Tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul is causing a splash in Thailand’s general election by campaigning for the legalisation of household marijuana cultivation, a populist policy that could help him become prime minister.His Bhum Jai Thai party would let households grow up to six cannabis plants, Anutin said in an interview, enabling people to supplement their incomes by earning as much as US$2,200 per kilogram of the crop.

A billionaire ex-premier plays poker against the junta chief, who has extra cards tucked up his sleeve – satirical swipes at the country’s chaotic politics are peppering Thai art galleries and social media with elections just weeks away.Headache Stencil – dubbed "Thailand's Banksy" – has led the artistic charge against the powers that be.His latest exhibition "Thailand Casino" which runs through the 24 March election, takes a hatchet to the junta and the power plays o

On 8 March, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, triggering the biggest hunt in aviation history. Only a few fragments of the jet have been found, all on western Indian Ocean shores, and search efforts ended last year. The disappearance has spawned a host of theories – some credible, some outlandish.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday warned the Philippines against letting in foreigners who could "disturb" the country's domestic political stability, as President Rodrigo Duterte's Beijing pivot sparks an influx of Chinese workers.At least 200,000 Chinese have flocked to Manila since Duterte's 2016 election, many of them employed by online gaming firms that cater to Chinese players, a Philippine Senate inquiry was told late last year.Some Filipino

A key party linked to Thailand's powerful Shinawatra clan was dissolved Thursday by a court, just weeks before a general election, over its ill-starred bid to front a princess as a candidate for premier.Thai Raksa Chart, which is tied to ex-premiers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, proposed Princess Ubolratana as its prime ministerial candidate if its bloc emerged with a lower house majority after the 24 March election.It was an unprecedented move in a constitutional monarchy where royal

China’s diplomats aren’t being very diplomatic.In the past few months, its envoy to Canada publicly accused his hosts of “white supremacy,” its ambassador in Sweden labelled the Swedish police “inhumane” and blasted the country’s “so-called freedom of expression,” and its chief emissary in South Africa said President Donald Trump’s policies were making the United States (US) “the enemy of the whole world.”“I don’t think we are witnessing a pattern of misstatements and slips of the tongue,&quo

The world’s two largest economies are nearing the finish line on a trade deal that could be signed by President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as early as this month. But that doesn’t mean the trade war ends.More work remains on a deal that will ensure that Beijing will follow through on its commitments, United States (US) Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Congress last week.

Indonesia and Australia on Monday signed a long-awaited trade deal after months of diplomatic tension over Canberra's contentious plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem.Indonesian trade minister Enggartiasto Lukita and his Australian counterpart Simon Birmingham wrapped up the multi-billion-dollar agreement in Jakarta, some nine years after negotiations first started.The pact will include improved access for Australian cattle and sheep farmers to Indonesia's 260 million people, while

Late last year, the media was buzzing with news of another possible coup should Thailand return to democracy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid tribute to Vietnam's late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh on Saturday before starting his long journey home through China, after his Hanoi summit with United States (US) President Donald Trump ended without a nuclear deal.Kim boarded his olive-green armoured train at the Dong Dang border station in Vietnam before it rolled northward toward China en route to Pyongyang, kicking off a marathon 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile) journey expected to take two an