Thailand

Southeast Asian countries came down hard on covid, closing or heavily restricting their borders for much of the last two years. Few bob in Uluwatu’s famous surf, and Thailand’s white sand beaches are deserted for the first time in decades.…

BANGKOK Thai power producer Gulf Energy Development Pcl expects to finalise a joint venture (JV) with the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, in the second quarter this year, a senior executive told Reuters in an interview.…

Thailand expects to welcome hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers a month with the kickoff of a quarantine-free visa program that’s set to serve as a model for tourism-reliant countries balancing safe border reopenings with economic…

Local digital exchange operators have requested a two-year tax exemption for cryptocurrency trading, claiming the industry needs more time to generate sustainable growth momentum. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hosted an…

SONGKHLA Thirty-one illegal Myanmar migrants hoping to get work in Malaysia were caught at a rubber plantation near the southern border in the Sadao district late on Wednesday night. A patrol of soldiers, police and local officials…

Officials were still struggling to regain full control of the Mae La refugee camp in Tha Song Yang district on Wednesday evening after a riot there Tuesday night. District chief Yongyut Suksiri discussed the situation at the Myanmar…

Dancers moved gracefully in a circle, their beaded dress pieces swaying as they struck bird-like poses in a dance-drama known as "nora" -- a southern Thai performance art which was added Wednesday to Unesco's prestigious heritage list.…

Bangkok The student protest movement that gripped Thailand last year with its taboo-smashing needs for royal reform has generally died down, splintered by infighting and left rudderless by the arrest of numerous key leaders. But…

Bangkok The Bangkok once-legendary nightlife has been hammered by a seven-month ban on alcohol service imposed to curb the coronavirus, leaving pub and bar owners with an important headache. Thailand has registered around 1.7 million…

BANGKOK Thailand will let vaccinated visitors from 46 countries forgo Covid-19 quarantine from next month, up from 10 previously announced, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Thursday. The South-east Asian country is poised to…

BANGKOK Five more traveller destinations in Thailand will be opened to site visitors starting Nov 1 on the condition that there is no new massive Covid-19 cluster in the areas until then. The areas are Bangkok, Chiang Mai (Muang, Mae…

BANGKOK Fully vaccinated travelers from any country can now ebook vacations to tourism haven Phuket, the Thai authorities has announced, under tweaks to a struggling quarantine-free journey scheme. Thailand’s tourism industry has been…

BANGKOK Thai authorities on Tuesday (Sept 28) rushed to protect parts of Bangkok from floodwaters that have already inundated 70,000 homes and killed six people within the country's northern and central provinces. Tropical storm…

KANCHANABURI, Thailand Thailand border force Saturday arrested 11 Myanmar nationals for illegal entry, including two women who had spent two nights lost during a forest after getting separated from a larger group that was caught on…

KANCHANABURI, Thailand Fourteen illegal Myanmar migrants are arrested in a border area in Muang district on Thursday morning. A joint patrol of soldiers from the Lat Ya Task Force and native police found the foreigners, seven of whom…

Bangkok The government has pushed back plans to re-open Bangkok and some other major cities to foreign arrivals until November, because of vaccination rates falling short of targets, a senior official said on Wednesday. Officials…

BANGKOK Thailand is pushing ahead with efforts to open up more regions to visitors by the tip of the year in an effort to revive its battered tourism sector. But there's scepticism about the move because the Covid-19 vaccination rate…

Bangkok China wrapped up the country's first multinational peacekeeping exercise on Wednesday, demonstrating the extent of its military might on an enormous training ground ringed by mountains. Troops from Thailand, Mongolia and…

Despite the government's relaxation of lockdown measures, recreational venues remain restricted and lots of office workers are still performing from home. To satisfy bookworms and people curious about Thailand's rich history and wisdom, the…

SONGKHLA Fourteen Myanmar nationals were arrested on Saturday on the Thai side of the border opposite Malaysia's Kedah State in Sadao district, police said. The migrants were arrested in two groups. The first group was arrested on…

BANGKOK, Thailand Health authorities in Thailand raced to set up a large field hospital in a cargo building at one of Bangkok’s airports on Thursday as the country reported record numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths. Other field…

BANGKOK Thailand is ramping up efforts to curb trade in wildlife to help reduce the risk of future pandemics, officials said Thursday, though it was unclear whether that would mean an end to all such sales in the wildlife trafficking…

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia A worsening coronavirus outbreak in Malaysia has sparked alarm and is spilling over into neighboring Thailand, which recently discovered a more infectious variant in its south believed to have come from Malaysia.…

BANGKOK, Thailand Thailand on Friday said it has detected its first locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus variant discovered in India, as it announced the formal rollout of its national vaccination plan next month. The Center…

Bangkok Thailand reported a new daily high of nearly 10,000 coronavirus cases on Monday, more than two-thirds of them in prisons, as the kingdom battles its third wave of the pandemic. The kingdom's Covid-19 task force reported 9,635…

BANGKOK The United Nations’ special envoy on Myanmar met with Thailand’s prime minister on Friday as she continues efforts to end violence in Myanmar sparked by a military takeover in February. The envoy, Christine Schraner Burgener,…

Pascal Tanguay For the past four years, the Thai government has been making legislative reforms to build a market for medical cannabis. With the potential to reap significant economic benefits and help patients in need, the question…

Bangkok A prominent ethnic rebel group attacked and captured a military base in eastern Myanmar near the Thai border early Tuesday morning, an official from the group said. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted…

