the economic crunch has overshadowed a time-bomb that will soon explode - the Aids pandemic.
COMMENTARY
For the past few weeks, my sister-in-law has allowed the PAD to bring its rally into our living room. Greeting me every night after work is the blaring of speakers, courtesy of the People's Alliance for Democracy and ASTV. The sight of her listening attentively to their rhetoric, every now and then to be joined by my brother and their son, gives me much food for thought.
LET IT BE
It has been a series of unfortunate events for the ruling People's Power party (PPP) with the courts handing out verdicts like students handing out leaflets at your local BTS station.
METRO
The scene at Wat Kanlaya, a temple famous for its gigantic Buddha statue, resembled an anti-government protest on June 29. Clad in white t-shirts which read "Stop the abbot who destroyed the stupa," protesters shouted "Where is your compassion? Where is your morality?"
In Media
The Samak government has little room to manoeuvre now, following two key rulings on July 8 that shook its stability. On that day, the Constitution Court ruled 8-1 that the government violated Article 190 of the charter by failing to seek parliamentary approval for the joint communique which Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama signed with Cambodia backing the application to register Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site. This ruling could lead to the impeachment of Prime Minister Samak Sundavavej and his entire cabinet by the Senate.
PostBag
Nice to see that now even politicians have to face jail or already are in jail in Thailand. However, what about the youth who used a car as a weapon? I assume he is still on the loose and may still be driving a car, thus putting himself in danger along with all the other people in Bangkok. Please let us have the good news that he, too, will go to jail - or at least to a home for the mentally ill?
IN BRIEF
TRAVEL / Bangkok has been named the World's Best City 2008 by an international travel magazine, beating last year's champion Florence, in Italy, whose ranking plunged to the fifth.
FAR SOUTH
A total of 128 teachers, students and education staff have been killed and 213 others wounded in the deep South since the start of the separatist violence there in 2004, said Karun Sakulpradit, head of a regional education inspector-general's office.
TOBACCO
Thailand's comprehensive efforts to control tobacco use have been praised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which plans to use Thai policy as a model for improved anti-smoking campaigns in low and middle-income countries.
