BANGKOK, Nov 30 (TNA) – The Royal Household Bureau announced on Monday that His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej is scheduled to appear in public to mark his 82th birthday on December 5. The statement of the Royal Household Bureau said the monarch will grant a public audience to members of royal family, civil servants and members of parliament at the [...]

The riskiest area in Bangkok is Soi Lat Phrao 101, according to a list compiled by the Metropolitan Police Bureau. “We have prepared the list based on crime statistics, surroundings and tip-offs from people,” Police spokesman Lt-General Pongsapat Pongcha-roen said yesterday. Soi Lat Phrao 101 and a community there see the highest number of crimes compared with other areas in [...]

The widow of a British yachtsman murdered by three Burmese fishermen off the coast of Thailand has welcomed prison sentences handed down to them. Linda Robertson, 59, said she believed the jail terms will give them time to reflect on the “heinous” crime they committed. Her husband Malcolm Robertson, 64, was bludgeoned and thrown overboard off the Andaman coast after [...]

Punlop Tongchai is awake for the entire two hours it takes to be turned into a woman on the operating table of a Bangkok sex change clinic. The 27-year-old Thai cabaret dancer chats to nurses throughout the ordeal under the surgeon’s knife, numbed only by local anaesthetic. Growing up in Thailand, a country with one of the largest transgender populations [...]

If you are an expatriate, Thailand is the best country to find love – however, it’s also one of the hardest places for learning the local language. Canada, Australia and Thailand are regarded by expatriates as the premier places in the world to live and love, according to the second annual expatriate experience survey by HSBC Bank International. Canada has [...]

BANGKOK – THAILAND’S prime minister announced on Thursday that he had cancelled a visit to a northern stronghold of his rival, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, owing to security concerns. Abhisit Vejjajiva was set to travel to the northern city of Chiang Mai for a commerce meeting on Sunday, but decided against the trip after receiving death threats, despite initially downplaying [...]

Runaway ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra has used new name in his passports issued by some African countries, Thai Vice foreign minister Panich Vikitsreth said Wednesday. Thaksin’s name in passports issued by Nicaragua, Uganda and Montenegro has been changed to “Takki Shinegra,” he said. The Thai government has revoked Thaksin’s diplomatic passport issued during his premiership. He was believed to have an [...]

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) — Former Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who was ousted from office last year for appearing on television cooking shows for payment, died Tuesday. Samak died after a two-month hospitalization at Bangkok’s Bumrungrad International Hospital for liver cancer, said his personal secretary, Paisarn Akkasarakul. Samak was 74 and had battled cancer for a year. His funeral will [...]

Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp said on Tuesday it would build a factory in Thailand with the capacity to manufacture 100,000 small cars a year after receiving government approval for the project. Suzuki, Japan’s fourth-largest automaker and known for its strength in the compact car segment, said it would invest 20 billion yen (USD 225 million) for a manufacturing site including [...]

Thailand’s economy has grown for a second straight quarter, boosted by a strong recovery in the country’s manufacturing sector. South-east Asia’s second largest economy grew by 1.3% between July and September from the previous quarter, official figures showed. However, the rate of growth was less than economists had predicted. Thailand’s economy was hit hard by the global downturn as well [...]