Police say at least 10 shot dead and several wounded in north-east of country
A soldier has killed at least 10 people in a shooting rampage in Nakhon Ratchasima in the nort-east of Thailand and remains at large, police have said.
The soldier opened fire at different locations in the city, which is more than 155 miles (250km) from Bangkok, the police spokesman Kissana Phathanacharoen said in a message to reporters.
Continue reading...Suspected infection of taxi driver by traveller raises fears virus could reach tourist areas
Thailand has recorded its first human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus after a taxi driver was apparently infected by a traveller, heightening concern over the virus’s potential to spread across the globe.
The taxi driver was among five new patients confirmed on Friday in the worst-hit country outside China, bringing the total number of cases in Thailand to 19.
Continue reading...WHO is working with Thai officials after woman who travelled from China is hospitalised with new strain of coronavirus
Health authorities have confirmed that a woman travelling from China to Thailand has been infected with a new strain of the coronavirus linked to a worrying outbreak in Wuhan.
The World Health Organisation said on Monday it was working with Thai officials after the case was identified and the woman hospitalised on 8 January, marking the first case the mystery illness has been detected outside China.
Continue reading...About 60% of those rescued last year were women, often trafficked for seafood industry or sex trade
Thailand rescued a record 1,807 victims of human trafficking last year, according to data that campaigners on Monday said raised concerns about the nation’s ability to support survivors.
The number of victims soared from 622 in 2018, while the previous high was 982 in 2015, the government data showed.
Continue reading...Beiret Bureerak was having treatment for illness contracted while taking part in mission to free 12 boys and their football coach
A Thai navy Seal has died from a blood infection he caught while rescuing 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded cave in northern Thailand.
Petty Officer Beiret Bureerak died while receiving treatment for the illness, the Royal Thai Navy said. Another rescuer, navy diver Lieutenant Commander Saman Kuman, died during the mission.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...From the shanty towns of Khlong Toei to the hidden parts of Chinatown, Cody Ellingham walked Thailand’s capital every night for five weeks to photograph the city for his book Bangkok Phosphors
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Pope Francis arrives in Bangkok to boost morale of Catholic minority and speak about human trafficking
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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