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Thanathorn vows to fight for the basic rights of Thailand’s ethnic minorities
The opposition Future Forward party will, next year, press for state recognition of the basic rights of Thailand’s ethnic minorities, which include rights of access to state welfare and ancestral land rights, says Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. The embattled party leader, party spokeswoman Pannika ...
Thailand helps Myanmar develop infrastructure
The Thai Cabinet has approved a preferential loan worth 777 million THB (over 25.76 million USD) under a 30-year contract for Myanmar for infrastructure development in Myawaddy city. Government deputy spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said the Cabinet meeting on December 24 endorsed a proposal for the Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation ...
Dam testing in China to affect eight Mekong River provinces
Eight provinces along the Mekong River have been told to brace themselves for a dip in water levels between Jan 1-4 as tests at Jinghong hydroelectric power station in China’s Yunnan province are expected decrease of water outflows. According to the Office of National Water Resources ...
TBA to announce guidelines on protection of clients' data
The Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA) will issue practice guidelines for commercial banks in handling clients’ personal data, following the enforcement of the personal data protection law in May next year. The Personal Data Protection Act, B.E. 2562 (2019) regarding the collection, use, or disclosure of personal ...
Thai reporter gets jail in libel case filed by poultry farm
A court in Thailand on Tuesday sentenced a reporter to two years in prison for criminal libel for a comment she tweeted about a labor abuse grievance at a poultry farm. The case against Suchanee Cloitre, then working for Voice TV, is one of 20 lawsuits ...
Busaba Sivasomboon and Grant Peck / AP
Thai gov't approves financial aid to 5th Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge
The Thai government on Tuesday approved financial assistance to Laos for the construction of the fifth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge linking Thailand’s northeastern province of Bueng Kan with Lao’s central province of Bolikhamsai. “The fifth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge had been approved in principle in the Cabinet’s resolution ...
Xuxin
Thailand returns orangutans to their Indonesian homeland
Wildlife authorities in Thailand sent two orangutans back to Indonesia on Friday as part of a collaborative effort to combat illicit wildlife trade. Ten-year-old female Cola and 7-year-old male Giant were transported from wildlife sanctuaries in the western province of Ratchaburi to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, where ...
Busaba Sivasomboon
South Korea backs Thai-led Mekong strategy
South Korea is urging Thailand to spearhead the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (Acmecs) for sustainable water management, after President Moon Jae-in met with Asean leaders last month in Busan under Thailand’s year-long chairmanship. Thailand co-chaired the 2019 Asean-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit and the first ...
Thana Boonlert
FM Don backs push for multilateralism
Thailand has joined the 52 other members of the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) in stressing the need to revitalise multilateralism amid ongoing challenges to the world order. The 14th Asem Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Madrid on Sunday and Monday ended with a chairman’s statement. “Ministers underlined the ...
Thai rice farmers shun pesticides and fight climate change
Battling drought, debt and ailments blamed on pesticides, rice farmers in northern Thailand have turned to eco-friendly growing methods despite powerful agribusiness interests in a country that is one of the top exporters of the grain in the world. Walking through a sea of green waist-high ...