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/ 28 November 2008
The Thai prime minister sacked his police chief on Friday, fuelling speculation the government is preparing to crack down on protesters.
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/ 28 November 2008
Protesters occupying Bangkok’s airports vowed Friday to ”fight to the death” after Thailand’s prime minister declared a state of emergency.
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/ 27 November 2008
Pressure built on Thailand’s military to intervene in a political crisis threatening to descend into widespread civil unrest on Thursday.
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/ 26 November 2008
South Africans are among the tourists stranded at the international airport in Bangkok after it was stormed by anti-government protesters.
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/ 26 November 2008
A series of small bomb blasts wounded several anti-government protesters blockading Bangkok’s international airport on Wednesday.
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/ 25 November 2008
Police have reported that protesters have besieged the Thai prime minister’s temporary offices in their latest bid to stop the government functioning.
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/ 21 October 2008
Thailand’s Supreme Court found ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra guilty of conflict of interest on Tuesday over a land deal for his wife.
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/ 17 October 2008
Thailand Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat rejected pressure to resign on Friday, as thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched in protest.
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/ 7 September 2008
Protests in Bangkok are dominated by the baleful influence of the former prime minister.
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/ 2 September 2008
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in Bangkok on Tuesday and gave the army control of public order.
Thousands of royalist protesters stormed the compound of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, a TV station and several ministries on Tuesday.
Love at first sight, even through an air-conditioned prism of cheap beer, purple lights and men leering, is easy to find in Bangkok’s bars.
It’s not surprising tourism is Thailand’s number-one employment generator. It’s amazing to walk down the street at any time of the day without fear.
A furious rescue worker accused Burma’s military junta on Monday of crimes against humanity for refusing to fast-track visas for aid officials desperate to enter the country to help the 1,5-million survivors of Cyclone Nargis. ”They say they will call, but it’s always wait, wait, wait,” Pierre Fouillant of the Comite de Secours Internationaux, a French disaster rescue agency.
A few aid shipments had arrived in Burma’s main city by Thursday, but the planeloads of supplies and heavy equipment needed to help millions of cyclone victims remain largely stranded outside the country. In a dramatic development, the ruling junta agreed to accept United States emergency aid after last weekend’s cyclone.
There have been numerous disagreements during a week of intense climate-change talks in Bangkok but there is one point all sides agree on — a long, tough road lies ahead. The five-day negotiations stretched past midnight on Friday before reaching a deal aimed solely at setting up more talks.
More than 160 nations agreed in Bangkok on Friday to consider how to reduce rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions from air and sea travel, in an early move towards a new global-warming treaty. The accord was the first hurdle in succeeding the Kyoto agreement in the fight against climate change.
Developing countries and environmental groups accused the World Bank on Friday of trying to seize control of the billions of dollars of aid that will be used to tackle climate change in the next four decades. ”The World Bank’s foray into climate change has gone down like a lead balloon,” Friends of the Earth campaigner Tom Picken said.
Air travel is booming as the world’s population grows and fares fall, but its impact on the Earth’s sensitive climate must be taken into account in any new global-warming pact, green groups say. More than 900 delegates flew into Bangkok this week for a meeting on global warming, spewing about 4 181 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming. ”The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,” said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
Canadian paedophile suspect Christopher Neil went on trial in Thailand on Monday, more than four months after he was arrested in a global man-hunt triggered by ”swirly face” images of abuse found on the internet. Neil pleaded not guilty to four charges of molesting and distributing pornographic images of two Thai boys.
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/ 28 February 2008
Ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra made an emotional return from exile on Thursday, swearing to stay out of politics despite a widespread belief he would run the country from behind the scenes. Within minutes of arriving, the telecoms billionaire surrendered to police on a corruption charge.
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/ 27 February 2008
Thailand, trying to recover from two years of political turmoil, braced for the return of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from nearly 18 months in exile on Thursday, with his battle against an array of opponents far from over. Rivals ranging from the royalist establishment to street-protest leaders will confront Thaksin.
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/ 13 February 2008
Alarmed by polls showing one in four Thai teens will celebrate Valentine’s Day by having sex, police plan to swoop on motels, malls and parks to ensure youths behave themselves. The annual campaign to ensure good behaviour on February 14 will see city officials turn on all lights at public parks in the capital Bangkok.
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/ 8 February 2008
A Thai soccer referee was beaten up by an entire team after sending off three of their players during a match to decide promotion to country’s second division, local media reported on Friday. Referee Prakong Sukguamala needed 50 stitches and also broke a finger after being attacked by the Kuiburi FC squad.
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/ 28 January 2008
Thai lawmakers elected Samak Sundaravej, an ally of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, as the nation’s new Prime Minister on Monday, restoring civilian leadership after 16 months of military rule. Samak, a veteran politician in his own right, is widely expected to try to clear the way for Thaksin to return to Thailand.
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/ 23 December 2007
The party backing ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra easily won the most seats in Sunday’s election, a stunning rejection of the coup which booted out the telecoms billionaire in 2006. With 93% of the vote counted, the People Power Party was heading for 228 seats in the 480-member Parliament.
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/ 5 December 2007
More than 100 000 people lined the streets around Bangkok’s glittering Grand Palace on Wednesday to cheer Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej as he celebrated his 80th birthday. The crowds, dressed in yellow shirts and waving flags emblazoned with a royal emblem, lined the broad tree-fringed avenues leading to the palace.
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/ 23 November 2007
A proposed new law to boost patriotism in Thailand would be ”chaotic” because it would require motorists to stop when the national anthem is played twice a day, lawmakers said on Friday. A vote on the Flag Bill proposed by a group of retired and active duty generals in the army-appointed Parliament was deferred on Thursday to allow a committee to study it.
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/ 29 October 2007
Microsoft, seeking to expand in the medical sector, has agreed to acquire the assets of a privately held, Thailand-based health information system company, the software giant announced on Monday. Global Care Solutions specialises in creating software modules for hospitals’ clinical and administrative operations.
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/ 24 October 2007
More sex-crimes charges were filed on Wednesday against a suspected Canadian paedophile captured last week following a global manhunt, Thai police said. Christopher Paul Neil (32) was arrested in Thailand on Friday following a worldwide search led by Interpol to track down a man seen in 200 internet photos abusing a dozen Asian boys.
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/ 20 October 2007
Canadian paedophile suspect Christopher Neil has denied charges that he molested underage children in Thailand, police said on Saturday, a day after a global manhunt ended with his arrest in a dusty Thai town. A Thai court ordered Neil detained for another 12 days for further investigation.