Category Archives: Thailand

Former Cambodian opposition politician shot dead in Bangkok – reports

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A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire on the dual Cambodian-French national as he arrived in Thai capital from Cambodia’s Siem Reap

A former Cambodian opposition lawmaker and French national was fatally shot by a gunman in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai police have confirmed.

Lim Kimya, 74, died at the scene, police said, and was attacked just hours after he arrived in Thailand from the Cambodian city of Siem Reap by bus, accompanied by his French wife and brother.

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Thailand bans imports of plastic waste to curb toxic pollution

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Campaigners welcome move but say success depends on enforcement and global agreement on a treaty

Thailand has banned plastic waste imports over concerns about toxic pollution, as experts warn that failure to agree a global treaty to cut plastic waste will harm human health.

A law banning imports of plastic waste came into force this month in Thailand, after years of campaigning by activists. Thailand is one of several south-east Asian countries that has historically been paid to receive plastic waste from developed nations. The country became a leading destination for exports of plastic waste from Europe, the US, the UK and Japan in 2018 after China, the world’s biggest market for household waste, imposed a ban.

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Thai prime minister declares £324m in assets including 217 designer handbags

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Paetongtarn Shinawatra made required wealth declaration to national anti-corruption commission

Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, has declared £324m in assets including a collection of 217 designer handbags and 75 luxury watches in submissions on her wealth to a government body.

Paetongtarn, daughter of the billionaire ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, took office in September, the fourth member of the powerful family to lead Thailand.

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Ceremonies held across Asia to mark 20 years since Boxing Day tsunami

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Waves towering up to 30 metres killed more than 220,000 people in 15 countries in deadliest tsunami in history

Ceremonies have been held in countries across Asia to remember the more than 220,000 people who were killed two decades ago in the Indian Ocean tsunami, the most deadly tsunami in history.

On 26 December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Sumatra island, triggering huge waves that slammed into coastal communities across the Indian Ocean. The waves, which towered as high as 30 metres, killed 227,899 people across 15 countries.

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Third Australian fell ill after suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos

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Exclusive: Dual national understood to be in stable condition after tragedy which has claimed six lives

A third Australian also fell ill after a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos that has claimed six lives, Guardian Australia has confirmed.

Melburnians Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, died in hospital in Thailand after the tragedy, which also claimed the lives of people from Denmark, the UK and the US.

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Second Melbourne teen, Holly Bowles, dies after a suspected methanol poisoning in Laos

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The 19-year-old’s death comes as Vang Vieng’s tourism police says manager and owner of Nana backpacker hostel taken in for questioning

A second Australian teenager, Holly Bowles, has died after suspected methanol poisoning in Laos, it has been confirmed.

The 19-year-old’s death comes just one day after her friend Bianca Jones also died in a Thai hospital. The pair had been travelling through Laos together and fell ill a week ago.

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Melbourne teen Bianca Jones dies in hospital after methanol poisoning in Laos

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A New Zealand citizen is also ill, while a US citizen has died following a suspected mass poisoning event in the town of Vang Vieng

Melbourne teen Bianca Jones has died from methanol poisoning in a Thai hospital, a week after the Melbourne teen and her best friend fell ill while travelling in neighbouring Laos.

Anthony Albanese confirmed the 19-year-old’s death on Thursday, after her parents travelled to Thailand to be with her.

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Thai woman sentenced to death for cyanide poisoning in first of 14 murder trials

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Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn is accused of swindling thousands from victims before killing them

A Thai woman alleged to be among the worst serial killers in the kingdom’s history has been convicted and sentenced to death for poisoning a friend with cyanide, in the first of 14 murder trials.

Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, 36, described as an online gambling addict, is accused of swindling thousands of dollars from her victims before killing them with the chemical.

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‘Every parent’s nightmare’: family of Melbourne teen fighting for life after feared methanol poisoning hopes for answers

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Parents ‘want to ensure no other family’ feels same anguish as Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles remain in Thai hospitals

The family of one of two teenagers fighting for life in hospital after a suspected methanol poisoning incident in Laos hope authorities work out exactly what happened “as soon as possible”.

Melbourne friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, had been staying at a hostel in Vang Vieng, north of the Laos capital Vientiane, when they fell critically ill last week.

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Melbourne best friends on ‘dream getaway’ before feared methanol poisoning in Laos left them fighting for life

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Teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles in hospitals in neighbouring Thailand after incident last week

Two Australian teenagers are fighting for their lives in Thailand after a suspected methanol poisoning in neighbouring Laos, with the family of one them saying they were struggling to comprehend what had happened.

Friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles from Melbourne had been staying at a hostel in Vang Vieng, north of the Laos capital, Vientiane, when they fell critically ill last week, 3AW reported.

