Thai premier survives no-confidence vote

Thailand's prime minister survived a no-confidence vote Friday, fending off accusations of incompetence, mismanagement and yielding national sovereignty.
But despite Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's success in the parliamentary vote, weekslong street protests demanding the resignation of his government continued.
The opposition's motion against Samak was rejected Friday in the 470-member lower house of Parliament by a vote of 280-162, with the rest of the lawmakers abstaining or absent. The lawmakers also rejected no-confidence motions against seven other Cabinet members.
The voting results were largely expected because Samak's six-party coalition, led by his People's Power Party, controls two-thirds of the seats in the lower house.