Category Archives: Thailand

Thousands join biggest protest in Bangkok since 2014 coup

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Thai anti-government rally held in response to ban on Future Forward opposition party

Thousands of people joined the biggest protest in Bangkok since a 2014 coup on Saturday, after Thai authorities moved to ban a party that has rallied opposition to the government of the former military ruler Prayuth Chan-ocha.

The demonstration, called a day earlier by the Future Forward party leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a 41-year-old billionaire, was reminiscent of the street protests that have roiled Bangkok over the past two decades of turbulent politics.

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Traditional Thai massage gains Unesco heritage status

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Practice of nuad Thai, which has gained global recognition, is added to Unesco’s ‘intangible cultural heritage’ list

The body-folding, sharp-elbowed techniques of Thai massage have been added to Unesco’s prestigious heritage list.

Originating in India and practised in Thailand for centuries, the massage was popularised when a special school opened in the 1960s to train massage therapists from around the world.

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Elon Musk: pedo guy insult was ‘not classy’ but not meant literally

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Billionaire entrepreneur admits he ‘would say very little at all if I just said sense’

When Elon Musk took the stand on Tuesday, the question was whether he defamed a British cave explorer by calling him a “pedo guy”, but at times it seemed the real issue was more fundamental – the fragility of male egos.

“This is a case about insults between two men,” said Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, in his opening statement to the jury in a federal courthouse in Los Angeles on the first day of the trial.

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Elon Musk defamation trial begins in case brought by British caver

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LA court to hear Vernon Unsworth’s lawsuit over comments after Thai cave rescue

It was a gripping tale of peril and prowess that captivated the world for more than two tense weeks in the summer of 2018. Twelve boys and their football coach were lost in a subterranean maze in the Tham Luong caves in Thailand. An international team of cave divers raced to rescue them before monsoon rains were due to flood the caves. The story was destined to be fodder for a Hollywood blockbuster – and that was before an eccentric billionaire got involved.

On Tuesday, a postscript to the feelgood tale of the Tham Luang cave rescue will play out in a federal courthouse in Los Angeles, California, as the trial begins in a defamation case brought by the British caver Vernon Unsworth against Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk.

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Deer found dead in Thailand with plastic bags and underwear in stomach

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The animal had 7kg of rubbish in its stomach including coffee grounds, noodle packaging and towels

A deer has been found dead in Thailand after swallowing 7kg (15lb) of plastic bags and other rubbish, raising the alarm on littering in the country’s waters and forests.

The south-east Asian country is one of the world’s largest consumers of plastic, with Thais using up to 3,000 single-use plastic bags each per year, whether for wrapping street food, takeaway coffee or packing groceries.

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Asean summit: US condemns Chinese ‘intimidation’ in the South China Sea

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National security adviser Robert O’Brien says Beijing has bullied smaller nations by militarising resource-rich waters

The US has condemned Chinese “intimidation” in the South China Sea, alleging it has bullied smaller south-east Asian nations by militarising the resource-rich waters and seeking to control the global trade route.

Speaking at an Asean-US summit in Bangkok, the US national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said China’s sweeping exclusive claims in the South China Sea – already rejected by the court of arbitration – were illegitimate and a form of realist imperialism.

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World’s largest trade deal RCEP faces delay as India pushes back against China

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Sixteen-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will cover half the planet’s people

The world’s largest trade deal is unlikely to be signed this year, with a draft statement from south-east Asian leaders suggesting it will be delayed until 2020, despite China’s desire to bring it into operation as soon as possible as a counterweight to its debilitating tariff war with the US.

The 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – known as the RCEP – would be the world’s largest when operational, spanning India to New Zealand, including 30% of global GDP and half of the world’s people.

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Thai woman duped investors out of millions in Ponzi scheme, say police

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Mae Manee, 28, on the run after being accused of fraud involving a fake gold shop and the offer of 93% return to investors

A woman is on the run from Thai police after being accused of scamming nearly 3,000 people out of a total of 861 million baht (US28.3m), and setting up a fake gold shop to fool her alleged victims about her assets.

Wantanee Tippaveth, 28, known as Mae Manee, is accused of fraud and other financial crimes after allegedly setting up a Ponzi scheme offering 93% profit to a total of 2,977 investors. Her boyfriend Metee Chinpa, 20, has also been charged with financial misdemeanours.

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Thai king fires royal guards for ‘adultery’ as purges continue

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Purges, which come after royal consort was stripped of her titles, offer rare glimpse into the palace

Thailand’s king has sacked four royal guards, two of them for “adultery”, in a fresh wave of palace purges a week after his royal consort was stripped of all titles for “disloyalty”.

Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 67, ordered the dismissal of two male guards from the “bedroom section”, the Royal Gazette announced late on Tuesday.

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Thai king sacks six royal officials over ‘evil actions’, days after removing consort

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Royal household bureau members including a nurse and vet sacked for breaching ‘disciplinary conduct’

Thailand’s king has fired six senior palace officials for their “evil actions”, the palace announced Wednesday, days after the monarch stripped his consort of all her titles for “disloyalty”.

In a week of palace intrigue which has gripped the country, King Maha Vajiralongkorn fired six high-ranking officials from the royal household bureau, including “a nurse at the bedroom guard service” and a veterinarian, according to two separate announcements released by palace mouthpiece the Royal Gazette.

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King’s sacking of consort highlights power of Thai monarchy

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Vajiralongkorn wields dominant control over his country’s politics and media

When Thailand’s 67-year-old King Maha Vajiralongkorn stripped his royal consort of her titles on Monday, it sent shockwaves through Thai society. Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi had spent several years as a companion to the monarch alongside the now queen, but had only been given her official title in July.

The palace claimed her title was stripped because Sineenat, 34, tried to convince the king to elevate her to the same standing as his fourth wife and current queen, Suthida Tidjai, 41.

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Thailand’s king strips ‘disloyal’ royal consort of titles and military ranks

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Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, 34, was accused of breaching code of conduct for courtiers

King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand has stripped his 34-year-old consort of all titles for “disloyalty” and apparent “ambition” to match the queen’s position, a royal command said, less than three months after Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi was bestowed with the honour.

Wongvajirapakdi – known by her nickname Koi – was gifted the title on the king’s 67th birthday on 28 July, the first time in nearly a century a Thai monarch had taken a consort.

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Thailand panda death that sparked outrage caused by heart failure, not neglect

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Thailand’s Chiang Mai zoo was blamed for the death of Chuang Chuang in September, causing a panda diplomacy row

Thailand’s Chiang Mai zoo has been exonerated in a panda diplomacy row after autopsy results revealed that a celebrity panda that had been loaned to the zoo by China, died of heart failure and not from neglect or foul play.

The sudden death of Chuang Chuang, this September sparked outrage in China, where social media users blamed the Thai zoo for his death, suggesting it was caused by neglect or careless feeding.

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Eleven elephants die after falling into waterfall in Thailand – video

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Wildlife officials in Thailand have discovered the carcasses of five more wild elephants downstream from a waterfall where the bodies of six other elephants were found on Saturday. 

The animals were originally thought to have died while trying to save each other after falling into a waterfall at Khao Yai national park, but a drone being used to investigate the deaths later identified five further carcasses, including that of a three-year-old calf.

Only two elephants in the herd are known to have survived the fall at the 200-metre-high Haew Narok waterfall in Thailand's mountainous north-east

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Six wild elephants die trying to save each other in Thai waterfall

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Incident reportedly happened after baby elephant slipped over falls

Six wild elephants have died while trying to save each other after falling into a waterfall at the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.

Two others were saved during the incident on Saturday at the Haew Narok waterfall in the north-eastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, officials said.

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Thailand PM considers moving capital as Bangkok congestion takes toll

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Leader Prayut Chan-o-cha may follow in Indonesia’s footsteps after floating idea as a way to tackle overcrowding

Thailand could be the next nation in south-east Asia to relocate its capital after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha hinted such a move could be a “possibility” under his government.

Taking inspiration from neighbouring Myanmar and similar plans being formulated in Indonesia, the Thai prime minister suggested that relocating the capital could help Bangkok overcome its mounting urban challenges.

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Outrage in China as giant panda on loan to Thailand zoo dies

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Chuang Chuang reportedly collapsed after eating bamboo in Chiang Mai Zoo

The sudden death of a giant panda on loan to a zoo in Thailand has sparked outrage in China and calls for no more of the bears to be lent to the country.

Chuang Chuang, a 19-year-old male, reportedly collapsed on Monday afternoon after eating bamboo in Chiang Mai zoo in northern Thailand, according to Thai media.

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Half of tigers rescued from Thai temple have died, officials say

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Inbreeding blamed as only 61 of 147 big cats survive after removal from tourist attraction

More than half of the 147 tigers confiscated from a Thai temple have died, park officials have said, blaming genetic problems linked to inbreeding at the once money-spinning tourist attraction.

For years, the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple in the western province of Kanchanaburi attracted hordes of tourists who could be photographed – for a fee – next to scores of tigers.

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