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Fleet of 30 luxury cars taken to Thailand returned to UK, police say

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Detectives say cars including £220,000 Lamborghini were fraudulently bought on finance, shipped abroad and sold on

A fleet of 30 luxury cars worth £6.5m whisked out of the UK to Thailand after being fraudulently bought on finance have been recovered and returned, police have said.

The haul of vehicles included a £220,000 Lamborghini Huracán Spyder – a car described by the maker as “the pinnacle of Italian taste and hand craftsmanship” – along with Porsches, Mercedes and a Ford Mustang.

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Rescued elephants drown as heavy flooding hits Thai tourist hub Chiang Mai

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Northern Thailand has been hit by severe floods over recent weeks, with Typhoon Yagi worsening the seasonal monsoon rains

Two elephants have drowned, while power was cut and hotels were forced to evacuate guests after the Thai tourist hotspot Chiang Mai was hit by its worst flooding in decades over the weekend.

Across Thailand, 20 provinces are flooded, including nine in the northern region, where 8,625 households are affected according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

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Many children feared dead after fire on school bus in Thailand

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Double-decker coach carrying 38 children and teachers reportedly caught fire after crashing with burst tyre

More than 20 people, including young children, are feared dead after their school coach caught fire during a field trip on the outskirts of the Thai capital, Bangkok.

The double-decker coach, which was carrying 38 students and six teachers, is reported to have caught fire after a burst tyre caused the vehicle to scrape along a metal crash barrier, creating sparks that ignited the petrol tank.

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Thai woman rescued after two hours trapped in four-metre python’s coils

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Arom Arunroj, 64, said she was doing the washing-up at about 8.30pm when the 20kg snake attacked her

A Thai woman has described being trapped in the coils of a 20kg (44lb) python for about two hours in her home before rescuers were able to free her.

Arom Arunroj, 64, was bitten several times by the snake, which had entered her home in Samut Prakan, a province south of Bangkok. She said she had been doing the washing-up at about 8.30pm when she suddenly felt something biting her leg. “I looked at it, and it was a snake,” she said in an interview broadcast on Thai media.

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Thai cave boys’ coach trapped again six years later by typhoon floods

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Ekkapol Chantawong, who spent nearly three weeks underground in 2018, forced to spend night on roof of home

The coach of the young Thai footballers who captured the world’s attention when they spent nearly three weeks trapped in a cave has found himself in another watery predicament – stuck on his roof by flash floods.

Ekkapol Chantawong said he was drawing on his 2018 experience with the Wild Boars team to get through the situation at his home in the northern Thai district of Mae Sai.

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YouTube chef found guilty of gruesome murder on Thai holiday island

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Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, from a prominent Spanish acting family, sentenced to life in prison after admitting dismembering the victim’s body and disposing of it

A court in Thailand has found Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a member of a famous Spanish acting family and a YouTube chef, guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced him to life in prison, in a lurid case that has gripped Spain.

The 30-year-old was convicted of the murder of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, a 44-year-old plastic surgeon from Colombia, when both were vacationing on the Thai holiday island of Koh Pha-ngan in August 2023.

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Thailand confirms Asia’s first known case of new deadlier mpox variant

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The department of disease control said tests on a traveller had confirmed he was infected with the Clade 1b strain of mpox

Thailand has confirmed Asia’s first known case of a new, deadlier strain of mpox in a patient who had travelled to the country from Africa.

The department of disease control said laboratory tests on the 66-year-old had confirmed he was infected with the mpox Clade 1b variant.

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Senior Thai politician who slapped reporter to be investigated

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Thai parliament to investigate Prawit Wongsuwon after he repeatedly hit a journalist as she tried to ask him questions

Thailand’s parliament has said it will investigate a senior politician and former army chief after he was filmed slapping a reporter as she tried to ask him questions.

Prawit Wongsuwon lashed out at a journalist from the public broadcaster ThaiPBS on Friday as she asked him about the appointment of Paetongtarn Shinawatra as the kingdom’s new prime minister.

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Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Thailand’s youngest prime minister

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Daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra approved as PM after frantic negotiations triggered by ousting of Srettha Thavisin

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of the billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has become Thailand’s youngest prime minister, taking office just days after her predecessor was ousted by a shock court ruling.

Paetongtarn was approved as the new head of government in a parliamentary vote that came after 24 hours of frantic negotiations triggered by a court judgment ordering Srettha Thavisin to step down as prime minister.

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Thai court removes Srettha Thavisin as prime minister after less than a year

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Srettha becomes fourth Thai PM dismissed by court in 16 years, after appointing former lawyer who served jail time

Thailand’s constitutional court on Wednesday dismissed the prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who served jail time, raising the spectre of more political upheaval and a reset of the governing alliance.

Srettha, a real-estate tycoon, becomes the fourth Thai prime minister in 16 years to be removed by verdicts of the same court, after it ruled he had violated the constitution by appointing a minister who did not meet ethical standards.

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