THE WEEK IN REVIEW
On Monday Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin ordered an inquiry into reports of officials allegedly taking bribes from a Japanese firm in return for being awarded a tunnel project in 2003. Deputy City Clerk Pongsak Semsant was assigned by the governor on Monday to lead the inquiry. Mr Pongsak said he expected the investigation would take about a week as Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) officials had to look through all the evidence.
The city will ask the Japanese embassy for cooperation and information, Mr Pongsak said.
Mr Apirak said the BMA would decide on the appropriate response after the investigation was concluded. The governor's order came after the Japan Times and Japan Today dailies reported on their websites on Monday that a former executive of Nishimatsu Construction admitted to prosecutors in Tokyo that the Japanese firm gave more than 400 million yen to "Thai officials" to win the Bangkok contract to prevent flooding in the capital.
The two dailies quoted unidentified sources.The project came under the BMA and was launched in 2003. At the time Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was the Bangkok governor.
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Temple listed as heritage site
The World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting in Quebec, Canada, late Monday night (Thailand time) approved Cambodia's application to list the 11th century Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site.
It did not take into account the controversial joint communique between Bangkok and Phnom Penh, a Thai delegate to the meeting said, before the decision was made.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama explained the Administrative Court's temporary injunction to the 21 WHC members, according to Pongpol Adireksan, chairman of the Thai World Heritage Committee.
he court issued an injunction against the cabinet's June 17 resolution, which gave approval for Mr Noppadon to sign a joint communique with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An the following day. Mr Noppadon's signature conveyed Thailand's support for Cambodia's bid to list the temple as a World Heritage site.
The WHC only considered the report of the International Council for Monuments and Sites as a basis for making the decision, Mr Pongpol said. Thailand was unable to convince the WHC to postpone the issue and wait for a joint nomination, or to defer it until the next meeting.
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Verdicts hammer govt
The separate court rulings against Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and former House speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat on Tuesday dealt major blows to the government, which will now face fresh efforts to remove it from office. The pressure started earlier in the day with the Constitution Court's verdict on the June 18 joint communique with Cambodia on the World Heritage listing of Preah Vihear temple, signed by Mr Noppadon and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An. The court ruled that the document needed approval from parliament.
Hours later the Supreme Court's election division banned Mr Yongyuth of the People Power party (PPP) from politics for five years for election fraud.
The Constitution Court's ruling not only prompted calls for Mr Noppadon to resign to show responsibility, it also prompted a group of senators and MPs from the Democrat party to seek the impeachment of the entire cabinet.
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Warrant out for Vatana
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for veteran politician Vatana Asavahame after he failed to turn up to hear the verdict in the Klong Dan wastewater treatment project corruption case. The warrant was approved by the court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions after lawyer Paiboon Phonoi told the bench of nine Supreme Court judges that he could not contact his client.
Based on the lawyer's account, the court said that Mr Vatana was aware of the scheduled hearing but decided not to show up. The court seized his bail of 2.2 million baht, issued the arrest warrant and set Aug 18 as the date for reading the verdict.
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Noppadon resigns from cabinet
Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama is not yet in the clear, despite his decision on Thursday to resign in a show of spirit over the Preah Vihear temple joint communique found to be unconstitutional by the Constitution Court.
Mr Noppadon announced his resignation on his return from Quebec, Canada, where the World Heritage Committee agreed to register the temple as a World Heritage site.
Hours before, the opposition Democrat party filed a motion seeking his impeachment with the Senate.
On Tuesday, the Constitution Court ruled that the Thai-Cambodian joint communique backing Cambodia's bid to list the temple was a treaty and required parliamentary scrutiny.
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Samak promises to revamp cabinet
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.
The party's popularity appears to have slipped because of the Preah Vihear controversy.
Mr Samak told coalition party leaders the government will not bow out because there are still important tasks to accomplish, the source added.
These are expected to include charter amendments and the passage of the next fiscal year's budget.
Mr Samak has made a major cabinet reshuffle a priority to improve the government's performance.
The Election Commission (EC) is likely to set up a panel to decide if it will pursue the dissolution of the PPP in the wake of the guilty verdict against former deputy leader Yongyuth Tiyapairat on vote-buying charges. The PPP could be dissolved if Mr Yongyuth, as a former party executive, is found to have bought votes with the knowledge of the party.
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INTERNATIONAL
Medvedev vetoes missile shield in Lithuania
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told US President George W. Bush on Monday that locating part of a missile defence shield in Lithuania was "absolutely unacceptable", according to Medvedev's diplomatic adviser Sergei Prikhodko. Despite the differences between the new Russian leader and the outgoing US leader on the thorny missile shield issue, the two sides agreed to keep talking.
A US official said last week that Washington had reached a tentative pact with Poland on placing part of its controversial missile defence shield in the former communist country.
The United States wants to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic to ward off potential attacks by so-called "rogue" states, notably Iran.
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Judge overturns ex-Black Panther's conviction
A federal judge in Louisiana has overturned the conviction of former Black Panther Albert Woodfox in the 1972 stabbing death of a prison guard.
Woodfox was held in solitary confinement for over 30 years. He's one of three former Panthers known as the "Angola Three." He and two other black prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary were convicted in the killing of guard Brent Miller in April 1972.
US District Judge James Brady issued a ruling on Tuesday approving a federal magistrate's recommendation that Woodfox's conviction should be overturned. The magistrate said Woodfox was denied a fair second trial because a defence lawyer failed to object to a prosecutor's testimony about a witness' credibility.
On Wednesday, however, Louisiana's attorney general said he planned to appeal the federal judge's decision to overturn the conviction.
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Rights group urges Saudi Arabia to protect maids
A new report on the abuse of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia cites the case of an Indonesian woman, Nour Miyati, who had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten on a daily basis. Her case, tried in a Riyadh court, was later dropped.
The case, according to the report released Tuesday in Jakarta by Human Rights Watch, is hardly unique: the study found that thousands of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia each year face similar abuses, including lashings, unpaid wages, forced labour and slavery-like conditions.
About 1.5 million domestic workers live in Saudi Arabia, coming primarily from Asian countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Nepal. Indonesia accounts for by far the most workers, an estimated 600,000 to 900,000.
The report is based on two years of research inside Saudi Arabia and nearly 150 interviews with migrant workers, government officials and labour recruiters.
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Rice warns Iran that US will defend allies
The confrontation between Iran and the United States seemed to sharpen on Thursday as Iran said it tested missiles for a second day and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States would defend its allies and protect its interests against an attack.
Rice was speaking in the former Soviet republic of Georgia at the end of a three-day tour of Eastern Europe.
Shortly after she spoke, state-run media in Iran began reporting the new missile tests, which it said included a relatively new torpedo.
Iranian state television showed a missile blasting off in darkness. The television reports said the new tests took place during Wednesday night and into Thursday.
A commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards had said earlier that night missile manoeuvres would take place but did not give details.
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US Senate agrees onimmunity for telecoms
The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved an update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), bringing to an end a 15-month battle over revamping electronic surveillance rules. The bill would grant retroactive immunity for telecom companies that cooperated with warrentless wiretaps.
It was a major legislative victory for President Bush, who hailed the bill's passage in the White House Rose Garden.
The Senate approved the bill by a 69-28 vote.
The Bush administration had been directing phone companies to eavesdrop without the FISA court's permission since the terrorist attacks Sept 11, 2001.
Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold led an unsuccessful drive to strip the immunity provision from the bill.
"It could not be clearer that this programme broke the law, and this president broke the law," Mr Feingold said.
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Toyota engineer worked himself to death
A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.
In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month. The ruling will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance.
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