Latest Thailand government News

Candidates begin registering in complicated process to select Thailand's new Senate

May. 20, 2024 05:25 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand on Monday officially began the selection of new senators, a process that has become part of an ongoing war between progressive forces hoping for democratic political reforms and conservatives seeking to keep the status quo. Hopeful candidates headed to...

As ethnic armed group claims to have captured a town in western Myanmar, Muslim Rohingyas flee again

May. 18, 2024 16:41 PM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful ethnic armed group fighting Myanmar’s military government in the country’s western state of Rakhine claimed Saturday to have seized a town near the border with Bangladesh, marking the latest in a series of victories for foes of the country’s military government. ...

FIFA to seek legal advice on Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel from international soccer

May. 17, 2024 05:45 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Facing a Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel from international soccer because of the conflict with Hamas, FIFA bought time Friday by agreeing to seek legal advice before holding an extraordinary council meeting within two months. FIFA president Gianni Infantino...

Rights group urges Thailand to stop forcing dissidents to return to countries they fled for safety

May. 17, 2024 00:02 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Human Rights Watch urged the Thai government to stop forcing political dissidents who fled to Thailand for safety to return to their home countries, where they may face torture, persecution or death. The international rights group analyzed 25 cases that took place...

A monarchy reform activist in Thailand dies in detention after a monthslong hunger strike

May. 15, 2024 01:32 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — A young activist in Thailand who went on a hunger strike after being jailed for advocating reform of the country’s monarchy system died Tuesday in a prison hospital, officials said. The death sparked fresh calls for reviewing the judicial process that allows political offenders...

Reports of army killing of villagers in Myanmar supported by photos and harrowing tale of a survivor

May. 13, 2024 14:01 PM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Reports that soldiers of Myanmar’s military government last week carried out a massacre of more than 30 civilians in a village in central Myanmar were supported Monday in interviews with a local administrator and a man who says he survived the killings. The...

Civilian casualties rise in Myanmar's civil war as resistance forces tighten noose around military

May. 09, 2024 03:58 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Six months into an offensive against Myanmar ’s military government, opposition forces have made massive gains, but civilian casualties are rising sharply as regime troops increasingly turn toward scorched-earth tactics in the Southeast Asian country's bitter civil war. ...

Powerful ethnic armed group in western Myanmar claims to capture base and hundreds of soldiers

May. 06, 2024 12:57 PM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful ethnic minority armed group battling Myanmar's army in the country's west claimed Monday to have taken hundreds of government soldiers prisoner when it captured a major command post. The Arakan Army, the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the...

Philippine students are told to stay home as Southeast Asia swelters in prolonged heat wave

Apr. 29, 2024 20:59 PM EDT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Southeast Asia was coping with a weekslong heat wave on Monday as record-high temperatures led to school closings in several countries and urgent health warnings throughout the region. Millions of students in all public schools across the Philippines were...

Ethnic Karen guerrillas in Myanmar leave a town that army lost 2 weeks ago as rival group holds sway

Apr. 24, 2024 12:02 PM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Guerrilla fighters from the main ethnic Karen fighting force battling Myanmar’s military government have withdrawn from the eastern border town of Myawaddy two weeks after forcing the army to give up its defense, residents and members of the group said Wednesday. ...