Southeast Asian leaders will race to get a sprawling China-backed trade pact over the line at a regional meeting in Thailand this weekend, as Beijing's bruising trade war with Washington rumbles on.If signed, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be the world's largest trade pact and is seen as a way for Beijing to cement trade ties in Asia as Washington retreats from the region.Leaders are hoping for a breakthrough in RCEP talks at this weekend's meeting

Last Monday, civic networks in Thailand gathered to mark World Habitat Day 2019 and called on the government to address land and housing problems facing the poor in both, urban communities and rural areas. The call was made at a gathering of 2,000 members of the Four Region Slums Network (FRSN) and People's Movement for a Just Society (P-Move).

Thailand could be the next major ASEAN city to move its capital.

Two men from Thailand's insurgency-hit south have been arrested and linked to several small bombs which rattled Bangkok Friday as it hosted a regional summit attended by United States (US) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, leaving four people wounded but not disrupting the diplomatic event.Thailand, which has a grim history of political violence and is fighting a long-running rebellion in the Muslim-majority south, remains deeply divided after a controversial March election returned a junt

The United States (US)-China trade war and the stalled negotiations for trade pacts and maritime guidelines were among the main issues at last week’s 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, highlighting the region’s concerns over growing geopolitical and trade tensions.Global trade is facing uncertainties after the US and China embarked on a see-saw of tariffs last year, with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte calling for the two economic superpowers to “resolve their differences before the situation s

Malaysia's prime minister on Friday vowed to help Rohingya Muslims seeking refuge in Malaysia, reiterating the call for Southeast Asian leaders to "stop the oppression" of the stateless minority group expelled from Myanmar. Last year Mahathir Mohamad castigated Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) meet in Singapore for defending the military's crackdown on the Rohingya. His direct condemn

Over the click-clack of the teak loom, Niphon's family laments the lack of apprentice weavers at his Bangkok silk shop, as modernity lures young Muslims away from a trade their community has dominated for generations.They say they are the last of the Muslim weavers of Baan Krua, a storied neighbourhood of dilapidated wooden houses and a mosque in downtown Bangkok, nearly engulfed by the city creep of condos and skyscrapers."This is Muslim heritage...

The traffic situation in Southeast Asia is famous for all the wrong reasons.