News
China says 2 activists sent back by Thailand now detained
The Chinese government confirmed it has repatriated and detained two dissidents who were living in Thailand and had won UN recognition as refugees, a state-run newspaper reported 26 November. Thai police handed over the two Chinese men — Jiang Yefei and Dong Guanping — to Chinese ...
US to review Thai trade benefits after labour complaint
The United States will review Thailand’s eligibility for trade benefits after complaints that the country is not properly protecting workers’ rights, the US Trade Representative said. Keep reading ...
Thailand aims to cut emissions 25%
Thailand will clarify its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20-25% within 2030 at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 21, in Paris next month. Prasert Sirinapaporn, director of Climate Change Management and the Coordination Division of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental ...
Migrants processing Thai chicken exports abused, exploited— Researchers
Migrants processing Thai chicken for its biggest export market, Europe, face widespread abuse by their employers, partly because foreign auditors have focused on food safety rather than workers’ conditions, researchers said on 25 November. Chicken is set to become the world’s most consumed meat, within the ...
Cautious optimism on the economic front
The Thai economy will expand by 2.8% by year-end, and government megaprojects will accelerate higher growth rates next year, the Fiscal Policy Office said on 26 November. Keep reading ...
'Echelon Thailand' set to host Mekong region start-ups
“Echelon Thailand” will bring active start-up communities from around the Mekong region including CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) to connect with one another. The 26-27 November event organised by e27, Asia’s largest tech media platform, is expected to attract the best of the Mekong region’s ...
Vietnam Coast Guard seizes armed Thai ship for oil smuggling
A Thai ship has been caught selling oil illegally to a Vietnamese fishing boat in southwestern waters, the Vietnam Coast Guard said in a statement. V.Lucky with five Thai crewmen was carrying 170,000 liters of diesel and pumping the oil to a Vietnamese fishing boat that ...
Thai auto production hitting 2m units in 2016
With the slowdown in domestic auto sales ebbing and strong exports, Thai automobile production is expected to reach 2 million units next year, the Federation of Thai Industries projects. Surapong Paisitpatanapong, a spokesman for the FTI’s automotive industry club, said the production in 2016 likely will grow ...
Thai Prime Minister orders ministers to China to settle rail project
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered key ministers to go to China for negotiations on the delayed Thai-China railway project after China set a high interest rate on loans to finance it. The cost of the project is now estimated to reach around 500 billion baht. Keep reading ...
Nestlé report details labor abuses on Thai 'slave ships'
Nestle, the world’s largest food company, has acknowledged that it is almost certain that seafood bought from Thailand by itself and other large Western firms is produced by what are effectively modern-day slaves, many of them Cambodian. In a report, released by Nestlé on 23 November, ...
