World News by Wild Rose

At a zoo a short drive south of Bangkok, Charoon Youngprapakorn has spent a lifetime taking the pulse of Thailand’s tourism industry from an unlikely vantage point: the open jaws of crocodiles. Handlers at his Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm & Zoo have long thrilled onlookers by coaxing tips from the audience and carefully placing the money into the mouths of animals capable of taking off an entire hand. The crocodiles at this open-air, fan-cooled throwback to 1980s showmanship still take their tips...

Toey Wattana Mongkhonnam began thinking about outfitting his family home in Thailand’s northeastern province of Yasothon with solar panels during the Covid-19 pandemic. In his household of five, electricity use rises with the day’s heat, and the monthly bill could range from 1,000 to 1,500 baht (US$30 to US$45). “Back then, I checked prices and a rooftop panel system that could put out enough power to run my household’s appliances could cost 100,000 to 200,000 baht,” said Toey, a Muay Thai...

The third son of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has said he wants to return home for urgent brain surgery. Chakriwat “Than Aong” Vivacharawongse posted a video on social media on Monday saying he had two large brain tumours requiring surgery. The 43-year-old doctor said he wanted to receive treatment in Thailand. “I want to return to Thailand for treatment because Thai doctors are highly capable,” he said in the video. Chakriwat said he did not have enough money to pay for the surgery in...

Thailand’s main armed separatist group, Barisan Revolusi Nasional, says it will continue fighting for self-determination

Thailand has moved to make weight-loss pens prescription-only, as a glut of the GLP-1 medicines – which mimic the hormones released once someone is full – floods the black market and influencers swarm TikTok to extol the quick wins of the simple injections. The Southeast Asian nation, which is never far behind wellness or aesthetic trends and has a notorious black market in counterfeit drugs, has seen the uptake of GLP-1 medicines skyrocket, doctors say, including the market-leading Ozempic...

Two decades into an insurgency that has killed thousands in southern Thailand, a leader of the main Malay–Muslim separatist group has vowed to keep fighting until it achieves its goals. “This struggle will continue until the end of time,” Nikmatullah Seri, the spokesman for the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) peace negotiation delegation, said in a rare interview. “As long as our objectives remain unachieved, we will continue to fight.” Militants from BRN have fought for an independent Islamic...

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has issued a withering rebuke to foreigners behaving badly in Thailand following a wave of scandals involving illegal businesses and landholdings including a cemetery, saying the cases have “gone too far” by breaching Thai law and hospitality. Facing mounting public backlash against illegal foreign ownership of swathes of the country enabled by endemic corruption, Anutin’s government has halved the visa-free entry period to 30 days for most countries and...

Months after deadly clashes that cost dozens of lives along their shared border, the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand laid out opening arguments on Tuesday over a different kind of territory: 27,000 sq km (10,400 square miles) of seabed thought to hold a fortune in gas and oil. The venue was the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s Singapore office, where the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea’s conciliation commission is being asked to settle who controls a stretch of the...

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) on Monday announced funding for a feasibility study on a new transpacific submarine cable linking the US with Thailand and as many as five other Southeast Asian nations, as Washington seeks to expand secure digital infrastructure in the region. The proposed cable that could extend up to 18,507km (11,500 miles) long would connect Thailand with the United States via Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, “while avoiding the South...

Thailand’s state-controlled energy company PTT Pcl is in talks to buy more liquefied natural gas from regions including the US Gulf Coast as a means to diversify supplies and expand its trading business over the next few years.

From 15 September 2026 the scheme covers 65 countries instead of 93. Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru keep 90 days under separate treaties. The post Thailand Ends Its 60-Day Visa Exemption for Eleven Latin American Countries appeared first on The Rio Times.

Thai police also arrested a suspected female accomplice with whom the monk, who had taken a vow of celibacy, was filmed having sex.

At a market in Bangkok, stallholders say they had no idea initially about a boxy structure covered in gunmetal grey panels that was quickly built and installed opposite their stalls. According to them, nauseating oil began to waft through the area, where a hospital is also located, several months ago along Rama XI, an arterial road in the heart of the Thai capital, prompting complaints that led to the revelation that a new data centre might have been set up. More worryingly for the stallholders,...

Police say they hope the drill will help prepare students, as concern grows over the increase in school shootings in South East Asia.

A gunman shot and killed a kindergarten teacher on Wednesday inside a school building in eastern Thailand, where 44 children and three other teachers were evacuated safely, authorities said. The shooting took place about 11am inside a building at the Nongplalai Municipal Kindergarten in Chonburi province, about 150km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Bangkok. All 44 students were unharmed and evacuated along with the other teachers after the shooting, according to the Chonburi provincial...

Thai authorities said on Wednesday they are investigating a Bangkok clinic where a Nigerian-born British businessman and influencer underwent a penis enlargement procedure that led to his death. A coroner in London last month ruled that the March 6 death of Igho Ubiribo, 43, in the Thai capital was caused by the hyaluronic acid injection he received hours earlier. The case has reignited debate about medical tourism, with Thailand a leading destination for visitors from abroad seeking healthcare,...

China is expected to slow sugar imports for the rest of the year as concerns grow over a global supply crunch and higher prices, with Thailand – the world’s second-largest exporter – facing a sharp drop in production. The world’s second-largest economy relies on imports for about a third of its sugar supply, though high domestic stockpiles are expected to cushion the impact. Analysts estimated only moderate increases in local prices for the sweetener, which is considered a strategic agricultural...

Two sailors from the US aircraft carrier making a port call to Thailand were sent back to the ship after a drunken altercation, Thai police said on Friday. Police were alerted to a “small scuffle” involving the sailors in the early hours of Thursday near Pattaya’s nightlife hotspot Walking Street, city police chief Colonel Anek Srathongyoo said. “The sailors were drunk and they were fighting, making loud noise,” he said. He described the incident as “trivial” and said local residents had only...

US sailors and Marines streamed into the Thai resort city of Pattaya Thursday after a record-breaking nine months at sea. Local police said there had so far been no major incidents connected to the 5,000-strong contingent of US service members, though two sailors were sent back to the ship after a drunken bar brawl.

With military haircuts and moustaches, the US sailors stood out against the flip-flops of the usual Pattaya crowd, writes the BBC's Jonathan Head.

“Friend-for-hire” services have started taking off in Thailand as the country’s social landscape changes with an ageing population and a rise in the number of unmarried people. The service is a new type of gig work in which people are paid to act as companions, for instance accompanying someone on a trip to take photos or even joining them in indoor rock climbing. Although no official figures are available, industry players say demand for professional companions has increased in recent years due...

The BBC's Jonathan Head looks at the historical echoes of US troops arriving in Pattaya, a beach resort famous for its racy bars.