The Ubon Ratchathani Provincial Court has dismissed a royal defamation charge against a 33-year-old man for damaging portraits of the King displayed in front of Trakan Phuet Phon high school.

<div>Dams constructed by Chinese government along the Mekong river are forcing villagers in Ubon Ratchathani into lives of uncertainty, even as they reap no benefits from the dams themselves. &nbsp;</div> <div> </div>

<div> <div>Local authorities in the northeast of Thailand have accused an anti-dam activist of breaching the controversial Referendum Act after he criticized the draft charter on his Facebook three weeks ago. </div></div>

<div><em>The Supreme Court sentenced to life imprisonment a northeastern red shirt leader convicted of arson, committed in response to the violent crackdown on red shirts in Bangkok. The red-shirt tells Prachatai he would prefer just to be executed.&nbsp;</em></div> <p></p>

<p>Activists who have been calling on the local authorities to open the gates of a controversial dam have summoned for talks by the military in Isan, Thailand’s northeast. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>The 22nd Army Division of the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani Province on Saturday issued a letter to summon key leaders of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai.org/english/category/assembly-of-the-poor">Assembly of the Poor (AOP)</a>, a civil society organisation which is the voice of Thailand’s poor, for a discussion at 1 pm on 30 June. &nbsp;</p>

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