PHUKET: Foreign diplomats representing at least six countries are to meet Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa to address the growing problem of cheats and swindlers targeting Phuket tourists. The news was reported through state news agency the National News Bureau of Thailand. Tourism and Sports Ministry Spokesperson Watchara Kannika announced that EU Ambassador David Lipman, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Thailand, and the ambassadors of six countries, including Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Finland and the Netherlands, are to meet Mr Chumpol to brainstorm a solution to the increasing problem of tourists being cheated and swindled in Phuket.

The Cabinet yesterday approved a package of 29 development projects for 12 upper northeastern provinces worth Bt1.65 billion, including a Bt30-million university in Udon Thani.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday promised to cooperate with the Ombudsman’s Office as it looks into a complaint of misconduct in connection with her choosing to attend a private meeting at a Bangkok hotel instead of being present at a parliamentary meeting.

They are not shouting “Death to America!” yet, unlike some people in Afghanistan and Iran, but more Thai ultra-royalists have over the past few weeks become rather convinced that Imperial America is behind an alleged attempt to abolish the Thai monarchy.

Almost half of the economists surveyed see the Yingluck government as less active in pushing a creative economy while almost one-third of them said the present and previous governments were both similar on the issue.

Constitutional amendment seems likely to bring the political conflict back to the boil, with supporters and detractors of the move expected to gather today when Parliament begins its deliberation of the bills seeking changes to a charter clause to allow the formation of a Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA).

The government came out victorious yesterday after the Constitution Court approved its two executive decrees designed to prevent a repeat of last year’s flood crisis.

Verdict restores confidence but experts warn that it is the quality of the projects that will determine success in flood-prevention

Chalit Damrongsak yesterday was abruptly removed as chief of the Royal Irrigation Department after a Cabinet decision forced him to swap his post with that of Lertwiroj Kowattana, a deputy permanent secretary for Agriculture.

A suspect in a bomb-related case, Lebanese-Swede Artris Hussein, was yesterday indicted officially for illegally possessing substances that could be used to make explosives.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday she was doubtful about the quality of the tablet computers after the per-unit price in the budget plan had dropped from more than Bt3,000 to just Bt2,500.

The pro-universal healthcare scheme group yesterday objected to a government plan to collect Bt30 from healthcare service users, saying it wasn’t worthwhile and would create an unfair burden on poor people.

More signs possibly relating to planned bomb attacks and prepared by a group of Iran nationals have been identified on Bangkok streets, apart from the stickers reading “SEJEAL” which police discovered earlier, a police source said yesterday.

Three people have been arrested for purchasing elephant meat and ivory from poachers who allegedly hunted the pachyderms in Phetchaburi province’s Kaeng Krachan national park.

Four paramilitary rangers were injured when suspected insurgents detonated a bomb near the Joh I Rong-Pa Phai railway in Narathiwat’s Joh I Rong district yesterday.

PM Yingluck Shinawatra has urged caution and more study before any decision is made on the proposal to build cable-car services inside Loei’s Phu Kradung National Park. A mobile Cabinet meeting in Udon Thani on Tuesday was reportedly ready to approve the project.

Samphan Phranphruek, director of the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS), yesterday admitted that the questions posted on the Net by some students were used in the February 18-19 Ordinary National Education Testing (O-Net) exam papers, except the choices posted were incorrect.

The Embassy of Iran has sought to defend the reputation of a young Iranian woman whose name appeared in the press in relation to recent bomb blasts in Bangkok.

The market for fixed broadband access equipment saw exceptional growth for the second consecutive year, according to Ovum.

Sony’s slick PlayStation Vita handheld videogame gadget hit major markets around the world on Wednesday as the Japanese entertainment titan bucked a trend towards play on smartphones.

PM Yingluck Shinawatra has urged caution and more study before any decision is made on the proposal to build cable car services inside Loei’s Phu Kradeung National Park.

Four paramilitary rangers were injured when suspected insurgents detonated a bomb near the Joh Irong-Pa Phai railway in Narathiwat’s Joh Irong district Wednesday.

Greece’s justice ministry on Wednesday sustained a cyber-attack, the second this month, after the arrest of a teenager accused of participating in the first hacking, police said.

PHUKET: A Dutch tourist is out 5,000 baht and a mobile phone after her bag was snatched by a thief in Phuket yesterday. Monika Van Rossum told Chalong Police the theft occurred in the early evening while she and her husband were walking near the PTT service station on Patak Road. “We went out to have dinner.

PHUKET: Phuket Police are investigating the mysterious death of a 27-year-old Nakhon Sri Thammarat man found dead in his pickup truck parked by the side of a road yesterday. The body, identified by police as that of Phumin “Min” Inthongkham, was found at about 6pm in his Nissan NV pickup parked along Rassadanusorn Road, near the entrance to the National Housing Authority project off Soi Kingkaew. By the time Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers and Phuket City Police arrived at the scene, a large crowd had gathered around the Bangkok-registered vehicle.