World News
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Rights groups call for government to act after abduction of Thai activist in Cambodia
Following Thursday’s broad-daylight abduction of an exiled Thai political activist in Cambodia, both country’s police forces have bluntly refused to investigate, prompting calls by critics and human rights groups, including US-based Human Rights Watch, for swift action. Human rights defender Angkhana Neelapaijit warns that Thai authorities will be “seen in bad light” if they don’t actively investigate the case of…
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K-Pop fans mobilise to drown out racist tweets and hashtags
K-Pop fandom have weaponised their huge base and taken on the hashtags #WhiteLivesMatter, set up as a spoiler to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. But the huge fanbase of K-Pop has mobilised to spoil the spoilers. By flooding the hashtags with content, the K-Pop fans have been drowning out racist or offensive posts. Instead they’ve used the hashtags to share pics of…
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They arrived! One Thai/Australian family’s battle to re-unite.
Common sense has prevailed and the uphill task faced by father Sam Kelly last week has had a favourable ending with his Thai wife, Kannika, and 2 children. Ronny and Adam, arriving safely this morning in Brisbane, Australia. His months-long battle with common sense and the vagaries of Thai officialdom has resulted in at least one family being re-united soon…
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Exiled Thai dissident kidnapped in broad daylight in Phnom Penh
In the latest in a string of mysterious disappearances of Southeast Asian dissidents living in exile, gunmen kidnapped a Thai political activist in Cambodia, rights advocates announced today. 37 year old Wanchalearm Satsaksit, who fled Thailand after 2014’s military coup amid accusations he broke the country’s strict lèse-majesté law, was abducted at gunpoint and bundled into a car as he…
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“No evidence of Covid-19 losing potency” – WHO experts dismiss claims of Italian scientist
There is no evidence that the Covid-19 virus has been losing potency. A high profile Italian doctor made the assertions on Sunday. But the World Health Organisation and a range of other noted scientists say there was no evidence to support the assertion. Professor Alberto Zangrillo, the head of intensive care at the San Raffaele Hospital in Lombardy, Italy, told…
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LA’s Thai Town hit by protesters and rioters
Thai Town businesses in Los Angeles were raided yesterday as rioters and looters across the US hit the streets, enraged over police brutality after a white police officer killed George Floyd, an African American, by pinning him to the ground, with his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck, restricting his breathing. Protesters in Minneapolis, where the officer patrolled, set the police…
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UPDATE: George Floyd protests spread across the US – curfews imposed
Violence continues to erupt across cities in the US, the 6th night of protests that were sparked by the death in police custody of an African-American, George Floyd. Riot police have clashed with protesters in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Washington and firing tear gas and pepper bullets trying to disperse the crowds. There have been more peaceful…
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Some Hong Kong passport holders could have a “path to UK citizenship”
Hong Kong, the former British colony that’s been rocked by often violent protests for more than a year, may at last see a ray of hope – for some of its 7 million residents, at least. If China doesn’t suspend its plans for a draconian security law in the largely autonomous territory, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says the UK…
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US President announces break with WHO, new sanctions against China, and more
China, the World Health Organisation, Twitter, social media generally, new security laws in Hong Kong, bans on some foreign nationals and proposed retaliations against the Chinese. And that was all in just one media conference in the rose garden at the White House by US President Trump. The President, without even mentioning the Covid-19 crisis or the overnight violence in numerous…
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South Korea reverses reopening amid new Covid-19 outbreaks
Less than a month after relaxing physical distancing requirements on May 6, South Korea is restoring the measures in the greater Seoul area, including Incheon and Gyeonggi provinces, until at least June 14, as new flare-ups of Covid-19 emerge across the metropolitan region. Its daily tally jumped to 79, the highest since early April. Making the announcement yesterday, South Korea’s…
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Murdoch closes all his regional and local newspapers in Australia
Australia’s largest media group, News Corp, has ditched its 100 local and regional newspapers, blaming the collapse of the businesses on a collapse advertising, migration of advertisers online, all made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic. News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch, announced on April 1 it was stopping printing of around 60 community newspapers “temporarily”. The collapse will cause the…
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Fishermen abuse and slavery cases solved “off-the-record”
Many cases of alleged abuse and slavery at sea are not being reported to the Thailand government. The Thomson Reuters Foundation did an analysis on the claims of slavery and abuse on Thai fishing boats and found that the majority of complaints are not documented with labour ministry officials who solve issues “off-the-record”. Many fisherman agree to mediation because they…
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World’s coronavirus focus shifts from Europe to the Americas
The focus of the world’s coronavirus pandemic has shifted in the past month, from Europe epicentres to the Americas, both north and south. Russia, too, has become a growing problem as the pandemic spreads from other European continental regions. In order, the US, Russia and Brazil are now the top three nations with the most cases. In the US, at…
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High speed railway linking Thailand and China takes another step
A high speed rail link between Thailand and China is closer to becoming a reality, according to Thai Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob. The signing of “Contract 2.3″ for the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima section is expected in October this year. China has become a major player in the railway industry and, as a result, many countries, including Thailand, are working with China…
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Thai Doctor faces charges in “wombs-for-hire” scandal
A Thai doctor faces charges of human trafficking and involvement in a Chinese-funded cross-border surrogacy service, using Thai women to carry babies for Chinese couples. Police say that the doctor, whose name is being withheld, previously worked at a state hospital in the Victory Monument area of Bangkok and allegedly provided “assisted-reproductive services” to surrogate Thai mothers, usually at clinics…
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Burma or Myanmar? Myanmarese or Burmese?
