The 21-year-old was discovered by housekeeping staff on holiday island Phuket
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An Australian tourist has been found dead in a Thai hotel room, one day before his flight home.
The 21-year-old was discovered by housekeeping staff at a hotel on holiday island Phuket on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Thai foreign ministry says landmines along disputed border newly deployed as it downgrades diplomatic relations
Thailand has recalled its ambassador to Cambodia and will expel Cambodia’s ambassador, the ruling Pheu Thai party said on Wednesday after a landmine incident that injured a Thai soldier along the disputed border between the two countries.
The Thai foreign ministry has lodged a formal protest with Cambodia, saying the landmines found in the area were newly deployed and had not been encountered during previous patrols, the party said on social media.
Continue reading...Rubio meets Chinese counterpart at gathering, as questions remain about US trade polices and commitment to region
Even as they face among the most punitive tariffs globally, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has sought to reassure south-east Asian countries of Washington’s commitment to the region, saying they may get “better” trade deals than the rest of the world.
In his first official visit to Asia, Rubio met the foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Malaysia on Thursday, telling his counterparts that the US had “no intention of abandoning” the region.
His visit came days after Donald Trump renewed his threat to impose severe tariffson many south-east Asian countries if they did not strike deals by 1 August.
Paetongtarn could be heard calling former Cambodian leader ‘uncle’ and criticising Thai commander in recording
Thailand’s constitutional court has suspended the prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, while it investigates alleged ethical violations relating to a leaked phone call.
The court announced on Tuesday that it would consider a petition filed by 36 senators calling for Paetongtarn’s dismissal, accusing her of dishonesty and breaching ethical standards in violation of the constitution.
Continue reading...Paetongtarn Shinawatra has angered Thai nationalists, who accuse the Thai leader of kowtowing to Cambodia
Thousands of protesters have gathered in Bangkok to demand the resignation of Thailand’s prime minister over a leaked phone call with a former Cambodian leader.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra has faced growing pressure over her handling of a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia that flared in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a brief exchange of fire.
Continue reading...In phone call, Paetongtarn Shinawatra discusses border dispute with former Cambodian leader and calls him ‘uncle’
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, apologised after a leaked phone conversation with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen prompted public anger and threatened the collapse of her government.
In the leaked call, Paetongtarn – daughter of the populist former leader Thaksin Shinawatra – discusses an ongoing border dispute with Hun Sen, who is known to be a friend of her family.
Continue reading...The border dispute has led to a surge in nationalist sentiment and tit-for-tat actions by both governments
Cambodia has banned imports of fruit and vegetables from Thailand, the latest escalation in a series of retaliatory actions sparked by a long-running border dispute between the South-east Asian neighbours.
Tensions flared in May when troops briefly exchanged fire at a contested area of the border, killing a Cambodian soldier.
Continue reading...The DNA of rare small-clawed otters in captivity in Japan has been matched to wild populations in poaching hotspots in Thailand
Posing for selfies on the laps of excited visitors, the otters of Tokyo’s animal cafes have learned to play their part in their online stardom. In thousands of social media videos, the aquatic mammals wriggle through the outstretched hands of adoring customers who reward their attention with food.
But the booming demand has raised major concerns among conservationists, with a study published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice linking the small-clawed otters in animal cafes in Japanese cities with wild populations in poaching hotspots in Thailand.
Continue reading...Nattapong Pinta had been seized in the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack and killed, according to Israeli military
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, according to defence minister, Israel Katz. .
Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades, and was retrieved from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Continue reading...Paul Chambers detained under strict lese-majesty law, which can lead to 15 years in jail on a single charge
A prominent American academic has been detained in Thailand after being charged with insulting the monarchy, a rare case in which a foreign national has fallen foul of the country’s strict lese-majesty law.
Paul Chambers, who specialises in civil-military relations and democratisation in south-east Asia, was denied bail on Tuesday and is being held at Phitsanulok provincial prison in northern Thailand, his lawyers said.
