Grieving families pray at Thai temple for slain victims
Grieving families have gathered at a Buddhist temple to pray and make offerings to the spirits of their deceased toddlers who were killed amid a rampage by a former police officer who shot and slashed them with knives at their day care in northeastern Thailand last week
washingtonpost.comSri Lankan ex-president who fled homeland arrives in Bangkok
Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who last month fled anti-government protests in his country, arrived in Thailand on Thursday night on a flight from Singapore, where he had been staying since mid-July. Thai television stations showed Rajapaksa and a woman believed to be his wife outside the VIP hall at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport being led to a limousine, which then drove off to an undisclosed destination. Officials in Thailand on Wednesday said they had been asked by the Sri Lankan government to allow him entry, and that he would be permitted to stay temporarily.
news.yahoo.comNorth Korea: Medication offered as Covid fight continues
A North Korean army medic hands out medication to counter 'fever' -- a term Pyongyang often uses to refer to Covid -- and related sickness. The medic, Jong Jun Ho says the number of people receiving treatment for 'fever' has gone down in recent times. North Korea says its Covid-19 outbreak has been brought under control, but experts question the official numbers given the isolated country has one of the world's worst healthcare systems and likely no Covid-19 drugs or mass testing ability.
news.yahoo.comThai PM arrives in Saudi Arabia, easing diamond heist row
Thailand's prime minister arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first high-level meeting since relations between the nations soured three decades ago over a sensational jewelry heist that led to a diplomatic row and string of mysterious killings. The official visit by Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to Riyadh signals the nations are seeking to thaw ties, long chilled by the 1989 scandal. Saudi Arabia downgraded its diplomatic relations with Thailand over the theft that became known as the Blue Diamond affair.
news.yahoo.comThais launch campaign for repeal of royal defamation law
Pro-democracy activists in Thailand on Sunday announced a campaign to gather 1 million signatures to support the abolition of the law that makes defaming the monarchy a crime. About 3,000 people turned out in central Bangkok for a rally urging the end of the lese majeste law -- also known as Article 112 -- which makes even constructive criticism of the royal institution risky. The rally organizers last year began holding street demonstrations with three core demands: the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who initially came to power as army commander by staging a coup in 2014; amendment of the constitution to make it more democratic; and reform of the monarchy to make it more accountable.
news.yahoo.comFlooding threat hangs over Thai capital Bangkok
Bangkok and other areas of central Thailand received new warnings of possible major flooding, even as disaster relief authorities said Wednesday the threat had eased in 13 of 30 provinces elsewhere that were lashed by seasonal monsoon rains. Seven people have died and two are missing since the weekend from flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Dianmu, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigations said. Bangkok has had no major flooding yet, but many rural areas have been severely affected.
news.yahoo.comThai leader sacks 2 Cabinet members suspected of disloyalty
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sacked two Cabinet members on Thursday, including one who was widely reported to have unsuccessfully plotted for him to lose a parliamentary no-confidence vote last week. Deputy Agriculture Minister Thammanat Prompao was deeply controversial even before the alleged mutiny attempt for being imprisoned for four years in Australia in the 1990s in a case involving heroin smuggling. Thammanat won his Cabinet position by being a political power broker capable of turning out the vote in northern Thailand for the governing Palang Pracharath party, and was made party general secretary in June.
news.yahoo.comProtest on wheels in Thai capital seeks government's ouster
A long line of cars, trucks and motorbikes wended its way Sunday through the Thai capital Bangkok in a mobile protest against the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. The protesters on wheels hope their nonviolent action, dubbed a “car mob,” can help force the ouster of Prayuth, whom they accuse of botching the campaign against the coronavirus. “There is only one message from this car mob, which is ‘Prayuth get out!‘” Sombat Boonngamanong, a veteran social activist who helped originate such protests in July, said ahead of the protest.
news.yahoo.comThai police fire tear gas at protest over COVID response
Thai riot police have fired water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to repel a crowd of several hundred young anti-government protestors who marched on an army base where Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has his residence to demand his resignation.
Thai media restrictions raise freedom of expression concerns
Thailand implemented have new regulations that appear to broaden the government’s ability to restrict media reports and social media posts about the coronavirus pandemic, raising immediate concerns that authorities will seek to stifle criticism.
Thailand to join COVAX, acknowledging low vaccine supply
The head of Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute has apologized for the country’s slow and inadequate rollout of coronavirus vaccines, promising it will join the U.N.-backed COVAX program to receive supplies from its pool of donated vaccines next year.
