Economic experts yesterday slammed the government's poor economic performance, zeroing in on its handling of rice prices and inflation. The criticisms came as a fresh rice-pledging scheme kicks off today.
The chambers of commerce in the Northeast are opposed to multinational discount store chain Tesco Lotus' court action against its critics and will stop doing business with the company unless it drops the suits.
In a matter of months, the world's largest golden Buddha statue, Luang Por Thongkham, at Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram in Chinatown, will be moved to a bigger, grander hall which is set to be a new city landmark.
Ongoing political strife and a struggling economy have boosted the trade in illegal drugs along the northern borders, police said. The increase in drug smuggling has hit an alarming level as authorities have only a limited capacity to deal with the problem, according to police.
An employee at the palace leaped to his death yesterday after complaining of being over-stressed at work. Thissadee Chaisukumarn, 32, plunged from the window of his third-floor flat in Charan Sanitwong Soi 40 in Bang Phlat district, according to his girlfriend, Saijai Suthiwat.
With the looming food crisis pinching the global community, Thailand should diversify its agricultural sector and think beyond the subsistence of individual families to fill the world's stomach, advised Israeli agriculture expert Itzhak Abt. Mr Abt, 76, was one of the Israeli experts behind the success of the royal-initiated Hubkrapong Project in Phetchaburi's Cha-am district, which was established in 1964. His Majesty the King has spearheaded the conversion of 12,000 barren rai into fertile land to improve villagers' lives.
The Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) has stepped up its work to stop land encroachment in the Budo-Sungai Padi national park. The Natural Resources and Environment, Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Interior ministries are working with Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provincial authorities to tackle the problem.
Election commissioner Sodsri Sattayatham is thinking of filing defamation charges against People's Alliance for Democracy rally speakers for accusing her of being pro-government while deliberating petitions. Mrs Sodsri has been under attack from the PAD since the day she abstained in an EC vote which eventually saw former People Power party deputy leader Yongyuth Tiyapairat, the former house speaker, red-carded for vote buying in the Dec 23 general election.
Activists in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen yesterday lodged a police complaint against Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung for ordering the blocking of ASTV's broadcasts on the anti-government rallies led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). They have also filed a complaint against Jate Thanawat, the Khon Kaen governor, accusing him of cutting off the ASTV signals.
Those wishing to escape the political cycle of reform, hope, degradation and coup d'etat in which Thailand has circled since World War Two, and those wishing to assess the likelihood of this happening, might ponder some wisdom from the science of human society.
Prayont Lasua, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), has ordered investigators to concentrate on all politically-related cases pending inquiry in a bid to make progress in legal proceedings. Pol Col Prayont said yesterday the move was meant to show that the police were not a tool of any political group. His statement was in response to heightened public doubt on police impartiality in dealing with political cases.
This year and the years to come will be vigorously promoted overseas as years for visiting the North in an effort to boost the declining tourist arrivals in the region. The promotion was touted at a meeting of tourism-related agencies chaired by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej in Chiang Mai yesterday.