Continue reading...World Health Organization issues flash appeal for $8m of emergency support amid frantic search for survivors
AFP has spoken to relatives anxiously waiting at the site of a collapsed building in Bangkok.
Daodee Paruay said she had been at the site for two days, hoping for a miracle. Her brother was an electrician working on site, and he is believed to be under the rubble. “We wait, we wait.” she said.
Continue reading...Brief moment of relief as rescue workers carry a woman from the rubble of a hotel in Mandalay after a five-hour operation
A woman trapped beneath the remains of a hotel building for nearly 60 hours after a devastating earthquake struck Myanmar was pulled alive from the rubble on Monday, officials said, in a rare moment of hope for rescue teams scrambling to find survivors.
Rescuers, many of them unequipped volunteers, have spent days trying to free people from buildings collapsed following Friday’s huge earthquake, which killed more than 1,700 people in the country and at least 18 in neighbouring Thailand.
Continue reading...Red Cross says devastation is of a level not seen in Asia for over a century as more than 1,700 people killed
Rescue volunteers, many of them poorly equipped local people, raced to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings across central Myanmar, two days after a huge earthquake killed more than 1,700 people in the country and at least 18 in neighbouring Thailand.
Red Cross officials said Myanmar was facing “a level of devastation that hasn’t been seen over a century in Asia”, after a 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the centre of the country on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock.
Continue reading...Military rulers have called for ‘any country, any organisation’ to help as concerns grow over how rescuers will reach affected areas
The south-east Asian bloc Asean says it is ready to support quake recovery efforts in Myanmar and Thailand and recognises the urgent need for humanitarian assistance.
Foreign ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations said in a joint statement on Saturday that the bloc “reaffirms its solidarity with the families and communities affected by the earthquake”.
Continue reading...United States Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay
A 30-storey skyscraper under construction for government offices has collapsed in Bangkok trapping 43 workers, police and medics said, after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the building in the north of the Thai capital was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds after the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar.
Continue reading...Witnesses in Bangkok more than 1,000km away said people ran out onto the streets in panic
An earthquake of magnitude 7.7 has struck Myanmar, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, causing hundreds of people to pour out of swaying buildings in Bangkok, the capital of neighbouring Thailand 1,400km away.
USGS said the quake on Friday was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay, about 50km (30 miles) east of the city of Monywa.
Continue reading...Alexandra Clarke, 26, was on a diving excursion near Koh Tao when blaze broke out
A British tourist is missing in Thailand after the tour boat she was travelling on caught fire off the island of Koh Tao.
Alexandra Clarke, 26, from Lambeth, south London, was onboard the Davy Jones Locker for a diving excursion.
Continue reading...Canada and US said they would take 48 people held in Thai detention, according to officials, but Bangkok said to have feared upsetting China
Canada and the US offered to resettle 48 ethnic Uyghurs held in detention in Thailand over the past decade, sources have said, but Bangkok took no action for fear of upsetting China, where most of them were covertly deported last week.
Thailand has defended the deportation, which came despite calls from United Nations human rights experts, saying that it acted in accordance with laws and human rights obligations.
Continue reading...Amid claims that deportees may face torture, family of one man say he was forcibly repatriated and will never see his children again
The family of one of dozens of Uyghurs feared to have been forcibly deported from Thailand to China have condemned the decision as “shameful”. The deportations came despite a UN statement saying those being sent to China faced a “real risk of torture” on their return.
Thailand ignored protests by the UN refugee agency, EU and US in deporting 40 Uyghurs who had been detained in the country for a decade, claiming they had returned voluntarily “to their normal lives” with their families.
Continue reading...Head of anti-trafficking agency says dozens of Chinese criminal gangs were running the centres
Tens of thousands of people could be living inside illegal scam compounds in Myanmar that have proliferated near Thailand’s border, according to the head of Thailand’s anti-trafficking agency, who warned it could take months before all foreign nationals are repatriated.
Thailand has launched a major crackdown on scam compounds over recent weeks, cutting off cross-border electricity and fuel supplies.
Continue reading...