The Thai king has endorsed a Cabinet reshuffle, a statement said yesterday after the country’s protest-hit coalition government moved to stem the fallout from a healthcare corruption scandal.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s fragile administration, which has ridden out widespread demonstrations since coming to power in December 2008, has recently suffered two resignations over alleged graft.
Thai Public Health minister Witthaya Keawparadai and his deputy, Manit Nopamornbodi, quit earlier this month over claims of negligence linked to plans for a ministry budget worth more than US$2 billion.
A report by a government committee found prices for medical equipment to be purchased by the ministry — such as heart monitoring systems and cancer treatment machinery — had been dramatically inflated.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej signed a royal warrant reshuffling five ministers, three of them from Abhisit’s coalition-leading Democrat Party and two from their key allies in the Bhumjaithai party, the statement said.
In the major appointments announced late on Friday, Democrat member Trairong Suwankhiri was appointed deputy prime minister and Jurin Laksanawisit was switched from education minister to public health minister.
Former public health minister Wittaya was named as government chief whip, although it is not a ministerial position.
The five new ministers will be sworn in by the king tomorrow at a Bangkok hospital, where he has been since September for medical treatment.
Abhisit’s shaky coalition faces renewed pressure from upcoming protests by supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
VIOLENT STANDOFFS: The government said 215 students have been injured since the start of the movement last month, including a teenager who lost a hand on Monday Thousands of demonstrators yesterday massed under heavy police surveillance in Paris and cities across France, as unions and teachers joined high-school students who for days have been demanding better conditions in protests punctuated by violent clashes. Students have blocked the entrances to hundreds of high schools for 15-to-17-year-olds since late last month, complaining of missing teachers, overloaded schedules, dilapidated classrooms and buildings that cannot cope with rising temperatures. In the Paris suburb of Creteil, where the protests started last month, students piled barriers outside the Saint-Exupery high school. “We are here to make our voice heard, all too often forgotten,” student Abderrahmane Abdelkader
As shark attack survivor Mel Ismail fought the predator that severed his leg, he noticed something odd. “I saw its eye ... a big black eye,” Ismail said. “But it was winking back at me — I was trying to get my fingers in its eye and just pushing its eye as I was being dragged.” When the shark swam off, he managed to struggle back to shore, the surfer and professional firefighter said in an Australian Broadcasting Corp interview broadcast on Thursday. He was surfing at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton on Australia’s west coast when he was attacked on Sept. 14. He
A Tuvalu government adviser yesterday said it felt like Australia had “taken over” the tiny country’s sovereignty during a visit by leaders to the Pacific island. The official — a senior government adviser who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the media — said they were disappointed in Australia’s handling of the visit. The comments came during a visit by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other leaders to Tuvalu, which has become a symbol of the existential threat posed by rising seas and is a key partner in Canberra’s Pacific strategy. “Just because we signed the
Halfway around the world from Russia, in a Caribbean tourism hot spot, men young and old are being lured by Moscow with tantalizing job offers, only to find themselves en route to the front lines in Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have recruited thousands of foreign nationals into their armies since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Moscow is accused, in some cases, of using fake job ads to hoodwink men from deprived backgrounds in Africa, Asia and Latin America into traveling to Russia and then forcing them to fight on arrival. From countries such as India, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Colombia and
RSS