BANGKOK Authorities in Thailand are imposing fines of up to 20,000 baht ($640) for people who fail to wear face masks in public in 48 provinces, as the government struggles to cope with a new wave of coronavirus cases that is straining…

The UN's special envoy for Myanmar is to embark on an Asian tour to step up diplomatic efforts to tackle the crisis, as the death toll from the junta's crackdown on dissent passed 600 on Friday. The push by Christine Schraner Burgener…

Bangkok Thailand on Friday joined several European nations in suspending the AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clot fears, despite a range of health authorities around the world insisting it was safe. The move came just hours after US…

Bangkok The Myanmar junta's foreign minister visited Thailand on Wednesday as regional powers tried to broker an end to three weeks of deadly unrest triggered by a military coup. Foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin held talks with his…

The economic growth trend in Laos started when it first opened to foreign trade and investment in the early 1990s. Three major economic crises have hit Laos since, profoundly affecting the country’s growth strategies. Laos is a…

BANGKOK Thai officials said Thursday they approved the transfer back to Tehran of three Iranians who were involved in a botched 2012 bomb plot, as Iran released a 33-year-old Australian academic who was imprisoned for more than two years…

BANGKOK Thailand’s government lodged complaints with police Thursday against Facebook and Twitter, alleging they failed to comply with court orders to block content judged illegal under Thai law. Minister of Digital Economy and Society…

BANGKOK A plaque honoring struggles for democracy in Thailand has been removed less than 24 hours after it was installed by anti-government protesters at a historic royal field in the capital. The plaque had been installed Sunday at Sanam…

BANGKOK Protests have been growing in Thailand against the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader, with some protesters also calling for reforms of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s monarchy. Below is a timeline of…

BANGKOK  Anti-government demonstrators occupying a historic field in the Thai capital on Sunday installed a plaque symbolizing the country’s transition to democracy to replace the original one that was mysteriously ripped and stolen three…

JAKARTA, Indonesia The Thai government last Sunday met a delegation of Muslim groups in southern Thailand to hear their aspirations amid ongoing violence in the region. The Southern Thai Peace Delegation was led by Baba Abdulrahman,…

BANGKOK Protesters gathered Saturday in Bangkok for the most ambitious rally so far in a pro-democracy campaign that has shaken up the government and Thailand’s conservative establishment. Organizers predicted that as many as 50,000…

BANGKOK Thailand’s Cabinet has approved in principle a plan to reopen the country to tourists by issuing special renewable 90-day visas and limiting their numbers to 1,200 a month. Deputy Government Spokeswoman Traisulee Traisaranakul…

BANGKOK Thailand’s Central Bankruptcy Court on Monday gave the go-ahead to financially ailing Thai Airways International to submit a business reorganization plan and appointed seven planners to oversee it. A press release from the…

BANGKOK A top official in Thailand said Wednesday that his country will step up action against online content that breaks its laws, two days after forcing Facebook to block a group that was posting material critical of the monarchy.…

BANGKOK Anti-government protesters gathered in Thailand’s capital on Sunday for a rally that may test whether their movement has any strength beyond the college campuses where it has blossomed. Thousands of people assembled at Bangkok’s…

Bangkok, Thailand Thailand on Monday lifted a nationwide curfew after more than two months and allowed restaurants to resume selling alcohol as the coronavirus crisis eased, with 21 days since a recorded case of local transmission. The…

BANGKOK Natalie Bin Narkprasart’s business was in Paris. But she was locked down by COVID-19 restrictions and stuck in Thailand. Her heart was in Thailand, too -- and it ached for her compatriots who were suffering in the pandemic. She…

Bangkok Rock fans in Thailand watched their favorite bands play via video-meeting platform Zoom on Sunday as a live music festival went online. Public gatherings have been banned in Thailand since mid-March to prevent the spread of…

BANGKOK A Thai dissident has been abducted in Cambodia, a human rights group said Friday, raising concern that a mysterious campaign targeting exiles for disappearance or death may have been revived. Armed men snatched Wanchalearm…

BANGKOK Thailand on Tuesday reported two new coronavirus cases and no new deaths, bringing the total to 3,017 cases and 56 deaths since the outbreak started in January. The two new cases are a 19-year-old woman from Bangkok and a…

BANGKOK Thailand reported 33 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, for a total of 2,551 cases, as well as three more deaths, taking the southeast Asian nation’s toll to 38. Two Thai men aged 74 and 44, and a woman aged 65 died, said…

Kathmandu,Nepal Spring is the tourist season for Nepal when thousands of visitors come to hike the mountain trails. At the Lukla Airport, the only gateway to the Mount Everest region, there were more than 200 trekkers stranded, according…

BANGKOK Thailand on Wednesday canceled the grant of visa on arrival for 18 countries and visa exemption for three others to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the country’s interior minister said. Previously, nationals of 18 countries…

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia Hundreds of cruise ship passengers long stranded at sea by virus fears cheered as they finally disembarked Friday and were welcomed to Cambodia by the nation’s authoritarian leader who handed them flowers. Prime…

A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 43,000 people globally. The latest figures reported by global health authorities as of Tuesday in Beijing: China: 1,016 deaths among 42,638 confirmed cases on the mainland. In…

A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 17,300 people globally. Cases confirmed as of Monday morning in Beijing: China: 17,205 cases on the mainland. In addition, Hong Kong has 14 cases and Macao has seven. Most of the…

BEIJING China reported Monday a sharp rise in the number of people infected with a new coronavirus, including the first cases in the capital. The outbreak coincides with the country’s busiest travel period, as millions board trains and…