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July 15, 2025
 

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Patpicha Tanakasempipat
Suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra gestures as she arrives at Government House in Bangkok on Thursday before being sworn in as the new culture minister as part of a Cabinet reshuffle following her suspension.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 3, 2025
Thai prime minister's suspension sets latest political crisis in motion
The ruling government is already faced with infighting, U.S. trade talks, a border dispute with Cambodia and a sluggish economy.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra waves after Thailand's Constitutional Court suspended her from duty pending a case seeking her dismissal, at the Government House in Bangkok on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 2, 2025
Thai leader’s suspension deals new blow to battered economy
Thailand is mired in slow growth, with households burdened by debt, a budget bill outstanding and the threat of U.S. tariffs weighing down expectations.
The International Border Checkpoint of Poipet, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
Thailand targets Cambodian scam centers amid border dispute
As part of the crackdown, Thailand will ban foreign tourists from crossing over to Cambodia and curb air travel to Siem Reap for gambling purposes, Paetongtarn said.
Suranaree Task Force personnel stand guard at Morakot Operations Base amid a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, in Ubon Ratchathani province, Thailand, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 23, 2025
Thailand and Cambodia shut land crossings in escalating border spat
Former Cambodian leader Hun Sen leaked his phone conversation with Thailand's prime minister, in which she appeared to criticize the Thai army’s role in the border standoff.
People walk past a cannabis dispensary in Bangkok on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 26, 2025
Surge in cannabis smuggling prompts Thailand to tighten rules
Dispensaries will be allowed to sell cannabis only to those with licenses or with prescriptions from medical professionals when proposed changes to existing rules take effect.
Alleged scam center workers and victims from China, who were handed over from Myanmar, board a plane at Mae Sot Airport in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2025
China flies home first nationals from Myanmar ‘scam centers’
The repatriation is part of a multinational effort to stamp out the centers, a transnational criminal industry that has found havens in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Thailand's former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, arrives at Ratchada Criminal Court in Bangkok on Aug. 19. The former leader's views at a dinner event last week have been closely dissected by analysts and media for days after.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 28, 2024
Thaksin’s dinner talk signals his clout in new Thai government
His comments have been interpreted as a blueprint that’s likely to be adopted by his daughter and her Cabinet when they take office in the next couple of weeks.
Srettha Thavisin in Bangkok on Wednesday. He became the fourth Thai prime minister to be ousted by the Constitutional Court in the past two decades.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 15, 2024
Thai political upheaval shows royalists still firmly in charge
The difference this time is that former leader Thaksin Shinawatra is now in an alliance with his former conservative adversaries as part of a deal struck last year.
Thailand's Move Forward Party Leader Pita Limjaroenrat (center) during a rally in Bangkok in July 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 7, 2024
Thai court disbands opposition party over royal reform push
In a unanimous ruling, the nine-member court found that Move Forward’s bid to amend the lese majeste law violated poll rules.
Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's former prime minister, arrives at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok after returning from a self-imposed exile on Aug. 22, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2024
Thailand heads for fresh political turmoil as Thaksin indictment looms
The political instability can potentially delay a parliamentary approval for the 2025 budget and cause further damage to the nation’s fragile financial markets.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra greets his supporters after landing at Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport last August. He will be prosecuted for insulting the monarchy, the attorney general's office said on Wednesday, over comments he made while in self-exile in 2015.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 29, 2024
Former Thai PM Thaksin will be indicted in royal insult case
The move creates fresh legal risk for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the head of the political dynasty that controls the country’s ruling party.
Thailand's parliament passed a same-sex marriage bill on Wednesday, paving the way for the kingdom to become the first Southeast Asian nation to recognize LGBTQ marriage equality.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 28, 2024
Thailand passes bill to legalize same-sex marriage
Legalizing same-sex marriage could also have positive impact on tourism, which contributes about 12% to the nation’s $500 billion economy.
Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's administration has made LGBT marriage a signature issue.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 27, 2024
Bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Thailand heads to parliament
Taiwan and Nepal are the only places in Asia that currently recognize same-sex marriage, and efforts elsewhere in the region have had mixed results.
Festivalgoers sit at dining tables next to food stalls at the Tomorrowland electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium, last year. The event is set to take place in Thailand in 2026.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 26, 2024
Thailand to host two major music events after Taylor Swift miss
The Southeast Asian country plans to welcome two foreign music festivals, one of them Japanese, to help boost tourism.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin visited former leader Thaksin Shinawatra at his residence on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 24, 2024
Thai PM meets Thaksin amid questions over clout in government
The meeting was Thaksin’s first high-profile meet with a Thai politician since being released on parole on Feb. 18.
Thailand will seek to get a new cannabis bill explicitly outlawing the recreational use of cannabis approved by the end of October.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 22, 2024
Thailand aims for clampdown on recreational cannabis by year-end
The move would put thousands of marijuana shops and farms out of business.
Former Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat was declared not guilty in his media shareholding case by Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 25, 2024
Thai court clears former PM hopeful Pita Limjaroenrat in share case
Thailand’s constitution bars politicians from owning shares in media firms to prevent platforms being abused for personal gains and to protect media freedom.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin at the Thailand Economic Outlook conference in Bangkok in October
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 9, 2023
Thailand’s 'salesman' PM travels the world to court investments
Srettha Thavisin is acting as Thailand’s chief salesman, enticing tourists, investors and anything or anyone that can support the nation’s growth.
Great Wall Motor's Ora Good Cat electric vehicles are charged at the company's charging station at Siam Square in Bangkok
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 27, 2023
Thailand bets on EVs to draw trillion baht in investment
The country has set up a "special operation” center to catch what its investment board head calls the "big fish” of the EV industry.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra waves after arriving at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 22, 2023
Thailand's Thaksin returns to jail after years in exile
Thaksin, who was found guilty in absentia in four corruption cases and still faces 10 years in prison, was taken into custody by the police.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Tropical Storm Nari moves northward, with possible landfall Tuesday
Tropical Storm Nari's forecast path as of Monday morning
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
Students in Japan struggle with Japanese language and math sections on national exam
The correct answer rate for the Japanese language section on a national test dropped to 67.0% from 67.8% the previous year among elementary school sixth-graders.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Is Japanese skin really ‘too smooth’ for Hideo Kojima’s games?
Hideo Kojima, the leading auteur in Japanese video games, has skirted controversy in the wake of the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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