Thai PM back to work after New Year holidays

BANGKOK, January 2 (TNA) - Like others, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been back to work after New Year holidays, first calling meetings with authorities concerned to discuss government plans over the next couple of years, including those for the violence-plagued Thai far South. Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Waratep Rattanakorn told reporters on Wednesday, after having a luncheon meeting with Premier Yingluck, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Pongthep Thepkarnchana and Interior Minister Jarupong Ruangsuwan, that government plans over the next few years had been roughly discussed at the meeting, but the prime minister will inform her administration's plans and policies over the next couple of years to the Cabinet at its first meeting for 2013, set on January 8. As for a plan to organize a referendum to seek public opinions on constitutional amendments, Warathep said that a conclusion is expected soon. The prime minister later called a meeting with security authorities concerned on Wednesday afternoon, also the first of its kind for 2013, expected to be focused on proposed solutions to persistent unrest in the southernmost Thai region and ways to fight at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against neighbouring Cambodia's attempt to unilaterally seek the UN listing of the ancient Preah Vihear Temple along the common border as a world heritage. (TNA)