Tag - thailand

 
 

THAILAND

Bangkok in December 2025. Thailand risks losing ground to regional rivals such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which have moved more aggressively to streamline regulatory regimes and court foreign capital.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2026
Thailand plans reform of up to 7,000 business rules to tempt foreign investment
Thailand risks losing ground to regional rivals such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which have moved more aggressively to streamline regulatory regimes.
Leaders and other officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations pose for a group photo during the opening ceremony of the 48th ASEAN summit in Cebu, Philippines, on May 8.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2026
Why ASEAN chose silence amid the growing Gulf crisis
In Cebu, much of the summit’s energy went into drafting a statement broad enough to avoid offending any member state.
Police officers, rescue workers and firefighters stand at the site of a train collision with a bus underneath Makkasan Airport Rail station in Bangkok on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 17, 2026
Collision between train and bus kills at least eight in Bangkok
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered an investigation into the incident, according to a statement from his office.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra reaches out to his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, following his release on parole after serving eight months of his one-year sentence at Klong Prem Central Prison, in Bangkok on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2026
Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra released from prison
The 76-year-old patriarch of the Shinawatra clan was paroled after serving eight months in prison for corruption.
Asia’s budget airlines are struggling under soaring jet-fuel costs, facing flight cuts and higher fares, while governments are urged to intervene to prevent failures similar to the collapse of U.S.-based Spirit Airlines.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2026
Asian budget carriers need help to avoid Spirit’s fate
Unlike the region’s flagship carriers, low-cost providers aren’t backed by sovereign wealth funds.
A man runs past national flags of ASEAN member states outside a media center in Cebu on Tuesday, ahead of the 48th ASEAN Summit to be held this week.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 7, 2026
Energy crisis front and center as ASEAN leaders prepare for summit
The energy crisis will force Manila leadership to craft a ​regional response while preventing regional conflicts in Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia from slipping down the agenda.
Loaded trucks on a road in India. The country's state-dominated refining sector has kept fuel prices steady despite surging crude costs.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 5, 2026
Asia absorbs rising, uneven cost of energy crisis caused by war on Iran
The disruption has spurred the Asian Development Bank to cut its growth forecast for developing Asia and the Pacific to 4.7% this year, down from 5.1% previously.
A vendor sells durian from a cart on a street in Bangkok's Chinatown on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 3, 2026
Bangkok food vendor curbs push city staple from the streets
Convenient, full of flavor and popular among residents and tourists alike, Bangkok’s street food is one of the city’s signatures.
A worker cultivates rice plants at a farm in Bangkok. Rice supply is expected to fall this year due to impacts of the Iran war and an emerging El Nino weather phenomenon that is set to usher in hotter, drier conditions.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2026
From surplus to strain: Iran war and El Nino threaten global rice supply
Rice is central to global food security, and even small supply disruptions can ripple through countries, raising prices and straining household budgets.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok on Sept. 9, 2025, ahead of a ruling on whether he properly served a prison term in 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 30, 2026
Ex-Thai PM Thaksin set for parole after eight months in prison
The release paves the way for his possible return to politics as his family’s party takes a lesser role in a new conservative-led government.
A vendor sits next to used air conditioners at a roadside shop in Manila on April 24. A heat wave is sweeping across Southeast Asia as governments put energy-saving measures in place due to the war in Iran.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 28, 2026
Southeast Asia office workers swelter in energy-saving drive amid heat wave
As the prolonged shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz drains energy reserves, relief does not look to be coming anytime soon with countries set to bake in abnormally hot weather.
The Strait of Malacca, a vital global shipping lane carrying about a quarter of all maritime trade and major oil flows to Asia, is drawing renewed concern over chokepoint security following disruptions in other key sea routes.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 26, 2026
Hormuz crisis throws spotlight on world’s largest ‘chokepoint’ — the Malacca Strait
The Malacca Strait provides the shortest sea route from East Asia to the Middle East and Europe, carrying nearly 22% of the world’s maritime trade.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow (left) sits with Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing during a meeting in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 23, 2026
Myanmar ‘considering good things’ for detained Suu Kyi, Thai chief envoy reports
The country’s leader Min Aung Hlaing last week pardoned Suu Kyi’s top aide Win Myint, who was swept into custody along with her in a 2021 coup.
Crude oil buyers in Japan led the charge to purchase May-loading cargoes from the U.S. early in the month, along with South Korean, Singapore and Thai processors.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2026
Asia relying on U.S. crude to replace Middle East supply
U.S. exports of oil, including crude and refined products, reached a record 13 million barrels a day last week, government data showed.
The LNG Aquarius liquefied natural gas tanker in the Java Sea, off Indonesia.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2026
Iran war pushes Asia to think twice before doubling down on LNG
The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the serious damage sustained by Qatar’s LNG export plant has sent prices higher and buyers scrambling for alternatives.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand. With the fragile U.S.-Iran ​ceasefire in mind, analysts and investors warn Thailand faces another difficult year.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2026
Foreign investors flee Thailand as Iran war dashes hope for economic revival
The conflict has sent global oil prices up to near $100 a barrel, sharpening the focus on Asia’s reliance on energy supplies from the Gulf.
A woman is being tried before the Tokyo District Court for involvement in forcing a 12-year-old Thai girl to offer sexual services at a massage parlor in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 15, 2026
Suspected broker denies knowing age of Thai girl in Tokyo trafficking case
Punsiripanya Phakhaphon is being tried before the Tokyo District Court for acting as a broker between a 12-year-old Thai girl’s mother and a massage parlor owner in Tokyo.
A man tries on a military outfit in Bangkok on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 9, 2026
Military service draws men in Thailand amid economic malaise
Voluntary enlistment in the Southeast Asian nation has climbed steadily over the past five years due to economic, rather than patriotic, reasons.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul during a news conference in Bangkok on March 20. Anutin has ordered a sweeping probe into fuel hoarding, price manipulation and illegal exports.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 3, 2026
Thai PM cracks down on ‘evil’ fuel smugglers profiteering from Gulf chaos
The move follows reports of illicit fuel shipments from Thailand into Cambodia, and irregular practices identified across the supply chain by Thai officials.
A heavily polluted day in Pai, Thailand, on Wednesday. Seasonal agricultural burning, forest fires and weather patterns produce an annual pollution season across much of Southeast Asia, but parts of northern Thailand are seeing haze that even hardened locals say is exceptional.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Apr 3, 2026
Blood clots and burning eyes as pollution chokes north Thailand
The city of Chiang Mai has regularly topped the IQAir monitor website’s most polluted big cities list this week, with the situation even worse in the backpacker destination of Pai.

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The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival