News

The National Human Rights Commission appears likely to be the next target for mass dismissal of members, after the Election Commission. NHRC chairman What Tingsamitr disclosed on June 8 that the matter was clearly mentioned in Article 60 of a new law on the rights ...

The government’s Bt2.9-trillion budget for 2018 has massive spending of Bt575 billion for upgrading workers’ skills and education, plus related activities, while the Defence Ministry’s budget rises Bt8.8 billion to Bt222 billion. Under the 2018 Budget Bill, passed in its first reading by the National ...

Six temporary border crossings have been closed down along the Kolok River in Narathiwat to prevent members of Islamic State (IS) and other insurgents from sneaking into the country, officials said this week. The closures, which began on Tuesday, have affected about 5,000 villagers in eight ...

Agriculture, electronics, and food and drink have been hit hardest by the baht’s 6% year-to-date appreciation, according to Asia Plus Securities (ASP). Porranee Thongyen, ASP’s head of research, said the stronger than expected baht hurt exporters like Sri Trang Agro Industry Plc, which earns most ...

Environmental activists will petition the Administrative Court Thursday to help in their protest against the new Pak Beng dam project on the Mekong River in Laos, which could bring both ecological and economic impacts to the region. They want the court to encourage state agencies, ...

Stricter measures must be implemented to crack down on weapons smuggling and be applied to all involved, whether they be military personnel or not, says Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has told investigators to identify the mastermind behind a weapons trafficking ...

The Bank of Thailand on June 5 loosened a set of foreign exchange regulations, including allowing Thais to invest directly in securities abroad at an amount of up to $1 million a year, in a fresh bid to accommodate capital outflows, curb the appreciating baht (which ...

Thailand needs to establish cybersecurity and data protection laws in order to tackle the surge in more sophisticated cyberattacks, says DellEMC, a leading information management firm. Most countries have already endorsed privacy protection laws, but Thailand has yet to do so, said P K Gupta, global ...

Low-land rice farmers will be encouraged to plant maize after rice harvests in an attempt to reduce high-land forest encroachment to clear land for maize cultivation. Agriculture Minister Chatchai Sarikalya said on Monday that, from his discussion with representatives of the animal feed manufacturers’ association, ...

Thailand’s Total Access Communication, commonly known as Dtac, will join with state-owned telecom operator TOT to offer 4G wireless network services. Dtac will pay 4.51 billion baht ($132 million) annually to access 60% of TOT’s 2,300MHz spectrum, setting up 20,000 cell towers. The remaining 40% ...