Thai police use tear gas against anti-government protesters
Thai police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons Sunday to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters who held a rally in Bangkok despite coronavirus restrictions banning gatherings of more than five people. The demonstrators were demanding Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s government step down, insisting the budget of the monarchy and the military be cut during the pandemic, and calling for the importing mRNA coronavirus vaccines that have yet to be brought to Thailand on a large scale to fight a growing surge of the virus.
news.yahoo.comThailand tightens measures as daily cases cross 10,000
Thailand has tightened coronavirus restrictions further as daily cases surpassed 10,000 and the death toll hit a record 141 on Saturday despite an overnight curfew in Bangkok and several other provinces. Cases have been climbing particularly in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.
news.yahoo.comPhuket draws tourists despite rising Thailand virus cases
A week into an ambitious but risky plan to open the Thai resort island of Phuket to vaccinated visitors, signs were encouraging that the gambit to resuscitate the decimated tourism industry was working, even as infections elsewhere in the country surged Thursday to record highs. After seeing fewer than 5,000 foreign travelers over the first five months of the year, the island off Thailand's southwest coast, whose economy is 95% reliant on the tourist industry, welcomed 2,399 visitors during the first week of July. The so-called Phuket sandbox plan relies on a strategy of vaccinations, testing and restrictions — measures that officials are hoping are strict enough to mitigate any COVID-19 threat, while still providing enough freedom for tourists to enjoy a beach vacation.
news.yahoo.comThailand chemical factory fire out; health concerns remain
Firefighters have finally extinguished a blaze at a chemical factory just outside the Thai capital, more than 24-hours after it started with an explosion that damaged nearby homes and then let off a clouds of toxic smoke that prompted a widespread evacuation
washingtonpost.comThailand chemical factory fire out; health concerns remain
Firefighters finally extinguished a blaze at a chemical factory just outside the Thai capital early Tuesday, more than 24-hours after it started with an explosion that damaged nearby homes and then let off a clouds of toxic smoke that prompted a widespread evacuation. Little was left of the Ming Dih Chemical factory other than the twisted metal frames and charred remains of its warehouses that were destroyed in the explosion and fire, which broke out at about 3 a.m. Monday.
news.yahoo.comBangkok, 9 provinces restrict movements to curb rising cases
Faced with a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, the Thai capital on Sunday announced a ban on indoor dining and gatherings of more than 20 people, in addition to the closure of construction sites and the sealing off of workers' quarters in Bangkok and nine other provinces. Thailand reported 3,995 confirmed cases and 42 dead in the last 24 hours. The numbers have doubled recently, and health officials blame a lack of cooperation from migrant workers employed in construction and in factories.
news.yahoo.comThailand isolates construction workers to curb virus spread
As Thailand struggles to slow its worst wave of coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced Friday a one-month lockdown of camps where construction workers are housed in Bangkok and nine other areas. The situation has become critical as the number of hospital beds in Bangkok for seriously ill COVID-19 patients runs short despite the creation of several field hospitals. Prayuth said a proposal for a seven-day curfew for all of Bangkok has been rejected for the time being.
news.yahoo.comCoronavirus latest news: Officials call for help after NHS workers abused over AstraZeneca vaccine
Europe holidays hit by 'quarantine the British’ demand Queen calls Matt Hancock ‘poor man’ in meeting with PM ‘Overcautious’ teachers blamed for student ban jump Euro 2020 exemption for up to 2,000 overseas fans Exams could face disruption 'next year and beyond' NHS workers are being abused in Covid vaccination clinics by people who are refusing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine due to fears of side effects, it has emerged. Health boards have appealed to the Scottish Government for help to address
news.yahoo.comMississippi Aquarium to release some rescued sea turtles, others still sick
The Mississippi Aquarium plans to release seven endangered sea turtles this week, but other institutions in New Orleans and Mississippi are still treating turtles rescued in the fall from frigid New England waters.
news.yahoo.comThais debut locally made AstraZeneca but supplies are tight
Health authorities in Thailand began their much-anticipated mass rollout of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccines on Monday, but it appeared that supplies were falling short of demand from patients who had scheduled vaccinations for this week. Hospitals in various parts of the country have been posting notices for several days that some scheduled appointments would be delayed, adding to existing public skepticism about how many doses Siam Bioscience would be able to produce each month. “The vaccines will be delivered as planned,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters Monday morning as he paid a visit to a vaccination station at an indoor stadium in the capital, Bangkok.
news.yahoo.comThai villages isolated over variant find amid vaccine worry
Thailand placed barbed wire and checkpoints in several southern villages along the Malaysian border Monday after identifying a cluster of infections with a coronavirus variant that's believed to spread faster. The lockdown came as Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sought to assure people that his government could manage a recent surge as it is set to start a national vaccination campaign next month. “Please understand that we can manage this,” Prayuth said as he received the second dose of his coronavirus vaccine.
news.yahoo.comThai PM tells UN envoy he won't push back Myanmar refugees
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha promised a United Nations special envoy on Friday that he will not force back people fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar, where the military ousted a democratically elected government in February. U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener told Prayuth in a meeting in Bangkok that she hopes Thailand will help find ways to work with Myanmar’s military to ease the crisis, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. People across Myanmar have participated in massive protests against the military coup.
news.yahoo.com2 Thai pro-democracy activists released on bail
Two jailed leaders of a student-led pro-democracy movement that attracted both support and controversy last year when it called for reform of Thailand’s monarchy were released Tuesday after repeated requests for bail. The Criminal Court freed Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and singer Chaiamorn Kaewwiboonpan, who are are both charged with lese majeste, defaming the monarchy. Parit had been hospitalized after starting a hunger strike in jail.
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