We refer to Myanmar a lot in our news because it’s a bordering foreign country to Thailand and many people from Myanmar work in and around Thailand. But is it Myanmar or Burma, and are the people that live there Myanmarese or Burmese? As you’ll read across the media there is no precise answer to the question with foreign powers…
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Critics say new security laws will infringe on Hong Kong’s autonomy
Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam has tried to reassure rattled residents and international investors that proposed national security laws won’t trample on the city’s rights and freedoms. She has joined the chorus of reassuring support for Beijing’s attempts to find better ways to control the destabilising protests that have disrupted the city for seven months over the past year.…
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Millions of baht worth of cigarettes seized after smuggled over Burmese border
Illegal cigarettes, valued around 2.6 million baht, have been confiscated by police after they were smuggled in over the Burmese border and into the province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thai media reports. Three men were caught by police shortly after they crossed the border, but one was able to run back into Myanmar. Although it was just cigarettes, smuggling of…
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No new Covid-19 cases in China, first time since outbreak began
There were no new confirmed Covid-19 cases in China yesterday, marking the first time it has seen no daily rise since the pandemic began in the city of Wuhan in late 2019. China’s National Health Commission said in a statement today that this compared to 4 new cases Thursday. It warned, however, that there are 2 new suspected cases: an…
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Misery as arrival ban keeps families apart
Thailand’s ban on foreign arrivals is causing misery among families across the nation as foreigners married to Thai nationals plead with the government to let them return to be with their families. James Jacobs, a Briton stranded in France, told Nation Thailand he wants to return to his 29 year old wife Sopa, who lives in Chiang Mai. Speaking by…
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Cyclone Amphan’s death toll climbs to 83 in India and Bangladesh – VIDEO
Today the clean up starts in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan after it reached the coastline Wednesday evening and started heading inland. In parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal (eastern India boarding Bangladesh), at least 83 people have died. It’s affected some 10 million Indian and Bangladeshi people, leaving countless homeless. With winds around 170 kilometre per hour, most of…
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More stranded Burmese workers to be allowed home
Burmese workers, stranded in Thailand since the start of the outbreak, will be allowed to travel from Bangkok to Thailand’s western Tak province from today up to July 20, to expedite their return to their motherland across the border in Myanmar. The concession was finalised after the Transport Company met with the deputy permanent secretary of foreign affairs and representatives…
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China proposes new “security law” for Hong Kong
After more than a year of often violent protests and unrest, China says it will introduce a proposal today for a national security law in Hong Kong in a move the US warns will be “highly destabilising” for the Asian financial hub. The announcement late yesterday was quickly criticised by pro-democracy lawmakers and activists as “the end of Hong Kong,”…
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Second company in Thailand to be granted license to import natural gas
In a step to cut down energy costs, Thai Gulf Energy Development Company says that they have obtained a government license to import up to 1.7 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year. As Thailand moves to free up its natural gas market and position itself as a regional trading hub for LNG, Thai Gulf Energy has been reported…
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Global coronavirus infections top 5 million
“We still have a long way to go in this pandemic. In the last 24 hours, there have been 106,000 cases reported to WHO, the most in a single day since the outbreak began.” The Covid-19 coronavirus has infected more than 5 million people worldwide since the beginning of the outbreak, as the World Health Organisation yesterday reported highest number…
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Death sentence handed down via video call in Singapore
A prisoner in Singapore has been sentenced to death via a Zoom video call, the first time the city state has delivered capital punishment remotely. Thai PBS World reports that 37 year old Malaysian citizen Punithan Genasan was handed the death penalty as punishment for a 2011 heroin smuggling operation. Like Thailand, Singapore operates a zero-tolerance policy for drug trafficking…
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Cyclone Amphan: Crossed the coast and now saturating India and Bangladesh
Cyclone Amphan made reached the coastline late yesterday afternoon near the Indian town of Digha, on India’s eastern coast, near the border with Bangladesh. As the storm marched up the Bay of Bengal since the weekend, strengthening, thousands of people were evacuated as a precaution for the major storm system. Millions of other have taken shelter or made their way…
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Thailand scores highest for mask-wearing in survey of ASEAN nations
A survey carried out by internet-based market research firm YouGov reveals that Thais are the most likely to wear face masks and to use hand sanitiser. Khaosod English reports that the survey examined the habits of citizens from 6 ASEAN member-states and found that 95% of Thais always wear a face mask in public. (It’s currently still law to wear…
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Thais on repatriation flight from London were reported with ‘fevers’
Of the 264 passengers who arrived from London on a repatriated flight 2 days ago, yesterday deputy director of operations at Suvarnabhumi Airport reported that 9 Thais on the flight were discovered with a high temperature at the initial screening when they deplaned. “Airport staff screened all passengers who arrived on the EVA Air flight number BR068 from London.” “The…
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New drug has potential to stop Covid-19 without a vaccine
Scientists at China’s prestigious Peking University say a drug being tested at a Chinese laboratory could not only shorten recovery time for those infected with Covid-19, but perhaps even offer short-term immunity. They believe it could “bring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt”. The director of the university’s Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Genomics told AFP that the drug has…
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