Thailand’s government defended its major Cabinet shake-up yesterday, saying it had a popular public mandate to tackle slowing economic growth and unify the fractured country.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej reshuffled his Cabinet on Saturday in what many observers saw as an effort to mollify critics of his six-month old government, which came to power in elections to restore democracy following a military coup.
The moves came after months of protests by thousands of opponents who have called for Samak’s resignation, accusing him of attempting to block corruption charges against ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and trying to amend the Constitution to cling to power.
Thaksin and his family face a number of corruption cases, the first of which was decided on Thursday when a court found Thaksin’s wife guilty of evading millions of dollars in taxes and sentenced her to three years in prison.
Four other corruption cases have been filed in the courts against Thaksin, two others against his wife, and three against two of his children. Many others are under investigation.
Critics of Samak, a former governor of Bangkok, also said he has failed to move on promises to expand programs first started by Thaksin to forgive loans to farmers and expand cheap health care to the poor.
Samak’s government also faces economic pressures, with inflation at a 10-year high of 9.2 percent due to rising food and fuel costs.
He came to power promising to restore investor confidence that was damaged following the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin.
“The majority of Thais are pleased with the reshuffle because they are confident that the government is able to solve many problems facing the country, especially slow economic growth,” government spokesman Wichainchote Sukchoterat said. “Every minister appointed is well-known, experienced and respectable.”
But critics say the new ministers are poorly qualified and too close to Thaksin, who is fighting a slew of court cases on corruption and abuse of power charges. Samak has been accused of being little more than a proxy for Thaksin.
“It is very disappointing to see the new Cabinet list,” said Abhisit Vejjajiva, who heads the opposition Democrat Party. “The new Cabinet cannot give Thais any hope in dealing with the economic situation.”
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
DISASTROUS VISIT: The talks in Saudi Arabia come after an altercation at the White House that led to the Ukrainian president leaving without signing a minerals deal Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was due to arrive in Saudi Arabia yesterday, a day ahead of crucial talks between Ukrainian and US officials on ending the war with Russia. Highly anticipated negotiations today on resolving the three-year conflict would see US and Ukrainian officials meet for the first time since Zelenskiy’s disastrous White House visit last month. Zelenskiy yesterday said that he would meet Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the nation’s de facto leader, after which his team “will stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the American team.” At the talks in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, US
RSS