THAILAND NEWS

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will pay an official visit to Myanmar early October to strengthen bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries which are fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul.

Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra and opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva have urged all sectors to create a culture of honesty and not to give in to bribery in an anti-corruption campaign.

The government opened a new chapter in Thailand's relations with Cambodia yesterday, announcing a major shake-up in the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), which is responsible for demarcating the countries' land boundary and negotiating a deal over petroleum resources in the Gulf of Thailand.

Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would not join the friendly football match between the red-shirts team and Cambodian team this afternoon as he is now in Hong Kong, Thaksin’s legal advisor Noppadon Pattama said on Saturday.

Red shirt leaders who are now members of parliament will fly off tomorrow for a friendly football match with the Cambodian premier and his subordinates.

With its barbed wire, sandbag bunker and armed guards, Wat Lak Muang in Thailand's strife-torn deep south looks more like a military outpost than a typical Buddhist temple. Since a deadly insurgency erupted in the Muslim-dominated region seven years ago, the army has become inseparable from religious rituals in the region, where troops live side-by-side with monks in monasteries.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday posted a message on her Facebook page, saying Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to hold formal and open talks about their disputed maritime area and that Prime Minister Hun Sen has promised to aid the two jailed yellow-shirt supporters, Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Pipatanapaiboon.

On September 21, members of traders in the Ratchaprasong area grouped under Democracy Without Infringement are prepared to submit the open letter to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, calling for the government to speed up on the draft law on public protests.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra should put her overseas trips on hold and instead concentrate on urgent domestic issues such as flood mitigation, opposition chief whip Jurin Laksanavisit said on Tuesday.

Five people were confirmed dead after an apartment building collapsed in central Thailand due to heavy rainfall, local media reported on Monday.