All the latest news from Thailand and around the world.
Bangkok was the world’s top destination last year, three years in a row, with 20.05 million people visiting the capital in 2017 and a 9.6% growth in number of visitors is predicted for this year, according to Mastercard’s Global Destinations Cities Index. Visitors to Bangkok tend to stay 4.7 nights during their trips and spend,
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday there was “plenty of evidence” of China trying to meddle in the upcoming US elections and that Beijing wanted him to lose because he had confronted China on trade issues. Asked about his charge of Chinese election meddling in his remarks at the UN
The board of Rubber Authority of Thailand will ask for 9 billion baht from the government’s Central Fund to help about 300,000 rubber planters who each owns not more than 10 rai of rubber plantation in the wake of falling natural rubber prices. An informed source from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives said
An infuriated Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha today hit back at veteran politician Sanoh Thienthong who had earlier cast doubts on the possibility of his return to power after the election. “He should go home and rest. How could he look down upon Thai people that way?” Prayut said. Sanoh, who is Pheu Thai party’s
A Southern Thai separatist group is optimistic about the appointment of a controversial former inspector general of police of Malaysia as the new facilitator for peace talks to end violence in southern Thailand, according to Malaysiakini. It quoted a senior representative of the Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) ) as saying that they were expecting
Scarcely anyone knew about the rescue of four Thais trapped in flooded Tham Luang cave by two British cave divers days before they found the 13 Wild Board and their coach still alive inside the cave. This untold episode of yet another rescue mission – low-key though but as dangerous – was unveiled to The
The top executive of a company that supplied the controversial GT200 remote substance detectors worth altogether nine million baht to the Royal Guards Regiment was on Wednesday sentenced to nine years imprisonment by the Don Meuang District Court after he was found guilty of fraud. Mr Sutthiwat Wattanakit of AVA Satcom Company, two staff members
US-based Chevron Corp and PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) are the only two contenders that submitted their bids for concessions of the Erawan and Bongkot natural gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand. The National Energy Policy Council chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will consider and approve the winning bidders in December and the
Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit has used the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit in New York as a forum to lambast the Thai military for creating what he described as a vicious circle in Thailand’s politics. The summit, a high-level nonpartisan forum that normally attracts some of the most important world and business leaders, was
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha today fired the Pattaya City mayor and replaced him with Sonthaya Khunplum, a political advisor to the prime minister and a member of the politically influential Khunplum clan which dominates the eastern provinces. Sonthaya is the leader of Palang Chon Party which is seen as a political ally of the National
Alleged Laotian drug baron Xaysana Keopimpa who has a penchant for sports cars and links with some of Bangkok’s celebrities was today sentenced to life imprisonment by the Criminal Court after he was found guilty of smuggling more than three million meth pills from Laos into Thailand to be delivered to Malaysia through his drug
The Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted former director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Tarit Pengdit and four other police officers from charges of malfeasance filed against them by former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his then deputy, Mr Suthep Thuagsuban. Abhisit and Suthep accused Tarit and the four DSI officers of abuse of
In a bid to block Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s comeback after the general election, Pheu Thai Party has approached its erstwhile political rival, the Democrat Party, with the possibility of forming a political alliance, according to an informed Pheu Thai source. Pokin Polakul, a Pheu Thai key figure, was reported to have been assigned to
A plane flies in front of a full moon in Sydney on September 25, 2018.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam admitted this morning that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be spared the two-year jail handed down on him in connection with the Ratchadapisek land scandal 10 years ago after the statute of limitations of the case expires on October 21. Thaksin has been in self-exile since leaving the country
Alongkorn Pollabutr, a potential contender to challenge the leadership of Abhisit Vejjajiva, said this morning that the Democrat Party is at a cross-roads and needs to initiate a major transformation in order to stay politically meaningful. Declaring that he said he has the vision and the intention to lead the country’s oldest political party into
