Thailand

Thailand’s largest party braces for polls

Thailand’s Pheu Thai party has chosen 86-year-old senior party member Viroj Pao-in to lead the country’s main opposition party to challenge the ruling junta as it prepares for upcoming elections which are slated to take place in February next year.

30 October 2018
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Thailand paves the way for renewables

Similar to many other growing Southeast Asian countries, Thailand is facing an increase in energy demand. According to the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), energy demand in Southeast Asia in 2040 is expected to increase between 110- to 130 percent. Meanwhile, due to Thailand’s good economic performance and population growth, energy demand is forecasted to rise by almost 80 percent in the next 20 years. At the same time, Thailand is now facing a fossil fuels crisis.

30 October 2018
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Malaysian PM visits Thailand

Malaysia's new leader Mahathir Mohamad met his Thai counterpart on Wednesday in his first visit to his northern neighbour, pledging his help to bring peace in Thailand's violence-scarred south.Thailand's mainly Muslim southern region bordering Malaysia has been in the grips of a low-level but bloody insurgency for more than a decade, as ethnic Malay militants battle the Buddhist-majority state for greater autonomy.The insurgency has seen almost 7,000 people - mostly civilians -

25 October 2018
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Prayut’s social media ban

Last week, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha launched a new Facebook page, new Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a new website. The move has been met with mixed reactions on social media with some praising and others criticising him. Prayut explained that it was all to “come into closer contact with the public.” Politicians, however, believe he has taken unfair advantage of the situation in the run-up to the general election expected in late February.

22 October 2018
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Thailand immigrant crackdown

Allegedly aimed at busting visa abusers and illegal migrants, a Thai police operation called "X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner" has raised questions about racial profiling and fears for asylum-seekers caught in its web.Tens of millions of tourists come to Thailand each year for the cheap living and postcard-perfect beaches, with some seeking out the seedier thrills of a bustling sex industry.But as weak law enforcement, porous borders and corruption help make the country a hub for transnation

22 October 2018
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10 costliest natural disasters in 20 years

Thailand’s Great Flood of 2011 which took place between July and December affected more than two-thirds of the country. The event, deemed the worst flooding in half a century, affected 65 out of the country’s 77 provinces, killing more than 800 people. It was estimated that 13.6 million lives were affected, with a million of them displaced or left homeless. The economic damages associated with the flooding event were widespread.

12 October 2018
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Thailand’s Chinese tourist dilemma

With its sandy beaches, megamalls and local culture and cuisine, it’s no wonder that tourism contributes a significant amount to Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP). According to the Tourism and Sports Ministry, tourism contributed 17.7 percent to Thailand’s GDP in 2016 and 16.7 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, the World Travel and Tourism Council says tourism accounted for 10.4 percent of global GDP and 313 million jobs, or 9.9 percent of total employment in 2017.

9 October 2018
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Thailand’s EEC draws investors

Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is slated to be an arterial node for trade, investment, and regional transportation, besides also serving as a strategic gateway to the Southeast Asian region.

8 October 2018
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Myanmar migrant workers in debt bondage

A "mafia" of recruitment agents is trapping Myanmar migrants to Thailand in debt bondage despite a 2017 law meant to fight exploitation in the kingdom's notoriously shadowy job market, activists and workers say.Migrant labour - much of it from Myanmar - has propped up Thailand's economy for years, with foreigners working everywhere from factories to fishing boats, part of a global chain to produce standard supermarket items such as frozen shrimps, ready meals and pet food.

5 October 2018
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Spray-can satire headache for junta

Thailand's junta chief caricatured as a "lucky cat" with a paw raised to rake in money, or his face crossed out by a thick, red line - daring graffiti is cropping up across Bangkok as the city's walls become a canvas for rare political scorn.The pioneer of the new wave of street artists is "Headache Stencil", whose spray cans satirise the powerful in a country where free expression has been muted since a 2014 coup.Dubbed Thailand's "Banksy", Headac

26 September 2018
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Thailand relaxes political activity ban

Thailand partially eased its ban on political activities, the ruling junta announced Friday, allowing political parties to recruit new members for the first time since 2014 ahead of polls slated for next year.Sweeping restrictions on political parties and campaigns were imposed after the military took power in a coup four years ago.

16 September 2018
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Innovating to survive in retail

The Electronic Transactions Development Agency’s (ETDA) latest report has revealed that the market value of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce in Thailand ranked the highest in Southeast Asia at US$23.3 billion in 2017.

14 September 2018
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