PRESS DIGEST - Thai newspapers - August 19

BANGKOK Aug 19 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Thai newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

POLITICS AND GENERAL NEWS

- The wreckage of a missing helicopter that carried three senior officials, including the top bureaucrat of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, was found in a mountainous forest in Nan yesterday, together with the bodies of all its five occupants (THE NATION)

- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen are expected to meet and discuss the Preah Vihear dispute during the Asean-Europe leaders summit in Brussels in October, Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan says (BANGKOK POST)

- The Budget Bill will passed on schedule tomorrow, House Speaker Chai Chidchob affirmed despite, the opposition's extreme criticism of the concentration of budgets at certain government agencies and a special allotment by House Budget Committee members (THE NATION)

- The Department of Special Investigation has opted not to indict ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his former wife Potjaman na Pombejra for their past concealment of Shin Corp shares (BANGKOK POST)

BUSINESS

- Vietnam devalued its currency by 2.1 percent against the U.S. dollar as the dong tries to buck the regional trend in an attempt to rein the country's trade deficit (THE NATION)

- The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) defended its efforts to limit foreign participation in the country's telecommunications sector, arguing that the rules do not violate global trade commitments (BANGKOK POST)

- The telecom regulator will check with the Information and Communications Technology Ministry to see if the use of certain Black Berry functions breaches the Computer Crime Act of 2007 (THE NATION)

- Thailand needs to offer new incentives and take steps to improve the investment climate to jump-start domestic investment, according to the Thailand Development Research Institute (BANGKOK POST)