News
Asia Pacific Climate Week gets underway in Bangkok against backdrop of damaging floods in northern Thailand
The Asia Pacific Climate Week got underway in Bangkok today, aimed at raising global ambition and intended to “grasp the many opportunities of climate action and to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, which are becoming increasingly costly for the region,” a UN press ...
TM30: The form getting expats in Thailand into a bureaucratic tangle
Thailand has long been an attractive destination for Western expats – where money goes further and can buy a good quality of life. But the revival of an arcane immigration law has angered the expat community and got them questioning their freedoms in Thailand, as ...
Thailand to roll out 15 million new e-passports
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in Thailand awarded a contract to a major consortium; it will supply 15 million e-passports during a seven-year project. This represents one of the largest passport deployments for the group worldwide, the move is designed to align with national plans to create ...
Alita Sharon
TDRI wants waste on agenda
Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has urged the government to include waste management as part of the national agenda and proposed the government ban foam usage and make consumers pay for plastic shopping bags. Somkiat Tangkitvanich, president of the TDRI, said the group’s study found Thailand’s ...
Phusadee Arunmas
New rules, new debts: slavery fears rise for migrant workers in Thailand
When Leng Lyda swapped Cambodia for a fishing town in Thailand hoping to find a job in the seafood industry, he was ready for hard work. But he wasn’t prepared for the delay, or the debt. The 22-year-old landed a job as soon as he arrived ...
Matt Blomberg and Nanchanok Wongsamuth
Lao Migrants Fleeing Poverty Defy Dangers to Work in Thailand
Lao workers, many of them young and some still in their teens, have poured in growing numbers this year into neighboring Thailand, braving exploitation and unsafe work conditions in search of employment to help support families back home, sources in the Southeast Asian nation say. Many ...
‘Climate Strike Thailand’ to call for gov’t to declare emergency
The one-two gut punch of dead, adorable sea creatures may be met with calls of action, but a young Thai climate crusader worries it won’t shock society into sustained action. Nanticha “Lynn” Ocharoenchai, who is organizing Bangkok’s third Climate Strike rally next month, said it’s high ...
Greenpeace proposes widespread collection fee to drive push against disposables
Greenpeace has proposed an indiscriminately-implemented collection fee as a means to eradicate single-use plastic bags and containers from disposal, as well as to establish an independent fund for rehabilitation of Thailand’s seas. The popular environmental group’s proposal comes on the heels of the deaths of two ...
Human Smugglers Work with Corrupt Thai Officials: UN Report
As much as 80 percent of irregular migrant workers were ferried into Thailand by smuggling services, sometimes with the help of corrupt Thai officials, a recent report by the United Nations said. In a report released at a news conference last week, the UN Office on ...
Pravit Rojanaphruk
Finance Ministry plans rejig of fuel excise tax
The Finance Ministry wants to revamp the structure of the excise tax on fuels to base it on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to protect the environment. Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana delegated the Fiscal Policy Office and the Excise ...
Wichit Chantanusornsiri