Latest Bangkok News

Stock market today: Asian shares mixed as Japan business confidence rises and US shutdown is averted

Oct. 02, 2023 00:31 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher in thin trading Monday with many markets closed for holidays. Markets in China are closed for a weeklong holiday. Markets in South Korea also were closed. Oil prices gained and U.S. futures were higher as the threat of...

Thai police say drug bust nets methamphetamine, crystal meth and heroin worth $8.2 million

Sep. 28, 2023 07:07 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand said Thursday they made one of the country’s biggest ever seizures of illicit drugs, a haul including methamphetamine, crystal meth and heroin, with a total estimated street value of about 300 million baht ($8.2 million). The police said the...

Prominent Thai human rights lawyer accused of insulting the king receives a 4-year prison term

Sep. 26, 2023 02:09 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — A prominent Thai human rights lawyer was convicted on Tuesday of insulting the monarchy and sentenced to four years in prison, the first conviction under a controversial law guarding the royal institution since a civilian government took office after years of military-backed rule....

A deputy police chief in Thailand cries foul after his home is raided for a gambling investigation

Sep. 25, 2023 10:20 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand on Monday raided the Bangkok residence of one of the country’s four deputy national police chiefs, an action the target complained was intended to discredit him due to “politics inside the Royal Thai Police.” Police Gen. Surachate Hakparn is...

Thailand receives the first Chinese visitors under a new visa-free policy to boost tourism

Sep. 25, 2023 05:51 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Top Thai officials welcomed hundreds of Chinese tourists at Bangkok’s international airport on Monday, the first day of a new visa-free entry program that officials say will boost the country's tourism industry that was badly damaged by the coronavirus pandemic. ...

Thai police say man kills his family after online scam leaves them in massive debt

Aug. 30, 2023 03:44 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — At least 11 people are suspected to be involved with a loan scam that allegedly drove a man to kill his wife and two young boys before trying to take his own life in their family home, Thai police said Wednesday. Sanit Dokmai has been charged with premeditated murder...

More than a ton of endangered pangolin scales seized in Thailand

Aug. 17, 2023 20:42 PM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities said Thursday they have seized more than a ton of pangolin scales worth over 50 million baht ($1.4 million) that are believed to have been headed out of the country through a land border. The scales that cover a type of anteater were found Wednesday...

The second son of Thailand's king returns to the country unexpectedly after decades of estrangement

Aug. 08, 2023 07:54 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — The estranged son of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn visited a daycare center for underprivileged children in Bangkok on Tuesday following a surprise return to the country after 27 years of living abroad. Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse’s return was first...

Son of Spanish actors is arrested in Thailand on suspicion of killing Colombian on a tourist island

Aug. 08, 2023 06:11 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — The son of two Spanish film stars has been arrested in Thailand on suspicion of murdering and dismembering a Colombian surgeon on a tourist island, police said. Daniel Sancho Bronchalo was taken from Koh Phagnan, where the remains of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga were found,...

Accused of bomb threats they say they didn't make, family of Chinese dissident detained in Thailand

Jul. 27, 2023 02:57 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — When Gao Peng landed in Thailand on July 3, he was not expecting to be accused of making bomb threats, to be put on an EU travel blacklist, or to see his mother and 16-year-old sister detained and threatened with deportation back to China. But bomb threats made in...