News
Activists set up camp over land issues
Members of a land rights advocacy group on Monday set up camp near the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, calling on it to resolve land disputes between villagers and the state. The People’s Movement for a Just Society, or P-Move, also petitioned Natural Resources and ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
Thai journalist sentenced over tweet warns of threat to media freedom
A Thai journalist sentenced to two years in prison for defaming the owner of a poultry farm via a tweet said Thursday the kingdom’s criminal libel laws are eviscerating media freedom. A court convicted Suchanee Cloitre in December for a tweet referencing a dispute over working ...
Haze Chokes the Administration
The Capital is sick, being choked with PM 2.5, the fine dust composed of various cardiovascular and respiratory carrier toxins. Since early this week, the dust particles with the diameter less than 2.5 microns or “PM 2.5” have started to surge in the city, and the ...
Salty water in Bangkok is new 'reality' as sea pushes farther inland
Thai authorities are trucking drinking water to parts of Bangkok and urging residents to shower less as a worsening drought and rising sea levels have increased salinity, a growing risk faced by many Asian cities, climate researchers said. Bangkok’s water authority said the capital’s tap water ...
Rina Chandran
Cabinet approves water command centre
The cabinet is expected to approve the formation of a water management command centre on Tuesday, spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinsawat said on Sunday. The command centre is sanctioned by Section 24 of the 2018 Water Act, which calls for the set-up of a central coordinating unit to ...
Asia's hardest year for dengue fever – in pictures
The global toll of dengue fever is becoming well known, with rising temperatures contributing to severe outbreaks that made 2019 the worst year on record for the disease. In 1970 only nine countries faced severe dengue outbreaks. But the disease, which is spread by mosquitoes that ...
Photographer Luke Duggleby and journalist Laure Siegel
Mekong sandbanks obstruct cross-border boat services
The lowest level of water in the Mekong river in several decades has caused sandbanks to emerge, obstructing boat services across the border between Thailand and Laos, according to a local report. The low level of water has been caused by many factors including drought and ...
Pattanapong Siripiachai
2019 a False Dawn for Democracy in Thailand, Analysts Say
When the coterie of top generals that toppled Thailand’s government in 2014 announced the long-awaited elections that were held in March, they promised a speedy return to democracy after five years of military rule. Nine months on, the election those army men had sold as a ...
Zomber Peter
Mekong levels to drop due to Jinghong power station testing
Water levels in the Mekong River that traverses Cambodia, Thailand, and Lao PDR are expected to drop due to outflows from China’s Jinghong hydropower station, which would be decreased by more than 50 per cent for dam equipment testing from January 1-4, the Mekong River ...
Ry Sochan
Thai official warns of water shortages due to weather, dams
Thailand should brace for serious water shortages when the hot season begins in March after a year with unusually little rainfall, one of the country’s top water management officials said Monday. Retention of water by dams in upstream areas of the Mekong River also is seen ...
Grant Peck