Latest Thailand News

Thailand welcomes home trafficked 1,000-year-old statues returned by New York's Metropolitan Museum

May. 21, 2024 20:57 PM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's National Museum hosted a welcome-home ceremony Tuesday for two ancient statues that were illegally trafficked from Thailand by a British collector of antiquities and were returned from the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The objects...

Red Lobster closes dozens of locations across the US just months after 'endless shrimp' losses

May. 21, 2024 07:21 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of Red Lobster locations across the U.S. are on the chopping block. Restaurant liquidator TAGeX Brands announced this week that it would be auctioning off the equipment of over 50 Red Lobster locations that were recently closed as part of the seafood chain's...

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...

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...

Experts say coral reef bleaching near record level globally because of 'crazy' ocean heat

May. 16, 2024 14:48 PM EDT

Ocean temperatures that have gone “crazy haywire” hot, especially in the Atlantic, are close to making the current global coral bleaching event the worst in history. It's so bad that scientists are hoping for a few hurricanes to cool things off. More than three-fifths — 62.9%...

Pro-cannabis advocates in Thailand rally ahead of the government's plan to recriminalize the plant

May. 16, 2024 06:03 AM EDT

NONTHABURI, Thailand (AP) — Dozens of pro-cannabis advocates gathered Thursday at the health ministry on the outskirts of the Thai capital, Bangkok, to oppose the government’s plan to relist the plant as a narcotic, two years after it was decriminalized. The rally came after...

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...

Dog Show 101: What's what at the Westminster Kennel Club

May. 11, 2024 16:38 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — To the casual viewer, competing at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show might look pretty simple: Get a dog. Groom it. Pose it. Lead it around a ring. But there's a lot more involved in reaching the pinnacle of U.S. canine events, now in its 148th year. It's a year...

Movie Review: Brooke Shields and Benjamin Bratt deserve more than Netflix's ‘Mother of the Bride’

May. 09, 2024 07:05 AM EDT

Romantic comedies are in a destination wedding rut. Perhaps it’s a collective post-COVID wanderlust kicking in, or, more cynically, some combination of tax credits and a place producers want to spend time. But between “ Ticket to Paradise,” “Anyone But You,” “ Shotgun Wedding ” and...

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. ...